AA History: Oldest Flight with Unchanged Flight Number
Jul 23, 2019, 8:08 pm
#16
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Jul 23, 2019, 10:35 pm
#17
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CX005 is NRT-TPE-HKG and
CX037 is HKG-LHR
I don't think there is a CX001 though
Jul 24, 2019, 1:44 am
#18
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CX doesn't use single or double digit flight numbers afaik, their "flight 1" equivalent would be CX100, SYD-HKG.
WY is basically the same, WY101 is the better timed of the two MCT-LHR flights.
Random, but I do wish SQ renumbered their EWR-SIN service to SQ1/SQ2. Instead, the comparatively uninteresting SFO-HKG-SIN route holds that number.
WY is basically the same, WY101 is the better timed of the two MCT-LHR flights.
Random, but I do wish SQ renumbered their EWR-SIN service to SQ1/SQ2. Instead, the comparatively uninteresting SFO-HKG-SIN route holds that number.
Jul 24, 2019, 2:06 am
#19
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BA1 was the latest, but not the first, flight number for Concorde LHR-JFK.
Jul 24, 2019, 12:36 pm
#20
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“XYZ 001” is often a flagship flight for an airline. AA 1 was several flavors if transcon, iirc. Pan Am PA 001 when I took it flew a 707 around the world - one I recall iirc was SFO-HNL-HND, and from there it went on. PA 2 traveled the reverse, eastward. See PA 2 in 1966, a year I flew both, below.
PA was the first with round the world service, using a Lockheed L-749 Constellation, 17 June 1947. As PA didn’t hold domestic rights, PA 1 westbound originated in LAX or SFO and terminated at LGA (later, JFK). The final PA RTW was 1982. �� (My last Connie flights were on L-749 N121 operated by the then Federal Aviation Agency. ❤️)
AA only flew overseas briefly iirc using its subsidiary, American Overseas Ailrines, which it acquired in 1945 and sold to Pan Am in 1950 to become its Atlantic Division.
Link PA RTW routes
PA was the first with round the world service, using a Lockheed L-749 Constellation, 17 June 1947. As PA didn’t hold domestic rights, PA 1 westbound originated in LAX or SFO and terminated at LGA (later, JFK). The final PA RTW was 1982. �� (My last Connie flights were on L-749 N121 operated by the then Federal Aviation Agency. ❤️)
AA only flew overseas briefly iirc using its subsidiary, American Overseas Ailrines, which it acquired in 1945 and sold to Pan Am in 1950 to become its Atlantic Division.
Link PA RTW routes
Jul 24, 2019, 12:55 pm
#21
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Here’s an infamous AA 001:
Shades of MAX... though the 707 series soldiered on.
American Airlines Flight 1 was a domestic, scheduled passenger flight from New York International (Idlewild) Airport (now John F. Kennedy International Airport) to Los Angeles International Airport. On March 1, 1962, the Boeing 707 rolled over and crashed into Jamaica Bay two minutes after takeoff, killing all 87 passengers and eight crew members aboard. A Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) investigation determined that a manufacturing defect in the automatic pilot system led to an uncommanded rudder control system input, causing the accident. A number of notable people died in the crash. It was the fifth fatal Boeing 707 accident and, at the time, the deadliest. - Wikipedia
Jul 24, 2019, 2:24 pm
#22
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When I was a little kid, I flew from Idlewild to LAX with my Mother on a Pan Am 707. Although I remember getting on the plane and looking out the window, seeing the propellers, and hearing the very loud engines the best part was being taken by a stewardess to visit the cockpit before takeoff and receiving a set of wings by the Captain that I still have to this day. The trip seemed to take forever but then again, so did everything at that age!
Jul 24, 2019, 2:29 pm
#23
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Here’s an old timetable dated June 1, 1936 when the DC aircraft started in service and offered sleeper service. Technically lie flat, but more like Pullman bunks than lie flat seats.
And here’s a May 1,1948 depicting an American Overseas Airlines Lockheed L-049 Constellation used in transatlantic service. The technical stop required in Shannon had people getting off the aircraft while it was serviced (100-130 octane aviation gasoline, not nice calm Jet A, you wanted to get off). “All these wealthy people traveling through Shannon,” thought caterer Brendan O'Regan. And Ireland was financially poor but had Whiskey, beautiful lace, Belleek chinaware, Irish woolens, Waterford crystal and more.
Until that time cruise ship passengers were the ones who benefitted from duty free shopping.What are airplanes, he argued, but ships of the air? And what are airline passengers but sailors of the clouds? Why should they pay tax? In 1947, the Irish government agreed and let him try it out here. The rest is history...
(By that time I had flown in an AA DC-3 MEX-MTY-SAT.)
Link to more AA timetables from the World Airline Historical Society.
And here’s a May 1,1948 depicting an American Overseas Airlines Lockheed L-049 Constellation used in transatlantic service. The technical stop required in Shannon had people getting off the aircraft while it was serviced (100-130 octane aviation gasoline, not nice calm Jet A, you wanted to get off). “All these wealthy people traveling through Shannon,” thought caterer Brendan O'Regan. And Ireland was financially poor but had Whiskey, beautiful lace, Belleek chinaware, Irish woolens, Waterford crystal and more.
Until that time cruise ship passengers were the ones who benefitted from duty free shopping.What are airplanes, he argued, but ships of the air? And what are airline passengers but sailors of the clouds? Why should they pay tax? In 1947, the Irish government agreed and let him try it out here. The rest is history...
(By that time I had flown in an AA DC-3 MEX-MTY-SAT.)
Link to more AA timetables from the World Airline Historical Society.
i had no idea that old AA flights had "route names" like Amtrak continues to have for its trains. This lists "the night owl", "the southerner", "American Arrow", and then some with just numbers.
there could be a whole thread for appropriate nicknames for particular flights today (not to get off topic)
just amazing how few flights there really were that they would extend naming from trains to planes. Pretty cool actually.
Jul 24, 2019, 2:39 pm
#24
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When I was a little kid, I flew from Idlewild to LAX with my Mother on a Pan Am 707. Although I remember getting on the plane and looking out the window, seeing the propellers, and hearing the very loud engines the best part was being taken by a stewardess to visit the cockpit before takeoff and receiving a set of wings by the Captain that I still have to this day. The trip seemed to take forever but then again, so did everything at that age!
Jul 24, 2019, 2:43 pm
#25
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i had no idea that old AA flights had "route names" like Amtrak continues to have for its trains. This lists "the night owl", "the southerner", "American Arrow", and then some with just numbers.
there could be a whole thread for appropriate nicknames for particular flights today (not to get off topic)
just amazing how few flights there really were that they would extend naming from trains to planes. Pretty cool actually.
there could be a whole thread for appropriate nicknames for particular flights today (not to get off topic)
just amazing how few flights there really were that they would extend naming from trains to planes. Pretty cool actually.
Jul 24, 2019, 2:48 pm
#26
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My money would be on those single-digit flights, such as:
AA 1 JFK-LAX
AA 2 LAX-JFK
AA 3 JFK-LAX
AA 4 LAX-JFK
AA 5 DFW-HNL
AA 6 OGG-DFW
AA 7 DFW-OGG
AA 8 HNL-DFW
AA 9 MSY-DFW
(AA 10 LAX-JFK)
AA 1 JFK-LAX
AA 2 LAX-JFK
AA 3 JFK-LAX
AA 4 LAX-JFK
AA 5 DFW-HNL
AA 6 OGG-DFW
AA 7 DFW-OGG
AA 8 HNL-DFW
AA 9 MSY-DFW
(AA 10 LAX-JFK)
Jul 24, 2019, 3:11 pm
#27
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“XYZ 001” is often a flagship flight for an airline. AA 1 was several flavors if transcon, iirc. Pan Am PA 001 when I took it flew a 707 around the world - one I recall iirc was SFO-HNL-HND, and from there it went on. PA 2 traveled the reverse, eastward. See PA 2 in 1966, a year I flew both, below.
PA was the first with round the world service, using a Lockheed L-749 Constellation, 17 June 1947. As PA didn’t hold domestic rights, PA 1 westbound originated in LAX or SFO and terminated at LGA (later, JFK). The final PA RTW was 1982. �� (My last Connie flights were on L-749 N121 operated by the then Federal Aviation Agency. ❤️)
AA only flew overseas briefly iirc using its subsidiary, American Overseas Ailrines, which it acquired in 1945 and sold to Pan Am in 1950 to become its Atlantic Division.
PA was the first with round the world service, using a Lockheed L-749 Constellation, 17 June 1947. As PA didn’t hold domestic rights, PA 1 westbound originated in LAX or SFO and terminated at LGA (later, JFK). The final PA RTW was 1982. �� (My last Connie flights were on L-749 N121 operated by the then Federal Aviation Agency. ❤️)
AA only flew overseas briefly iirc using its subsidiary, American Overseas Ailrines, which it acquired in 1945 and sold to Pan Am in 1950 to become its Atlantic Division.
Aged 22, I thought all this was normal..
Jul 24, 2019, 4:10 pm
#28
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Actually its very interesting. This was the first non stop flight using the 747 400 Megatop at the time across the pacific. SQ001 and SQ002 were that flight routing as the first carrier in the world to operate this type on this mega journey of 14 hours. Longer than any other flight using the type and with in-flight services and amenities for passengers that made other airlines perk up. These flight numbers represent a milestone in Aviation history for SQ.
It's a bit like CX888 - it retains the special 888 numbering for historical reasons, nothing more.
Jul 24, 2019, 4:41 pm
#29
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Jul 24, 2019, 7:06 pm
#30
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Perhaps you flew in more than one aircraft, because I’m sure you don’t remember the dry loud noise and props through the window on a turbojet aircraft. DC-7s were still around in the 1960s, though sometimes on less important routes. (In 1965 I flew in a UA DC-7C SMF-SFO.) And perhaps it wasn’t Pan Am? Depending on the year, it looks like PA east-west USA flights were operated by AA. See below 1966.
Last edited by JDiver; Jul 24, 2019 at 7:16 pm