I remember watching Jay Leno tearing into Delta a few years ago when they changed their slogan from "Delta is Ready When You Are" to, simply and bluntly: "Delta Gets You There."

Growing up in the New York TV market we saw all the TV ads, and they stick with me 30+ years later. Pan Am Makes the Going Great. Up Up and Away/TWA (great jingle -- TWA had the rights to the "Up, up and away/in my beautiful balloon" song in the late '60s). BOAC Takes Good Care of You.. "to Britain... Europe... the World." "Why settle for less when you can fly Northwest? Northwest Orient -- (big Asian gong sound here) -- Aiiirlines."

Eastern was "The Wings of Man," with a sonorous voice-of-doom announcer intoning: "Eastern. The second largest passenger carrier of all the airlines in the free world. The wings of man."

United -- "the friendly skies" -- had a campaign going in the late '60s encouraging male execs to take their wives on business trips; there was this incredibly annoying jingle, "Take me along," sung by a persistent, grabby, dancing suburban wife, that haunts me still.

So does the Northeast Yellowbird song, promoting flights from New York and New England down to Florida, with new lyrics fitted to the "Yellow Bird" song I think Harry Belafonte used to sing: "Yellllllow Bird/We make your vacation fun. Yellllllow Bird/Our service is number one." (Cartoon birds exclaiming: "Wow, our seats are wide! Lots more room inside!" etc.)

And TransCaribbean Airways, which used to put incredibly multicolored, orange-lettered DC-8s into JFK, had this infectious jingle with a steel-drum band backing: "C'mon, let's go... on TransCarribbean Air-WAAAAYS!"

Most of those names are gone now. Thanks for the memories.

[This message has been edited by BearX220 (edited 02-13-2001).]