Longing to return to the airline industry’s “Golden Age” of travel, with spacious seating, in-flight freebies and an open bar? Be prepared to pay for it.
(NEXSTAR) – Longing to return to the airline industry’s “Golden Age” of travel, with spacious seating, in-flight freebies and an open bar?
Just be prepared to pay for it.
A Pan Am-branded plane will be returning to the skies in 2025, offering a select group of passengers a multi-destination travel experience that retraces some of the now-defunct airline’s original transatlantic routes for one “all-inclusive” price.
The flight program, appropriately called “Tracing the Transatlantic,” kicks off June 27, 2025, in New York City before making stops in Bermuda, Lisbon, Marseille, London and Foynes in midwestern Ireland, where guests can tour a full-size Pan Am Clipper replica before heading back to the States on July 9. At each stop, travelers will enjoy accommodations at notable hotels including the Waldorf Astoria in NYC, the Four Seasons Hotel Ritz in Lisbon, The Savoy in London, and a literal castle in Ireland.
The flights and accommodations were chosen to invoke a sense of luxury and exclusivity, according to the official website of Criterion Travel, a U.S.-based tour operator who partnered with Bartelings, a U.K. charter company, to plan the trips under an official license from Pan Am Brands.
In other words, it’s not cheap. Tickets are priced at $59,950 per person for passengers traveling as a couple, or $65,500 per person for solo travelers.
Costs include more than just travel and accommodations. The flights — chartered on an “all business-class” plane — will feature lie-flat seats, an open bar and “continental cuisine.” The inclusive rate also includes all meals (except for a dinner in London), and some “exclusive branded swag,” according to the Criterion and Bartelings sites. (A representative for Criterion was only able to say the “swag” will include Pan Am-branded items and collectibles; Pan Am’s official site currently sells pens, bags and sweatshirts, among other items.)
Additionally, Criterion indicated that the passengers — of which only 50 will be allowed — can partake in optional excursions at the destinations. Guests will also enjoy expedited screening at customs and immigration checkpoints, per the Tracing the Transatlantic site.
A spokesperson for Criterion Travel added that the plane itself (a Boeing 757-200) will feature “Pan Am livery,” indicating it may resemble the airline’s aircraft of yore.
Despite the price, the idea of revisiting the Pan Am era has proven to be quite popular: The first Tracing the Transatlantic trip is already sold out. Criterion’s spokesperson has confirmed that a second departure is already in the planning stages, though they did not say when that trip would take place.
Craig Carter, the CEO of Pan American World Airways, had already indicated that future flight programs could take to the skies in coming years, calling the 2025 experience just “the first of many exclusive themed flights back into the luxury travel space.” A full itinerary on the Bartelings site also teases “exciting centenary plans for Pan Am in 2027.”
Pan American Airways, founded in 1927, was once regarded as a leading international airline. The carrier filed for bankruptcy in 1991 amid increased competition from commercial carriers.
