Originally Posted by
jrl767
1- WHBM unsurprisingly provided a far better and far more complete description of PSA than I could have done
I completely forgot about PSA (I was an east coast kid) and hadn't even heard of the 1930s British airline until I read his post.
2- I believe it started out "make a reservation, pay on board" ... not sure how long that paradigm survived, and I don't remember what scenario applied to my one trip with them (EWR-BAL, 737-100 N416PE in June 1983)
My mom and I started flying them from BOS to PIT (via EWR, of course) shortly after their launch because they were A LOT cheaper than USAir (maybe still Allegheny at the time). Based on my memory (bearing in mind I was only around 7), the flight attendants walked down the aisle and collected cash from customers after boarding. I don't think they had credit card processing equipment of any kind, though maybe I didn't notice. This drill wasn't as time-consuming as you might imagine because passengers were well trained, often with exact change. However, I'm guessing there must have been incidents of, "Oh, sorry. I only brought $20. Can I mail you a check for the extra $2?"
In any event, the pay on board policy definitely disappeared before the airline died, maybe only 2 years after launch?