Donna49

I pulled out an an old book I had not read in a long time, and tucked away in the middle was my ticket from a 1990 AS flight and a timetable/routemap from back then.

I found it fascinating to look at the AS route map from 21 years ago. How things have changed! It shows service to ORD and IAH/DFW, but that must have been the AA interchabge.

Thought others here might like to see it as well. You may need to zoom in to see the names of cities served.

jackal

Interesting!

QX flew to SLC?

And AS didn't fly to ADQ, DLG, DUT, AKN, ADK, or BRW? Or are they just omitted from the map for some odd reason?

And yes, it's hard to tell the blue from the black, but I think the ORD and DFW services are the AA interchange service.

MileageAddict

Around that time, I flew DFW-SEA on AS metal. Also, AS once flew to Siberian destinations including Magadan and Vladivostok.

jackal

How did the AA interchange service work?

The map above indicates "through plane service."

Was it one carrier's aircraft and another carrier's crew or something?

lalala

RAA, era and even markair did all the heavy lifting to the further reaches of Alaska in 1990. I sure did enjoy those haagen dazs bars going into DUT.

98103

...during the short lived AS service to BLI.
So many of those QX destinations now gone...CLM, MWH, PDT, SLE, OTH, LMH, SLC, TWF, PIH, IDA, BTM,

dgreen12

And Spokane was a hublet!

Sigh, I miss those days (well, I would have if I had lived in Spokane then).

CZBB

I remember the YYJ-CLM-SEA route vividly. Originally Metroliners, then the Dorniers, and then Q200s. You'd get off in CLM to clear customs and there would be a plate of donuts and coffee and get back on board.



Also, when was the LAX-YYZ route flown?

beaver

Ya, Fairbanks tended to be the end-of-the-road for the interchange service. We would get AA 727s in Fairbanks that would be run by Alaska crews on the portion north of Seattle. At least that is what I remember.

You could always tell the difference between an AA727 and an AS727 as American crammed more seats in than Alaska did.

IIRC, at one point the through-plane service to Houston was done with Continental 727s in the same fashion.

dave1013

My cousin in Buffalo got married in 1991 and I was living and working in FAI at the time. It just so happened that one of the interchange routes was FAI-ANC-SEA-ORD-BUF. I was able to board in FAI and stay on the same plane all the way to the end, and vice versa.

The AA/AS interchange flights were numbered 391, 394, 395, and 396 as I recall.

Donna49

I recall that the basic idea of the interchange was that a passenger could get on plane in ORD/DFW/IAH and stay on the plane all the way to ANC.

The actual metal might be AS or AA, but AS crews flew the SEA-ANC leg and AA crews flew the ORD/DFW/IAH legs. This was 727 equipment and the AA pilots loved to fly the AS planes, as they had the more powerful -17 engines.

Perhaps it is just me, but the idea of landing someplace and not getting off seems strange these days. I do recall the days of a "through flight", but it has been years since I landed and did not have to get off and change planes.

bobsyouruncle

AS used to fly to Toronto? I wish they would bring that one back!

Eastbay1K

LAX/YYZ - didn't last very long. The most opulent F service that AS ever had. It was nicer than the US carriers are currently serving in F on intercontinental int'l flights.

formeraa

Southwest still does a lot of through flights. At the other airlines, a couple of factors have reduced the number of through flights:

1. With $80+ oil, you must have passengers boarding between all cities on a through flight. In other words, in 1990, AS flew SEA-PHX-TUS. With expensive oil, it no longer makes sense to add the expensive PHX-TUS leg because there are virtually no originating passengers out of PHX to go to TUS. With cheap oil, this wasn't a concern.

2. Airlines no longer rely on travel agents to book the majority of their travel. Through flights used to show up near the top of the travel agents' displays and, thus, were more likely to be sold. With the advent of online booking, it no longer really matters. In addition, back in the day, my one-stop flights from SEA-BOS via ORD would often become connecting flights. More often than not, you would get the dreaded announcement upon arrival in ORD, "For those of you continuing on flight 566 to BOS, there will be a plane change. We will be arriving at gate A1 and your new aircraft will be departing from gate Z99."

formeraa

An interesting note was that the AA FA's didn't like the AS 727's because the galleys were so different (and seemingly disorganized to them).

IIRC, the metal depended on the season. Was it AS during the winter and AA during the summer?