Originally Posted by jlemon

I'll attempt to answer a few of the latest questions posed by Seat 2A......

7. You want to fly aboard a De Havilland Comet. The U.S. city you depart from doesn’t matter, nor does the destination. What airlines would you consider?

Mexicana de Aviacion. MX operated the "Cometa" from LAX to MEX during the early and mid 60's, but I'm not sure if they were still flying the Comet on this route in 1966. The nonstop flight between Los Angeles and Mexico City featured "Jet Azteca de Oro" ("Golden Aztec Jet") service. Mexicana also operated Comet service several days a week on a LAX-MZT-GDL-MEX routing at this same time. In addition, MX operated Comet service between San Antonio and Mexico City via an intermediate stop in Guadalajara, so it may be this flight you are referring to.

Mexicana eventually replaced their Comets with B727s, a number of which were equipped with JATO systems for operations from hot and high airfields.....

Correct! In the March 1966 schedule, Mexicana operated its Comets on a number of US routes as well as one Caribbean one. Here are the flights departing the U.S.:

MX 700 DAL-MTY-MEX
MX 703 DAL-MEX
MX 801 ORD-MEX
MX 803 ORD-MEX-ACA
MX 901 LAX-MEX
MX 911 LAX-MZT-GDL-MEX

Additionally, MX ran an enticing route out to Jamaica with its Comets...

MX 305 MEX-MID-MBJ-KIN

Oh, to have been a bit older with a healthy bank account back in those days...

Now it should be noted that the question did indicate airlines, and as such there is one more airline that operated Comets into two cities in the U.S.. I'll leave that out there for now...

12. Braniff International. And they did, too.....

That's right. An interesting side note per Wikipedia: In 1968, under the leadership of Mary Wells and Jack Tinker, Braniff expanded the advertising campaign that showed the likenesses of Andy Warhol, Sonny Liston, Salvador Dalí, Whitey Ford, the Playboy Bunny, and other celebrities of the time, all flying Braniff. It became one of the most celebrated marketing efforts Madison Avenue had ever produced, blending style and arrogance. One advertising slogan was "if you've got it — flaunt it!" Although management considered the campaign a success, Braniff's core customers were outraged by the grandiose behavior and perceived "bragging", causing many corporate accounts to leave Braniff.

How times have changed. These days hardly anyone would bat an eye at an ad like this...

20. Hughes Airwest. RW 706, a DC-9-31, had departed LAX on June 6, 1971 on a flight to SLC when just shortly after take off on the climb out from the L.A. basin, a mid air collision occurred with a USMC F-4B Phantom II that was inbound to MCAS El Toro on a VFR flight plan. The accident took place over the San Gabriel Mountains near Duarte, CA. This was a truly terrible accident as no one on board either aircraft survived (I was aware of this mid air but looked up the details). The D9S operating flight RW 706 had an older Air West paint scheme.

Hughes Airwest then subsequently introduced their bright yellow "Top Banana in the West" livery......

You couldn't have answered this any better if you had worked for Hughes Airwest. Thanks for the detail!