So here we go … the timeline is the summer of 1983, and the usual Quiz rules are in play:
- identify each airline, each aircraft type, and any intermediate stops in sequence
- please limit your responses to three or four flights (not necessarily entire itineraries, but you can certainly try to knock out an entire numbered set) per day
Clarification note: “X number of different aircraft types” ONLY applies to the instant trip, and is NOT cumulative between questions.
1- Several of your college classmates have decided to spend a week hiking in the northeastern reaches of Yellowstone National Park. The idea sounds intriguing, especially since you’ve been head-down in a project in Bangalore. After thoroughly examining flight options, you decide to depart Thursday evening, and fly to Billings where you can have the weekend to decompress and get some necessary supplies before meeting up with your friends. Your itinerary involves four flights, each on a different airline, and three different aircraft types; the first two flights are nonstops, the third makes one stop, and the fourth makes two stops.
1A- BLR – BOM, Air India A300
1B- BOM — BKK, Air France/UTA, 747-200
1C- BKK — NRT — SEA, Thai, 747-200
1D- SEA — GEG — GTF — BIL, Northwest, 727-200
2- You return to Billings the following Sunday afternoon; when you check in with your home office the next morning, you learn that you need to be in Birmingham by noon on Thursday. “No problem; I might be able to make that trip without even getting on a jet!” “Not so fast, pal. Birmingham ENGLAND.” Oh well. Four nonstop flights, each on a different aircraft type; the first two are on the same airline; the fourth shows as being operated under two airline codes, one being the same as the third. And you actually get one non-jet segment.
2A- BIL – DEN, Continental DC-9-30
2B- DEN – ORD, CO 727-200
2C- ORD – BRU, Sabena, 747 Combi
2D- BRU – BHX, British Midland / Sabena, F.27
3- Things wrap up quickly in Birmingham, so you aren’t really surprised when the home office calls on Saturday afternoon to tell you that you are expected at another client site on Tuesday morning. What you find ironic, though, is that this client site is indeed in Birmingham ALABAMA. Three nonstop flights, three airlines, three aircraft types.
3A- BHX – AMS, NLM, F-27
3B- AMS – ATL, KLM, 747-200
3C- ATL – BHM, Eastern, 757
4- Another week, another trip halfway around the globe. You’ve been invited to a Friday luncheon meeting with prospective clients in Beirut; if all goes well, you will spend Saturday doing site visits, and then have Sunday at leisure before departing for an as-yet-unknown destination. Unfortunately the direct Middle East Airlines 747 from JFK gets in at 1645; equally unfortunately, the Thursday afternoon SAS flight from Athens to BEY, which would have given you the long JFK-ATH ride upstairs on a 747 (either Olympic or TWA), is completely sold out. Ditto the KLM flight from Amsterdam. Sure, there are a handful of other options via Atlanta and a U.S. gateway city, but a little additional research yields an extremely interesting option that doesn't involve ATL: three flights (the second making one enroute stop), three airlines (the third flight is listed as being operated by two different airlines), three different aircraft types.
4A- BHM – XXX
4B- XXX – YYY, stop at ZZZ
4C- YYY – BEY
5- Hartford beckons next. You’ll need to be there no later than Tuesday morning, but the company won’t spring for the Concorde from Heathrow to JFK on Monday (which would allow you a civilized departure from BEY around noon). Virtually all the schedules out of Beirut force you to overnight in Europe on Sunday, which is an equally unpleasant option. After some digging, though, you find a way to make it work without either an extra hotel stay or a redeye departure: three flights (the first with an unpublished technical stop), three airlines, three different aircraft types. There are actually two options for the second leg, each on a different carrier and each with a different jet; while you recognize the name of one of the airlines, you’ve never heard of the other, but a little investigation reveals the interesting lineage behind its familiar two-letter designator.
5A- BEY– XXX, stop at AAA
5B- XXX – YYY
5C- YYY – BDL
6- A week later you’re returning to the Middle East, albeit to a rather different locale – Abu Dhabi. Your business obligations will begin with late-morning coffee on Thursday, which dictates a Tuesday departure from BDL. While you could certainly route via Heathrow, you much prefer a longer transatlantic leg, so you book a four-flight sequence (the third with an intermediate stop) involving three airlines and four very different (and rather uncommon) aircraft types. The third flight is also dual-marketed.
6A- BDL – XXX
6B- XXX – YYY
6C- YYY – ZZZ, stop at AAA
6D- ZZZ – AUH
7- The Abu Dhabi project looks like it will wrap up in a week, so you advise the home office that you will be departing late Friday night or early Saturday and taking the following week to vacation in Taos. For some obscure reason, the direct flights to both Charles de Gaulle and Heathrow and Paris (Gulf Air at 2330 and British at 0015, respectively) have no availability between AUH and Doha; the 0055 Sabena flight to Brussels and and the Singapore Airlines departure at 0320 to Athens (and thence Amsterdam) are also completely sold out. Aha! There’s another option with a connection that brings you to a secondary European hub, but the prospect of a forced Saturday overnight in the event of thunderstorms at your US arrival point is enough to make you re-think how to reach Albuquerque. Happily, you find something else that looks almost ideal; best of all, it leaves (and arrives) close to four hours earlier, and the first redeye leg is a nice long one. Both itineraries involve four flights, three different airlines, and three different aircraft types. Bonus points for the route you opted out of taking (HINT: it’s similar to what you flew on the way to AUH, and the flight from your US arrival point to ABQ makes a stop en route).
7A- AUH – XXX
7B- XXX – YYY
7C- YYY – ZZZ
7D- ZZZ – ABQ, stop at AAA on the original candidate itinerary
8- Well now! Your next assignment will take you somewhere you’ve not yet been … Abidjan, Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire). The first orders of business will commence on Monday, so you’ll need to arrive on Sunday. You have Friday dinner reservations in Albuquerque, so you won't be able to depart until Saturday morning; yes, there’s a direct Air Afrique flight departing JFK that evening, but where’s the fun in that? What to do, what to do? How about a very roundabout itinerary, involving six flights on four airlines, with four different aircraft types; the fifth flight makes an enroute stop.
8A- ABQ – XXX
8B- XXX – YYY
8C- YYY – ZZZ
8D- ZZZ – AAA
8E- AAA – BBB, stop at CCC
8F- BBB – ABJ