I still have the picture of me on the stairs of a PSA flight going to SFO to visit my aunt unaccompanied - I'm maybe 8 or 9 years old, dressed in my sunday best with shiny mary jane shoes and a red beret and white gloves and I'm SO happy to be flying... and I got wings from the stewardess as well!

I do really miss the smiley faces on the PSA planes - nothing else has ever had that much character.

My late mother used to tell me great stories about Pan Am's service to HNL - where you had actual bunks so you could sleep like you were in a train. They used to go every summer in the 50's. (don't even get me started on her defunct cruise ship stories from the days when cruises were glamourous!)

I remember BI, Braniff International, with their 10 different colors of fuselage in the 70s. My favorite is the orange-colored 747, the Great Pumpkin.

There was also PSA, Pacific Southwest, on the west coast. All their planes showed a "big grin".

Hughes AirWest always reminded me of a banana with the whole fuselage painted in bright yellow.

The one I miss the most was a classic airline in the Far East, Civil Air Transport (CAT), in the 50 - 60s. A dragon was painted near the nose of their aircraft. The bulkhead that divided the first and economy classes in the CV-880 jet had an arched opening, like a Chinese doorway.

I haven't thought about Simmons Air in years, but now that you bring it up... It was early '82, and their gate at DTW had a hand-lettered posterboard sign stuck to the window to identify the airline. I was great with child at the time, and before boarding, they whipped out a K-mart bathroom scale for me to step on to assign a seat for weight distribution.

Back in the 80's there was MGM Grand between LAX and JFK, ultra first class. A couple of times I managed to get on board using FIM's from AA - I should been in sales!

In any case it was 727 configured for something liie 40 passengers. Stand up bar, gold faucets in the toilet, incredible food, captains chairs that swiveled 360 and everyone aboard (except me) was someone you recognized. They all pull up in their limos and I arrived via National Shuttle bus (had to tell the driver how to get to the Imperial Terminal on the far side of LAX by the freighters!

What wonderful stories and memories ...

My best memory of a defunct airline doesn't involve flying. I was in my first job out of college with a software consulting firm. We sold an airport passenger behavior simulation study to Northeast. The purchase order had been fully approved orally and had all but the last signature. The final approver was out of town on business but assured us he'd sign on his return. In between, a disastrous earnings report came out and everything, including our study, was cancelled. In fact, most of the passenger service department, including the person we were dealing with, got laid off.

I got a Northeast "yellowbird" pin out of it, though. Delta bought Northeast soon after this all happened. Many of DL's Boston-based flight attendants had come over in the process. Whenever I wore that pin on a DL flight to or from BOS for years afterward, an FA was sure to recognize it and treat me like royalty!

BTW, there's a great airline memorabilia shop at O'Hare. Take the tunnel to the Hilton. Directly opposite where you turn left to the hotel, the shop is on your right. It has stuff like genuine Eastern Airlines golf shirts and a bazillion different kinds of pins. I don't have my yellowbird pin any more - it fell off in Atlanta when a shoulder strap rubbed against it, and I didn't notice until later - but if I were at all likely to encounter someone who would recognize it at this late date, which I'm especially not as I don't fly DL much any more, I'm sure they'd have one.

Recall catching a flight down in the Carolinas long time back with a couple of young fellas, names of Wilbur and Orville, I believe. My memory's a bit foggy, but I know there were no drinks or food serviced, just a small bushel of peanuts strapped to one of the wings.

As alluded to, when some of us started flying, all passenger planes had propellers! DC7s, North Stars, Super Connies... and then came the prop-jets like Viscounts and Vanguards... On the latter two, the first class cabin was at the back of the plane where is was quieter.

Then came the jets, and the next revolution began!

Did fly LAKER a little later in my life, back when they also flew between Toronto and Gatwick. Just as VIRGIN today reflects the hip British present, LAKER was at the forefront of that image in the 60s and early 70s, transporting us to the world of the Beatles, Stones and Carnaby Street. [Austin Powers, anyone? Orange shag carpets?] Remember, Randy's Freddies are name after Sir Freddy Laker, innovator of the air bus, i.e. discounted flying for the masses. US$99 each way across the Atlantic. [What with inflation over the years and much higher fuel and other costs, it is no wonder today's carriers cannot make money flying passengers across the Atlantic to London for US$299, but still keep doing it. In effect, that is even cheaper than Sir Freddy's fare!]

There's a Quebec rock singer from the 70s called Robert Charlebois. He now owns one of that provinces best microbreweries which makes a wicked brew called: Le fin de la monde, or The End of the World [with a 12% alcohol level!]. Anyhow, one of his early hits was a little ditty whose lyrics were almost entirely composed of the names of the world's airlines of the day, virtually every one now defunct. In fact, the song's refrain starts out, somewhat ironically given its recent takeover:

"Ahhh, TransWorld, Nordair, Eastern, Western, pi Pan American. La, la, la..."

TWA = American Airlines
Nordair = Canadian = Air Canada
Eastern = Continental
Western = Delta
Pan Am = United/Delta

And I have FF cards from all these, and more...

Gotta go wipe the drool from my chin now, sonny. Time to catch old Abe Simpson on the telly, too.

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI...tem=1181103068

Ready for some serious obscurity!?

Wright Airlines flew props out of Cleveland's Burke Lakefront Airport (a la Meigs Field in Chicago) to Detroit City Airport and a couple of other rotating destinations like Charleston WV, maybe Cincinnati Lunken Airport, etc.

I think the FFPs killed this boutique airline. Probably a little ahead of its time as far as serving non-major airports.

beaubo,

I flew Wright a few times out Burke in the late 70's. I always wondered if it was Wilbur or Orville was in the cockpit.

My company (at that time) was a retail operation and flew store level management to Wayne Co in Detroit for shows and meetings. I had a few interesting trips with them.

There was the time the door fell off twice (not on my plane) and yet my loyal, fellow employees get back on for a third try.

I was on one flight where all the store managers (and DM's and regional manager) were on a flight to Detroit. After sitting down, I turned to my seat mate and mentioned that there were going to be a lot promotions if the plane went down. Turning back, the regional manager was walking down the aisle and heard what I had said. Needless to say, thre was a significant change in travel strategies shortly thereafter.

[This message has been edited by BillMorrow (edited 08-21-2001).]

Bad BAD memories about Proair, which flew out of Detroit City Airport. Was very jazzed with their cheap fares to and from EWR, but WOW, did their service really stink.

In the 80's, there was New York Air, which flew DC-9's into the New York area (EWR and LGA). They were always a Continental entity, but as CO had such a bad rap, it was another entity altogether. They had "Nosh Bags", which were nothing more than an apple and a bagle, but very yummy nonetheless. I had such a great time with them, I booked my parents on them from DTW to BOS, with a connection in EWR. Unfortunately, though, the agent was so infatuated with her boyfriend (on a phonecall), she mismarked their bags, and the bags ended up in Newark. Took a day to get them up to BOS. They quickly became part of Continental, as the shuttle.

TWA international was a fun one too. As a kid, (11 years old), I was on a flight from Zurich to JFK. We had flown over to Europe on the very new 747, introduced just that year, and I was already spoiled. We flew from DTW to JFK on a 727 (I was thoroughly unimpressed), but that 747 was a SIGHT. On the way back it was a 707; being a *****y kid, I was unhappy to be on a narrowbody plane all the way to New York. Just as we cleared Ireland, the pilot came on and announced that we had to land, NOW, and we will be dumping fuel to expedite that. HOW COOL!!!!

Turns out it was a bomb threat. The flight originated out of Tel Aviv, and there were a number of Israeli dignitaries on board. We landed in Shannon, spent at least 6 hours there while the plane was inspected. After that, we reboarded the same plane (I would never do that now), and off to JFK. The cool thing that I remember is that the pilot announced that all cocktails (I was too young to partake) were FREE, have as much as you like, thanks for flying TWA, etc. Sorry for the delay. I opted for a few Cokes.

Since we were incredably late, we missed our connection to DTW. In those days, international calls were unheard of, so the people meeting us in DTW all went home. We ended up spending the night in a HoJO at JFK (my first offical time that I was allowed to stay up that late, saw Johnny Carson for the first time). We were allowed one phone call to the relatives in Ohio to tell them the reason for the delay.

The next day we were sent to LGA for a FIRST CLASS flight over to DTW. I asked my Dad "Hey, why didn't we fly 1st all of the time, this is so nice??". He chuckled, and tried to explain that 1st was a LOT more expensive. I didn't care, and on that one hour flight, we had some really yummy cheese omelletes. Good example of being spoiled at an early age. I still get *****y when I don't get upgraded.

People's Express obviously expanded too fast, contributing to their demise. Their legacy lived on however, with Continental's hub in Newark.

Apparently during the last year or so, the whole operation was pretty chaotic. They didn't have much of a corporate "organization" per se, as it flew in the face of their employee empowerment culture. So this led to numerous oversights.

In fact, just before the inaugural flight of the "Great Pumpkin" to Gatwick, it occured to managment that they didn't have a crew to fly it. They tried buying a qualified crew, but their salaries were too low and management wasn't about to cause internal strife by bringing on higher paid pilots. So they scrambled, and qualified a 727 crew in a 747 simulator (apparently you can be equipment certified this way).

Thus, the first PEX 1/2 Boeing 747--the legendary Braniff "Great Pumpkin"--flew fully loaded to Gatwick piloted by a crew who had never flown a 747 before.

old story.... mom & 2 kids at meal time on any a/l . mom: "eat your food" repeat, repeat, repeat, " think of all the starving children on peoples express!"

I first began flying in the early 70's, when I began to attend college in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The airline of choice (i.e. the only one available) was the 'Ruptured Goose', aka North Central Airlines. While my memories of the flights are vague (hey, I was a child of the 70's-- in Wisconsin), I do remember the airport being a smaller version of a bus station located in a hanger.
At some point, I even think they had direct service to LGA, but the details are 'hazy'. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Does anyone remember having to pay to use the toilets in the ladies room in GSO? They had one "free" stall & I think the others were 10 cents to use? They stall doors were equipped with a slot to accept the dime. I had a friend who flew to Paris in the summer to spend time with her family. I would go along for the ride to the airport. Back then it was a long car ride & of course us kids would have to potty when we got to the airport. We'd always slide under the door to avoid paying.

After sitting on the sidelines of this thread for a few days, I finally feel compelled to add my own accounts to the pool. When I was little, I used to fly Air New England and/or PBA from Hyannis to Boston almost every weekend. The former flew Fockers and Twin Otters (which I have spotted in St. Barth's several times in recent years), while the latter flew Cessna 402s, YS-11s (a 50 seat Japanese turboprop), and DC-3s (PBA had one other plane that I can't quite recall, Martin something perhaps?). Because I flew so often, I usually got to sit in the cockpit of the single pilot airplanes when loads were light. And, on occassions where I was the only passenger, I even got to fly the plane -- quite a treat for an eight-year old.

It's safe to say that my experiences on the hya-bos route, as a child, catalyzed my interest in aviation.

[This message has been edited by moondog (edited 08-27-2001).]

Well I thought I had a few airlines in my memory bank that no one would come up with. Then I read through from post-1 to the end and i see where letiole and mauld both mentioned North Central. So - that one is out the window. While mauld called it "Ruptured Goose", I just called it - BLUE GOOSE (for the blue goose on the tail). Then rptflyer comes along and blows away my Muse Air second secret. Oh well - such is life. How many of you knew that Lamar Muse was the first president of Southwest? Bet you thought it was Herb Kelleher, right?

Someone mentioned TTA (tree top airlines), actually Trans Texas Airlines; another mentions Texas International (TIA), but no one mentions that the lineage is from TTA to TIA to today's Continental Airlines.

Now - how about Central Airlines flying throughout the Great Plaines states, such as Nebraska, the Dakotas, etc. I believe it has the Japanese "flower", the Chrysanthemum (sp) (and my Japanese isn't any better either). Flew them on a Convair a/c from KCI (yes - the "downtown" airport on the banks of the Missouri River) to OMA (Omaha) via Lincoln, NB. Stop in Lincoln was actually the Airforce base there.

Should I say Panagua - are they still in business in South America? Flew them Caracas to SAT via Panama in either a DC-2/3, can't remember which model DC it was.

OK - where did I put that drool cup? Lost it again, I see! Maybe Rudi has it?

dAAvid -

I was a kid in Dallas when Braniff was just about ready to fail. My first 747 flight was a Braniff 30 minute flight (I believe on Big Orange herself) around Dallas and Fort Worth.

I was only 10 or 11, so I don't know what the story behind the flights were, but they were probably a last-ditch effort at getting revenue from all those planes they had ordered and couldn't afford to/get approval to fly.

My Dad used to bring home those bright orange playing cards with international symbols and phrases and all sorts of other neat stuff from Braniff flights. Some people wish they'd kept their baseball cards. These are the things I wish I had kept.

Are you sure this wasn't Texas Air or later than the 60's? Southwest didn't come around until the early 70's.

Nope. I remember when Lamar got ousted and decided he would show them. Too bad for Lamar. I always thought the Muse Air planes were pretty with that simple white script on a blue background contrasting that garish SWA color scheme we all know so well today.

That lineage doesn't tell the whole story. TIA wasn't absorbed into Continental, but TIA actually grew large enough that they bought Continental. The Board of Texas Air simply decided (much like the board of Allegheny Air) that they should retain the less regional name to better compete.

Edited to Fix UBB

[This message has been edited by robb (edited 08-27-2001).]

Anyone remember New York Air? Started out as pretty successful competition to the Eastern Air Shuttle to LaGuardia from Boston and Washington, making a splash by handing out free bagels and cream cheese to its passengers at a time when the Eastern Shuttle handed out squat. Probably single-handedly led to the free coffee, soda and magazines that those shuttles now provide. Unfortunately, NY Air deteriorated badly toward the end, and I believe it ultimately "merged" with Continental, but I believe the word "merge" was used mean that Continental bought a few of the assets and employed maybe a few lucky NY Air personnel, and the rest of New York Air landed in the ash heap of my vague and uncertain memory.

In addition to PSA, Hughes Airwest and AirCal, I remember a flight I took in the early 80's on Pacific Express from OAK to SMF. Between the 1 hr. delay in boarding and the drive up to the airport from my home in Palo Alto, I could have driven myself there in about the same amount of time.

<< Dupe post. Sorry. >>

[This message has been edited by hnechets (edited 08-27-2001).]

Southern Airways.

Sometime around 1984. Took a DC-3 to Atlanta, connecting to (??somewhere up North. Probably Philly).

SO SICK, I could not move. The plane went UP(not too bad), AND THEN IT WENT down(BAD, real bad). And it went DOWN ore than it went UP. Only time in my life I've used the barf bag. I don't really remember, but it had some kind of script on it to the effect of "In the event of discomfort."

Or something like that. I though it was a real kinda stupid at the time. Discomfort?

Changed to a jet in Atlanta. At the time, it could have been a 707 or a DC-8. Couldn't possibly tell you which. Only that it had 4 engines on the wings. And, oh, man! What a flight. 2 X 2 seating, got a meal, sitting by the window, and the plane was smooth as silk. Airsickness went away and I saw the clouds above for the first time in my life. ANd had my first in-flight meal. No clue what it was now, but...it was...

Magical.

People's Express DCA-EWR-SFO. Did that like 10 times.

Eastern DCA-MIA-MBJ. Did that about 15 times.

Pan Am DCA-JFK-CDG. Did that like 4 times.

And I used to fly UA quite a bit before Jim Goodwin drove them out of....oh wait, not yet.... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

I used to fly PA60/61 a lot, the IAD-FRA RT, in Clipper Class. In the mid-to-late 1980s this run was luxurious, sad and fascinating all at once. Luxurious because C class was 2-2-2 in a 747. Sad because the cabin got ever more empty over time, especially after Lockerbie. Fascinating because a lot of spooky Washington types used to ride that flight -- sometimes you'd swear half the State Department or NSA was on there with you.

What was your last Pan Am flight? Mine was not the FRA run from Dulles but the LHR run, PA106/107, in early 1990, just before they sold the Heathrow rights to UA. Those flights weren't luxurious or fascinating, just sad. My fiance and I took advantage of a panic PA sale and paid $298 each to go over for the weekend, and even at those prices there weren't more than 100 pax on board these ancient, scorched, dingy 747-100s -- either way. The whole back Y cabin was curtained off and dark. It was like a ghost plane. The FAs went about their business looking tight-lipped and stoic, knowing the entire proud enterprise was doomed. We all stretched out and slept in the middle seats.

Iraq invaded Kuwait about four months later and cooked Pan Am's goose for good.

Continental bought People Express, New York Air, and (the original) Frontier all around the same time... probably with a 12-month period. Meantime, Frank Lorenzo, who controlled both Continental and Eastern through Texas Air, was busy stripping Eastern of its assets, including its share of System One (the CRS), which he sold to himself for a song. Eventually, when Eastern went into Ch. 11 (due to the pilots' strike) he cherry-picked the assets to sell to Continental, which is how CO wound up with some EA routes, although they decided to give up the Atlanta hub. Of course, Eastern never flew again and switched to Chapter 7 or 13 or something. The nominal President of Eastern during much of this period was former astronaut Frank Borman, who probably should have stuck to lunar landers. Later, Eastern was briefly run by Martin Shugrue, who was also involved in the PanAm bankruptcy.

For the record, Hughes AirWest, Southern Airways, and North Central Airlines merged in 1979 to form Republic Airways, which flew until about 1986.

[This message has been edited by RichG (edited 08-29-2001).]

PA 47/46 (IIRC), early 90's, HAM-JFK-HAM on an A 310 in Clipper Class. Those were the times...

From working the Midwest in the early 80's, I remember a couple of airlines that have not gotten a call yet in this thread:

Air One - This outfit was based in St. Louis and had the all FC configuration and service idea years before Midwest Express. They seemed to have the most attractive FA's in the business and I loved it and always tried to get it, but I think that the financing ran out in less than one year.

Britt - A commuter operation out of Southern Indiana (Terre Haute, I think). They used the oldest, rattiest, most second and third-hand planes that they could find, and my runs from IND to EVV were frequently pure adventure. It was axiomatic that Billy Britt never cleaned or fixed a plane if he could avoid doing so, but it finally caught up with him when two of them went down within a year of each other, and if memory serves, the Feds yanked his certificate.

Note to JerryFF - I don't remember Mo'-Agony,
but it sounds likely. When I worked upstate NY and Quebec in the 70's I called my territory "the route of the Slowhawk."

I guess I'm one of the senior citizens on the board too. I remember barnstorming flights to nowhere. In the early/mid 50s there was a clapped out DC-3 flown out of LGA by a pilot who must have left most of his nerves somewhere over Berlin. Anyway, for 5 bucks you got a 45 minute flight over NYC. It was my first flight in, gulp, 1955.

I remember when they gave out free cigarettes on the flights; little packs of 3 or 4 smokes with the company logo on the pack. Playing cards too. People dressing up to fly; women in white gloves and hats. I remember Icelandic Air in the late 60s; you could get high on the secondhand smoke!

More recently I remember the Deli and Pub flights that UA and CO used to run on the transcons. The back of the L1011 had rows of seats pulled out for a bar/sandwich area.

And I remember when a first class seat was just a dream......

[/b] I was living in DC then. The same day there was a fatal crash on the subway with, I think, 4 or 5 people being killed. My drive to work took me past the crash site at river level and for at least a week afterwards the whole area stank of jet fuel.

My sister reminded me of how I was visiting my Grandma in New York for about a year:

TRUMP SHUTTLE!

koko: Eastern Shuttle -> Trump Shuttle -> U.S. Air Shuttle: all same company. Well, actually, Donald Trump bought the shuttle-related assets from Eastern in their "fire sale" before the bankruptcy, including planes, crews, and the new terminal Eastern had just built at the Eastern http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif end of LGA. Later, Trump sold his shuttle company to U.S. Air, and they soon built their new terminal as an add-on to the Shuttle terminal. That's why the layout is so strange inside, floors are not at the same levels in the two airside wings, etc. The West side of the building is an add-on to the much smaller East side.

When I was living in Hawaii in the early 80s we had Hawaii Express - with coupons for 1 way HNL to LAX flights for $70 - too bad I was stuck with them when they went under.

And Mid Pacific Air - which caused a massive fare war for interisland flights - I think it got down as low as $9.95 for standby, and $14.95 for confirmed.

I'm know there were some others - any kamaainas out there remember?
I'm sure

Believe it or not, a couple of others just came to mind:

Kiwi International - This outfit rose from the ashes of Eastern, with virtually all of the cockpit and cabin crews being oldtimers from that defunct airline. They flew all coach configured 727's between EWR and a couple of destinations including MDW, SJU (hence the "International" in the name), and PBI. The aircraft interiors were distinguished by an enormous exit row, for they had simply removed the row in front of the standard exit row without putting anything in between. That was their equivalent of FC and it was almost always available when I asked for it. I used it extensively out to MDW to hook up with Southwest to run to the Lower Midwest and Mid South(eg. SDF, BNA, BHM). Generous connection time was always dialed in because this was an airline whose flights got more and more delayed as the day wore on, you could count on a minimum of 2 hours on the evening flights, and eventually I could no longer use them for connections because of that. The last time that I flew them was out of PBI and they were stacked over EWR for a while when they announced that they would need to put down in PHL for refueling. At that stage, I grabbed my suitcase from the overhead, got off the plane, and called my brother-in-law who lives in Philly to come get me and take me to my crashpad in NJ. I never flew with them again because they went belly-up shortly thereafter.

Christman Air - A commuter line that I got maybe 20 years ago once from PIT to CAK (is that the right designator for Akron-Canton, OH?). I don't remember much about them except that they were on time.

There probably are others that will come to mind from time to time and I will chime in again here when they do.