Lady Skywriter celebrates the golden age of commercial aviation when propellers pulled airliners through the “friendly skies,” and before deregulation, bankruptcies, mergers and passenger screening. Fifty years ago air routes were doled out by the federal government. Competition between airlines focused on other issues: passenger comfort, quality of food and exceptional service.

Those days are in stark contrast to what most of us experience today at our airports, on our airplanes and in the air. Lady Skywriter attempts to chronicle “the way it was,” wryly observes “the way it is” and, ever the optimist, wonders if there is hope that any day soon we will once again arrive refreshed at our destination, instead of hungry, grouchy, weary and stiff.

Lady Skywriter invites you to share your passenger experiences; whether they are soothing recollections of a kinder, gentler time back in the golden age of the stratocruiser or purges of your more stressful flights today. Go ahead . . . click on the white cloud above and share your stories with us.

A freelance writer based in Minneapolis, Anne Kerr has recently published Fujiyama Trays and Oshibori Towels, a memoir about her experiences as a stewardess in the 1950s, winner of the 2009 Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame Writer's Award.

Fasten your seatbelts for the entertaining program “No dresses, hats and gloves, No Service!” In these days of passengers dressed in T-shirts, shorts and flip flops, it’s hard to imagine dressing up for a flight. Book this fun program for your next luncheon or meeting. It will bring back the joys of elegant commercial flight for those who experienced it and those who wish they had . . . complete with Chiclets before takeoff!

How will the little old airline on the prairie adjust to becoming THE BIGGEST AIRLINE IN THE WORLD? And what might passenger service look like in the behemoth created by a NWA/Delta merger?
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