Judy (J.A.) Kundert Novelist
Speaker
Adventurer

Big winds of social revolutions and innovation brought winds of change to air travel.

Stewardesses fought back and became flight attendants.

It started when the1968, federal courts struck down the rules forbidding marriage and age requirements, for stewardesses. This action skyrocketed the momentum that zoomed into the 1970s with two major landmark changes for airline flight crews. Under pressure, rules against flight attendants being pregnant were withdrawn by most airlines. A major significant change in a landmark 1971 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that airlines could not discriminate against men after Celio Diaz Jr. who claimed his two applications for Pan Am were rejected on the basis of gender.

By contrast, at the same time, Southwest Airline stewardesses wore hot pants as their uniform, and National Airlines spent $9.5 million on a 1971 campaign that read “I’m Cheryl. Fly Me.”  The commercial aroused anger in some people, but National claimed that it saw a 23 percent bump in passenger traffic as a result.

Some stewardesses reacted to airlines sexiness sells and joined national feminist organizations to form a group called “Stewardesses for Women’s Rights.” When National Airlines forced flight attendants to wear “Fly Me” buttons, members of the group made and wore buttons that read “Go Fly Yourself.”

With all these changes the to remove the gender bias of the job, the term “Flight Attendant” replaced “Stewardess” while the same basic job same basic jobs remain: to tend the passengers’ needs and safety.

Bigger Planes reinvented air travel

Welcome abroad travel in the 1970s on board big 747’s spacious, classy interiors that changed air travel. Enjoy a visit with these views of actual 747 cabins in Traveling in a Boeing 747.

And give a fond farewell to the 747 from today’s air travel and discover the Five Ways Boeing’s 747 jumbo jet changed travel.