Some airplanes used to have dance floors.

Dance floor on an Air Canada jet in 1972

Ah, for the days of the groovy ’70s. While most contemporary airline passengers find their in-flight entertainment choices limited to a menu of movies and TV shows, the “Me Decade” saw airlines go all out with attempts to please customers aboard their brand-new Boeing 747 jumbo jets. Case in point: Air Canada turned the upper deck of its 747 into a 5-mile-high club for transatlantic flights between Toronto and Europe, with music blasting from 8-track tapes as passengers shimmied on a dance floor in lockstep with their reflections on a mirrored wall.

Those who missed out on the Air Canada dance-fest could still find other means for enjoyment among the competition. United Airlines and Qantas Airlines transformed the upper-deck compartments of their 747s into lounges, respectively dubbing them the “Friendship Room” and the “Captain Cook Lounge.” The Singapore Airlines version, known as the “Raffles Lounge,” provided “slumberettes” for those who wanted a nap after a few drinks. American Airlines installed a piano bar in the rear main cabin of its 747 fleet, even if the piano was technically a Wurlitzer electronic organ that proved more durable on bumpy flights.

Sadly, this era of the party plane was short-lived, as airlines realized that the precious space set aside for socializing could be used to pack in even more paying customers. Air Canada’s dance floor lasted for only about a year, and most other plane lounges and bars were gone by the 1980s, thereby eliminating the in-flight option of doing the Funky Chicken for all but the most determined of passengers.

By the Numbers

Did you know?

Zeppelins represented the peak of luxury for air travelers in the 1930s.

Although the commercial airline industry began seeing a major upswing in popularity by the 1930s, a plane ride could still be a cramped and unsettling experience for those aboard. The rigid airships built by Germany's Luftschiffbau Zeppelin, on the other hand, ensured that passengers were traveling to their destinations in comfort and style. The most celebrated of these zeppelins, the massive Hindenburg, featured a spacious dining room, lounge, and writing room to go with the passenger cabins across the upper deck of its hull. The lower deck contained a bar and a smoking room, the latter a head-scratching choice for a dirigible inflated with flammable hydrogen, even if the room was sealed off and pressurized to keep hydrogen from seeping in.

Of course, the Hindenburg did burst into flames (for unknown reasons) while attempting to dock in New Jersey in May 1937, but even after the accident, customers continued to request tickets for transatlantic flights on an older airship, the Graf Zeppelin. However, the start of World War II and the funneling of parts toward the war effort ushered an end to the zeppelin's reign as kaiser of the skies, and the general public would have to wait a few more decades before enjoying similar levels of luxury aboard an airplane.