<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by pinniped:
I agree with your assessment of US Airways.
I think my question just boils down to the trivia behind the use of the word "Shuttle". I didn't know that Eastern and Trump(?) had "Shuttles" too.
American operates a bunch of 1-hour flights back-and-forth between MCI and ORD, but nobody calls them the Shuttle. Intriguing. Maybe tonight I will go a-Googling for Trump, Eastern, Shuttle, etc.</font>
I am no expert on the history of the northeast shuttle, but here is what I know:
Eastern started the shuttle between NY and DC and NY and BOS in the 1960s offering a guaranteed seat, even if they had to roll out a separate plane for one passenger. Eastern originally used Lockheed Electras on the route and eventually used a variety of equipment, including A300s to BOS and 727s to DCA.
Pan Am entered the shuttle business in the 1980s, calling "The Corporate Jet." Pan Am did not fly to LGA at the time and took over the Marine Air Terminal for its shuttle operations using Boeing 727s.
Eastern operated hourly on the hour, Pan Am operated hourly on the half hour.
Eastern purpose built a terminal at LGA for the shuttle. Today, it is part of the USAir terminal (facing the terminal, the far right check-in area and concourse), but at the time, it was free standing and between the Delta/Northwest terminal and the Central terminal (from where Eastern operated its non Shuttle flights).
In the late 80s/early 90s, both Pan Am and Eastern sold their shuttle operations. Pan Am sold to Delta and Eastern sold to Donald Trump, who operated the service for a few years as
The Trump Shuttle, using 727s he aquired from Eastern. Donald Trump sold the shuttle operation to USAir in the early to mid 1990s, which operated the shuttle with 727s until they replaced these aircraft with A320s. Delta also operated the shuttle with 727s, until they were replaced with 737-800s.
Shuttle flights included added amenities, such as free alcohol, newspapers/magazines and snacks. Eventually, video programming was offered.
USAir would eventually launch shuttle flights between DCA and BOS. I do not know if Delta ever followed.
Both Delta and USAir have recently downsized shuttle aircraft and amenities.
If you go to airliners.net, you can find some photos of the Trump Shuttle planes.
TrojanHorse, as far as I know, the shuttle designation only applies (applied) to the DCA and BOS flights from LGA. I could be wrong on this, though.
What makes the shuttle unique is the relavtively cheap walk-up fares and the guaranteed seat if you checked-in within 20 minutes of departure.
The shuttles were/are a good place to celeb. watch. I have flown with Maury Povich, "Fergie," and various politicians, including Tip O'Neil and Tom Foley.
Hope this helps!