Hostesses in hotpants: relive the cringe-worthy glory of 1970s flights

Last week we took a trip back in time to the 1980s, an era when first-class air travel was still glamorous, when air fax machines, air phones, and full size private beds were standard on poster-child MGM Grand Air flights. While that decade may have gilded the lily, the 80's were hardly the first period of glamour 40,000 feet up in the sky. So let us go back a decade further to explore what life was like in the sky.

The travail was finally taken out of travel in the 1970's, according to this Pan Am commercial. The 70's brought us now-standard cabin features like individual lights above each seat and vibration-free flights, a sensation in its heyday.

Steady rides meant airlines could begin offering fresh-cut flowers, and seat-side meat carving, features that have been long since abandoned. But who wants a flight attendant butchering a leg of lamb at your neck level anyway?

Continental's first-class lounge featured a sky buffet, but coach was where all the fun was. The airline equipped jets with a pub layout complete with bartenders serving cocktails, inflight arcade terminals featuring the ever-popular Pub Pong, and freshly popped baskets of popcorn. A promo video from the airline at the time sang, "If you can't fly Continental, you might as well not fly." Indeed.

American Airlines may have begged to differ. The 70's were full of firsts for AA. The first airline to feature freshly brewed coffee and transition to a computerized reservation system rolled out its Luxury Fleet of wide body 747 jets in 1972.

60 seats were removed from the planes in order to build "a coach lounge the size of a living room." And we're talking Don Draper bachelor pad-size living room. Each lounge featured a piano and complimentary bar, as well as a seating layout you'd be more likely to spot in a nightclub than aboard any plane today.

TWA took the decade by storm by offering American travelers "a taste of Europe whilst flying in the USA." A commercial from the decade crows:

"Wines of the world over Washington. Continental cuisine over Colorado. Quiche Lorraine, lively fish and chips, lasagna over Los Angeles. You'll hear Mozart over Missouri. You'll see foreign films over Phoenix. So ask your travel agent about Trans World service and get a taste of Europe at 30,000 feet."

But it's Southwest that takes the commercial cake from the groovy 70's, maaan. Playing by the old adage, "sex sells," the airline produced one of the period's most iconic marketing moments. Amenities and then cutting-edge cabin features were ignored completely in favor of the airline's one true talking point of the era: hot pants.

Didn't we almost have it all?