AlwaysAisle

I was going through stuff at my folks' place and came along with old airline timetables. The one was March 1972 American Airlines timetable.



One surprise in the content of the timetable was that in 1972 AA served American Samoa (Pago Pago), Australia, Fiji, and New Zealand from Honolulu using 707. I was always under the impression that before the airline deregulation of 1978, AA was a primarily domestic airline, just like UA, and the only international routes were Canada, Carribeienns, and Mexico. But that was not the case. During the airline regulations, airlines applied for individual routes to the government and routes were assigned by the government. I did not know that AA was awarded South Pacific routes way back then. Interesting that AA did not serve ATL, MIA, and SEA back then.



In 1972 AA's headquarter was located in New York City, it was not Dallas.



AA scheduled out of New York City in March 1972.

AA flew JFK-HNL non-stop using 707, but did not serve HNL from West Coast cities. Also interesting that the timetable also lists fares. During the airline regulation airfares were set by the government, no yield management software to set dynamic pricing, and I think the economy fare was simply Y (full economy). There was no advance purchase discount fare.

LGA-BOS (hourly service): $24.00 ($167 today)
LGA-DAL (Love Field, no DFW yet): $100 ($697 today)
JFK-HNL: $221.90 ($1,541 today)
JFL-LAX: $163 ($1,136 today)
JFK-SYD: $669 ($4,666 today)

There was no advance purchase fare and airfare was controlled by the government. This means round trip NYC-LAX cost $2,272 in today's money. No award seats and no FF miles. I remember reading somewhere that before the airline deregulation in 1978, less than 40% of the U.S. population ever flew on commercial flights. Flying was not for everybody back in 1972.

Etheereal

Those helicopter icons .. was AA offering helicopter flights as well?

guv1976

I think that that just means that helicopter service was available, but not necessarily that it was operated by AA. It's possible that AA was able to sell it on an AA-plated ticket, in conjunction with an AA flight. Helicopter service back then was provided by the now-defunct New York Airways (not to be confused with New York Air):

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Airways

tjcxx

It's interesting the work the 747s got in that timetable. NYC to LAX, SFO, DAL, but also several times a day to SJU. The trans-Pacifics were worked by 707.

AlwaysAisle

I am wondering what Exc Y fare was? Does anybody know what Exc Y fare was back in 1972?

For example, JFK-LAX fares are listed as F $205.00 Y $163.00 Exc Y $245.00. Exc Y cost more than F. Did Exc Y sit in the economy?


Never mind..., I think it is excursion Y, tour package traveling in economy. Every city Exc Y is listed there is Tour information listed.

JoeDTW

In 1972, AA had 16 747s. AA flew them on routes like LAX - BOS / ORD / DTW / IAD, and ORD - DTW / LAX / PHX / SFO. At one point, AA even flew 747s between BDL and JFK; the flight continued to SFO.

In 1973 / 74, AA grounded 8 of their 16 747s. One was returned to service, one was sold to NASA to carry the Space Shuttle, and the other six were converted to freighters.

AA's remaining 747s were retired in 1983 / 84, but AA subsequently purchased two 747SPs. Initially the SPs were used on DFW - NRT, but after AA took delivery of MD-11s they were used on JFK - LHR / BRU before being retired in the early 1990s.

JoeDTW

A little background about AA's South Pacific service in this timetable:

In 1969, AA was awarded routes to HNL from BOS, STL, JFK, DTW, ORD, IAD, and DFW, with continuing service to PPG, NAN, AKL, SYD, and MEL.

American's routes to HNL from ORD/DTW, JFK, and IAD/DFW could not be operated on a "turn around" basis; for every two flights AA flew from the US mainland to HNL, one flight had to continue on to points south of HNL. AA's BOS/STL - HNL route did not have this restriction.

AA began service in 1970, but lost $33 Million ($200 Million in today's dollars) on the routes before they were suspended in 1974. The main reasons the routes were unprofitable is because most traffic from the US to Australia and New Zealand originates in California; also, there was not enough traffic between the US and the South Pacific at that time to support AA, BOAC, Air New Zealand, Qantas, and Pan Am. The "turn around" restriction prevented AA from ever using their IAD-DAL-HNL authority, because there was not enough traffic for AA to operate more than one flight a day from HNL to the South Pacific.

AA attempted to merge with Western Airlines in 1971, in part so AA could use WA's authority from SFO and LAX to feed AA's flights to the South Pacific, but the merger was rejected by the CAB.

AA suspended all of the routes except STL-HNL in 1974, and exchanged the routes to Pan Am in exchange for PA's routes to Bermuda, the Dominican Republic, and Barbados. AA continued to fly STL-HNL 1x week until 1977. The flight originated in JFK, and had a fuel stop in SFO. AA could not carry passengers on STL-SFO or SFO-HNL.

AlwaysAisle

Thank you for the great information about AA operation back in '70s, JoeDTW. You have a wealth of information.

Along with 1972 AA timetable, I also came along with June 1980 AA timetable.



As JoeDTW mentioned, the route map shows no South Pacific routes and only international flights were to Canada, Carribien, and Mexico. If I remember correctly, AA started trans-Atlantic flights by taking over BI (Braniff International) DFW-LGW route after BI ceased operation in 1982. And I think AA acquired Latin America routes from EA (Eastern Airlines) along with EA's Miami hub, where EA bought Latin America routes from BI.

In 1980 AA did not serve HNL either. I see MIA and SEA on 1980 route map but AA did not serve ATL and DEN in 1980.



AA moved its headquarter to DFW by 1980.



Schedule out of DFW in June 1980




Will also post JFK-LAX schedule. Five non-stop flights daily by 747s.

moondog

I know TW was flying STL-HNL around 1980 on L1011s because I remember seeing it in one of the big OAG books I received as a birthday present in 1980 or 1981.

JoeDTW

TWA planned to take over AA's dormant STL-HNL route in 1979, using 707s, but the runup in energy prices following the Iranian revolution caused TWA to cancel their plans. A TWA analysis showed the route would have required a 107% load factor to break even after the increase in jet fuel prices. TWA did not begin STL-HNL until 1985.

AA resumed flying to HNL in Dec 1980. AA's 1st route was LAX-HNL. DFW-HNL began in June, 1981, SFO-HNL was added in 1982, and LAX-OGG and ORD-HNL were added in 1984/85.

Danski

I'm really surprised at the lack of LAS service in the 1972 timetable, obviously there by the 1980 timetable. As discussed in this thread, everything, including route authority, was heavily regulated, but this one still surprised me.

guv1976

Lots of historic airline timetables -- for both AA and a host of other airlines -- can be found at this site:

index

Edited to add: For those who want to see the URL for the above link, it is:

http://departedflights.com/

GoldenArgosy

Thank you for sharing that!

lrdpenn

It's nice to see that 40 years later AA 1 and 3 are still for the same route at around the same time

Fanjet

I collected timetables when I was little kid. (I can still recall the distinct smell of the paper used in Eastern's timetables. ) There was a roundtrip excursion fare (the other fare's were always listed as one-ways) that was listed in a lot of timetables as APEX30. Which IIRC, was a 30-day adv purchase fare that had a 50% cancellation penalty. What is "striking" about the OP's example is that it was a systemwide timetable. AA at LAX/SAN would normally only put out on their ticket counters a "city timetable". Same thing with TWA.