I flew Piedmont all the time in the 80s, and by far the best part was the Piedmont Punch during beverage service.

Absolutely! By the time I was 15 years old, the travel agency downwtown would give me their slightly expired (I think they came out weekly) OAG directory. This was a book that was as thick as a Manhattan Yellow Pages! The summer I turned 16 (yes, only 16), I set up an itinerary that would be called a "classic run" nowadays since this was before mileage. The best part of flying back then was having Dad pay for everything!

Air Florida PHL-DCA-MIA (stayed with grandma for a week)

National MIA-MSY (arrive very early AM, departed that late evening on Amtrak)

Amtrak from New Orleans to Chicago (arrived early AM, departed late PM)

Amtrak Chicago to St. Paul, MN (stayed with friends for a week)

Braniff MSP-MCI (stayed with an old college roomate of my fathers...who happen to have a wonderfully friendly daughter my age)

TWA MCI-PHL My last flight ever on a 707.

If I recall, this entire itinerary cost less than $500....Dad figured it was cheaper than the same amount of time at summer camp.



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Say more about joint fares. Did you have to be in the smoking section?

I go back even further with PI. I started my business air travel in Virginia in the '50s and flew the DC3, 404, but mostly the high wing F27 - and later what probably few ever heard of, much less flew, the Japanese built YS-11 - all prop planes.

Later I "went north" to work, ending up in the Big Apple via Detroit; but I was always partial to PI over EA and DL. Dayton was a great hub and Tom Davis, the PI founder, was the Herb Kelleher of that day.

If AL, which became US and absorbed PI, had adopted the PI culture, the UA/US purchase shoe would have been on the other foot!

It was interesting to see photos of these planes on the above website. http://www.jetpiedmont.com/index1.php3



[This message has been edited by kappa (edited 11-26-2001).]

Remember the good old days of 1000 mile mimimums and triple miles? I used to take PI from CMI to ITH to/from school, and one trip was enough for a free ticket. CMI-DAY-LGA-SYR-ITH. 24,000 miles round trip. Ahhhh...

What a timely thread. I just spent Thanksgiving in Winston-Salem, NC and got together with a group of friends, most of whom worked for Piedmont or had close ties with people who did. We lived in an apartment complex during the 60's that was full of pilots, FA's, res/counter agents, mechanics, etc. and it was a close and fun-loving bunch. We recounted lots of tales and reminisced about the "good ole' days" when airline employees actually liked their jobs and there was a mutual respect between them and their customers. I can assure you that it was a very gloomy day for lots of people in W-S when U.S. Air took over!