Seat 2A

Since I've already gone this far, I might as well throw in the rest of the story of my return to Hawaii. Some of it I published some time ago under the title of My First Mileage Run but since that story segues so nicely onto this one, I've edited it a bit and will include it and more here. I've still got the menus so here's the story...

No doubt some of you are wondering how can you make a Mileage Run back in 1976 when there were no Frequent Flyer programs? Easy! I love to fly and for me a Mileage Run back then meant maximizing the miles and the inflight experience. Why fly nonstop when for the same price (or less) you could make connections and fly two or more airlines? It was all about trying to get the most flights for my buck.

This was best accomplished by delving into the tariffs and routing guides, and most especially using joint fares. Joint fares utilized two or more airlines to get you from point A to point B, all for close to the same fare as the nonstop service. Sometimes the joint fare was a bit more, sometimes a bit less, but never by very much.

As for my reward for this Mileage Run - it was getting to fly more than I would have had I flown the nonstop.

The nonstop Y Class fare between New York and Denver was $115.00 on United or TWA. After consulting the Joint Fares Tariff which was available in any travel agency, I found the following routing for only $113.00: EWR PI ATL EA MEM BN DEN

Based upon what I can afford to pay today, First Class would not have cost all that much more. However, because Piedmont operated an all standard class fleet and all of the other flights along this route were short and without meals, I elected to go coach.

I lived in Durango, Colorado at that time and in order to get to New York I hitched down to Albuquerque, then caught Interstate 40 eastbound out through Oklahoma before heading northeast up through Indiana and Ohio to Pennsylvania and on to the Jersey Turnpike where somehow, even though I wanted to get dropped off in or near New York City, I clearly remember being driven past the George Washington Bridge and getting dropped off in Ronkonkoma, way out in the middle of Long Island. This forced me to delve into my meager cash reserves to catch a 1:00am Long Island Railroad train into Penn Station. Unfortunately I can’t tell you how nice the Biltmore or the Plaza were as I spent the night at an all night coffee shop outside Grand Central Station.

The next day, I took a train up to Katonah, New York to visit my old eighth grade History teacher and his wife. Returning to the city on an early evening train, I then caught a bus out to Newark International and spent that night on the floor. I don’t remember there being any Terminal A, B or C like today. There was the main terminal and the older North Terminal. Breakfast was the Policeman’s Special – a coffee and a donut. Then I headed over to the Piedmont Airlines counter and checked in.

13 July, 1976
EWR-ORF Piedmont Aviation 737-201 N747N
ORF-ATL Piedmont Aviation 737-222 N752N
ATL-MEM Eastern Airlines 727-027 N297BN
MEM-DFW Braniff International 727-227 N418BN

I was pretty excited as I’d never flown aboard Piedmont or Eastern before. As well, I’d also never flown into any of the airports I’d be passing through on this day. I was all of 18 years old and this was to be only my 134th lifetime flight. Last year (2002) alone, I flew 193 flights.

My Piedmont 737 down to Norfolk was named the “Outer Banks Pacemaker”. I like flying aboard aircraft with a title or a name. I remember being somewhat disappointed though because this aircraft was still painted in the old Piedmont colors and I wanted to see what the airplanes in the new colors looked like, both inside and out. I wasn’t old enough to be nostalgic just yet. The seating was all one class and at the front of the plane was a table between rows one and three. Row one faced backwards, towards the table. I thought that was pretty cool. We were scheduled to depart about 9:00am and were served a snack. It wasn’t much – just a Danish and some coffee.



Flying the Pacemaker down to Norfolk

The highlight at Norfolk’s airport was seeing a United DC-8-61. I’d seen plenty of United’s Stretch 8s, but I didn’t know they flew into ORF. When I was a kid, I used to look through the all the schedules to see where certain types of aircraft flew. You could always tell where United’s DC-8s flew because of the little musical note next to the flight number, denoting audio entertainment. The 720s, 727s and 737s didn’t offer this.

The airplane down to Atlanta was 737-222 N752N, “The Kanawha Pacemaker”. It sported Piedmont’s newest colors though the interior was no different than the older jet I’d come in on. The certificate inside the door indicated this was an ex-United airplane. Odd that UA should have sold it so soon since they’d taken delivery of their first 737 only nine years earlier, in 1967. We stopped in Myrtle Beach on the way to Atlanta.

Atlanta Hartsfield sure was a big airport! There were lots of Delta and Eastern jets, including plenty of DC-9s which I stopped to admire. At the time, we didn’t have many DC-9s in Denver as our primary carriers, BN, CO, FL, TW, UA and WA either didn’t operate them or rarely flew them into Denver. TWA never scheduled their Nines into DEN and CO’s were seen only rarely, coming in from ABQ and COS. OZ flew in with some -10s from SUX and ALO. Remember, it was 1976. Deregulation and the arrival of major DC-9 operators like Texas International and Hughes Airwest was still a couple of years away. I stopped at the airport restaurant which was operated by Dobbs. The menu had a picture of a big, well fed chef wearing one of those big ballistic chef’s hats (The ones that look like a big mushroom cloud) on the cover. I splurged and bought a hamburger.

My Eastern flight into Memphis was actually a codeshare with Braniff. Unfortunately it was operating with BN equipment. Nothing against Braniff, but I wanted to check out an Eastern jet while flying EA. Ah well, as things turned out I'd get my EA 727 the next day, but ironically as part of yet another codeshare whilst flying Braniff.

Aside from my Alaska interchange flight, my sole Braniff experience had been aboard a bright two tone green 727-100 on a 30 minute flight between Colorado Springs and Denver. What color would today’s aircraft be?

The Braniff jet for today's flight up to MEM was a two tone red 727-100. I’ve always liked Braniff’s colors.



Braniff's Flying Colors in 1976

US airlines these days are so conservative and businesslike! Grey, white, red and blue for the majors. Braniff had introduced widebodied interiors to its 727s only three or four years earlier and the middle seat in Coach, if unoccupied, would fold down to create a table between seats. Anyway, despite the short flight time up to Memphis, we were served a small sandwich with a cup of potato salad. Today, that same meal would be called a lunch!

I had a long layover in Memphis – three or four hours. I remember Baseball’s All Star Game being on in the bars. I watched a bit from afar. I wasn’t old enough to drink and couldn’t afford it even if I was. Food was more important. Finally, we boarded the flight into Dallas. This flight was the “Milk Run”, making stops in Little Rock, Ft. Smith, Tulsa and Oklahoma City. Our aircraft was N418BN, a two-tone orange 727-200. We departed Memphis fairly late, at about 9:00pm, and there was no meal service aboard any of the legs. When we finally did arrive Dallas, it was about 1:00am.


July 14, 1976
DFW-OKC Braniff International 727-027QC N7288
OKC-DEN Braniff International 727-025QC N8173G

You never had to worry about over sleeping at DFW back in the 70s. The airport police would definitely wake you up about 6:00am. Back then, it was considered unseemly to have people lying around the airport during business hours. Nowadays, it seems less of a concern.

My flight up to OKC was aboard an orange 727-100. This was one of the QC varieties, which meant the interior was palletized. United and Eastern also operated this type. It could quickly be transformed from passenger jet to overnight freighter. I don’t recall any of these airlines ever operating their 727s in a mixed configuration a la Alaska’s 737-200s, however. Coffee and a sweet roll were served on this early morning departure to Oklahoma City. Yes, I’d gone through OKC last night, but the ticket read MEM-DFW on that flight, so OKC was essentially hidden. I had about a three hour layover at OKC before finally climbing aboard my first ever Eastern aircraft, another 727-100QC on into Denver. Eastern never officially served Denver back then. This flight was a code share that originated in Atlanta with an EA flight number into OKC and a BN flight number into DEN. Same plane service all the way through. My log indicates we got a snack, but I can’t remember what it was. It’s a wonder I can remember any of these meals but I’ve got a pretty good memory when it comes to airplanes. Don’t ask me what I had for dinner last night though…

** **** **

After a couple of weeks hanging out at my sister’s place up in Evergreen, Colorado, it was time to make my way back up to Portland, Oregon and resume my travels back to Hawaii. I repacked my backpack and headed out to Stapleton International for my early evening Western Airlines flight up to Billings, Montana.


August 3, 1976
DEN-BIL Western Airlines 737-247 N4514W

Although I’m pretty sure Western operated a nonstop between Denver and Billings, God forbid I should ever take it when the Milk Run, making calls in Cheyenne, Casper and Sheridan, Wyoming on the way to Billings, was also available. Casper is the only one of these communities to retain jet service these days.

Anyway, it was a beautiful evening for flying. I liked the way boarding passes were issued back then. Your seat assignment was affixed to your paper boarding pass via a sticker bearing the seat number. Actually, there was a big sheet at the podium showing the entire cabin of the airplane. You could just look it over and select your seat from whatever was available. I once got an upgrade on an Eastern flight by discreetly hanging out until all the coach seat stickers had been allotted before approaching the podium for my seat assignment.

Western was celebrating their 50th anniversary and it was a festive time for all! Their 737s were operated in an all economy class configuration, though First Class legroom was the rule fleet wide. Free “champagne” was also offered which meant Franzia Brothers Champa – excuse me – Sparkling Wine. Even though I wasn’t old enough, I looked old enough and I remember having a glass or two, served in these little plastic champagne style glasses. Upon arrival, I shelled out about $17.00 and spent the night at the Rimrock Lodge.


August 4, 1976
BIL-GEG Northwest Orient Airlines 727-251 N285US
GEG-SEA Northwest Orient Airlines 727-251 N265US
SEA-PDX Northwest Orient Airlines 747-151 N601US

I’d never flown on Northwest so it’s a wonder I got any sleep the night before despite my comparatively elegant digs at the Rimrock. Today’s flight was yet another Milk Run, offering three stop service between Billings and Spokane via Helena, Butte and Missoula. Back then, Northwest Orient was about the only choice for Montanans wanting to fly east or west into or out of the state. I remember the old OAGs showing an 8 or 9 stop 727 flight between New York and Seattle with stops in such scintillating locales as Jamestown and Grand Forks, ND along with hitting all the major cities in Montana. If you had 9 or 10 hours to spare, it was a good way to air tour the northern United States. Even back then though, it was probably a good idea to bring your own food along as the length of the flights was such that food service was minimal.

Somewhere along the line, we did receive a snack between Billings and Spokane. I don’t remember what it was, just that we got one. It was another beautiful sunny day. Because the flights were so short, we never really got all that high so the views of the surrounding mountains and valleys were quite impressive.



Northwest Orient's 727-251

I had a relatively quick connection in Spokane. 40 minutes later I was in Seattle checking out the aircraft assigned to my next flight, N601US, Northwest’s first ever 747-151. Although I was only going to Portland, this flight continued on to Honolulu. A quick check of today’s SEA-PDX schedule shows a lot of Dash 8s, Embraer props and a couple of Horizon CRJs. At present, the largest aircraft operating this route is a twice weekly 737-800 from Sun Country. Back in 1976, aside from a lot of 727s, you could also fly between SEA and PDX on a Pan Am 707 or an Eastern L-1011. The Horizon Shuttle didn't exist back then. I'm not even sure if Horizon existed back then!

It was a quick flight down to Portland on the near empty 747. The real thrill for me came after we’d landed when I got to check out the First Class cabin and especially the upstairs First Class lounge. Many of today’s upgraded passengers can only imagine being on an airplane for five hours or more and having the option to ascend a spiral staircase to a lounge with big swivel chairs and a stand up bar. I’m tellin ya, the Seventies were the best time to fly the big jets!



Seattle to Portland aboard one of the world's shortest 747 flights


NEXT UP: Continental’s DC-10 First Class Gold Table Service to Honolulu