LatinPlane From United States of America, joined Dec 1999, 2629 posts, RR: 15 Posted (2 years 12 months 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 13810 times:
Listen to a real recording of a call made to Pan Am's reservation number in 1969 for an inquiry for a flight to the moon. In a public ad campaign in 1969 Pan Am actually advertised that they were taking reservations and or inquiries for future flights to the moon.
ThirtyEcho From United States of America, joined Dec 2001, 1634 posts, RR: 1 Reply 1, posted (2 years 12 months 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 13792 times:
I have a friend who has one of these. I think that there was a Moon Hilton reservation card issued about the same time.
DocLightning From United States of America, joined Nov 2005, 16819 posts, RR: 57 Reply 2, posted (2 years 12 months 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 13708 times:
My mom has one of these, actually. A reservation on the first PA flight to the moon. Great gag on their part, and one they never had to hold to.
EDICHC From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 3, posted (2 years 12 months 1 day 10 hours ago) and read 13554 times:
You should watch the sci-fi movie 2010, the sequel to 2001 A Space Odyssey (from which the PanAm spacecraft depicted in the original post is based). In the later movie there is a fictitious TV advert for PanAm. I think the narratve goes..."With services to the Moon and all major space stations, with PanAm the sky is no longer the limit."
gemuser From Australia, joined Nov 2003, 5217 posts, RR: 6 Reply 5, posted (2 years 12 months 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 13254 times:
Quoting oldeuropean (Reply 4): I don't know what is more ridiculous. Offering such a reservation or making such a reservation.
It was NOT ridiculous, AT THE TIME. It was commonly thought that commercial space flight would follow the Apollo program by the 1980s." We was wrong", very wrong, but it seemed reasonable at the time.
airfrnt From United States of America, joined Jul 2004, 2775 posts, RR: 43 Reply 6, posted (2 years 12 months 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 13072 times:
2001 had a pretty phenomenal impact on Pan Am, and they really did have a culture that insisted that as soon as flights to the moon were feasible, they would be the ones doing it. This was back when anything was possible, and no one on either side of the Atlantic or Pacific could match what Pan Am brought to the table.
It was a great bit of marketing, and a reflection on what made Pan Am truly great.
rfields5421 From United States of America, joined Jul 2007, 6150 posts, RR: 25 Reply 7, posted (2 years 12 months 1 day 4 hours ago) and read 12830 times:
I'm still po'd that I could not take that Moon flight in 2001.
The movie 2001 was as anticipated, as big an event as any block buster in recent years.
The PanAm tie-in to the movie like the cards in the OP were a natural connection as PAA was among the leaders in opening new routes, bringing airliner service to the far corners of the world.
Canadi>n From Canada, joined Feb 2000, 130 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (2 years 12 months 1 day 2 hours ago) and read 12136 times:
A buddy of mine has one of those as well. He was space-crazy back in 1969 and sent a letter to Pan Am in NY to get his reservation.
By the way...the back of that reservation card is amazing! Whoever designed it back in 1969 was prescient enough to realize that Pan Am would be going to billboard-style titling and dropping the cheatline by 2001!
EDICHC From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 9, posted (2 years 12 months 1 day 2 hours ago) and read 11970 times:
Quoting Canadi>n (Reply 8): Whoever designed it back in 1969 was prescient enough to realize that Pan Am would be going to billboard-style titling and dropping the cheatline by 2001!
I think it was a case of the Billboard styling was influenced by the movie.
isitsafenow From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 4984 posts, RR: 26 Reply 11, posted (2 years 12 months 1 day 1 hour ago) and read 11344 times:
I think it was earlier than '69. TWA also was taking a list. I was on it....anyone could have been.
safe
If two people agree on EVERYTHING, then one isn't necessary.
contrails From United States of America, joined Oct 2000, 1818 posts, RR: 0 Reply 12, posted (2 years 12 months 1 day 1 hour ago) and read 11097 times:
Quoting oldeuropean (Reply 4): I don't know what is more ridiculous. Offering such a reservation or making such a reservation.
Was it ridiculous for Pan Am to offer flights to the moon? No, not at all. This all happened in the late 60's, when many Americans - including me - thought we would be on Mars by 1980. Unfortunately it didn't work out that way.
This was a different country back then, in many ways. I really thought I'd be going to the moon before the end of the century, and I never imagined Pan Am would go out of business.
This post brought back some good memories. I need them, what with the way things turned out.
My father has the vinyl LP soundtrack in his collection with the Pan Am Blue Ball spaceship on the cover. It was a "can do" era in America where the Moon was merely a stepping stone onward to Mars before the turn of the 21st Century.
Editorial observation:Somewhere that scientific and pioneering curiosity of the comos was sidetracked.
PhilGil From United States of America, joined Jan 2005, 249 posts, RR: 1 Reply 14, posted (2 years 12 months 23 hours ago) and read 9562 times:
Quoting Highflier92660 (Reply 13): My father has the vinyl LP soundtrack in his collection with the Pan Am Blue Ball spaceship on the cover.
I had the same album - and a model of the Pan Am "space clipper."
2001 was a "big" movie for the time - written by a well-known author and directed by a famous ditrector - with a large budget and the best special effects that had been seen to date. It's hard for someone who didn't grow up in the '50's or '60's to understand the optimism people felt when looking toward the future. We had gone from the first man in space to the moon in 10 years, there was no reason to think we wouldn't be able to buy a ticket to space 30 years later.
UAL747DEN From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 2225 posts, RR: 13 Reply 17, posted (2 years 12 months 22 hours ago) and read 8487 times:
Quoting airfrnt (Reply 6): It was a great bit of marketing, and a reflection on what made Pan Am truly great.
I cannot understand where this Pan Am being great thing comes from, Pan Am was a horribly run company that couldn't survive without regulation that guaranteed that the airline make money. Pan Am used tactics that hurt the airline industry as a whole and if they would have been allowed to continue we would not have half the airlines we have today. It was a very very good thing for the airline industry that Pan Am was exposed for the corrupt corporation that it was and deregulation was allowed to happen, without it we would be in a very different situation today.
United960 From United States of America, joined Apr 2010, 36 posts, RR: 0 Reply 18, posted (2 years 12 months 21 hours ago) and read 7958 times:
Quoting UAL747DEN (Reply 17): I cannot understand where this Pan Am being great thing comes from, Pan Am was a horribly run company that couldn't survive without regulation that guaranteed that the airline make money. Pan Am used tactics that hurt the airline industry as a whole and if they would have been allowed to continue we would not have half the airlines we have today. It was a very very good thing for the airline industry that Pan Am was exposed for the corrupt corporation that it was and deregulation was allowed to happen, without it we would be in a very different situation today.
Let us have some fun! In a world where a whole lot of us ride around on or work on 50 seat RJs in constrained situations, it's fun to pretend we are taking off to the moon on a Pam Am space ship; to have, for just a minute, a little hope. Pan Am was an exciting airline even if it more about excess than efficiency, and people deserve to be able to enjoy that.
ZKEOJ From New Zealand, joined Feb 2005, 924 posts, RR: 7 Reply 19, posted (2 years 12 months 19 hours ago) and read 7266 times:
Quoting oldeuropean (Reply 4): I don't know what is more ridiculous. Offering such a reservation or making such a reservation
I was working for Thomas Cook in the late 1880s, and we took reservations for space shuttle flights. The TC HQ in the UK advised us that they already have booked training sessions for these passengers in a US NASA training facility, As gmuser said: It seemed to be ok at that time. We were told all was off with the tragic incident with the Challenger (was it the Challenger?)...
gemuser From Australia, joined Nov 2003, 5217 posts, RR: 6 Reply 20, posted (2 years 12 months 19 hours ago) and read 7221 times:
Quoting rwy04lga (Reply 15): 'We was wronged' seems more like it.
I'll drink to that!
Quoting UAL747DEN (Reply 17): I cannot understand where this Pan Am being great thing comes from, Pan Am was a horribly run company that couldn't survive without regulation that guaranteed that the airline make money. Pan Am used tactics that hurt the airline industry as a whole and if they would have been allowed to continue we would not have half the airlines we have today. It was a very very good thing for the airline industry that Pan Am was exposed for the corrupt corporation that it was and deregulation was allowed to happen, without it we would be in a very different situation today
Do I detect some personal animosity?
I don't know anything about your corruption charges, never heard that it was any worse than any other large corporation.
In my personal experience, PA was a well run company and a tough competitor, at least on my local scene. After it left the South Pacific, I don't know what happened, didn't follow it nearly as closely.
PA was well adapted to it's environment and used it well, that included using the US Government very well, to the point that many people regarded it as an unofficial arm of the US State Department. What PA did not do well was adapt to the changing environment it found it self in in the late80s/early 90s. That was its downfall.
thomasphoto60 From United States of America, joined Jan 2000, 3723 posts, RR: 25 Reply 21, posted (2 years 12 months 19 hours ago) and read 7135 times:
Quoting oldeuropean (Reply 4): I don't know what is more ridiculous. Offering such a reservation or making such a reservation.
Not at all ridiculous, again, considering that we got to the moon ahead of schedule, as others have eluded, there was so much optimism with regards to space exploration. Sadly, as today, politicians had little vision and after Apollo 17 funding was cut for further moon shots by the Nixon administration. Who knows what might have been, had the Apollo program been allowed to continue.
UAL747DEN From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 2225 posts, RR: 13 Reply 23, posted (2 years 12 months 19 hours ago) and read 6823 times:
Quoting gemuser (Reply 20): Do I detect some personal animosity?
Not at all, I'm WAY WAY to young to have any reason for animosity! (28 today!)
Quoting gemuser (Reply 20): PA was well adapted to it's environment and used it well, that included using the US Government very well, to the point that many people regarded it as an unofficial arm of the US State Department.
I completely agree and that right there is the problem. PA had government protection pretty much.
Delimit From United States of America, joined Jan 2009, 1432 posts, RR: 1 Reply 24, posted (2 years 12 months 18 hours ago) and read 6588 times:
Quoting gemuser (Reply 20): PA was well adapted to it's environment and used it well, that included using the US Government very well, to the point that many people regarded it as an unofficial arm of the US State Department. What PA did not do well was adapt to the changing environment it found it self in in the late80s/early 90s. That was its downfall.
It didn't help matters that Pan Am had no domestic route network to speak of when deregulation hit, and was prevented from creating one until the National merger.
Pan Am was an artifact of a different era. Fantastic airline during it's glory days though (and I am barely old enough to remember the few flights I took).
25 aviateur: Yes, I was going to mention that. You sort of see the ad playing in the background. Stanley Kubrick was afraid to fly. PS
26 rfields5421: The movie was in its glory days. Yes PanAm did not survive deregulation. When the 2001 movie and the idea of taking PanAm to the moon were current, t
27 fanofjets: Did the TWA promotion have anything to do with Werner Von Braun's fantasy TWA Moonliner, on display at Disneyland in 1962?
28 Braniff747SP: Damn!! Never seen that before, do you have more info?
29 PacificClipper: Amazing picture, thanks for sharing! Here is a fair use excerpt from Wikipedia about the TWA Moonliner .... "The TWA Moonliner was part of a futurist
30 cygnuschicago: Gee, imagine a 3 to 4 day trip strapped into a seat with 30 inches of legroom. Imagine staying strapped in for an extra 2 day launch delay due to "WX
31 cygnuschicago: I can see that the general public thought this was possible. However, in my opinion, the idea of average folks travelling to the moon and back by the
32 Aeri28: those of you who weren't around in the mid to late 60s dont see how "space" and anything futuristic was a big thing back then. The first space launche
33 PITrules: Just a reminder - although not to the moon - space flights ARE being sold today by an airline company http://www.virgingalactic.com/ Even travel agenc
34 gemuser: As did TWA, AC, AF, LH, BA, SK, QF, NZ and just about every other airline. It was an era of government protected airlines. In that era it was a great
35 be77: Not so sure about ridiculous...Canada Post delivers mail to Santa, and Santa REPLIES! http://www.canadapost.ca/cpo/mc/aboutus/news/letters/belleville
36 Delimit: Yeah, there are a few ways to get replies through the USPS as well. Plus if you send it to the Alaska station you get a custom North Pole cancellatio
37 1GR8AIRLINE: I don't know if I'd go so far as to say Pan Am was "corrupt," but I will offer that they were inefficient and benefitted greatly from their near-mono
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