The A310 was a wonderful airplane. I was a new Delta flight attendant in 1994-95 and remember working on them from jfk to Lisbon and San Francisco before they left the fleet. Great wide body that had an amazingly short main cabin….you were done with the main cabin service in the blink of an eye.
By this point, PanAm was already in steep decline, with assets and landing slots being sold off left and right. As a primarily international carrier, they couldn’t compete with their domestic counterparts, once deregulation occurred. They suddenly found themselves with limited connectivity inside the huge domestic US market (and weirdly thought buying North-South oriented National would somehow alleviate their international feeder issue), whereas the larger domestic carriers (who were historically less glamorous, but had larger fleets, capitalizations and revenue generation), were able to quickly buy their way into main-line international markets and capitalize on their large, efficient, domestic hubs. They were able to offer single-carrier options and undercut PanAm, which PanAm was structurally ill-suited to address. The last time I flew PanAm, with my family in 1989, the nearly 20 year old 747 we flew on was looking distressingly shabby and worn (a combination of age and lack of refurbishment), a sharp contrast to the gleaming Northwest 744 I’d been on just a few months earlier, and a far cry from PanAm just 5 years earlier. The cabin crew were still among the best in the industry, but it was obvious that PanAm was circling the drain (and it had been only a few months earlier that the airline suffered the tragedy of flight 103). Less than two years later, PanAm was gone. How could PanAm have avoided their fate? Starting with the first oil crisis, they should have reduced their 747 fleet size and invested in the smaller wide body trijet’s of the era. This alone would have changed their per-seat competitive position later in the 70’s, allowed them to better weather the second oil shock, and put them in a position to begin filtering in twin-engine ETOPS-certified aircraft in the early 80’s, such as the 767 and A300/310. They should have further expanded their international hub operations, essentially building an inverse version of their domestic counterparts (versus eventually selling them off). Finally, they absolutely should not have dropped their order for 50 A320’s to replace their antiquated 727’s, which were grossly inefficient by the mid 80’s (having been superseded by Boeing’s own 737-300/400/500). PanAm’s biggest failing, from the mid 70’s through the mid 80’s, was a failure to adapt, expand where others weren’t, and continually invest in fleet modernization - the very things that made them successful. In short, they needed Juan Trippe, but unfortunately got William Seawell, a man with no vision or imagination. So, like many once-great companies led by highly credentialed but untalented management, they kept trying to copy others and shrink their way to profitability.
Honestly they probably woulda been dead within 2 decades anyways, even if they survived the 90s I think the tourism crash after 9/11 and the recession in 2007 woulda probably had them die off before 2010
@@staycgirlsitsgoingdown2 absolutely, they most probably would have survived much, much smaller than they were in the mid 80s and then merged into another Airline sooner or later. And even IF they survived until today as Pan Am I doubt there would be much left of the glory of the old days.
Thank you for this very interesting comment. I already read on several occasions that the Pan Am of the last 2-3 years was only a Shadow of its former Self and descending rapidly with aircraft in a bad shape but most Enthusiasts and former employees deny this. Just as you I think Pan Am should have rapidly reduced their 747 fleet right after the 70s oil crisis at latest. Instead they traded the former National Airlines DC-10s for even more 747s with American, unbelievable. They should have replaced the DC-10s with more new L-1011s midterm. The A310/A300 was a great aircraft for them, maybe the only in the fleet they could make a profit with at all. The A330 would have been perfect for them, unfortunately it came too late.
Tom Plaskett did a very good job in trying to turn around Pan Am , which it did . But Pan Am was too weak to handle 103 debacle ; alas , after that it was like the music has already stopped and grounding was just a matter of time .
The L1011-500 was a great aeroplane for long range , they should have kept it and relied on it more for longer period of time on long haul flights on the expense of B747s .
The Flight Attendants were happy. The passengers were polite and well dressed. And no one was fighting like dogs over space in the overhead bins. There was a time when air travel had a certain classy aspect to it before it became a flying bus that it is today. First class was really first class and passengers were pampered. Now first class in the US us "Coach Plus" with mostly upgrades and very devalued. Air travel was a big deal in the 60's, 70's and into the 80's. It's a flying bus now.
The people you fly with nowadays are so dirty, and there is so little space that I would never want to do air travel in my nice clothes - not even in first class 🤢.
You realize that video isn’t real right, and the people were actors? How is having an armrest full of cigarette butts being pampered? Those A310’s had crappy air conditioning packs too. Your throat would be dry as shit after about an hour.
the rlse tinted spectacles and nostalgia is unreal. First Class today on any Airline is not at all comparable to any former Airline. The service is impeccable in all but the rarest cases, the food is undeniably better, the aircraft are cleaner, safer, better for the environment and, not to mention not filled with cigarette smoke being cycled through the air conditioning. And yes, economy class is cheap, and people aren't dressed in suits and ties... because it's economy class. The price of an economy ticket today is a fraction of what it was in the 60s, 70s or 80s. People may have dressed up back then, but only because flying was a luxury afforded to only a few. Why do people want to glorify the past so much, especially when this certain relic of the past was so undeniably worse in almost every aspect.
@@mahendrasmith7589 of course people realize this is a video that was recorded with actors, but it wasn't very far off from reality in terms of how people dressed... I was a little kid in the 1980s and we flew international twice a year to see my relatives in Greece. It was night and day in terms of dress on aircraft and in airports. People's clothing has become more and more casual over the decades. Just look at how people dressed 100, 60, 40, years ago even just to go to a restaurant for a casual meal. Even domestic legs from Florida to as close as Louisiana were night and day and had real food and service. No flipflops and nasty smelling feet thrown up in your face and people trying to kill reach other. There was also way more leg room. Smoking was the only problem, but there were zones. We flew TWA, British Airways, Delta, Eastern, United, and Continental
@@calum5975 I would agree with you on international first class today but certainly not domestic, at least not in the United States. Even then don't conflate the safety of aircraft with what's being discussed here, the way people behaved and traveled. The way people presented themselves on aircraft 40+ years is overwhelmingly night in day. But that also goes for the 1970s and earlier. Even more so if you looked at how people traveled say in the 1950s and 60s in terms of clothing and behavior. I would agree that not having to deal with smokers is a godsend but coach class has far less legroom and in some cases less shoulder room than it ever did back then. Traveling on a short one or two hour flight is a non-issue but a transcontinental or international flight is far less comfortable today than it was the 1980s even if the quality of food in coach class has improved. Food on even international TWA in the 1980s was subpar, granted both it and Pan am wear slowly going out of business by that point. That being said if you hopped onto a period Lufthansa or Air France aircraft domestic or otherwise, the food and coach was effectively the quality of first class on a USA airlines. As for first class, my wife used to work for Delta so we flew first class very often on what are effectively called buddy passes so I have a decent amount of experience there including one trip on Concord in 1999. I'm a lifelong aviation enthusiast and have a private pilot so airplanes are my jam. That being said there's no doubt, and I'm speaking as someone who is a little kid back in the 1980s, that people dressed more formally when they traveled and you didn't have the sorts of issues you do now with the level and frequency of very rude and sometimes borderline violent passengers. I never recall having to deal with somebody's feet popping through from the seat behind me. Nowadays it seems like every other flight over 3 hours that I take somebody's feet end up thrust in my face at some point in the flight. Just look at my comment above about how people have become more and more casual in their dress. I'm not complaining, but there's some people that come on aircraft dress like they've been at the beach/gym/bed all day.
My late maternal grandfather worked for Pan Am. I decided to watch this safety video to honor him as his life was tragically claimed at the age of 87 when a tornado hit Western Kentucky in December 2021. RIP grandpa. May you enjoy your eternity in the Land of Oz.
@@tylerchambliss8379 much too bad that this never came to reality. The A350 would look awesome in Pan Am colors , but the experience would be something else
I agree and for Pan Am what Airline alliance will they join? with one of their A350s & A380s painted for the airline alliance, they joined. I wonder if Pan Am did do EWR or not?
People often forget that 1991 wasn’t the end of Pan Am, yet.. In 1996, Pan Am was revived with a fleet of 737-400s and the same fleet of A300s and A310s. That ended up shutting down in 1998 after a merger with Carnival Airlines. In 2001, Pan Am was revived a second time, not much is known about this second revival however, but it is known that it operated 727s and 737s. This ended up shutting down in 2004. Which means that Pan Am finally met its end 2 years before RUclips was created, which makes you realize that it really hasn’t been that long.
Less than 30 years ago i was chain smoking on a JAL flight but hadnt got a smoking seat so i went and sat with a group of south Korean uni students 😂 im Caucasian British english but they welcomed me i guess because i was only 25
WUT DE HEEEEEELLL *boom* Here are the shoutouts, JetSmart182XD, gulagchannel, Aeromexico reviews, AC-130 gunship, kaphobiaaaa, Aviation_guy755, but uhh hopefully with this Tenerife animation which is dedicated to the pilots, um yeah.
"And then assist the child.." The kid is smiling and acting like this happens every day.. In reality she'd be screaming her head off.. crying and likely scared shitless!
We here at Panam want to assure you we no longer employ young runaways pretending to be pilots. All our pilots are checked by Tom Hanks personally to make sure that FUCKING DiCaprio doesn't fly onboard this plane
@@elliott7268 Boeing can’t get the max 10 certified , 787 deliveries still haven’t resumed , that 747 for Air Force one was littered with debris …. So ya airbus is superior
@@stankythecat6735 Boeing started its unfortunate turn from grace after the 777 was built. Boeing is now just a bunch of corporate liars who don't care about innovation or safety. Only profits. Boeing fans will continue to cry. For the most part, Airbus has been doing nothing but great innovative work and pushing the industry towards a better future. Damn I sounded like an Airbus rep then, but it's so true. Boeing was once a proud company run by proud engineers.
The A310 was a wonderful airplane. I was a new Delta flight attendant in 1994-95 and remember working on them from jfk to Lisbon and San Francisco before they left the fleet.
Great wide body that had an amazingly short main cabin….you were done with the main cabin service in the blink of an eye.
The Time Magazine issue "Gorbachev's Revolution," seen at 3:36, was dated July 27, 1987.
LOL The kind of thing I'd do
Good catch!
By this point, PanAm was already in steep decline, with assets and landing slots being sold off left and right. As a primarily international carrier, they couldn’t compete with their domestic counterparts, once deregulation occurred. They suddenly found themselves with limited connectivity inside the huge domestic US market (and weirdly thought buying North-South oriented National would somehow alleviate their international feeder issue), whereas the larger domestic carriers (who were historically less glamorous, but had larger fleets, capitalizations and revenue generation), were able to quickly buy their way into main-line international markets and capitalize on their large, efficient, domestic hubs. They were able to offer single-carrier options and undercut PanAm, which PanAm was structurally ill-suited to address.
The last time I flew PanAm, with my family in 1989, the nearly 20 year old 747 we flew on was looking distressingly shabby and worn (a combination of age and lack of refurbishment), a sharp contrast to the gleaming Northwest 744 I’d been on just a few months earlier, and a far cry from PanAm just 5 years earlier. The cabin crew were still among the best in the industry, but it was obvious that PanAm was circling the drain (and it had been only a few months earlier that the airline suffered the tragedy of flight 103). Less than two years later, PanAm was gone.
How could PanAm have avoided their fate? Starting with the first oil crisis, they should have reduced their 747 fleet size and invested in the smaller wide body trijet’s of the era. This alone would have changed their per-seat competitive position later in the 70’s, allowed them to better weather the second oil shock, and put them in a position to begin filtering in twin-engine ETOPS-certified aircraft in the early 80’s, such as the 767 and A300/310. They should have further expanded their international hub operations, essentially building an inverse version of their domestic counterparts (versus eventually selling them off). Finally, they absolutely should not have dropped their order for 50 A320’s to replace their antiquated 727’s, which were grossly inefficient by the mid 80’s (having been superseded by Boeing’s own 737-300/400/500).
PanAm’s biggest failing, from the mid 70’s through the mid 80’s, was a failure to adapt, expand where others weren’t, and continually invest in fleet modernization - the very things that made them successful. In short, they needed Juan Trippe, but unfortunately got William Seawell, a man with no vision or imagination. So, like many once-great companies led by highly credentialed but untalented management, they kept trying to copy others and shrink their way to profitability.
Honestly they probably woulda been dead within 2 decades anyways, even if they survived the 90s I think the tourism crash after 9/11 and the recession in 2007 woulda probably had them die off before 2010
@@staycgirlsitsgoingdown2 absolutely, they most probably would have survived much, much smaller than they were in the mid 80s and then merged into another Airline sooner or later. And even IF they survived until today as Pan Am I doubt there would be much left of the glory of the old days.
Thank you for this very interesting comment. I already read on several occasions that the Pan Am of the last 2-3 years was only a Shadow of its former Self and descending rapidly with aircraft in a bad shape but most Enthusiasts and former employees deny this.
Just as you I think Pan Am should have rapidly reduced their 747 fleet right after the 70s oil crisis at latest. Instead they traded the former National Airlines DC-10s for even more 747s with American, unbelievable. They should have replaced the DC-10s with more new L-1011s midterm. The A310/A300 was a great aircraft for them, maybe the only in the fleet they could make a profit with at all. The A330 would have been perfect for them, unfortunately it came too late.
Tom Plaskett did a very good job in trying to turn around Pan Am , which it did . But Pan Am was too weak to handle 103 debacle ; alas , after that it was like the music has already stopped and grounding was just a matter of time .
The L1011-500 was a great aeroplane for long range , they should have kept it and relied on it more for longer period of time on long haul flights on the expense of B747s .
The Flight Attendants were happy. The passengers were polite and well dressed. And no one was fighting like dogs over space in the overhead bins. There was a time when air travel had a certain classy aspect to it before it became a flying bus that it is today. First class was really first class and passengers were pampered. Now first class in the US us "Coach Plus" with mostly upgrades and very devalued. Air travel was a big deal in the 60's, 70's and into the 80's. It's a flying bus now.
The people you fly with nowadays are so dirty, and there is so little space that I would never want to do air travel in my nice clothes - not even in first class 🤢.
You realize that video isn’t real right, and the people were actors?
How is having an armrest full of cigarette butts being pampered? Those A310’s had crappy air conditioning packs too. Your throat would be dry as shit after about an hour.
the rlse tinted spectacles and nostalgia is unreal.
First Class today on any Airline is not at all comparable to any former Airline. The service is impeccable in all but the rarest cases, the food is undeniably better, the aircraft are cleaner, safer, better for the environment and, not to mention not filled with cigarette smoke being cycled through the air conditioning.
And yes, economy class is cheap, and people aren't dressed in suits and ties... because it's economy class. The price of an economy ticket today is a fraction of what it was in the 60s, 70s or 80s. People may have dressed up back then, but only because flying was a luxury afforded to only a few.
Why do people want to glorify the past so much, especially when this certain relic of the past was so undeniably worse in almost every aspect.
@@mahendrasmith7589 of course people realize this is a video that was recorded with actors, but it wasn't very far off from reality in terms of how people dressed... I was a little kid in the 1980s and we flew international twice a year to see my relatives in Greece. It was night and day in terms of dress on aircraft and in airports. People's clothing has become more and more casual over the decades. Just look at how people dressed 100, 60, 40, years ago even just to go to a restaurant for a casual meal.
Even domestic legs from Florida to as close as Louisiana were night and day and had real food and service. No flipflops and nasty smelling feet thrown up in your face and people trying to kill reach other.
There was also way more leg room.
Smoking was the only problem, but there were zones.
We flew TWA, British Airways, Delta, Eastern, United, and Continental
@@calum5975 I would agree with you on international first class today but certainly not domestic, at least not in the United States.
Even then don't conflate the safety of aircraft with what's being discussed here, the way people behaved and traveled. The way people presented themselves on aircraft 40+ years is overwhelmingly night in day. But that also goes for the 1970s and earlier. Even more so if you looked at how people traveled say in the 1950s and 60s in terms of clothing and behavior.
I would agree that not having to deal with smokers is a godsend but coach class has far less legroom and in some cases less shoulder room than it ever did back then. Traveling on a short one or two hour flight is a non-issue but a transcontinental or international flight is far less comfortable today than it was the 1980s even if the quality of food in coach class has improved. Food on even international TWA in the 1980s was subpar, granted both it and Pan am wear slowly going out of business by that point. That being said if you hopped onto a period Lufthansa or Air France aircraft domestic or otherwise, the food and coach was effectively the quality of first class on a USA airlines.
As for first class, my wife used to work for Delta so we flew first class very often on what are effectively called buddy passes so I have a decent amount of experience there including one trip on Concord in 1999. I'm a lifelong aviation enthusiast and have a private pilot so airplanes are my jam.
That being said there's no doubt, and I'm speaking as someone who is a little kid back in the 1980s, that people dressed more formally when they traveled and you didn't have the sorts of issues you do now with the level and frequency of very rude and sometimes borderline violent passengers. I never recall having to deal with somebody's feet popping through from the seat behind me. Nowadays it seems like every other flight over 3 hours that I take somebody's feet end up thrust in my face at some point in the flight.
Just look at my comment above about how people have become more and more casual in their dress. I'm not complaining, but there's some people that come on aircraft dress like they've been at the beach/gym/bed all day.
My late maternal grandfather worked for Pan Am. I decided to watch this safety video to honor him as his life was tragically claimed at the age of 87 when a tornado hit Western Kentucky in December 2021. RIP grandpa. May you enjoy your eternity in the Land of Oz.
No phones love it ! I flew w my mother as a baby from Costa Rica 🇨🇷🇨🇷 to honduras
The last airbus generation Panam existed for. I can only imagine what it would have been like to ride panam on an A350 or A380.
For Sure
@@donaldknowles9640 Yeah what a sight that would be.
@@tylerchambliss8379 much too bad that this never came to reality. The A350 would look awesome in Pan Am colors , but the experience would be something else
@@donaldknowles9640 Yeah or the 777.
I agree and for Pan Am what Airline alliance will they join? with one of their A350s & A380s painted for the airline alliance, they joined. I wonder if Pan Am did do EWR or not?
People often forget that 1991 wasn’t the end of Pan Am, yet.. In 1996, Pan Am was revived with a fleet of 737-400s and the same fleet of A300s and A310s. That ended up shutting down in 1998 after a merger with Carnival Airlines. In 2001, Pan Am was revived a second time, not much is known about this second revival however, but it is known that it operated 727s and 737s. This ended up shutting down in 2004. Which means that Pan Am finally met its end 2 years before RUclips was created, which makes you realize that it really hasn’t been that long.
I was one of the people who knew about it
“immediately extinguish all cigarettes” 😅
Less than 30 years ago i was chain smoking on a JAL flight but hadnt got a smoking seat so i went and sat with a group of south Korean uni students 😂 im Caucasian British english but they welcomed me i guess because i was only 25
I also went on pan am at 10 years old. It was indeed the best airline ive ever flown and the only one i didnt feel like throwing up in
oh cra-
You can't beat
The Experience...
Pan AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!
🤣
WUT DE HEEEEEELLL
*boom*
Here are the shoutouts, JetSmart182XD, gulagchannel, Aeromexico reviews, AC-130 gunship, kaphobiaaaa, Aviation_guy755, but uhh hopefully with this Tenerife animation which is dedicated to the pilots, um yeah.
Return to Seat > Gobacken Sidonna
Surely you can’t be serious?……
I am serious. And don’t call me Shirley.
Everyone seems immaculately dressed; no thongs ,T shirts or shorts!!
Well only people with a lot of money could fly back then and it is also a video
This is from 1990.
Yep
I remember flying in the A310 from MIA-JFK in 1987 and the seats were salmon/pink color, not blue.
The A300s had the salmon and blue interior.
This is great! What memories. Does a Pan Am 747 safety demo video exist online? I haven't been able to find one.
"And then assist the child.." The kid is smiling and acting like this happens every day.. In reality she'd be screaming her head off.. crying and likely scared shitless!
Well you're not much use to your child if you pass out
In safety video: 😊😇
Reality: 💀👹
I like how the guy quite leisurely extinguishes his cigarette when the oxygen mask drops down… clearly a non- emergency
That caught my attention too lol.
Manhood
I can't believe everyone was so calm. If i was
On a plane I would go crazy. Just sayin
We here at Panam want to assure you we no longer employ young runaways pretending to be pilots. All our pilots are checked by Tom Hanks personally to make sure that FUCKING DiCaprio doesn't fly onboard this plane
I wish pan am is back again 💝💝💝
Well hell I feel like I'm getting ready to take off!
A310 Safety Video 1984
PAN AM
Smoking was allowed in the plane 😂?
Yes
One used to be able to smoke everywhere. Some changes sure have been good! :)
2:01 "Depressurization is fun, Mommy!"
💙
Crazy we let people smoke on planes 😅
no real change, besides the smoking part
They actually showed HOW the mask dropped and how the thing inflated. Instead of what they do now!
The days when smoking was allowed on commercial planes.
Back in the day when it was more common for men to wear suits and women dresses.
The manga was better.
Boeing>Airbus
Lmao so not true. Keep crying boeing fanboy
@@elliott7268 Boeing can’t get the max 10 certified , 787 deliveries still haven’t resumed , that 747 for Air Force one was littered with debris …. So ya airbus is superior
@@stankythecat6735 Boeing started its unfortunate turn from grace after the 777 was built. Boeing is now just a bunch of corporate liars who don't care about innovation or safety. Only profits. Boeing fans will continue to cry. For the most part, Airbus has been doing nothing but great innovative work and pushing the industry towards a better future. Damn I sounded like an Airbus rep then, but it's so true. Boeing was once a proud company run by proud engineers.
@@elliott7268 agree TOTALY
@@elliott7268 It's just HIS OPINION. I don't like the Airbus A321XLR and I prefer the Boeing 757-200.