Seat 2A

Do I miss the airlines of old? Oh, yes. Things are so sterile and boring now. Here in the U.S. at least there's not really much to differentiate the inflight product other than the quality of the IFEs. Other'n that, the interiors are all dark blue or grey and the items offered on Delta are really no different than you'll find on United or American.

Here's just a bit of what I miss:

Allegheny Airlines: The tables in the front of its DC-9s and those ubiquitous tuna fish sandwiches

Braniff International: The wildly colorful airplanes and interiors, the Pucci clad hostesses and the fried chicken dinners

Continental: I just miss the overall classiness of this airline when it was still run by its founder Robert F. Six. Everything was First Class - even in coach where seating on 727s used to be 2-3, DC-10s were equipped with beautiful coach lounges known as "Polynesian Pubs" The deli luncheon flights in First Class were special

Eastern: Some of the best food in the air - steak and double baked potatoes in coach on flights over 3 hours

Frontier: First Class legroom throughout the plane and another consideration for finest inflight meal service

Hughes Airwest: Bright yellow jets flying me into airports served only with small cramped props these days.

National Airlines: One of the prettiest liveries ever. You felt like you were in Florida the moment you got on the plane. I miss the Sun King logo.

North Central: Their picnic basket lunches were to die for

Ozark Airlines: DC-9 jet service to places like Joplin, MO or Waterloo, Iowa. Yellow tablecloths and green napkins.

PSA: Mini-skirt clad stewardesses. Aisle seats were at a premium! Its L-1011s had a downstairs lounge.

Pan American: The world's most experienced airline. It just felt like the big time when you boarded a Pan Am Clipper

Southern Airways: Southern hospitality and real shot glasses with your drink

Texas International: Peanuts fares and drinks served in 12oz Texas Tumblers. Great livery!

TWA: Another classy airline. Its planes were comfortable, its food was delicious and overall its Ambassador Service was as good as it gets aloft

Western Airlines: Ahh... the only way to fly! First Class legroom, Champagne flights, Hunt Breakfast flights, Klondike Coffee on Alaska flights - one of my favorite airlines!

MIT_SBM

Northwest and
Continental

84fiero

Miss Pan Am the most, also TWA and Northwest.

I only flew Braniff a couple of times, and it was towards the end of its life so I never got to appreciate what it once was. Though the experience I did have was fine.

kochleffel

Allegheny: full breakfast between CLE and PIT.

walkdmx

Western and PSA, real California casual.

Western had a smoking dry-ice Hawaiian volcano on the cart they served Hawaiian champagne punch out of before landing in Hawaii.

PSA flew anywhere in the west for about $19-49 on new MD80's called Whisperjets because if you sat up front you heard nothing but a whisper from the rear engines - which on AA now in the back sound like you're inside an old washing machine.

BLG

I do have a lot of nostalgia for TWA -- First time I flew F was TWA and the Ambassador Club at JFK was my first visit to an airline club -- I got spoiled and realized that there was much to be said for it

Found this cool link to the TWA terminal at JFK…

http://upgrd.com/mike/twa-flight-cen...erminal-5.html

I've still got a TWA china coffee mug -- a fond keepsake. There was something classy about TWA or maybe it's just fond remembrance of days past.

CapeCodTenor

TWA for me. My first flight as a kid was on TWA.

Dodge DeBoulet

I never had the opportunity to fly YX (Midwest) before 9-11, but it was still head and shoulders above most other US domestic airlines for travel experience even after.

I have very fond memories of the Avros i flew on NW in the early-to-mid '00s. Even as a silver, flying out of PWM I was up front most of the time. That turned sour during the NWA mechanic strikes/work slowdowns in '05, when everything was delayed (and when I switched to YX out of BOS for my weekly trips to MKE).

jrl767

speaking of the Saarinen masterpiece ...

Mightymouse

VARIG. Always great in flights to/from Rio.

CMK10

Oh wow I'd forgotten about them. I flew LGA-MKE on YX three times pre-9/11 and it was always great. The best was on a half empty MD-80 where my Dad, brother and I all got our own two seat pair. Plus the meals served on real china, real salt and pepper shakers etc.

I still have my old FF card somewhere.

BLG

I think there's a lot of truth in this. "Back then" the airlines had personality, probably because they were for the most part still being run by their founders, and everything wasn't so corporatized. It may have been a lousy way to run an airline from an accountant's standpoint, but it was a lot more fun for the passengers! I think Branson tried to put his personality on Virgin, and in a way it harks back to when the founders ran the companies. I'm not a huge fan of Virgin but it's about the only airline around that kind of has a personality and tries to sell the element of fun (the Clubhouse, etc.).

I think flying used to be an "adventure" and now it's more like a public utility that's trying to convince you that it's warm and fuzzy but mainly its synthetic.

Box5

They handled an IRROPS with me very poorly, yet I enjoyed it. I was less than 10 years old. The connecting flight was cancelled. The gate agent asked if I could read. Of course, I am not illiterate. They teach reading in school! He then gave me some instructions as far as the replacement flight the next day, hotel bus information, and some vouchers. I had to survive on my own! One other passenger offered to share a hotel room but I was cautious about rape (not knowing the term but knowing to be cautious with strangers) and declined sharing a room.

czhang

Definitely Northwest. I'm not a great deal older now, but I miss the routine connections in NRT we would make when I was a kid where we'd always spend some time in the World Club on our way to/from PEK.

Also, I don't particularly miss it but Canada 3000. Still have one of their paper schedules and in flight service brochures somewhere - came across them recently and was a blast from the past even for me.

Indelaware

You say you miss PE but provide a photo of WN - which still exists.


Spot on, as usual, Seat 2A.

Most of my flying has been post-deregulation.

Most recently, I miss Continental. A classic airline, driven down, and then brought up to top-place before being Smiseked and rolled up into UA which then also got Skiseked.

People Express was hardly a #1 for me. But, I did get a kick out of walking on board without reservation or ticket. Just like the old EA shuttle.

I enjoyed New York Air - despite their awful management. The employees were always friendly and energetic. Enjoyed sitting down to "I love New York" on those lovely red DC9s.

I did a fare amount of flying on Northwest - which I miss - especially on DC-10s through their, now closed, ORD hub.

I didn't like United's computer system - at the time they only took reservations 10 months out, not 11 - but I certainly enjoyed listening to ATC and watching the takeoff from the belly cams. UA also was great in finding me interline domestic fares, allowing me to get gold old day through fares well after 1978. My favorite was CLE-ORD (UA)-ORD-PHX (TW)-PHX-DEN (WA)-DEN-CLE (UA). I don't remember the price point, but it was often the cheapest thing to be found, and three different airline experiences for the price of one. Sure, United still exists. But, not like it had.

I loved U S Air - particularly in the AL days - connecting at PIT (old and new terminals) was always a joy, albeit in different ways. And I really enjoyed the ice cream they served in Y on approach into PHX. Also enjoyed some really fun routings - e.g. BOS-YYZ-CLE - especially when it involved BAC 1-11s. I stopped flying them pretty much after they got Parkered (I disdained HP and its PHX based flight crews which always turned the heat to max and seemed unable to understand how I could possibly wear shorts and a t-shirt on their flights in September, let alone January).