Glamour of Aviation.

 Once, flying was about brave feats and privilege, and it carried an air of glamour and mystique. In the early days of both airplanes and cinema, wealthy aviators dated Hollywood starlets, and Hollywood continues to romanticise flying with films that glamorise the life of pilots, crew and even military aviators.  But is the aviator/flight attendant lifestyle as romantic as it looks?

Some suggest budget airlines have killed the glamour of flying, others maintain that it has never been as glamorous as it looked.  The article and video below both suggest a combination of factors. In ‘Up, up and away’, the author says air travel is just another form of mass transit and asks, “Is there any going back to the glamorous days of yore?”

The video, Cabin Crew Glamour, is a short (6 minutes) documentary. It features interviews with some flight attendant from the ‘golden days’ and suggests there’ll be no return to the days of long layovers and cocktail parties stewardesses once enjoyed.

Times may have changed but we’re not immune to the allure of the idea – just look at the popularity of recent films such as Amelia and The Aviator and how they influenced fashion with a return to aviator style.