TWA was growing. From 1939 to 1940, passenger loads had increased by 57%. At first travel by airplane was considered something only the wealthy could afford. As airlines acquired more and better aircraft, travel for the average person was becoming a reality. Accompanying the increase in passenger travel also came the increase in the unanticipated. Training gave the hostesses the tools to perform their scheduled duties, but hostesses found each flight required a quick mind and a great deal of flexibility. 

 The key to the hostesses role was to present the company at its best. The impression the hostess made was the most important of any crew member because it determined how the passengers would remember TWA.

Three general rules for a TWA hostess:
	1. Retain your femininity 2. Conduct yourself to gain respect for the uniform 3. Be conscious of your uniform, but not self-conscious and the best secret to remember - SMILE!

February 14, 1942 the Boeing Stratoliner was the first pressurized cabin aircraft to TWA's fleet. the Stratoliner carried 33 passengers during the daytime, then converted to night operation providiing sixteen berths, and nine chaise lounge chairs. This aircraft could travel coast to coast in fourteen hours, and was staffed by two hostesses.

Flatware was still the responsibility of the hostesses, but with the new pressurized Stratoliner, new challenges to their job descriptions evolved. Hostesses would have to make up the berths, as passengers woke for their breakfast. Four seats faced each other and the table settings were quite elaborate. Hostesses also had to learn how to tactfully deal with that one passenger who's loud snoring would keep an entire cabin awake.

TWA's involvement with the war effort also included the need for more hostess. At this point TWA determined that male hosts were needed, thus the return of men to the cabin, this time as Pursers. Because of the need for nurses to support the war effort, the requirement to be a registered nurse was dropped. Instead potential hostesses had to have at least one year of college, be between 21 and 26, weigh between 100 and 126 pounds and measure between 5 feet 2 inches and 5 feet 6 inches. This became the new generation of hostesses.

1941 the United Stated entered into World War II, and TWA stepped up offering their new Stratoliners for service. TWA agreed to provide the crews and necessary material for flying the planes to any point on the earth as needed by the US Government. Planes were stripped of all the luxury items, and transformed into military transportation equipment. It was TWA who routinely accommodated President Roosevelt, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, General Charles De Gaulle, Premier and Madame Chang Kai Shek and Queen Wilhemenia of the Netherlands.

Another change was any hostess who married a serviceman assigned to depart overseas duty, was allowed to continue flying as long as her husband was stationed outside of the United States. Many of the TWA Hostesses, who were registered nurses wanted to support the war effort. Unfortunately TWA required that Hostesses resign from their duties as only male employees were allowed a military leave-of-absence.

1944 the first production model of the Lockheed Constellation, " Connie" debuted. This four-engine transport was capable of flying 57 passengers non-stop coast-to-coast above the weather in eight and a half hours. Howard Hughes designed this state of art aircraft. While WWII was still in progress, Jack Frye and Howard Hughes flew the TWA's first constellation from Burbank, California to Washington D.C. where they turned the A/C over the the Air Transport command. They arrived in the nation's capital in a startling record time of six hours, 37 minutes.

Howard Hughes would not allow women to work on the airplane during the showcase visit, men had to serve lunches on the nine days of flights over Washington before Hughes signed the plane over to the military. Nine hostesses in uniform accompanied the flight just to they could be on hand to greet Hughes' guests at the bottom of the steps. Despite Hughes idiosyncracies, TWA was thriving as the end of the war approached.

The Connie was unique in all ways, but for the hostesses, it was a dream plane to work, almost. A new design feature on the Connie was called the "bayonet tray". The trays were a great convience for the passenger and dreaded to install by the hostesses. Often hostesses would vie as to who would be responsible for setting up the bayonet trays - usually the junior hostess was left with the responsibility. Modern galleys were installed, as were many new and innovative design features to make the Connie one of the most comfortable flying machines in the industry.

1944 came a new uniform design by Howard Greer. Replacing the popular "Petty Girl" design, this uniform affectionately was referred to as the "cut-out" because of the red cut-out TWA logo on the right shoulder. to learn more about the Howard Greer design, click here.

1944, TWA had 150 hostesses. by September the next year the number doubled to 300, with 200 more soon to be added. Training classes doubled. Trainees were instructed to bring along rationing books as well as an accurate pocket or wrist watch, wire coat hangers, and three of four towels for personal use. They were still housed at Mrs. Carroll's, paying $11.25 a week which included all meals eaten in the family dining room.

Training still focused on passenger comfort, as opposed to safety. Other than learning the importance of seat belts, no smoking on landing and take-off and location of emergency exits - safety was not emphasized.

Ground delays, occasionally lasting for hours and sometimes overnight, were not easily managed. The passengers became the responsibility of the hostesses who had to escort them to dinner on the company, reserve hotel rooms, and check that each passenger was called in time to make the next flight.

Marriage rules were amended again in 1945. Flight and classroom instructors could now be married and maintain their positions unless they wed flight personnel.

Less than twenty years after Lindbergh flew to Paris, so did TWA. July 5, 1945 the Civil Aeronautics board granted TWA a certificate to fly halfway around the world. TWA was now officially an international airline. With lucrative domestic routes, TWA could easily transport passengers from coast to coast then on to Europe - all on one carrier. Star of Paris, the TWA Constellation which on February 5, 1946, inaugurated the first scheduled commercial air service across the Atlantic. The first flight from Washington D.C. to Paris, Charles De Gaulle airport was fourteen hours, 48 minutes. TWA was now positioned as the leader in the airline industry.

The inaugural first scheduled commercial air service across the Atlantic. The crew landed in Paris before a huge crowd and were photographed by the Paris press and interviewed on radio. Each international flight had three pilots, a purser and a hostess.

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Crew of the Star of Paris. February 5, 1946

International training - Water Ditching

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International flying presented TWA with new problems and many new decisions to be made. It was determined bidding preference be given to those hostesses who were fluent in French. For the first time seniority was not a factor. International meant that hostesses must also learn how to deal with foreign currencies, visas, passports, meteorology, Morse code, first aid (including delivering babies) and ditching procedures. Hostesses training expanded to include all weather conditions, whether they were in the water, jungle, or the Arctic. They were also required to learn popular games such a Bridge or Chess. Game kits were boarded along with a baby kit which included diapers and canned food.

At first TWA did not feel water ditching training was important, more for theatrics than anything. October 1947 attitudes changed. On a flight between Shannon, Ireland and Gander, Newfoundland TWA's plane began to lose power. The cabin crew were told they had seven minutes to prepare the cbin for a ditching. Everyone had to put on their life jackets and prepare for the ditching. At the last minute, the cockpit was able to regain power and everything was alright. After that incident, TWA instituted actual water-ditching training in coonjunction with the United States Coast Guard at long Island. Hostesses and Pursers were taken up in a seaplane and simulated an actual ditching proceedure.

Male Pursers - one more addition to the cabin crew. November 11, 1945, 22 pursers and 25 international hostesses graduated from training for their international flights. It was the Pursers responsibility to handle all of the paperwork and much of the heavier responsibilities of the flight. Hostesses could now focus on passenger comfort and TWA good-will.

1. Travel by train from Washington D.C to Wilmington

2. Ferried the airplane to the Marine Terminal at LaGuardia to board passengers for first leg

3. First leg of flight - Gander, Newfoundland

4. Layover for two or three days in an army barrack

5. Continue Eastbound to Shannon, Ireland.

6. Layover in LImerick and Ennis

7. Continue on to Paris, layover for two or three days

8. Continue on to Rome

9. Layover at Villa Graziola that TWA rented.

10. Final leg to Cairo, Egypt.

11. Layover thge Mena House near the Pyramids or the Helepolis Hotel.

Many mechanical and weather delays with longer layovers were common. It was not unusual to be gone for three weeks or more.

Finally in 1946 TWA decided to establish a domicile in Rome, where the crews lived on the Via Salaria in the Villa Graziiola. Eventually TWA had to establish bases all over the world because the flying time on the DC-4 and the Constellations were too long for one crew to take a flight to its final destination. During any delay or non-routine situation it was still the hostesses/pursers responsibility to care for the passengers. International the crews were really on their own as TWA was not well established.

The late 1940's represented a growth of the hostess image which paralled the growth of TWA. At the end of 1947, TWA fleet of 120 aircraft encompassed 78 DC-3's, 22 Constellations, 15 DC-4's and 5 Stratoliners. Services were expanded as well. TWA introduced sleeper service on international Constellations in 1948. The Sky Chief, as these flights were called, included contacting the first class passengers on the telephone prior to departure asking if they would like to be picked up by a limosine and what would they like to eat on the flight. On February 1949, TWA inagurated its revolutionary Sky tourist service in the United States, making air travel affordable to almost everyone.

TWA was now committed to make the world more accesssible as well as making the experience of travel more enjoyable.