Interview With Former Pan Am Stewardess - Gigi Block

Hello Pan Am Fans - Hope you are all having a pleasant April. 

Whilst we all await news regarding a second season of Pan Am I am making sure I keep the twitter page (@PanAm_Fans) busy with the latest news & tweets, as well as keeping followers informed with were the show stands. I have also been uploading Pan Am Photo Montages which have been loved by many in order to keep the Pan Am Buzz Alive! 

The wide interest in what life is like in the skies that has taken over my twitter page lead me to find out what life really was like, from a stewardess - and who better to find this out from than a Pan Am Stewardess! - Everyone, please meet Gigi Block, a former Pan Am Stewardess. 

I sent Gigi a few questions regarding her time as a Pan Am Stewardess, and she was more than happy to give us an insight to what her life was like at 37,000ft. Here's what Gigi Said about her career with Pan Am:

"I was raised in South Africa and attended school near Johannesburg.  As a young adult I went to Germany with the intention of spending about a year there and working on my German language skills. While I was there I was hired by BEA (British European Airways) to work at the airport in Hamburg as a ground agent. I made many friends working at the airport and I mentioned to the Pan Am Station Manager that I would love to become a Pan Am stewardess. He gave me an application and even sent it to the HR department in Miami for me.

The interview for the job was held in Miami, I remember being a bit nervous but once I entered the room I was put at ease by the interviewers. They were very interested in the fact that I had some airline experience and that I spoke foreign languages. I was also asked to get up out of my chair to walk up and down so they could check out how I walked. It only took a couple of weeks to find out that they had hired me. 

Training (in Miami) for the job turned out to be a six week course during which we had service training, how to cook a roast beef and eggs to order, how to use the galley equipment etc. We also learned how to deal with emergencies. Pan Am’s grooming regulations were very strict, we all had to have short hair and anyone who arrived in training with long hair had to have it cut.

I was sent on my first flight to Rio as a trainee which was very exciting to say the least, thank goodness the crew was very helpful in showing me the ropes.

Pan Am sent me to New York once I had finished training and I have lived there ever since. I loved my job and I stayed with the company until it went out of business. I was hired by Delta after Pan Am’s bankruptcy to fly their European routes which they had bought from Pan Am.

During my career I met many celebrities such as Sophia Loren, Henry Kissinger and Charles Lindbergh to name a few."

The Pan Am lifestyle certainly sounds as amazing as it is on the series, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Gigi Block very much for her time and for agreeing to take part to let Pan Am Fans know all around the world, what being an employee of Pan Am was really like. Follow Gigi Block on Twitter  @ggblock 

-Also I would like to thank everyone still continuing to Vote to #SavePanAm as part of E! Onlines "Save One Show". If you have not already voted, please visit eonli.ne/HZO2O8 and Click "Pan Am". 

Thank You for reading this blog post, and as always, feedback is very much appreciated. Tweet your comments to @PanAm_Fans  "Thank You For Flying Pan Am"! 

Gigi Block Is The First Person, Front Row On the Right.