The Jet Set nostalgia dredged up by the airing of the cable series “Pan Am” has got me thinking about which modern-day airlines have best retained the glamour of that bygone pioneering age.

Or airline.

Unlike other carriers who rely on hardware upgrades to wow passengers, Virgin Atlantic’s draw emanates from its sassy, seductive brand values. An unashamed preference for attractive flight attendants, oft celebrated in their advertising, doesn’t hurt either. Virgin flight attendants, decked in their red-fitted outfits, were voted sexiest in the world at the UK Business Travel and Meetings Show earlier this year.

After all, as much as we may err against the superficiality of the idea in principle, we’re all hardwired to appreciate charming and attractive people. (Male flight attendants also look sharp in black trousers with a black waistcoat over a white shirt – the back of which is purple, and purple ties.)

I was interested to get Virgin Atlantic’s thoughts on this and paid them a visit at Heathrow Airport, meeting chief commercial officer Julie Southern.

She told me that a huge amount of effort goes into crew presentation and the attendants take enormous pride in how they look. “It is very important to us that our crew not only provide fantastic service on board but look great as well.”

But, no matter how good the looks, they will only go so far. Like the pilots and stewardesses on Pan Am, Virgin Atlantic sees their crew as very powerful ambassadors.

Southern says, “Outstanding customer service is what Virgin Atlantic is known for, and that is one of the biggest deciding factors for perspective travellers.”

“If you look at the quoted words of why Richard [Branson] started the airline, it was about people who were fed up of being treated badly, who wanted travel to be fun and something different, and that really is in the company’s DNA.”

Virgin Atlantic have been inventive; the first airline with in-seat entertainment; premium economy; limos; drive-through check-ins; beauty therapists onboard. But I would argue it’s their re-inventiveness that wins them accolades.

Their on-board bars in Upper Class cabins, for example. As veteran air travellers – or Pan Am viewers – will know, bars featured highly in the early days of transcontinental flight, when aircraft were like flying cruise ships with an emphasis on champagne and caviar.

“I think the days of caviar sadly are over,” Southern concedes. “But you see people having a fantastic flight, a really social time.”

A lot of the really snazzy touches on Virgin are only available in Upper-Class. Southern talks of ‘degrees of glamour’: “What we are trying to do all the time is make sure that it’s a different and differentiated experience for [the majority of passengers]”. The economy meal service, welcome cocktail and rapid clear-away service are mentioned.

Southern and I are sitting in the Upper Class Wing, a spaceport-like lobby accessible via “fast-track” elevator from check-in, or by drive-through access. Upper Class passengers get a complimentary limo drop-off from wherever they are staying in town.

Virgin Atlantic’s terminal-within-terminal-3 was built in response to BA getting Terminal 5 all to itself; her airline, Southern says, was determined that T3 shouldn’t become “an uninvested poor relation of T5.” They couldn’t out-do the latter, so they decided to out-small it, creating something intimate for their top-end clientele.

“Everyone who uses it loves it. And there’s a real process for us to get people to trial it. Once they have, they don’t go back.”

From the lobby, top-end fliers breeze through a private security screening – the journey to the gate takes six or seven minutes on average, says Southern, depending on how busy the duty free area is.

But passengers know not to leave it too late: There’s an 11 million pound Club Lounge* in which to first repair. The 10-tennis-court-sized space encompasses an infinity bar, leather-bound-book-lined study, Brasserie, hair salon, spa, pool table and chic, September-opened Grey Goose vodka bar. Everything is free, even some of the massage treatments and (simple) haircuts.

But do passengers on Virgin flights glam up as they might have done in the sixties? Southern says no, though they do respond to the humanity of the service.

“They are very conscious that they are getting something that is very different to other airlines.”

Since the 1960s, anyway.

*All Virgin Atlantic Club Houses are due for a refurbishment next year. Heathrow also has a land-side arrivals lounge open from 5am until lunchtime. There are showers; your clothes can be pressed.

Image – The Grey Goose vodka bar at Virgin Atlantic’s Upper Class Lounge in Heathrow Terminal 3.