I’ve heard that the passenger harassment tends to a lot worse in first class than coach. True or not? I fly a fair amount, though almost always in coach, and I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed that kind of behavior back in economy. But I can imagine it up front. 

Had a pilot angry at me this year, no idea why. THREATENED to report me and went on and on near tears saying how in all of his 30 years of airline piloting, he had never been treated so badly. What did I do? Oh well I was too busy serving a meal non stop drinks and dessert to first class passengers alone with a crew…

Much of the sexism andd harassment from passengers and some pilots, still persists. It was only recently my airline changed uniform guidelines to allow for an option of not wearing high heels with dresses and skirts. Plenty of inappropriate come ons, remarks, touching, phone number requests, from passengers...which we…

What strikes me there is that if you turned off the sound you’d have absolutely no idea what’s being advertised.

I noticed them on my most recent flight, too. They were so nice! Such a pretty color. 

I was 15 when I read it, and it was hot off the presses then. It was an eye-opener for me into industry sexism, and sharply curtailed any plans I might have had of becoming a stew. It seems silly, but it sowed the first little seeds of feminism in me.

I made a small fortune many years back selling used “stewardess” pantyhose and shoes on Ebay. I can tell you from experience, a large segment of our male population still thinks of stewardesses as in-flight entertainment and eye-candy. I was happy to take advantage, these guys were just kind of....foolish. 

We still have miles and miles to go, but this should give the youngsters some appreciation for how far women have come since then.

Oddly that aired at the end of the night that started with one of the later seasons of Wonder Woman, with Flying High airing after The Incredible Hulk.

Nevertheless, the “Fly Me” series raised the carrier’s profile and won a handful of advertising awards.

The weirdest part of the Braniff “air strip” was the clear plastic bubble helmet they wore at the beginning. You can barely see it on the left side of the Braniff ad.

Wow, there isn’t even a plane shown or her in her uniform. her talking about being “born to fly” could just as well being her talking about how she was born to trip balls on acid.

I came across a dog-eared copy of Coffee, Tea or Me? during an extended hospital stay in the late 1980s. It’s worth tracking down and reading to give you an idea of just how insane the industry was at the time. The publishers obviously made the authors talk up their sexual escapes in racy-for-the-era fashion, but they…

I know, sexist and everything. But I’m still so partial to this 10CC song. It captures the 1970's so well for me.

Anyone else notice in the want ads “good vision?” As in, no glasses, Four-Eyes.

Great article! My mom worked for TWA when we were growing up,and I thought it was such a glamourous job. It’s a shame that the things mentioned in the article went on,and good to hear that things have improved drastically since then. I do remember her talking about the Renwick thing and thinking “but it’s her…

What’s really interesting is how much of an uphill battle Fulsom and Jarrel were facing; even with awareness of their campaign, they still had to face the results of these attitudes when CBS starting running this series in 1978:

Wow that is even more gross than I thought it would be.

This was interesting and discouraging. Interesting, because... well, history is interesting, and well-written history is doubly so. And discouraging because, when reading about the horrendous treatment in the early seventies, I thought, “oh my god, that was only thirty years ago,” before realizing, no, that was almost…

Super interesting -  Thank you. Also, I’m a married to a prof who is very into public facing research work and I know that it is extra on top of what you do for your job - so thank you for taking the time to share your expertise with the public!