Originally Posted by
Seat 2A
Anyway, in perusing the pages of the OAG, Braniff always had my attention. They had only a small fleet of second hand DC-8-50s that they employed domestically, though DC-8-62s were still quite common on South American services.
Following deregulation, Braniff quickly spread its wings and expanded its national route map considerably. In Denver, where once we might see a DC-8 or 720 come up from DAL, we'd now see colorful two-tone BN DC-8-50s flying into DEN from OAK, MIA and possibly MCI.
As to the question at hand, I remember now. It was IAH. This stood out because by the late 70s, BN was firmly dedicated to the hub and spoke model, which logically would've routed this flight through DFW. But NO!! It routed through Houston!
And then Tucson. What the heck was that? IAH - TUS was firmly CO territory. And then on to Vegas. Just weird. Like the route planners got drunk and decided to throw darts for prospective routes. Braniff was all over the place in the early days of deregulation....
16. Correct! Here's the Braniff International sched....
BN 385: Fort Lauderdale (FLL) 8:00a - 9:20a Houston Intercontinental (IAH) 9:50a - 11:00 Tucson (TUS) 11:30a - 11:35a Las Vegas (LAS)
Freq: Daily
Service classes: F/Y
Meal services: Breakfast FLL-IAH, Snacks IAH-TUS & TUS-LAS
Equip: DC-8
Here's a Braniff Douglas DC-8-51 in 1978....
https://www.airliners.net/photo/Bran...8-51/7766847/L
In his book "Splash of Colors: The Self Destruction of Braniff International", author John J. Nance (who had flown as a captain with Braniff and also later as a captain with Alaska Airlines - I believe he flew the DC-8-62 as PIC on BN's services into South America) describes the frenzy of new route development that Braniff undertook following deregulation. Mr. Nance relates that Braniff Chairman Harding Lawrence believed airline deregulation would only last a few years with chaos, frantic mergers and ruinous competition wrecking the industry. Lawrence thought the federal government would then realize their mistake and air carrier regulation would return. So why not grab all these new routes and then await the return of business as usual which was the case prior to the Airline Deregulation Act? Oops.....