The Early Years
As airplane travel became popular during the 1930s and in response to passengers desires to fly across the ocean, Boeing developed the Model 314, nicknamed the “Clipper” after the great oceangoing ships. The Clipper’s 74 seats converted into 40 bunks for overnight travelers – there were dressing rooms, a dining salon that could be turned into a lounge, and a bridal suite.1
 Prior to World War II the aviation industry’s main competition was the luxurious Pullman car. The Pullman experience rivaled luxury travel by air, as a more affordable, comfortable, and importantly less dangerous mode of transportation in the mind of the traveling public. A fare of 5.1 cents per mile was still more than twice that of rail travel in a Pullman car and nearly three times the cost of a seat in coach. For the price, airlines could not compete with the rails solely by offering low fares, airlines needed to enhance the experience of flight to appeal to the paying public.2
During these early decades of commercial air travel, flight was a privilege and a rare and somewhat dangerous experience. At the end of the 1920s the design of airline cabins was overhauled to include more comfortable space for passengers. Prior to takeoff, the typical airplane cabin was a setting familiar to travelers, designed closely after the Pullman passenger car (on web pair interior of the Pullman car to the interior of a plane). Once aloft flight was an experience with sensations that only unpressurized and uninsulated cabins have to offer. In addition to the awkward climate, the noise from the engines made it nearly impossible to converse with other passengers and crew.3 Community was almost non-existent in this environment except for the sense of belonging to the elite traveling class.
It was during these early days of commercial aviation that the co-pilot looked after passengers. He passed out box lunches and offered coffee from thermoses. Planes flew at about 110 miles per hour and at low altitudes, causing many passengers to get airsick from the rough flights.4 In an effort to ease the strain on passengers, stewards were hired to help manage the cabin. The first stewards hired in 1928 were black porters who left the Pullman car for the skies.5
1. Garvey, William and David Fisher. The Age of Flight: A History of America’s Pioneering Airlines. Pace Communications Inc., North Carolina: 2002.
2. Heppenheimer, T.A. Turbulent Skies: The History of Commercial Aviation. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York: 1995 (72-73).
3. Ibid, 76
4. Inflight Service: A Commemorative Edition "UAL News, Recollections on hiring the World’s First Stewardess" May/June 1980.
5. McLaughlin, Helen. E. Footsteps in the Sky: An Informal Review of U.S. Airlines Inflight Service 1920-Present. State of the Art Ltd, CO: 1994 (5)
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