gemac

It was faster. Those were the days of fare regulation, when the government made sure all airlines made money. Since the fares were identical, speed was a selling point, and my memory is that airplanes flew at max speed, not at best fuel consumption speed.

elitetraveler

AA LAX routes in 1969

http://www.departedflights.com/AA033069.html

AA route map from 1973

http://www.departedflights.com/AA042973.html

and AA in 1974

http://www.departedflights.com/AA120174.html

NW in 1974

http://www.departedflights.com/NW121874.html

PA in 1973

ttp://www.departedflights.com/PA042973.html

UA in 1972

http://www.departedflights.com/UA060172.html

TW in 1972

http://www.departedflights.com/TW043072.html

In Oct 71 CO was flying to Hawaii from LAX...

http://www.departedflights.com/CO103171.html

DL's service in 1970 from LAX is below...

http://www.departedflights.com/DL121570.html

kebosabi

Fortunately, TBIT seems to be improving with Bradley West being under construction right now. Several new gates were also added which one could observe by those with HSBC logos. I believe I read in LA Times that they've also finished awarding construction contract to Phase II of the plan to build a satellite terminal extension connected by a Skybridge. The old AE terminal was demolished and moved to the nest because of this plan.

All this is great, but the problem remains that LAX is still wretched by horrendous traffic. The flashy aspect of modernizing terminals is great, but improving transit infrastructure to/from LAX must also be taken into consideration. As it stands now, the traffic jams at LAX reminds me of a third world airport with the only difference is that it's full of limos, Mercedes, BMWs, and a bunch of parking and hotel shuttles.

buckeyefanflyer

Looking at the route maps from the 1970;s, not a single flight to anywhere in Florida.
It is like a completely different airline today. I was living in the Miami area in the late 1970's. I worked near the airport. The company I worked for was located at the the
west side of runway 12. At lunch we would be able to see all the planes take off if they were arriving from the west. I remember first seeing AA 707s which went to DFW.

CALlegacy

More on the service to Hawaii.

First service, of course, was PAA out of San Francisco, flying Martin 130 and later Boeing 317 flying boats. That started in 1935. The Hawaii flight was a segment on service to Manila via Guam and Wake islands.

United's first service to Hawaii started in 1947 from SFO. Those routes were soon flown by the Boeing 377.

The CAB authorized Western Airlines over Continental as a third mainland to Hawaii carrier after PAA and UAL, but this award was rescinded by direction of President Eisenhower in 1960.

CAB history in awarding routes to Hawaii had a complicated history in the 1960's and 1970's being also mixed up with trans-Pacific route cases. In several instances President's Johnson and Nixon denied CAB recommendations. Virtually all the major US airlines with a West Coast presence had been recommended for and were denied route authority during this time, including AA.

Finally in 1969 route awards to Hawaii were completed allowing CAL*, AA, and WAL, among others, access to the Hawaii market, either as domestic service or as part of a trans-Pacific route. AA authority to serve Australia and New Zealand via Samoa and Fiji, awarded in 1969 was suspended in 1974.

*CAL is used rather than CO, as CO applies to that point in time after He Whose Name Will Not Be Spoken.

bernardd

In some ways it really is a different airline. AA bought a big chunk if Eastern from which it got a Miami hub and services to central and south America.

It also bought first a bunch of TWA international routes and subsequently the remainder of TWA after the financial engineers had damaged it beyond repair.

QueenOfCoach

I know. It's embarrassing. Try Terminal 3 sometime. Yech.

dstan

Now that this thread has had some time to incubate in the AA forum, we'll send it over to the Los Angeles forum for broader reading and input, as it covers a range of airlines in addition to AA. A redirect will remain in the AA forum for those interested.

dstan
AA Forum Co-Moderator

alison11

Absolutely. What got me to this project for my urban planning class was air access and how Los Angeles has lacked a direct downtown-airport connection for 70 years. And its terminal amalgamation makes transiting flights difficult. additionally, there is no rhyme or reason to how it is laid out. I can think of no other large American city lacking a nonstop downtown-airport connection

mbstone

T3, the former TW terminal, is where the scene in Airplane! was shot in which the aircraft crashes through the glass window of the terminal.

And before there were buses, and shuttles, and vans (oh my) there was the White Zone, which was (and is) for loading and unloading only....

char777

No, the Red Zone is for loading and unloading only.

ninimiller

National Airlines flew from MIA-LAX nonstop via 747 in the 70's - I think it was called the "SunKing Special" or SunKing Service, something like that.

SoManyMiles-SoLittleTime

Great stories. Thanks for this.

SoCal

Bradley Terminal was renovated/upgraded more than once. I find LAX less chaotic than JFK for changing terminals. I also remember when the airport was on the other side of Sepulveda. I remember going with my dad and sister to pick up my mother from a flight in 1960, and seeing delegates arriving for the Democratic National Convention (which took palce at the Sports Arena-- which is still around), and I met Stuart Symington (hey, it was a big deal at the time). There have been plans over the years for massive upgrades (see http://articles.latimes.com/2008/aug...l/me-airports7), or even relocation to LAX (remember when there was going to be a supersonic jet airport out in Palmdale?), but the costs would be massive, and few people who want a better airport would be willing to pay the costs, whether through bonds or higher ticket costs. Ontario Airport was built in part to relieve some of the pressure on LAX, but it's lost some airlines and apparently is in financial trouble. I like Burbank Airport, but it's going to stay small for years, since people living in the area don't want additional flights (I grew up under one of the landing patterns).

I remember National Airlines ("I'm _____; Fly me"), Western Airlines ("The only way to fly"), PSA, British Caledonian and others out of the new LAX.

bzcat

60s and 70s were a little before my time... but I do remember going to LAX in the 80s just to spot airplanes. Back in the days when you could get in the secured area without a ticket. Terminal 4 was always my favorite because you can see all the 747s from Asia being towed in to Bradley terminal across the way. And the AA announcements used to make a point of saying a particular flight was a "trans-con" service. I used to sit at the end of T4 where the JFK flights will arrive and depart and watch all these businessman dressed in suits boarding their DC-10 and wondered if I will ever be one of them... lol