Status BEFORE FF programs began...
 

Just curious...

Before the days of FF programs, how did airlines treat regular flyers? Were upgrades given to familiar faces at check in?

How did airlines track Million Mile Flyers? Did customers send in ticket stubs?

I know the the AA Admirals Club was at first invitation only to VIP's. Did other clubs have similar policies?

Were f class sections often half-full? (Yesterday, was on a 777 with 46 in Y but every seat taken in F becasue of all the upgrades).

[This message has been edited by zrs70 (edited 03-06-2001).]

Good question, this is before I was flying much but it was also in the time when there was only 3 fare basis, First, Coach and Economy/excursion. I think even Business class on international flights is a quite recent (last 20 years or so) occurance.

If I recall correctly, Delta had their Crown Room Club in Atlanta. It was hidden away behind an unmarked door. Delta marketing people would contact those that were very loyal customers and offered the use of the facility at no charge.

You would call and make a reservation for the room in advance. Upon opening the door you would find a desk with an employee with a reservation log. After checking in you would head up the elevator to a nice club.

No charge...

TW

Back in the mid-70s, my father flew frequently between IAD & LAX on UA, AA & TW and he got in their clubs (most of the time we visited AA's Admiral Club at IAD). He said he got in UA's Red Carpet Club for free after filling out some paperwork to prove he has flown over 100,000 miles with them. I guess he did the same with AA.


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UA PremExec (2001)
mailto:[email protected][email protected]</A>

I think that the arilines would send you little medalions for each city you visited, if you were a frequent flyer for them.

Re: the DL club in Atlanta...

Even up until the mid '90's, DL had small CRC's in almost all cities they served (save the really tiny markets). Some cities were never listed as having one, though they did. You showed a membership card at check in, and they would tell you the code to punch in (as there were no staff in these locations).

Still, there were self-service bars and snacks.

DL closed down many rooms in the 90's. Some that come to mind are:

SDF
LAS
CLE
PIT
BWI


[This message has been edited by zrs70 (edited 03-06-2001).]

[This message has been edited by zrs70 (edited 03-06-2001).]

I've read many stories thoughout the years about people who have a very old certificate from United honoring them as a Million Mile Flyer. Try as they do, United refuses to honor those certificates for lifetime Premier Executive under the current MM program, claiming that only Mileage Plus miles count, and those certs were from the pre-MP era. Since they are worthless now, they are quite abundant on eBay.

By the way, I just remembered their is an old Frequent Flyer Magazine issue about this (that's the old magazine printed by OAG, to complement their flight guides, since discontinued) called the Way we Were. I saved many interesting FF Magazines, so I'll look later for this one.

The airline clubs were the original perks for frequent flyers. Airlines invited their best customers to make use of the club, and this continued until a lawsuit resulted in the ruling that such invitation-only clubs was discimrininatory and airlines were "forced" to open the clubs to all at an equal fee.
As to upgrades, I think local managers and perhaps gate agents had wide discretion on offering these to passengers they knew to be frequent flyers. It was, however, done very quietly. I can remember travelling with someone when we were taken aside very mysteriously and told we were "invited to make use of the first class."

My Uncle has, and still uses, one of the old United Million Mile luggage tags from the '60s. I don't know how United tracked these miles.

My father flew extensively in the 60s and 70s and still has United and Pan Am million-mile flyer luggage tags. He also flew extensively on TWA and JAL. In appreciation he was given, along with my mother, lifetime memberships in United's Red Carpet Club, Pan Am's Clipper Club and TWA's Ambassadors Club. Of course, Delta bought out Pan Am and continued to honor his lifetime Clipper Club membership by giving him a lifetime Crown Room Club card.

As to upgrades, he tells me that if you wanted to fly first, you paid for first - no freebies. Only employees were entitled to fly upfront without paying. He had no problem with that. One exception was Western, which would always upgrade him when he checked in at the airport if there were seats available.

As for business class, I believe Pan Am was the first to introduce a buffer between first and coach/economy and christened it Clipper Class. Seats were the same as coach, food was also the same as coach although you had a better appetizer, wine was complimentary and you had free movie headsets.

My dad had a special UA 100,000 mile club card -- don't know what it got him.

Related question...

When the FF programs did formally begin, at what point did the idea of elite levels kick in?

FF programs started around 1980.

AADVANTAGE was the first program, established in 1981.

I think that the 1981 date for AA is correct. Going back much before the programs came into effect would be a bit of a stretch for me, but I can discuss the mid-eighties range.

I started flying in earnest in the mid to late eighties. The programs were pretty basic at first, with just straight miles and no real stratification as to elite status. The few first class gigs that I could swing back then were the result of offering to be bumped.

This happened a couple of times on AA, and it seems that the gate agents had a number of seats to give out at their discretion to those persons who were nice at the gate. Being a slender (sniffle, sniffle) young buck who was dreadfully outgoing and volunteered to be bumped, etc., I was upgraded a number of times. Wearing a full suit helped a great deal, too.

It seems that the rapid proliferation and expansion of the FF programs starting in the late eighties pretty well ended some of the gate agent's discretion with regard to upgrading (although they sure as heck still have some). This is a good thing for us higher level elite fliers, in that we now get the FC based upon number of miles, etc.

It is also a good thing because I am a plodding, harried old businessman with three kids, a wife and a barking dog to annoy me. Hence, playing cute blond puppy is no longer effective. Ah, but if only I could get back to the 150 pound stage. Sniffle, sniffle.

My wife travelled internationally extensively as a child (all on her father's employer, an oil company).. All the photos on Pan Am First Class show very few or no other passengers. She also remembers that one of the early perks of being a travel agent in business dress was the possibilty of upgrades; this is certainly no longer true!

United had a "program" in the pre-FF days where you got a wall plaque, and when you flew to or through different cities, they would send you a metal strip with that cities name engraved. When you flew to (thru) a city either 5 or 10 times, or more, you got a silver, and then a gold metal strip. As was said before, when the FF programs began, you started off with 0 miles, even though you had city strips up the gazoo! So be it.

As they say, rules is rules.


DD

Anybody remember DL's "Flying Colonel" program? Back when I worked for them (1978-82) they offered this distinction to certain customers but, frankly, I cannot recall what criteria was used for the selection process nor can I remember the benefits of that status. With the advent of their Delta Frequent Flyer Program (later became SkyMiles) I presume the "Flying Colonel" program ended. Anyone know for sure?

My friend got Flying Colonel as late as the early 1990's, so it definitely didn't end with the introducing of Delta Frequent Flyer. He apparently was nominated by a Delta official, and was presented with his plaque and white membership card at his office by a Delta official. His photo was also taken and hung in the Tampa CRC (along will all Tampa based FC's and MM's), but I believe that they have all disappeared. Although now discontinued, his benefits were "lifetime" CRC membership, stationary, and a VIP phone number. again, all discontinued, although "FC" still appears on boarding passes, tickets, and manifests. The Flying Colonel program might have held more water before Delta Frequent Flyer, but the phone number and CRC was all that it was when my friend got it. Now it means nothing.

By the way, I believe this is the 20th Anniversary of a Delta FF program (first Delta Frequent Flyer, now SkyMiles).

In the mid to late-seventies, Eastern Airlines, which had for some years been keeping informal track of its best customers, very quietly instituted a level known as "Executive Traveler" for these customers. This came with a brown suede ticket holder and a brown card on which your membership number was stamped (it was really your phone number).
The Executive Traveler never sat in coach when there was a first-class seat available (on a standby basis) and always got some sort of seat even if the flights were completely sold out. I have vivid memories of being personally escorted through crowds of people trying to get on to flights at various airports when there were extensive weather or other delays and cancellations. Even after the institution of the formal Frequent Traveler program in the early 80's, The ET designation survived until Eastern's demise in 89.
To this day, if you hear a CO agent refer to an Elite flyer as an ET, you know that this is a former Eastern employee who had been absorbed into Continental at the Lorenzo takeover.

I, too, began flying regularly about 1983. The programs were established, although still fairly new. What seems astounding now looking back to the early days of the ff programs is how generous the awards were. On Northwest, you turned in coupons for each flight... one for coach and two for first. When you finished the book of 20 coupons you got an award certificate. That certificate entitled you to one free domestic coach flight, or you could save it and combine certificates for first class or international travel. It was, in effect, a "segment" system. How about that! Additional "perks" came with the certificate as well, including, as I recall, two or three nights at such hotels as Mandarin Oriental. Early on I had enough of these hotel awards and airline certificates for two of us to go to Hong Kong business class and stay a week at the Mandarin Oriental. Both the airline and hotel awards added up fast. Of course, that's why they couldn't stay so generous. You also got a week car rental, and some other partner rewards.
On many flights, first class was not a huge additional outlay. I remember "upgrading" some flights for as little as $20 ow.

Coach back then was much better than coach is today and First class today is much better than First was back then.

Tango, I agree with your statements about coach being better back then and first class being better today, however, there is one exception: Pan Am. I would take Pan Am's first class flights between SFO or LAX and JFK over all carriers currently providing premium trans-con service, even Delta's Businesselite.

True, seats did not fully recline and no laptop outlets or state of the art entertainment systems back then, but upstairs on Pan Am's 747s was a spacious first class lounge. For meals, tables were reconfigured to dining tables where four people sat across each other. Carts were rolled down the aisle and roast beef was carved to your liking - well, medium and rare. Not a meat eater, how about lobster?

Caviar and dom perignon were served. Today, I believe United is the only U.S. carrier that serves dom, but only on international flights. For desert, a real whole chocolate cake cut and served from the cart. Oh, yes, you also received a first class amenity kit. Those were the days...

[This message has been edited by TangoIsAnIdiot (edited 03-08-2001).]

???

Over here in Europe I was nominated to the BA Executive Club in 1978. This stayed good until the new arrangements for which we used to pay was launched. The same applied over at British Caledonian. The tiered level started much more recently, and BCAL (best 1st class I've ever flown - vintage Krug, and the FA changed into a long tartan dress to serve!) never really had them except for premium flyers which used to be identified by the Commercial Department as I recall. I remember the inception of "Business Class" and I thin, FTraveller that it was KLM who offered this area to Full Fare Flyers as they were known. As far as on board was concerned US carriers were wonderful in the 70s, TWA used to be wonderful on the North Atlantic. In those days all drinks and headsets in Economy had to be paid for. I still have my Flying Colonel plaque at home, thanks for letting me know what became of the scheme. Yes, Delta Sales division in London nominated me. Yes, they were wonderful times I am glad that I experienced them, but I still enjoy things now....plus ca change..

Paul

(Pushing travel-related threads ahead).

Ms. Fishbait here:

OMG, I remember Eastern Airlines!! Mr. Fishbait and I were newly engaged on opposite coasts and commuted often (on those cheap, cheap fares) and it seems we were always upgraded.. For what reason, I have no idea: we were only 20 yrs old, dressed in jeans, but perhaps polite (or they knew our flight record??)?? On the flight I took to make my wedding arrangements, I was chatting with the FA and she slipped me 3 bottles of champagne to take off the plane with me (I don't think I was even of legal age in some states!)

And FC on Pan Am was a delectable experience! Only 7,8 yrs old, treated like a queen! I remember the upstairs lounge and bar... An experience I am reminded of when I see the ads for Virgin's Upper Class.. Those were the days of FC travel!

I remember those PanAm flights and they were excellent, but MGM Grand was the best way to fly transcon, although you had to forego FF miles.

I'm guessing that when Tango and FTraveler talk about FC being better now than it was in the old days, they are referring only to international travel. In the sixties and seventies, FC passengers on domestic flights were treated as special customers, and the seating was much better (more seat pitch).
In those days, I only flew FC domestically, and my experience with international FC was restricted to PanAm #1, which had the last leg of its RTW flight leave IAH at about 145PM enroute to JFK. On that flight, the food and drink (Champagne and caviar for sure) flowed freely and the seating was very much the equivalent of today's CO Business First or NW WBC (albeit with manual seat controls).
You can imagine the schedule juggling that was needed in order to get an early meeting on the last day in Houston to get everything done by noon so that I could get out to the airport in time for that PanAm beauty.

It depends on how far back you want to go. First Class on the trans Atlantic DC-7's got you a fold down bed with curtains in the rear of the plane. Not all First Class cabins today are equal. If you fly on one of the better first class products today (with full sleeper seat), the service is much better than the FC of the early 80's when the current FF programs were rolled out.

Flying coach in the 70's was a better product than today's coach. Seat pitch and the number of seats per row alone made flying more enjoyable. Seat maps of the Y cabin of 747's show 1 less seat in the middle row! Some airlines even had piano bars in the coach cabin.

Most people did not fly in the 70's---it was still an exclusive club no matter what class you flew in. It was not until the likes of People's express and Southwest that drove the masses into flying with their cheap fares.

The one thing I do not miss are the headsets with the hollow plastic tubes and suction like ear pieces--.

How far back do you want to go??? My dad is 84 and began flying extensively in the 1950's. As an executive, he always flew first class. In those days, the entire plane was designated first or economy (no such thing as business class). Since it was the 50's the passengers were all men, carefully tended by gorgeous stewardesses. They got all the amenities - like socks, etc., smoked cigars, drank a ton of booze, played poker and otherwise did guy things. There was a lounge area on the plane where the guys could play cards and my dad was a shark, making money at gin or cribbage on every flight. Once, my mother, brother and I flew economy red eye to meet my dad in LA. Our plane had engine problems in Dallas so we were switched to a first class plane. We were so excited!! Even got hot breakfast...Both my dad and husband were multiple million milers under the old plan.

Ah yes, People Express. I took it twice (in emergency situations) in the early 80's and could not believe the seat pitch. I think it was 29 inches and can only remember sitting with my chin on my knees both times.
Today's 31 ia not a whole lot better, but then again, for most of the crowd on these boards, coach travel should only happen in emergencies.

Just a point of clarification . . .

Eastern Airlines folded in January, 1991 as opposed to the year 1989 mentioned above.
1989 was the year that the airline suffered a major strike (mechanics??) which certainly accelerated the downward spiral and death of Eastern.

Thanks, hackensacknj. The memory has gotten fuzzy about things like that. All I can recall is that the last discounted 10 trip shuttle ticket book (remember that goody?) between LGA and DCA that EA sold me was in 88 or 89. Be assured that I flew them until the day they were killed by CO as their theme song became "We need to sell a plane everyday."

[This message has been edited by monitor (edited 03-09-2001).]

I started flying on business in 1970, primarily from New York to Kansas City, Chicago and Detroit. Before the advent of frequent flyer programs, I upgraded by paying full coach fare plus 20%. Fortunately, I was with a corporation that paid the difference -- even for a young whippersnapper like me. The first airline club I visited was Eastern Airline's Ionosphere at LGA in 1976.

I remeber my first trip in business trans atlantic with Northwest in 1981. I was off to the USA to look at a new project and being new to the Company and rather young settled down into the 747 for the full treatment and the start of an adventure. Shortly after take off a crew member approached me enquiring as to my age. "20" I replied in a somewhat taken aback way. The response was a rather apologetic one of " I'm sorry but US rules do not allow us to serve alcohol to under 21's" 9 hours and no wine etc. In those days I did look rather young, see members gallery for the ravages of time!!

Back in the 70's for Domestic flights, the additional cost of First Class was 20%, simple as that, and the red-eye flights (departing after 10pm I think) automatically reduce cost by 20% so flying First was the same as flying Coach on a Daytime flight.

I often paid the 20% with my own money, sitting in the upstairs bar in the old 747's was a great experience. Had a great experience in a Continental piano bar one new years eve - flying accross the date line, landing in HNL the year before I departed!!

Can't recall how one got into the clubs, but they were different. The Clipper Club at JFK back then had a special apeal for me, it was when flying was "special".

Then one day United and American started to hand out 50% discount coupons which started the FF programs, life's never been the same again....