Pan Am FAQ
95 questions players ask · Updated Nov 13, 2026 · Full rulebook
Components and Setup
- What do the up arrows at the top of the bidding tracks mean?
- What happens if the bank runs out of money tokens during the game?
- How many Engineers does each player get in a 2-, 3- or 4-player game?
- Are there fewer starting Planes in a 2-player game than in a 4-player game?
- When are Destination cards dealt out, and when are bought ones replaced?
- Are Destination cards kept face up for everyone to see, and are Directive cards hidden?
Destination Cards
- Where do discarded Destination cards go?
- When the Destination deck runs out, are the discarded Destination cards reshuffled to make a new deck?
- What does the $1 bonus on an unclaimed Destination card mean, and does it build up over rounds?
- When you buy a Destination card, do you pay the bid before or after taking its bonus money?
- Can you choose the order in which to resolve several Destination cards?
- When an event says to draw a Destination card, does it come from the deck or from the face-up cards?
- Can players look through the discarded Destination cards at any time?
- Can you hold two Destination cards for the same city?
Landing Rights and Routes
- What are the ways to get landing rights in a city?
- Do you need landing rights in both cities to claim a route?
- After you claim a route, do you keep landing rights in the cities at its ends?
- Can two players claim the same route, or can Pan Am share a route with a player?
- Can one player block a city so nobody else can claim routes there?
- Can discarded Destination cards give landing rights at both ends of one route?
- Can one Destination card cover both ends of the same route?
- Can you discard a card of a city's region color to open that city, even when the card does not name a city on the route?
- Is a Destination card discarded when it gives you landing rights in its own city?
- Can one Destination card give landing rights for several routes?
- Do you lose a route if you later discard the Destination card that gave you landing rights for it?
- If a city's rights came from discarding Destination cards, do you need to get them again for another route to that city?
- If you move an airport, do the routes it helped you claim stay on the board?
- When Pan Am buys one of your routes, do the airports or cards you used to claim it leave the board?
- Can you swap the Plane on a claimed route for a smaller one, or take it back?
- How many routes can one Engineer claim?
- Can one player claim more than one route in a round?
- If you buy a Plane in the Planes step, can the same Engineer round use it to claim a route?
- Is there a direct route between New York and Paris, and what is it worth?
Airports and Planes
- Can two players each place an airport in the same city?
- Can you move an airport that is already on the board?
- Does an airport placed by an event or Directive card add $1 to your income?
- Must the Plane you buy be your own color?
- If you run out of one Plane size, can you buy another color's Plane or a different size?
- How many players can end up with a Jet in one game?
Engineers and Bidding
- Can several Engineers use the Routes (D) or Directives (E) area in the same round?
- Can two players bid on the same Airport, Destination or Plane track in one round?
- Must an Engineer start at the lowest space on a bidding track?
- Can you bid higher than the highest value printed on a bidding track?
- Can you outbid your own Engineer on a bidding track?
- Can you place a bid you cannot pay for?
- When is an outbid or returned Engineer placed again?
- Can you choose not to place an Engineer, and when do you get it back?
- How does Priority Access work for Engineers left on the Directives (E) area?
- Who places the first Engineer in the Assignment step?
- Can an Engineer be placed to take the First Player token?
Directive Cards
- Do you need an Engineer in an area, such as Directives (E), to play a Directive card?
- Can you play several Directive cards with a single Engineer?
- Does a free-route Directive need an Engineer on the Routes (D) area?
- Does an Engineer that gains nothing still count as resolved for a card that says 'when resolving your engineer'?
- Are Directive cards discarded after they are played?
- Can you play a Directive card as soon as you draw it, or one you already hold, in the same phase?
- How are Directive cards resolved when two players want to play them at the same time?
- When can you play the Prediction Directive card?
- Does a Directive that pays $2 to place an Airport replace your route claim?
- On the Connection Hub Directive, must the airport be at one end of the route you claim?
- On the Advertise Directive, do 'routes you have currently claimed' include routes claimed in earlier rounds?
- When can a Directive that sells a route to Pan Am be played?
Event Cards
- Does an event that doubles income also double route-sale money or Directive bonuses?
- When does the Age of Tourism event pay out, and does it change your income?
- Does Age of Tourism pay for your two longest routes, and must they be connected?
- When the Conscription event removes your Plane from your fleet, where does it go?
- What does the Round 7 End of an Era event do to your routes?
- Does Worldwide Headquarters let you sell one route for each Directive card you draw?
- Does the Foundation of Pan Am event's Asia-Pacific expansion happen in addition to the expansion die roll?
- Does an event that sends Pan Am along a path still require the expansion die roll?
Pan Am Expansion
- When a Pan Am path is rolled, which route does Pan Am claim?
- What happens when a rolled Pan Am path has no unclaimed route left?
- Can Pan Am buy a route that is off its expansion paths?
- When the Pan Am symbol is rolled, which routes can players sell?
- Can a player refuse to sell a route when the die rolls its path?
- How many routes does Pan Am buy per Pan Am symbol in a 2-player game?
- In the alternate timeline where Pan Am starts from Rome, how do the expansion paths run?
- When Pan Am buys one of your routes, what do you collect, and what happens to your Plane and the route?
Income
- How is a player's income level calculated?
- Is the income track capped at 30?
- Is your income the same as the money you have on hand?
- Does selling a route to Pan Am reduce your income?
- If Pan Am buys a route you claimed, do you lose the income you already collected from it?
- When a larger Plane covers a shorter route, is the income based on the Plane or the route?
Money, Stock and Trading
Clarifications
- Do free-route Directive or Event cards need landing rights in the route's cities?
- Is a free route claimed in addition to the route the Engineer claims?
- Do Rapid Expansion or a card that says 'claim a route' skip landing rights?
- Can a rule-breaking card let you place a Plane without a Destination card or an airport?
- Can you upgrade a Plane that is already out on a route?
- Can you upgrade a Plane to a Cruiser or Jet that is not available yet?
- Can two Directive cards upgrade the same Plane from range 2 to range 4?