Originally Posted by
jackal
How did the AA interchange service work?
The map above indicates "through plane service."
Was it one carrier's aircraft and another carrier's crew or something?
I recall that the basic idea of the interchange was that a passenger could get on plane in ORD/DFW/IAH and stay on the plane all the way to ANC.
The actual metal might be AS or AA, but AS crews flew the SEA-ANC leg and AA crews flew the ORD/DFW/IAH legs. This was 727 equipment and the AA pilots loved to fly the AS planes, as they had the more powerful -17 engines.
Perhaps it is just me, but the idea of landing someplace and not getting off seems strange these days. I do recall the days of a "through flight", but it has been years since I landed and did not have to get off and change planes.