I have dedicated these words with love and respect to my flying friends. This book is an expression of
appreciation for the community of American Airlines. A community which was my world in the 1950s.
Libraries and Academic Institutions
ISBN - 13
978-1500875923
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0578147955
US market
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0578147955
United Kingdom
http://www.amazon.de/dp/0578147955
Germany
http://www.amazon.es/dp/0578147955
Spain
http://www.amazon.fr/dp/0578147955
France
http://www.amazon.it/dp/0578147955
Italy
Book stores and online retailers
Ingram 1-615-793-5000
Charities to receive % of profit:
The National MPS Society
Acacia Shade, Children with Disabilities in Ghana (Africa)
Orton Dyslexia Society
National Kiwi Fund
LDS Humanitarian Fund
"No one has ever become poor by giving."
— Anne Frank
“More Than a Ticket Memoirs Flying with American Airlines from Props to Jets” authored by Argie
Hoskins
Cover: Boeing has given permission to use their photo of the new Boeing 707 leaving Seattle for Los
Angeles for the Inaugural Flight. That photo is on the cover with me in my brown 1957 American
Airlines uniform. I was on the Boeing 707 Jet Inaugural Flight on January 25, 1959.
This book welcomes the reader with snapshots during the golden age of flying from carrying mail to a
time when excited passengers were treated as guests and everyone dressed in their Sunday best to board
American Airlines. It is engaging and appreciated.We served the flying public with much, much "More
Than a Ticket." We had time to hang coats, learn names, have a conversation, serve a delicious meal
and hold babies. You will feel the excitement of times gone by and get a glimpse of how the
atmosphere of air travel has changed through the years. The drama of time has created a different
picture.
My book "More Than a Ticket"
Part one: "My Life as a Stewardess," takes the reader on a journey with a shy country girl to the city,
but she is still a country girl as she becomes a confident stewardess serving all passengers, including
the rich and famous, making everyone feel at home. How did she do it?
Part two: "On Wings of Time," features short stories from American Airlines stewardesses, pilots,
flight engineers, and passengers. Both the young and old, casual readers and aviation enthusiasts will
be delighted with these memoirs from the contributors.
Stewardess Argie, "Am I cut out for this job?" “They say I am Dyslexic and with a sequencing
challenge.” However, "I did it!" "Make friends with your cognitive gifts that once felt like monsters." (Stewardess on American
Airlines Boeing 707 jet service inaugural jet flight across the country and also did public relations work
for American Airlines.)
Jon, son of pilot Heath Proctor, "My father was a pioneer airmail pilot." "Dad’s AA retiree ID card,
with employee number 02 on it!" (Father is deceased.)
Curt, son of AA mechanic and later a Flight Engineer Roy Jacobson, "I'll never forget the smell of jet
fuel." "We would go through the hangars and look at the planes." (Father is deceased.)
Stewardess MaryLou, "A secretarial job opened a few miles from home with American Airlines'
engineering office which I took and loved. I never wanted to leave." (MaryLou was on the Electra team
and subsequently became an AA stewardess.)
Stewardess Audrey, "Once a stewardess, always a stewardess." (Flew as a “stewardess” and then as a
“flight attendant.”)
Stewardess Gerry, "I was really nervous when I arrived because the other girls waiting to be
interviewed were wearing business suits, high heels, gloves, and some were wearing hats. I was
wearing a broomstick skirt and sandals." (Housemate who flew on Boeing 707s with me.)
Stewardess Polly, “Interviews are over, and besides, you aren’t the type.” (Polly became an outstanding
Stewardess.)
Stewardess Joan, "Important faces stood out in the crowd." "Jet fate." (Face in the crowd was a younger man who became her husband.)
Passenger Margaret, now age 97, "I thought he was getting a little too friendly (taxi cab driver.”)
Passenger Bob, "I don’t know what I mumbled, but when the plane started to roll forward to take off,
she sat down beside me, smiled, and one of her soft hands covered my gripping knuckles, and we were
off and flying." (Bob had been a passenger in two near misses before this flight.)
Stewardess Diane, "I told him that I would meet him at the gate. After we finished deplaning, I thought
to myself, 'Did I do the right thing?'” (A passenger without a ride to his home near where Diane lived.)
Stewardess Judi, "... meeting President Kennedy and then my husband are hard to top! (Husband was a
famous singer/actor.)
Engineer to Captain Tony, "There were no real flight simulators in those Pleistocene days, so all of the
flight training for the new jets was done in the airplane." (Tony was responsible for training AA jet
pilots.)
Somewhere in the clouds of time, we met, embraced, and parted. Moments remembered from here to
eternity. —Argie
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