Originally Posted by
jlemon
8. In the 1970s, some U.S. airlines offered both Coach and Economy Class service on the same flights. What was the difference between these services?
I'll take a guess at this one based on memory.....
Back in the 70's, it was not uncommon to see the following class of service designations in the Official Airline Guide (OAG): F/Y/K with F being first class, Y being coach and K being economy.
An example of this "F/Y/K" service can be found in the February 1, 1976 edition of the OAG for flights between Los Angeles (LAX) and Honolulu (HNL). CO, NW, PA, UA and WA all offered "F/Y/K" service on the route with CO and WA operating DC-10 equipment, and NW, PA and UA flying B747 aircraft.
However, I believe the only difference between Y and K was the fare as K was less expensive than Y. In most cases, I think that both Y and K passengers flew in the same coach cabin.
Western was also flying Boeing 720B equipment between LAX and HNL as part of their U.S. mainland-Hawaii "Islander" service at this time. The class of service designation for these WA flights was "Y/K". I believe these Western 720Bs were actually configured with all coach seating with no first class section so the only difference was the cost of the fare for Y vs. K.....
This one I can answer from personal experience, both as a ticket agent selling the fares and as a passenger.
You are correct about the F, Y and K designations. After that however, there were some differences. Principally, Economy Class fares were lower than coach fares
and Economy Class travelers didn't get a complimentary meal.
I once flew K class on a United 727-100 between LAX and DEN. Being a narrow bodied aircraft with a single coach cabin, we could sit wherever we liked. The only differentiation in seating was related to smoking vs. nonsmoking seats. I believe the fare was about $10.00 less.
In June of 1971 I also flew K Class on Continental's 747 from ORD to DEN. We were limited to the rear cabin (The Micronesia Room) and not allowed into the forward Coach cabins or lounge. Interestingly, "we" consisted of just three of us. Whereas a meal was offered up in Coach, we weren't offered one, even to buy. Perhaps because the domestic flights were shorter, the meal purchase option available on Hawaii flights was not offered.
On Hawaii flights, the airlines advertised Economy Class flights for less money but otherwise offering the same seating as Coach. As previously mentioned, you could buy a meal on board. While Continental had a separate cabin for Economy, aboard Western's narrow bodied Boeings it would have been sit wherever. I will do a search for an old ad promoting the three services to Hawaii and if I find it I'll post it.
In the meantime, check out the Continental 747 picture I submitted a few posts back and you'll note that Continental designates the Ponape Lounge as being exclusively for Economy passengers.
4. What is a “Cooper vane”?
A small airfoil mounted on the ventral airstairs of Boeing 727s to prevent them from being opened in flight. Named after Dan Cooper who jumped from a NW 727 after receiving a hijack ransom and who allegedly was never seen again. Nor was the money.
Way to go, Wally! That's it to a "T".
Originally Posted by tonywestsider
Later in the 1970s, TWA, I think, went a step further to counter the lounge competition coming from the Coach Lounges of AA's 747s and DC-10 LuxuryLiners, and 707 LuxuryJets. TWA added a lounge in the mid-coach section of their 707s. I stand to be corrected but I thought they called this portion of their coach class, "Ambassador Class" but I wasn't sure if TW meant this to be an early version of business class.
Tony, back in the early seventies I used to fly TWA 707s and United DC-8s between Denver and New York. To the best of my memory, First Class was referred to as Royal Ambassador Class. I don't remember Coach carrying any particular brand name but I don't think it would have been merely "Ambassador" class as all ambassadors were usually pretty special and to have a Royal Ambassador and then a lesser merely regular ambassador just doesn't sound quite right. That said, I do seem to remember some of TWA's longer flights being referred to as Ambassador Service flights, so who knows - maybe there was an Ambassador Coach Class service on those longhauls. I'll see if I can find anything and let you know.
Getting back to TWA's 707 lounge, so far as I know they were the only airline ever to offer a full sized coach lounge (as opposed to a small table and seats in the rear of the cabin) complete with bar aboard their 707s. I had the good fortune to fly aboard a lounge equipped 707 in March of 1972 between Denver and JFK. I believe only the shorter domestic 707-131s were so configured as opposed to the longer range 707-331B/Cs as coach lounges probably violated some international bilateral agreements against such things. Here's a picture:
TWA's mid-cabin 707 Coach Lounge