Wendy Sue Knecht and Her Years with Pan Am

On March 15, 2022, Wendy Sue Knecht regaled the audience at the Virginia Robinson Gardens with fascinating tales from her years as a Pan Am flight attendant from 1979 to 1991. Education co-chair Clare Wagner introduced Wendy and said she is multi-talented. Since her Pan Am career, she successfully ran an import-export business, designs travel bags and accessories, and is a health care advocate.

Elegantly attired in her Adolfo-designed uniform and pearls, Wendy charmed and delighted the guests sitting on the Tennis Court Observation Deck near the beautiful Display Rose Garden. Her first uniform was designed by famed Hollywood designer Edith Head. Wendy enthused, “This is the prettiest setting I’ve ever given a talk in and with the prettiest ladies!”

She said that Pan Am launched the Jet Age with a historic flight on October 26, 1958, from New York to Paris (with a refueling stop at Newfoundland) with 111 well-heeled and well-dressed passengers, the actress Greer Garson among them. They dined on pheasant with a brandy sauce, a dish created by Maxim’s of Paris. A big advocate of travel, Wendy said that travel was alluring then, and that travel and education just naturally go hand-in-hand. It was amazing to fly around the world, and she learned so much.

Pan Am required its flight attendants to have a college education and to speak a second language since the airline flew internationally. In those politically and socially incorrect days, the attendants had weight checks, strict grooming standards, and makeup requirements. The glamorous attendants looked like they could be on the cover of a Vogue magazine. Wendy said, “Pan Am would brag that they would only hire one in a thousand applicants, and they all had to love people and love travel…All the adventures I had with Pan Am made up for those rigorous standards we had to live up to.” They even had to adhere to those standards on their off time. In the late 70s, Pan Am loosened some of the rules, and female attendants were allowed to be married, but they could not fly if they were pregnant. Once they had lost the baby weight, they were allowed to fly again.

Wendy said, “Pan Am attendants were treated with reverence everywhere around the globe. We were the unofficial flag carriers, and we were ambassadors.” She related that when they arrived at 3:00 am at the Intercontinental Hotel in New Delhi, India, they would be welcomed royally with a silver tea service, treats, and lots of fanfare. Wendy continued, “We all felt so special, and I like to think that we made our passengers feel so special too. Our service was beyond compare!” In first-class, there were seven carts of service with a flower on each table, caviar, Chateaubriand served tableside, Lobster Thermidor, and Veuve Clicquot Champagne.

In addition, the flight attendants were taught to be culturally sensitive, to assimilate with the local culture, and not to offend or talk too loudly. Wendy said she has so much gratitude for her experiences. It gave her an immense appreciation for the freedom she was born into which many people take for granted. She continued, “Travel can enrich your life and make you a better person, and as Mark Twain said in 1889 in his book The Innocents Abroad: ‘Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.’”

What Twain said in 1889 is even more essential in today’s world. Travel helps to dispel myths and prejudices, “to celebrate our differences rather than fear them and to learn to appreciate cultural diversity.” She added that you learn from your passengers and can make the world better by being an ambassador for your country, and you dispel myths about your culture as well. “The exchange can be magical,” Wendy said.

Wendy was promoted to senior levels, and when she became a recruiter, she interviewed many applicants. Her colorful stories elicited gales of laughter from the audience. Wendy said she loved her job so much she did not marry until she was 47, and to another travel enthusiast. She said you can find out so much about a potential partner through traveling with them, whether they are generous, patient, polite, unselfish. tolerant, or their opposites. Wendy again quoted Mark Twain who said, “I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.” Wendy concluded by saying that nothing can replace the memories that were made through travel. “It is the only thing you can buy that makes you richer.”

A very lively and interesting discussion, full of laughter, ensued after the lecture as the attendees asked questions and shared their experiences. Past President Kerstin Royce was a Pan Am flight attendant for 4 ½ years, and she recounted her interesting adventures as well. Wendy mentioned that there is an event called the “Pan Am Experience” in Los Angeles. It was closed down during the pandemic, but it is coming back. The experience recreates the transit lounge, the ticket counter, the airplane, and the whole dinner service.

Wendy also wrote a wonderful book that she signed for the guests: Life, Love, and a Hijacking: My Pan Am Memoir. Co-chair Suz Landay created lovely travel-themed centerpieces with white hydrangeas and a paper airplane that contrasted handsomely with navy blue tablecloths. In addition to tasty lemon-pistachio muffins made by Suz, the group enjoyed a delicious chicken salad sandwich, green salad, and a brownie in a boxed lunch from Thyme. A big thank you to our fantastic Education co-chairs Clare Wagner, Suz Landay, and Ann Petersen who arranged such a wonderful lecture and a lovely and memorable afternoon for us to enjoy!