New York 1961: the dawn of the commercial Jet Age & a golden era of air travel. Betty Riegel spent her early childhood hiding in air-raid shelters as bombs dropped all around. From humble working-class roots growing up with a mother who struggled to make ends meet & a father away at war she had always dreamed of bigger things. After responding to an advert in the local newspaper she secured herself an interview for the Pan Am training programme & at just 22-years-old was selected from thousands of eager young British women to begin a career that would change the course of her life. Betty said goodbye to everything she knew & boarded a plane to New York a city full of noise towering skyscrapers & promise. Under the watchful eye of her 'housemother' Dottie Betty mastered the art of being the perfect Pan Am stewardess; everything from faultless etiquette geography & safety to seamless make-up application how to charm influential passengers & preparing five-course Parisian cuisine at 37 000 feet. But no amount of training could have prepared her for the rollercoaster of life in the air. Up in the Air charts the gruelling yet fabulous life aboard the most iconic airline there has ever been & how a young woman from Essex opened her eyes to the world & lived her dream.