Hong Kong, American evacuee reading United Airlines brochure during World War II

This lady also appears in several photos taken outside the American Express office. Other photos in that group were taken inside the office, where you can see a sign 'Travel Department'. So my guess is that this display of brochures and timetables was also inside the American Express office.

If you zoom in you can read some of the names: Greyhound Bus Timetables, Pennsylvania Railroad, New York Central System, etc. No mention of international flights though. At the time the international flight from Hong Kong to the US was Pan Am's 'Clipper' service, using flying boats. Other Forman photos show the Pan Am office, so I assume Pan Am handled their own bookings, while American Express could help travellers book their internal connections within the US.

If you've ever complained about how long it takes to fly to the US, consider what these travellers faced. The PBS website tells us about the journey in 1936: Launched with much fanfare, the first M-130, named the China Clipper, first flew across the Pacific in late 1935. The following year it offered passenger service on the over 8,000 mile, week-long trip to Hong Kong. The three M-130's put into service each carried between five to eight crew members and as many as 46 passengers.

By the time Forman's photos were taken, the next generation of clipper seaplanes were in use. The flyingclipers.com site: [...] on February 23, 1939, the grandest embodiment of the flying boats, the Boeing 314, made its inaugural flight from San Francisco to Hong Kong. The California Clipper had plush seating for 74 (sleeping berths for 36), a separate dining room where passengers were served full-course meals, separate men's and women's bathrooms, a deluxe compartment for VIPs, dressing rooms, and a dedicated lounge.