NW-Rebublic merger -- ff programs
 

I was throwing away some old papers today and came across some old Republic Airlines materials. It got me thinking and I believe that my current WP number (9 digits beginning with 022) was in fact my Republic FF program number and not my NW number.
As I was recalling twenty years ago, I don't remember -- had NW switched to a card with a number or were we still turning those ticket-like pieces of paper to be attached to the ticket for FF credit? I think as late as 1996, NW was still sending out the vouchers/tickets when you reached a 20,000 mile award because I remember sending some to a friend to use on a ticket.
Anyone else recall this stuff?
tom

My WP membership dates back to 1991, and I do remember getting those tickets in the mail every 20,000 miles, so they did survive at least into the early 90s. It was fun.

They were the "fly-write" tickets -- you could just fill them in and use them as tickets for domestic tickets . . . including one way trips. You also could 2 FC asia seats for 140,000 (or was it 120?). My first trip cashing in on 2 FC Asia tickets (to BKK & HKG) I also recieved 7 FREE nights at a Mandrin Oriental hotel (we did HKG) and 7 FREE days of a LUXURY car (also HKG). Needless to say the next year all we got for our miles were the FC tickets to Aisa . . . but it was good while it lasted.

Now we're dusting the cobwebs off the long-term memories!
I just noticed the other day that, buried in wallet underneath my Worldperks Card, I still have my original Republic FF Card, with my 023 number on it. They were a great airline while they existed, and are definitely missed.

Here's a little trivia: how many of you FT'ers remember the names of the three airlines that merged to form Republic Airlines, way back then?

Hughes Airwest

Southern

North Central (they brought Herman the Mallard Duck insignia)

I remember that the initially all DC-9 (including the DC-9 Super 80-remember before the "re-christianing" to MD-80?) lacked the capacity for some heavily traveled times on key routes, so there were sometimes 2 flights sked minutes apart flying virtually "wingtip to wingtip" with one's flight number a scrambling of the other flight's.

IIRC, it was North Central and Southern that originally merged to form Republic. Hughes Airwest (itself a combination of three airlines) joined shortly thereafter. There was a great article on Republic in Airliners magazine a little while back - but unfortunately, I can't put my hand on that issue right now.

waaa.. You have not cleared junk in living room for more than 15 years :D :D :D

When were you last at my house?! Hey its tax time.

FYI, I got my federal tax refund 3 weeks ago ^ ^ ^ ^

Was the NC/Southern combination really a merger or an acquisition? As a southerner with an interest in regional language, I always wondered about the choice of Republic for the combination of Southern and NC. The connotation of Republic with the north (Battle Hymn of the Republic and all that.) Of course the independent Texas was also a republic, right?

And wasn't it just last year that NW finally closed the DC9 maintenance base at ATL that was part of Southern's system.
tom

No need for memories to experience this -- NW is still doing wingtip to wingtip between MSP and DTW at least once a day with 757s.

hey....take a picture of that???

Ah, you've confirmed for me that NW really did use the Republic FF program. I wonder how many other Republic systems persisted after the merger. I do recall a flight attendant telling me that it took years to merge the crew lists -- of course some of that, I'm sure had to do with different equipment.
tom

North Central outright bought Southern, and later Republic bought Hughes Airwest.

Worldperks emerged from Republic, not Northwest Orient
 

I was around back then; I first started with "Free Flight Plan II" on Northwest Orient back around 1983. Northwest was fairly primitive back then. As described above, frequent flier credit was generated by submitting a coupon with each ticket. It was segment-based. They also let you submit double coupons for First Class. I remember flying some cheap fares up to Fargo, about $60 one way, if memory serves correctly. You could upgrade to FC for $15 more, and get double FF credits to boot. The great thing was that with this system, connections also effectively counted double.

NW was one of the last majors to equip the gates with terminals to print boarding passes. Up until that time, you had to get a "sticker" seat assignment at the gate. That was a pain on a tight connection, as you had to get seat assignments for connections at the gate of your connecting flight. If you had a tight connection, you only got the center seat leftovers.

As for the emergence of Worldperks (which was the new FF program after the NW-RC merger), they started with the RC program as the "foundation". I was in both (prior to the merger). Northwest had gotten away from the coupons and gone to a card and number, and more typical mileage-based tracking. But when they merged the programs, my new 9-digit Worldperks number was my old 8-digit RC Frequent Flyer number with a "0" added to the beginning.