Highlights from a 1989 EA Timetable
 

It rings odd to me to post this in the UA forum. But where else would it go? After all, EA is one of the direct ancestors...

I'm purusing one of my old timetables. This time, a Jan 1989 EA. Without going into details of flights and cities, I want to share other details that make me smile. These are details that evoked excitement at the time.

A little movie projector next to certain flights.... That meant an overhead film.
Bold face. That meant either an L1011 or an A300.
I little diamon meant it was a 757.
Meals or snacks listed for nearly all flights.
City ticket offices. Everywhere.
Local phone numbers for making reservations.
Eastern Shuttle. $69-$99. In truth, it's cheaper today.
Iononsphere clubs.
OnePass partners included: SAS, Aer Lingus, Air France, Alitalia, Lufthansa, Sabena, and Continental.

Your post reminded me of the old OAG timetable books I always kept with me - they were my bible - boy times have changed!

Most of those planes are probably still flying today.

+! .. lol, I remember those.. I think partly to blame for my poor vision now. I may even have one from UA in a box in the attic.

There was a monthly pocket-sized American Express timetable. I subscribed to it for years. It was critical during IRROPS to show the agent alternative flights on other airlines (also when no pay phones available). Every six months or so I would get a phone book sized worldwide timetable from OAG with a request to subscribe (never did - too expensive). I really enjoyed going through that book making up RTW itineraries, looking up airport/airline/aircraft codes, even just to see interesting flights between different city pairs.

I liked the Amex book better than OAG, since the OAG book was arranged by destination cities, then you had to look up the departure city. The Amex book was arranged by departure cities, which made it easier to find alternative destination cities from a particular airport.

When in a foreign or large US airport, I used to enjoy going from counter to counter, picking up timetables (and when I could get away with it, baggage tags). I would then spend most of the flight I was taking reviewing them. I found it more fun than reading real books in flight. Friends/family always thought I was nuts.

(The above confession would not be possible anywhere except FT!)

As this slice of history is as much about older printed timetables and listings so many relied on, but is not specific to UA, let me move this to its new home, TravelBuzz. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, United.

I remember a time when there was always a line of people at the library waiting to use the OAG. It was one of the things they had to keep behind the desk or it would go "missing".

Amex still prints it, and I get mine monthly. And yes, my nose if often in the guide rather than in a book inflight!

a lot of nostalgia has been going on for close to 5 years in the Old Timers' Airline and Airliner Quiz and Discussion thread ... close to 10,000 posts and over half a million views

+1 to both ... my father traveled a lot during his USAF career, and almost always brought back timetables ... it was always a thrill to get, say, a Capital Airlines schedule when we were living in Los Angeles, or a Pacific Airlines one after we moved to the DC area

I don't want to think about how many hours I spent in the stacks of the main reference library on my college campus, fantasizing over the OAGs when I should have been studying for exams, working on problem sets, etc

I used to love reading print editions of Lonely Planets, and still bought them until around 10 years ago. While it's nice not lug around heavy travel guides any more, I do miss the quality of the writing and the standard format (far more useful than the internet forums that disrupted them in many respects). TripAdvisor certainly has far more information than you could ever pack into an LP, but sifting out the useful info from the tripe can be annoying and time-consuming.