When Pan Am introduced its first jetliner, a Boeing 707 named “America,” with an inaugural flight on Oct. 26, 1958, a marching band performed for the 111 passengers who followed a red carpet to their Paris-bound plane. The women on...

Back in the ’50s and ’60s, passengers (well-dressed, of course, and with perfect manners) could count on hot meals on china, plenty of legroom, the occasional piano bar, even wool blankets. Those days are gone.