from centaur hotels owned by ais subsidiary hotel corporation of india and the taj hotel help plan the menu he saysthe nowmuchtravelled gustasp irani recalls how people lit up their cigarettes as soon as the no smoking sign went off which was even before the seatbelt sign went off if you ran out of sticks you could buy a carton on board his sister was an air hostess till she got married as was the rule until the late 70s and he remembers the time jrd tata was on the flight the chairman and founder of the airline called his sister and told her to convey a message to the pilot you were six minutes too long on the runway from the 50s to the 70s you travelled air india in equal parts for the flight and the destination unlike today when most airlines are a purgatorial means to an end as a passenger you felt so welcome and wanted says bobby sista who helmed sista advertising until the 90sair indias fleet was growing having distinguished itself as the worlds first alljet airline in june 1962 a decade later in 1971 it acquired its first jumbo jet the boeing 747 sara kapoor name changed joined air india that year it was the movie life for young people at the time a chance to travel the world and live in posh hotels and shop abroadthese air hostesses were a glamorous set some even featured in consumer product ads a promotional film from 1962 called them shimmering shepherdesses and showed them gliding down the aisle in their silks offering passengers hot towels and boiled candy most of the passengers flying air india in the 60s and 70s were businessmen film stars or people travelling to meet relatives says kapoormeanwhile on his return journey from america gustasp irani had about as much luck as on his outward trip the air india flight had stopped in delhi my copassenger being a domestic traveller wasnt allowed to buy a whiskey he requested me to buy two for him which i did thinking hed let me have one what he did though was down the first in one gulp and then nurse the second