History Series / PanAm

* TheBechdelTest: Passes with [[IncrediblyLamePun flying]] colors.
** Surprisingly inverted with the men on the show, for the first few episodes, at least. It seemed that whenever they talked to each other, it was always about the women. That changed in "Eastern Exposure" where a lot of their dialogue centered around how Dean was able to make flight captain despite nearly 50 first officers above him in seniority.

* CoolPlane: ''Clipper Majestic'', the Boeing 707-321 the crew routinely flies.
** Naming the plane is actually TruthInTelevision, as all Pan Am's aircraft were named Clipper--a nod to the days when the airline predominantly flew Boeing 314 "Clipper" flying boats, and the airline's "island-hopping" transoceanic routes were thus known as the Clipper Service.
* DuelingShows: With ''The Playboy Club''. Both are considered to be knock-offs of ''MadMen'' to boot.
** And this show is the big winner, as ''Playboy Club'' was cancelled after just three episodes.

* HistoricalInJoke: "It's Castro's country. He'll never keep it."

* LesYay: Emerging between Kate and Colette.

* MonochromeCasting: Pan Am's main cast is all white, apart from the TokenMinority Indian flight engineer Sanjeev (and even he isn't exactly exotic). Justified in that at the time Pan Am, and indeed most airlines, would not hire minorities.
** Actually, no. Pan Am was hiring Nisei (second generation Japanese-American) stewardesses as early as 1955 so, really, the show has no excuse.
** The Japanese-American stewardesses were meant only for Pacific flights. As of yet, the show's episodes have only shown the trans-Atlantic route, which explains Colette. So yes, the show has an excuse for now.
*** If you look closely, you'll see a Nisei stewardess (played by Yoriko Haraguchi) briefly as one of the girls gushing over the Life magazine cover in the pilot episode.

* ProductPlacement: Inverted. The production company licensed the name and logo of a well-known defunct ''company'' to promote the ''show''.
** Not quite defunct: Pan Am is now, of all things, a small ''railroad'' company in New England.

* RefugeInAudacity: How Maggie gets the girls in to the reception for JFK in Berlin.
** Also how Kate gets the East German courier into the same party, and Collete singing [[spoiler: the Nazi national anthem]]

** Maggie also have a lampshade of this.

* YourCheatingHeart: Colette is horrified to learn that a man she hooked up with is married... and he, his wife and son are aboard a flight she's working.

* BerserkButton: Collete really does not like Germany [[spoiler: given that her entire family was killed by the Nazis]]. Of course, given that she's the most outwardly calm stewardess of the lot, she only shows this indirectly, such as by [[spoiler: singing the Nazi National anthem at a party honoring US/West German partnership]]

* [[GuileHero GuileHeroine]]: Maggie. So much.

* [[OverprotectiveDad Overprotective sister]]: Kate

** Also how Kate gets the East German courier into the same party, and Collete singing [[spoiler: the Nazi National Anthem]]

* MaleGaze: Inverted in 'Genuine article'. The camera zooms in on Maggie's hip but it came from woman's eyeview.
* MilitaryMaverick: Ted when he was in Navy. It backfire horribly when he crash the test plane.

* StepfordSmiler: Collette strays into this territory when the crew is sent to Berlin, bringing back bad memories of the [[ThoseWackyNazis Nazi]] occupation for her

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: In-universe example. Had Ted not crashed his test plane, he [[ICouldaBeenAContender could have been]] part of {{NASA}} instead of an airline co-pilot.

* DidNotDoTheResearch: There is ''no way'' that any piano player in Post-War Germany would ever agree to play ''Deutschland Über Alles," much less at a party celebrating cooperation between Germany and the United States.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: In-universe example. Had Ted not crashed his test plane, he [[ICouldaBeenAContender could have been]] part of NASA instead of an airline co-pilot.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: In-universe example. Had Ted not crashed his test plane, he [[ICouldHaveBeenAContender could have been]] part of NASA instead of an airline co-pilot.

* ProductPlacement: Inverted. The production company licensed the name and logo of a well-known defunct ''company'' to promote the ''show''.

* CoolPlane: ''Clipper Majestic'', the Boeing 707 the crew routinely flies.

* GloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry: Kate and Laura.

* EekAMouse: Laura is set to screaming from on top of the bed in her hotel room when a lizard drops onto her from the bed canopy. Maggie picks it up and calmly puts it outside...only to join Laura on the bed when she finds a snake in the bathroom.

** Surprisingly inverted with the men on the show. It seems that whenever they talk to each other, it's always about the women.

* FakeNationality: French-Canadian Karine Vanasse as the French Colette.

* MilitaryMaverick: Ted when he was in Air force. It backfire horribly when he crash the test plane.
* MonochromeCasting: Pan Am's main cast is all white, apart from the TokenMinority Indian flight engineer Sanjeev (and even he isn't exactly exotic). Justified in that at the time Pan Am, and indeed most airlines, for the most part did not hire minorities. One exception is Pan Am hiring Nisei (second generation Japanese-American) stewardesses as early as 1955 so for Pacific flights. As of yet, the show's episodes have only shown the trans-Atlantic route.
** If you look closely, you'll see a Nisei stewardess (played by Yoriko Haraguchi) briefly as one of the girls gushing over the Life magazine cover in the pilot episode.

* MonochromeCasting: Pan Am's main cast is all white, apart from the TokenMinority Indian flight engineer Sanjeev (and even he isn't exactly exotic). Justified in that at the time Pan Am, and indeed most airlines, would not hire minorities.
** Actually, no. Pan Am was hiring Nisei (second generation Japanese-American) stewardesses as early as 1955 so, really, the show has no excuse.
** The Japanese-American stewardesses were meant only for Pacific flights. As of yet, the show's episodes have only shown the trans-Atlantic route, which explains Colette. So yes, the show has an excuse for now.
*** If you look closely, you'll see a Nisei stewardess (played by Yoriko Haraguchi) briefly as one of the girls gushing over the Life magazine cover in the pilot episode.

* BreaktheCutie: Colette. Just about every episode.