If you’ve had the misfortune to fly commercially in recent years, you don’t need to be reminded what a dismal place the so-called “friendly skies” have become. Believe it or not, there was once a time when airlines passengers were treated with courtesy and respect; they were not forced to doff their shoes in humiliating security procedures but were greeted with warm towels and warmer smiles. There was a time when the airlines served passengers more than a bag of peanuts or a $9 “snack pack.” Most importantly, there was a time when flight attendants were not grisled martinets serving time ahead of their pensions, but were lithe nubile beauties excited about travel, and eager to please. The flight attendants of aviation’s yesteryear embodied an intrepid spirit of flight: young, cosmopolitan, and most of all sexy. Well that’s at least what the advertising of that era has led me to believe. And while society may now recognize the indignity of being made to itch beneath form fitting polyester as one pushes heavy carts down narrow alleys, smiling coyly while ignoring the pinches of garlic-breathed gabardine suited business men, male chauvinists will forever consider the passing of this era as a tragedy. So just for fun, let’s take a trip in the way back machine and enjoy a time when men were men, flight attendants were stewardesses, and flying was still an adventure.

Check out this video touting Pan-Am’s first jet service from 1958. Not sure if we buy the claim about “no vibration” or “hardly any sound” on a 707, but get a load of the beautiful silverware (yes, in those days airlines trusted passengers enough to not force them to use plastic sporks) and lobster and prime rib spread.

Sometimes airlines were pretty forthright in banking on the attractiveness of their stewardesses. National Airlines infamous “Fly Me” ad campaign attracted strong criticism from feminists.

Southwest Airlines meanwhile was eager to tout their own contribution to the field of commercial aviation. Open seating? Expanded regional service? Flexible fare pricing? No. Hotpants.

Airlines weren’t above using a bit of Freudian psychoanalysis to lure passengers. Here American Airlines taps into the old Oedipal Complex.

Famous fashion designers were called in to craft stewardess uniforms. Emilio Pucci employed his trademark multi colored prints for Braniff Airlines’ stewardess uniforms in the 1960s.

No these are not extras from an Austin Powers movie. The girls of now-defunct Pacific Southwest Airlines wore these delightful mod inspired numbers, which came complete with matching hat bags.

This Southwest stewardesses of the 1970s is pure Americana. The cowboy boots, the long auburn hair, that confident insouciant sexiness caught as she leans over to take a drink order (“Sure thing, sugar” she’s telling her passenger, no doubt.) They don’t make them like this any more. Yowza.

It would be a long and painful story to detail just what’s gone wrong with airline industry to catalogue its terminal descent from the days of short skirts, free booze, and prime rib to its current debased state. What’s clear though is that with rising fuel costs airlines are looking to cut even more corners than ever, and the service department is often the first on the block. For those looking to recapture the glamour and elegance of flying there’s always private aviation. To find out how to make flying privately a reality for you, download our comprehensive guide on the subject.