Originally Posted by Bluehen1

35. (1988) Once upon a time, there were lots of relatively short 747 flights within the continental United States. We’re talking segments under 1000 miles in length. Anyway, that was then. These days I’ve found just three segments under 1000 miles being flown by 747s in the continental U.S. For this question, we’re looking to identify just the shortest segment and the airline that flies it.
It wasn't NW on the ORD-MSP route. It was over 100 miles shorter

My subsequent guess is AA DTW-ORD

And an excellent guess it is. Back in the 1970s AA used to schedule one or two 747s a day on this route. As with my comments above, could they have been shipping a lot of freight to Detroit? In any event, the route we're looking for has actually already been mentioned, but for a different question and time frame for which it was incorrect. Suffice it to say that the route we're looking for is under 200 miles in length. Additionally, it was not operated by AA. I sense a correct answer in your very near future...