Now that many questions have been answered, some new ones?

Remember McClain Airlines? Black 727-200 from O'Hare?

What city did McClain fly to first? What city did they want to fly to from O'Hare?

Are you sure it was a 727-200? I've got a postcard of a McClain 727-100 and all of their ads also show a -100.

They were, as Seat 2A points out, 727-100s. The initial routes were Chicago-Phoenix and Chicago-Rockford (operated to exercise its use-or-lose rights for O'Hare slots). The Rockford route was quickly replaced by a Chicago-Phoenix-Los Angeles route.

Not sure what cities they ultimalely did serve, but I have a pre-startup brochure that shows a route map consisting of:

Chicago-Los Angeles
Chicago-Phoenix
Dallas/Fort Worth-Los Angeles
Dallas/Fort Worth-Phoenix
Dallas/Fort Worth-San Francisco

Not sure how many of those routes actually came about, though.

So, speaking of all First-Class carriers...in addition to McClain and MGM Grand Air (which was mentioned in another question much earlier on) who can name two other U.S. 727 operators that operated all First Class service back in the 80s?

Regent Air and Air One! Though I couldn't afford a flight on Regent Air's longer routes, I did fly Air One between STL and MCI back in October 1984. The aircraft was an ex-National Airlines machine and drinks were served with a big bowl of mixed nuts. Too bad we didn't have trip reports back then because that trip was a combination of an Amtrak railpass and an attempt to ride a bunch of airlines I'd never before flown. I managed first flights aboard Cascade (HS748), Horizon (DC-9-14), Sunworld International (DC-9-14), Southwest (737-200), Northeastern International (727-100), Florida Express (BAC-111) and Air One (727-100) in addition to almost 15000 miles of new trackage.

Awright, here's a couple you might find interesting ~

Name four African airlines that flew the VC-10

Besides BOAC/British Airways, what two other UK airlines flew the VC-10?

By the way, I enjoyed checking out your website, M702ML. Watch your PayPal account for a donation

WOW, Seat 2A, your experiences are an airline geek's dream! I would have loved to have flown on almost all of those aircraft! (The Southwest 737-200 is the exception, as I flew on that many of times, including my N702ML that I name my ID after!)

Most people probably don't even know that Horizon operated DC-9s or have ever heard of Sunworld!

But Florida Express, Northeastern, Air One... I am jealous you got to fly all of those carriers!!!!!!

It would have been nice if that DC-9 (N85AS) had worn Horizon's attractive red and orange livery but it was a leased airplane that still bore the livery of its owner, All Star Airlines. It remains the oldest DC-9 I have ever flown upon, originally delivered to Air Canada as number 4 off the production line. After serving All Star, it was sold to Midwest Express as N500ME. It was later sold to East African Safari Air Express where - so far as I can tell - it still flies as 5Y-XXB to this day.

Ahhh.... good old (and I do mean the OLD) Midwest Express. An old friend of mine and myself used to use our NRSA passes to fly from DFW to MKE and back just to experience the service. Believe it or not.... one of the best steaks and the absolute BEST mashed potatos I ever had! That was one class-act airline! I miss them!

I used to have (and I do regret ever getting rid of it) a copy of a late-80s report of some sort from Midwest Express. It included the results of a customer feedback survey. Being the 80s, it still made reference of: "Less than XXX% of customers still have the crash in mind when they think of us."

Hard to believe the survey even mentioned the references to "the crash." But it was there. "X% of customers associate us with our inflight meals." "X% of our customers associate us with our seating configuration." "X% of customers associate our name with being based in Milwaukee." "X% of our customers associate our name with 'the crash.'"

That was, truly, one of the forgotten aircraft accidents..... 31 people killed in the crash of a YX DC-9 in September 1985. It was so overshadowed by the crash of a Delta L1011 in August of that year at DFW that killed 137 people, the crash of a Japan Air Lines 747 in August of that year that killed 520 people, the inflight bombing of an Air India 747 that killed 329 people and the epic hijacking of TWA flight 847 over several weeks that summer....In one of the deadliest years of commecial aviaion, many people forget Midwest Express flight 105.

Yes, Seat 2A, you have a great thread. That is correct, United, Continental, Capitol and Northeast were Viscount operators. You are also correct regarding Aloha and Hawaiian operating Viscounts. I rode both AQ and HA Viscounts for years, with HA operating these fine aircraft for a short while compared to about 7 to 8 years in service with AQ.

I'm so sorry I'm late to this thread--great fun, well done Seat 2A!

Four African VC10 (NO hyphen!) operators: East African (Supers), Air Malawi, Ghana Airways, Nigeria Airways.

In the UK, British United and British Caledonian flew the VC10.

BTW, in the original set, question 33--Pacific East Air also flew a former Alitalia DC-8-62 in scheduled service between SFO/LAX and HNL. (They also flew a -61 in their own colors and a -63 leased from Flying Tigers.) MGM Grand also operated the DC-8-62 in scheduled service.

Two follow-on questions:

Before the nonstop flights began, which airline and aircraft provided through jet service between Hong Kong and Johannesburg?

Which California routes--begin and end points within the state--were served by scheduled flights using DC-8 aircraft? (Hint: there were at least five.)

Cheers!

Aaargh; CapitAl, CAPITAL flew the Viscounts. Quantas, Brannif and Brittania never did though :D ;) + Laker.

Tough questions but fun to eventually learn of the answers.

You're right about McClain. 727-100. Sorry!

Braniff had tag end DC-8 service from Lima and probably other cities to LAX, continuing to SFO. That's not the answer to the question, though.

Back in 1981 (Dec), I flew a US Air (old name for US Airways) pass from Austin to east of Mississipi River cities. I believe it was either $299 or $349 (don't recall which price) and one can fly as much as one wanted for 3 weeks. It was cheaper than a RT ticket from AUS-DTW. I went to FNT, ITH, RDU, MCO & one more place. I grew up about 50 miles from FNT so I went there for Christmas break and saw friends in the other places.

When I went to the travel agency, they had a hard time finding the pass. It turned out to be on page 15. :rolleyes: No wonder they had a hard time finding it. ;)

A very nice deal. AUS-DTW was approx $400 and the pass was cheaper. The only tax was the 10% excise tax built into the price.

I flew a wide variety of airplanes on the pass. Wish I remembered what ones at the time. Did alot of layovers in PIT in the old airport terminal.

Good question. I'm pretty sure Cathay Pacific didn't serve JNB until later, so I'm thinking it has to be an airline out of South Asia. South Africa has a large Indian population, but I don't recall Air India ever flying there in years past. On the other hand, I recall seeing Malaysian Airlines flights into JNB, possibly with a DC-10. Same goes for Singapore Airlines - either of them might have operated through flights from JNB on to HKG.

United used to fly alot of DC-8s around California and I was fortunate to fly a few of them back in the 1970s. LAX-FAT-SFO on a DC-8-51 and LAX-SFO aboard a DC-8-61. My first ever flight on a DC-8-61 came aboard a Delta bird on the SAN-LAX route. I have also seen scheduled but never flown upon United DC-8s between SFO and OAK. United also used to operate a DC-8 between SFO and SMF. It continued on to DEN where I used to fly it between Denver and New York JFK on UA's noon departure.

Good call on those Laker VC10s, Wally Bird. Did they ever wear the Laker livery?

OK, that begs the question of which was the world's best unlimited airline pass that could be purchased by the public.

There was one once an airline that offered unlimited international first class for a month--anyone remembered who offered it and when? (It was also available in business and economy as well.)

I had to look this one up.

Laker's British United flew the VC10. And it was even more interesting to read that BUA briefly provided a VC10 for Sierra Leone Airways, although!

http://www.vc10.net/History/other_operators.html

Couldn't find a photo of it online anywhere--Seat 2A, do you have a postcard of it somewhere? :)

That US Air pass had its origins with Allegheny Airlines when it was known as the Liberty Fare. I bought two of them back in the seventies and went crazy flying all those old BAC-111s and DC-9-30s. Eastern, Delta and National offered Unlimited Mileage fares. I remember spending $500.00 for one of these on Eastern back in 1980. I subsequently flew 105 flights a total of 104220 miles over the three week period of the pass.

National/PA offered a First Class version of its pass to passengers living in the US. Braniff offered a First Class unlimited pass as well, but you had to live or at least originate overseas and have a ticket cross referenced to the pass indicating such. I remember calling Braniff about it and giving serious thought to getting a passport and heading over to London.

As for unlimited international First Class, Wow! I hope it gets offered again!

BHL, I have no postcards of Laker VC10s and so far as I know none were ever produced. I'm going to be at an airline collectibles convention in January. It's been awhile but if any of the postcard collecting luminaries such as Fred Hems or producers such as Joerg Jaeggin or Udo Shaeffer show up, I'll have to ask them.

Bingo!

Pan Am offered unlimited, systemwide, one-month passes in 1980 to celebrate its merger with National. First Class US$3,333 - Clipper Class $2,222 - Economy Class $1,111.

And that was in the days of seven-cart First Class meal service, caviar, cracked crab legs, and roti de vol... A certain (ahem) sightseeing itinerary netted 156,000 miles in a month, although it was possible to reach well over 200,000 if one were strictly aiming for miles. But no frequent flyer mileage accrued; that was a year before AAdvantage and Mileage Plus began.

(Before that, Pan Am had their FT System, which helped with seating, but no miles.)

There was only one Laker VC-10, the prototype (G-ARTA) upgraded to airline standard. Laker leased it very quickly, perhaps immediately, to MEA of Lebanon as OD-AFA after which it returned to BUA.

I was almost(!) certain it did carry the Laker livery for a very short time, but it seems my memory has failed (again) as this site states that it did not. It was acquired by Laker in January 1968 and leased to MEA 5 days later so that looks right.

OK, strike Laker from the VC-10 list :o .

But while we're on the subject, check out this photo: http://www.vc10.net/Memories/Images/File0015.jpg !

Those big engines totally ruin the aesthetics so handsomely provided by the twin RR Conways on each side. I have always considered the VC10 to be the most beautiful jetliner ever built and it is with considerable regret that I never managed a flight on one when I easily could have.

Well, console yourself with this photo, one of the best: http://www.airliners.net/photo/BOAC/...C10/0227378/L/

And whilst on the topic of this iconic aircraft: BOAC operated Super VC10 service between Hong Kong and Johannesburg via Colombo and Seychelles. South African also offered 707 service with one stop in Seychelles.

Meh. Narrow and noisy as hell in the back. I spent many hours on those birds between Prestwick and JFK in the 1970s. The Comets were pretty on the outside too :rolleyes: but I always thought the Caravelle was one of the most aesthetically pleasing ships. Had a couple of rides on them - actually in Finnair livery, too.

I can certainly appreciate the difference between aesthetics vs. performance. Those huge wings and thirsty engines doomed the VC10 to a short life. From a passenger's perspective, I've never flown in Economy aboard a rear engined jet that wasn't noisy in the back. Numerous accounts by those who were sat in First Class consistently marveled over how quiet the VC10 was. So there's your problem - you were sitting in Coach! :D

Sadly, true.

But the VC-10s were whisperjets compared to the Soviet knockoff, the IL-62. Thought the motors were going to occupy the window seat (oh wait, no windows back there) when they spooled up.

156,000 miles in a month! That must've been so much fun! Except for the 20 extra pounds I would have gained dining on 30 days worth of 7 course meals! Unfortunately back in 1980 I had neither the time or money to have taken advantage of that deal with PA, but I did manage something perhaps even better for approximately the same cost just a few years later.

In November 1984, United became the first and only airline to fly its own jets into each of the 50 states. There were no contract carriers dba United Express back then, it was United metal all the way. To promote this milestone, UA offered its Mileage Plus members the following deal:

Fly into or out of each of the 50 states in a set 50 day period and win a year of free unlimited First Class travel anywhere within the 50 states.

It wasn't a race, but rather just a matter of going out and doing it. I and 67 others did just that and in March 1985 United flew us all out to Chicago, put us up at the Westin and regaled us with a very nice awards ceremony. We were all given gold cards and a couple of boxes of write your own tickets with more of those if we ran out. Most people didn't but I sure did. Over the next year, I flew over 500000 miles, including 23 flights to Hawaii and even more to and from Alaska.

Back then, most domestic airlines still offered a fairly decent product up front and United's long distance First Class service was amongst the finest in the nation. The transcon flights were branded Ocean to Ocean, while Royal Hawaiian Service was the way to go to Hawaii. Macadamia nuts flowed in abundance, the Trader Vic's Mai Tais were some of the finest I've ever had, and the meal service was much more elaborate that the economy class meals being offered as First Class fare today. Check out this menu:

UNITED AIRLINES
Royal Hawaiian Service
Honolulu to San Francisco

Appetizer
Poached Hawaiian snapper fillet with a wine laced dill sauce

Salad Offering
Freshly tossed spinach leaves, Belgian endive and radiccio,
garnished with sliced ripe olives, water chestnuts and won ton strips.
Served with a choice of salad dressings

ROYAL HAWAIIAN ENTREE SELECTIONS

Roast Rack of Lamb
Our lamb rack is roasted in its natural juices and served with a minted herb sauce.
This favorite will be carved at your table. Accompaniments are
Normandy potatoes, broccoli florettes and baby carrots

Breast of Chicken Mauna Kea
Breast of chicken sauteed with shallots and white wine
served with Hawaiian papaya sauce laced with Madeira wine.
Accompaniments are rice pilaf and broccoli florettes.

Chef's Special Entree Selection
Today our chef suggests U.S. choice tenderloin of beef
topped with maitre d'hotel butter. Accompaniments are Normandy potatoes,
broccoli florettes and baby carrots.

Our Lighter Air Fare
Today's selection features a papaya half
filled with bay shrimp salad, garnished with fresh pineapple,
kumquat, a cherry tomato and a ripe olive.

A selection of warmed dinner rolls will be presented

Dessert

Ice Cream Bombe Royal
A delightful combination of rich French vanilla and sponge cake,
served with raspberry sauce and fine cookies.

Fresh Fruit Basket

* * * * * * * * *

Much of the service was from the trolley. Salads were tossed seatside and presented with a flourish of black pepper from a large wooden grinder. Surprisingly, I don't remember any of the roasts ever being overcooked. Portions were generally quite good and on a couple of occasions I remember asking for and receiving seconds. I had a great year in the air with no side effects from all the rich food given the many miles I walked throughout the all those airports.

Okay then, here's another question:

Name seven U.S. airlines that operated the Fokker F.28-1000/4000. (I can think of eight)

[QUOTE=Seat 2A;17640215]156,000 miles in a month! That must've been so much fun! Except for the 20 extra pounds I would have gained dining on 30 days worth of 7 course meals! Unfortunately back in 1980 I had neither the time or money to have taken advantage of that deal with PA, but I did manage something perhaps even better for approximately the same cost just a few years later.

In November 1984, United became the first and only airline to fly its own jets into each of the 50 states. There were no contract carriers dba United Express back then, it was United metal all the way. To promote this milestone, UA offered its Mileage Plus members the following deal:

Fly into or out of each of the 50 states in a set 50 day period and win a year of free unlimited First Class travel anywhere within the 50 states.

It wasn't a race, but rather just a matter of going out and doing it. I and 67 others did just that and in March 1985 United flew us all out to Chicago, put us up at the Westin and regaled us with a very nice awards ceremony. We were all given gold cards and a couple of boxes of write your own tickets with more of those if we ran out. Most people didn't but I sure did. Over the next year, I flew over 500000 miles, including 23 flights to Hawaii and even more to and from Alaska.

Back then, most domestic airlines still offered a fairly decent product up front and United's long distance First Class service was amongst the finest in the nation. The transcon flights were branded Ocean to Ocean, while Royal Hawaiian Service was the way to go to Hawaii. Macadamia nuts flowed in abundance, the Trader Vic's Mai Tais were some of the finest I've ever had, and the meal service was much more elaborate that the economy class meals being offered as First Class fare today. Check out this menu:

UNITED AIRLINES
Royal Hawaiian Service
Honolulu to San Francisco

Appetizer
Poached Hawaiian snapper fillet with a wine laced dill sauce

Salad Offering
Freshly tossed spinach leaves, Belgian endive and radiccio,
garnished with sliced ripe olives, water chestnuts and won ton strips.
Served with a choice of salad dressings

ROYAL HAWAIIAN ENTREE SELECTIONS

Roast Rack of Lamb
Our lamb rack is roasted in its natural juices and served with a minted herb sauce.
This favorite will be carved at your table. Accompaniments are
Normandy potatoes, broccoli florettes and baby carrots

Breast of Chicken Mauna Kea
Breast of chicken sauteed with shallots and white wine
served with Hawaiian papaya sauce laced with Madeira wine.
Accompaniments are rice pilaf and broccoli florettes.

Chef's Special Entree Selection
Today our chef suggests U.S. choice tenderloin of beef
topped with maitre d'hotel butter. Accompaniments are Normandy potatoes,
broccoli florettes and baby carrots.

Our Lighter Air Fare
Today's selection features a papaya half
filled with bay shrimp salad, garnished with fresh pineapple,
kumquat, a cherry tomato and a ripe olive.

A selection of warmed dinner rolls will be presented

Dessert

Ice Cream Bombe Royal
A delightful combination of rich French vanilla and sponge cake,
served with raspberry sauce and fine cookies.

Fresh Fruit Basket

QUOTE]

It's when I read things like this that I become depressed about having missed out on the "golden era" of air travel. Just born too late!

Oh well, I will just have to hold my head up and enjoy CX premium classes I guess...perhaps one day the accouterments I enjoy today will also be highly regarded as a "golden age" of their own. Of course that just means that things will decline even further in the future. lol

Okay then, here's another couple of questions:

Match the nickname of the jet with its airline:

Yellowbird
Starstream
Clipper
Whisperjet
Smileliner
Golden Jet
Mainliner
Astrojet
Pacemaker
Northliner
Flying Banana
Pamper Jet
Arrow Jet

Anyone know which airlines provided these service brands?

Golden Table Service
Ionosphere Service
Ocean to Ocean Service
Sun King Service
Gold Coast Service
Royal Ambassador Service
Medallion Service
Regal Imperial Service
Flagship Service
Clipper Class

Without looking it up, I know only a few.

Ionsphere - Eastern Airlines
Royal Ambassador - TWA
Clipper Class - Pan Am

Those three are correct. All of these are from large U.S. airlines, some of which are still in service.

Golden Table Service - Continental Airlines
Sun King Service - National Airlines, the one that was acquired by Pan Am, not the National Airlines, a 757 carrier to Las Vegas about 10 years ago.

Good job, 777-100SP! The remaining ones

Ocean to Ocean Service
Gold Coast Service
Medallion Service
Regal Imperial Service
Flagship Service

are all current operators with one exception.

Gold Coast was Alaska Airlines;
Flagship was/is American;
and I'm pretty sure "Regal Imperial" was Northwest Orient. Fire that ad agency.

Right on, Gardyloo! That leaves

Ocean to Ocean Service
and
Medallion Service

both offered by former DC-8 operators.

Not sure of the distance but PSA did operate the L10 between SMF-SFO. The complete routing was SMF-SFO-LAX.

I'll take a stab at this list....

1. Northeast
2. TWA
3. Pan Am
4. Eastern
5. PSA
6. Continental
7. United
8. American
9. Piedmont
10. ??
11. Hughes Airwest (a.k.a. "Top Banana in the West!"
12. TTa (flew on a DC-9 Pamper Jet HOU-DAL-MAF-ROW-ABQ-SAF r/t).
13. ??

Here's another domestic 747 non-cargo operator that I do not think has been mentioned: Tower Air

Besides flying transcon (such as JFK-LAX) from their New York hub (and also to Florida and Puerto Rico), they also flew to western Europe and Israel.

Which California routes--begin and end points within the state--were served by scheduled flights using DC-8 aircraft? (Hint: there were at least five.)

Cheers![/QUOTE]

I seem to recall that UA actually operated a DC-8 Super 60 series between LAX and BFL. And I believe the stretched DC-8 did a RON at BFL.

I thought I would take the liberty of posting a few questions of my own to this excellent thread.

Please note that all of the following questions concern scheduled passenger service:


1) United was the only U.S. domestic airline to operated the Caravelle. However, another airline operated the Caravelle between Miami and the Caribbean. What is the name of this airline?

2) What airline operated a DC-8 into BOI?

3) What airline operated a B720B into MAF?

4) What airline operated a B727 nonstop between CRP and MSY?

5) What airline operated a B727 nonstop between LAX and HSV?

6) Which airline was the first to operate a DC-9 nonstop between MIA and GCM?

7) What airline operated a BAC One-Eleven LAX-SBA and LAX-PSP?

8) What airline operated a Fokker F-28 nonstop between SFO and SUN?

9) Which airline was the only U.S. operator of the Fokker 70?

10) What airline operated a DC-10 nonstop between PSP and YVR?

11) What airline operated a DC-10 nonstop between MSP and HRL?

12) What airline operated an L-1011 between HNL and OGG?

13) What airlines operated 747 service into ITO?

14) Has OGG ever received 747 service?

Desert Sun Airlines, operating as America West Express.

These route questions are very difficult unless one lived in the city served by the airport in question.

MSP-HRL on a DC-10???? That city pair would be lucky to have a ERJ135 serve there!

Thanks for reviving this thread, jlemon. I figured it had died due to the limited interest of the five or six of us who have fun here. But fun we'll have, then!

By the way, Northliners were operated by North Central Airlines and Arrow Jets were flown by Frontier. I believe the name originated with the 727s which FL eventually sold to BN before standardizing with the 737 - at least until those MD-80s showed up.

As to your excellent questions, it helps that I have always considered the OAG to be a fine read. I have a good sized collection of older ones from the 60s onwards and they are alot of fun to peruse now and then, just to see where those old 720s and 880s used to fly. Like, who knew UA used to operate a daily DC-8 nonstop from DSM into JFK back in 1970? Or that NE flew the MIA-LAX transcon with a 727-100. Damn, that would've made a good question! Anyway, to the answers...

1) United was the only U.S. domestic airline to operate the Caravelle. However, another airline operated the Caravelle between Miami and the Caribbean. What is the name of this airline? Air France

2) What airline operated a DC-8 into BOI? United

3) What airline operated a B720B into MAF? Continental I know that flight well, as it used to route IAH-SAT-MAF-ELP-TUS-LAX.

4) What airline operated a B727 nonstop between CRP and MSY? I'm going to guess here that it's Pride Air only because they were MSY based

5) What airline operated a B727 nonstop between LAX and HSV? United

6) Which airline was the first to operate a DC-9 nonstop between MIA and GCM? Was it Air Jamaica ?

7) What airline operated a BAC One-Eleven LAX-SBA and LAX-PSP? I remember flying a Pacific Express 1-11 LAX-MOD-SCK-SFO back in 1983. So far as I know, they were the only 1-11 operator ever in California, so that's my answer.

8) What airline operated a Fokker F-28 nonstop between SFO and SUN? Horizon

9) Which airline was the only U.S. operator of the Fokker 70? America West Express

10) What airline operated a DC-10 nonstop between PSP and YVR? Wow - you got me there. Was this a scheduled run? Was it Wardair on a seasonal service?

11) What airline operated a DC-10 nonstop between MSP and HRL? If you really mean HRL, I'd have to guess Sun Country. They were MSP based and flew the -10 into some interesting locales. If you meant HNL, then Northwest.

12) What airline operated an L-1011 between HNL and OGG? Delta comes to mind, much like United used to fly its jets on inter-island runs starting in the 80s. I don't believe HA ever flew its Tristars inter-island.

13) What airlines operated 747 service into ITO? United and Northwest

14) Has OGG ever received 747 service? Not that I'm aware of... Biggest thing I ever flew in there on was a DC-10 unless you're talkin' length in which case it was a DC-8-71. If a 747 did, I'd imagine it likely would've been a charter

I will pull some of those old OAGs out of storage and come up with 10 new questions of this genre in a couple of days.