Editing Jet set

{{Short description|Wealthy people who travel widely for pleasure}}{{Redirect|Jet setter||Jetsetter (disambiguation)}}
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The '''jet set''' is a social group of [[wealth]]y and fashionable people who travel the world to participate in social activities unavailable to ordinary people. The term was introduced in 1949 and replaced "[[café society]]"; it reflected a style of life involving travelling from one stylish or exotic place to another via [[jet plane]].  With the democratization of air travel it has been replaced at least in part by the term "''glitterati''", reflecting a greater emphasis upon celebrity, including "being seen" and stalked by ''[[paparazzi]]'', and less upon mode of travel.

The term "jet set" is attributed to [[Igor Cassini]],  a reporter for the ''[[New York Journal-American]]'' who wrote a [[Gossip columnist|gossip column]] under the pen name "[[Cholly Knickerbocker]]".<ref>{{cite news|quote=[Oleg Cassini] and his younger brother Igor (who became the Hearst newspaper gossip columnist 'Cholly Knickerbocker' and coined the phrase 'jet set')…|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/oleg-cassini-470646.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080405235200/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/oleg-cassini-470646.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 5, 2008|title=Oleg Cassini - Obituaries|work=[[The Independent]]|date=20 March 2006|first=Tom|last=Vallance}}</ref>  He was a younger brother of the fashion designer [[Oleg Cassini]]. Another term that developed during the era{{Which|date=July 2024}} was ''Beautiful People'',<ref name=vogue>''Vogue'' 15 February 1964:49 and ''[[The Ladies Home Journal]]'' September 1970:81, noted [http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/beautiful_people/ Barry Popik, "Beautiful people"].</ref> a period equivalent to today's concept of "''glitterati''" being "[[supermodels]], [[celebrities]] and [[socialites]]", where looks, youth, and attractive activities predominated over wealth and high social standing.

Jet passenger service in the 1950s was marketed primarily to the upper class, but its introduction eventually resulted in a substantial democratization of [[air travel]]. Although the term "jet set" can still be found in common parlance, its literal meaning of those who travel by jet is no longer applicable as such.<ref>{{cite news|quote=...air travel has been transformed from a luxury good to a mass-market product.|url=http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/in_praise_of_cheap_flights/14440|title=In praise of cheap flights|work=[[Spiked (magazine)|Spiked]]|date=19 December 2013|last=Niemietz|first=Kristian|access-date=20 January 2014|archive-date=17 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180917143110/http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/in_praise_of_cheap_flights/14440|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== History ==

The British international air carrier [[BOAC]] inaugurated the world's first commercial scheduled jet service on 2 May 1952, using the [[DH106 Comet|de Havilland Comet]], followed by the introduction of the Comet 4 in 1958 after a series of accidents in 1953–1954. The first successful service, from October 1958, was the typical "jet set" route, London–New York City. [[Pan American World Airways|Pan Am]] followed suit with the [[Boeing 707]], making its first scheduled flight between New York City and Paris on 26 October 1958.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Swopes |first1=Bryan |title=26 October 1958 |url=https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/26-october-1958/ |access-date=12 September 2023 |work=This Day in Aviation |date=26 October 2022}}</ref>

Other cities on the standard jet set routes were [[Honolulu]], [[Mexico City]], [[Las Vegas]], [[Los Angeles]], [[San Francisco]], [[Washington, D.C.]], [[Rio de Janeiro]], [[Athens]], [[Madrid]], [[Paris]], [[Rome]], [[Vienna]],  [[Bangkok]], [[Hong Kong]], [[Manila]], [[Punta del Este]] and [[Tokyo]]. Jet set resorts in places like [[Acapulco]] and [[Nassau, Bahamas|Nassau]], where [[Huntington Hartford]]'s new [[Paradise Island]] opened in 1962, were taking the place of [[Bermuda]]. Meanwhile, [[Cannes]], [[Capri]], [[St. Tropez]], [[Portofino]],<ref>"Portofino has long been fashionable with what we once called 'the jet set'." {{cite web |url=http://www.knowital.com/history/liguria/liguria-history.html |title=History and tourist information on Liguria, Italy |access-date=2007-04-27 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070429213627/http://www.knowital.com/history/liguria/liguria-history.html |archive-date=2007-04-29 }}</ref> and other sea-side towns on the [[French Riviera|French]] and [[Italian Riviera|Italian]] Riviera were on the jet set itinerary. Greek Islands such as [[Mykonos]] were included in the loop around 1974.{{citation needed|date=July 2019}} Later on other hot spots such as Spain's [[Marbella]] on its [[Costa del Sol]] also developed a similar reputation.

The original members of this elite, free-wheeling set were those [[socialite]]s who were not shy about publicity and entertained in semi-public places like restaurants and in [[night club]]s, where [[paparazzi]]—a jet set phenomenon—photographed them. They were the first generation that might spend a weekend in Paris or fly to Rome just for a party. The jet set was celebrated in popular culture, for example, [[Federico Fellini]] captured their lifestyle in ''[[La Dolce Vita]]'' (1960), and many movies and record albums of the era promoted flying to foreign lands for honeymoons and getaways, such as Capitol Records ''Honeymoon in Rome'' (1956).<ref>{{Cite book|title=Designed for hi-fi living: the vinyl LP in midcentury America|last=Borgerson|first=Janet|publisher=MIT Press|others=Schroeder, Jonathan E., 1962-|year=2017|isbn=978-0-262-03623-8|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|oclc=958205262}}</ref>

The term was joined in the spring of 1962 by ''[[Vogue (magazine)|Vogue]]''{{'s}} coinage of the term "the Beautiful People". This expression initially referred to the circle that formed around [[President of the United States|President]] [[John F. Kennedy]] and [[First Lady of the United States|First Lady]] [[Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis|Jacqueline Kennedy]]. Readers of the 15 February 1964 ''Vogue'' could learn "What the beautiful people are doing to keep fit." The two phrases ran for a time in tandem; in 1970, author and social commentator [[Cleveland Amory]] could fear "that the Beautiful People and the Jet Set are being threatened by current economics."<ref name=vogue/>

A sign that "jet set" had passed from urbane use was the 1974 [[country music|country]] song "[[(We're Not) The Jet Set]]", in which [[George Jones]] and [[Tammy Wynette]] claim they are "the old [[Chevrolet]] set," as opposed to leading a glamorous, "jet-setting" lifestyle.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Hackett |first1=Vernell |title=(We're Not) The Jet Set |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/were-not-the-jet-set-54990/ |access-date=April 30, 2024 |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=June 8, 2012}}</ref>

In 1976, the jet set first flew on the supersonic [[Concorde]]. Scheduled flights began on 21 January 1976 on the London–[[Bahrain]] oil executive route and the distinctly jet-set Paris–[[Rio de Janeiro]] (via [[Dakar]]) route. From November 1977 the Concorde was flying between standard jet-set destinations, London or Paris to New York City; passenger lists on initial flights were gossip-column material. The Concorde restored the term's cachet: "From rock stars to royalty, the Concorde was the way to travel for the jet set," according to the ''[[Nova (American TV series)|Nova]]'' retrospective special "Supersonic Dream".<ref>[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/3203_concorde.html On-line NOVA transcript] (18 January 2005)</ref> However, the Concorde was doomed by its [[sonic boom]], limited global fly-over rights because of the boom, its huge thirst for jet fuel, and [[Air France Flight 4590|a disastrous crash]]. The aircraft was retired in 2003. Meanwhile, the [[Boeing 747]], densely packed with some 400 passengers,<ref>366 in the 747-100 inaugurated in 1970; 400 by 1983 in the 747-300; and 467 in the 747-8 of 2010; see: [[Boeing_747#Specifications|Boeing 747 Specifications]]</ref> was a craft that accelerated the democratizing social changes already brought about by the jet age.

== See also ==

* [[Celebrity culture]]
* [[Elite]]
* [[High society (social class)|High society]]
* [[International Debutante Ball]]
* [[Jet Age]]
* ''[[Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous]]''
* [[Pan Am (TV series)|''Pan Am'' (TV series)]]
* [[Playboy lifestyle]]
* [[Setjetting]]
* [[JETSETCAM.COM]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==

* {{cite book |last=Amory |first=Cleveland |author-link=Cleveland Amory |title=Who Killed Society? |location=New York |publisher=Harper |year=1960 |oclc=419736 }}
* {{cite book |last=Wilkes |first=Roger |year=2003 |title=Scandal: a Scurrilous History of Gossip |location=London |publisher=Atlantic |isbn=978-1-903809-82-2 }}

== External links ==

* {{cite web |title=The Opening of the Commercial Jet Era |url=http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Commercial_Aviation/Opening_of_Jet_era/Tran6.htm |archive-date=March 2, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060302081516/http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Commercial_Aviation/Opening_of_Jet_era/Tran6.htm }}

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[[Category:Upper class culture]]
[[Category:History of aviation]]
[[Category:20th century]]