How Pan Am’s biggest fans are keeping the airline’s spirit alive. ‘Miami was everything’

The Pan Am Museum Foundation was started in 2015 by a group of former Pan Am’s flight attendants. They saw it as an extension of the Pan Am Historical Foundation.

The founders are all volunteers, led by Linda Freire, chair at the Pan Am Museum Foundation and a former Pan Am flight attendant.

“It’s a passion project. It’s a labor of love,” she said.

READ MORE: Is Pan Am flying again? Here’s how you can relive the iconic airline’s golden era

The New York museum is inside Long Island’s Cradle of Aviation Museum. You can support the organization by attending its annual gala on Oct. 5.

Freire, a key advisor of the upcoming trips from New York to Europe , recently spoke to the Miami Herald. Here are five questions and answers:

You launched the museum in 2015. What was the response?

In the first year and a half of the operation, we were blown away by the interest. Since then, we have opened 12 exhibits, spent over $800,000 to build them and launched an award-winning podcast. We have 46 episodes to date, downloaded over 200,000 times in 161 countries.

What’s the typical reaction you get at the museum?

We get incredible reviews and from a lot of schoolkids. We get a lot of kids who never experienced what it was like to fly on a Pan Am luxury experience aircraft. They didn’t know there was fine china used. They didn’t know we would cook a roast beef to order onboard the aircraft.

Even their parents who may be in their 30s and 40s look at this and say, ‘Wait a minute, you did this on an airplane?’ There’s fascination and interest. It’s not taught in the history books.

They don’t know the incredible and pivotal role Pan Am played in World War II and the successful assistance Pan Am gave to the Navy and the Army Air Corps in the winning of the war, especially in the Pacific.

What was so unique about flying on Pan Am back in the day?

It was the service. The first-class service took 2 1/2 hours to deliver. This was an elegant, elaborate service.

You’d set a table for the customer, lay out the linen, put out the fine china, put out the silverware and give them a menu. You put a vase out with a fresh flower on the table. Then you come out with pre-departure drinks.

Then nuts and little appetizers and that was before you started a hors d’oeuvres service.

You took orders off a menu, everyone had their options of drink of choice or champagne, or wine, French wines. Then do the appetizers. One thing that was paramount in Pan Am’s premium service delivery was the caviar presentation.

You clean up and then you roll out the roast beef cart or other entrée. It was two seats, so you serve both people together, and make sure it was cooked to their liking. If not, you fix it.

Then, carve roast beef at their tableside.

What was coach like?

We would walk through the cabin every 15 minutes. The whole idea was to anticipate what a customer needed as opposed to wait until they ring a call light or react to someone who may come into the galley.

What was Miami’s role?

Miami-South Florida was everything and started the airline.

Dinner Key terminal is Miami City Hall in Coconut Grove and holds a special place in Pan Am-ers all over the world.

The 100th anniversary of Pan Am will be in 2027. We’re in the process of planning a big centennial celebration in Miami to commemorate. We’re hoping to do an event at the Regatta Harbour Hangar