United Air Lines Mainliner Service for Baby, 1950s

Flying with an infant or a toddler must have been easier in the 1950s, according to this leaflet called A Sky Ride for Baby for United Air Lines’ pioneering coast to coast Mainliner service.

‘After you board your Mainliner, the stewardess will relieve you of your miscellaneous packages and diaper bags. She will help you get comfortable, take the baby’s outer clothing… then put it away for safekeeping,’ says the leaflet.

Food on offer to infants or children included mixed vegetables, peas, peaches, apricots, pears, applesauce, dry cereal, custard pudding and graham crackers.

Mothers (fathers do not get a mention and are not even featured but hey, this was the 50s) could ask for their baby’s milk bottles to be heated to order.

The leaflet continues:’ And while you feed the baby, the stewardess will retire to the buffet to prepare your own delicious Mainliner meal.’ 

Sample Mainliner meals for mothers were braised short ribs of beef in burgundy wine sauce or the seafood’ catch of the day’ and an extensive list of non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks to choose from.

On board there was also a supply of disposable diapers in case a mother ran out.

This leaflet was from the late 1950s when commercial air travel was becoming increasingly common and United Air Lines was still three words. It became the two-word United Airlines after 1975.

United’s Mainliner fleet of propeller aircraft crisscrossed the country during this era with its airplanes with red, white, and blue markings becoming familiar sights in the sky and on the tarmac at airports across the US.