I remember when flying was like...
May 17, 2005 | 8:40 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Programs: JAL Global Club & oneworld Sapphire, ANA SFC & Star Alliance Gold
Posts: 4,586
I remember when flying was like...
I am 31, which I do not consider to be old, but when I look back to my flying experiences as a child I cannot believe how much has changed. Here are some of the things I remember about flying in the USA in the 80s:
1. Widebodies flying everywhere domestically. I remember DC-10s in places like Omaha and Colorado Springs. I also remember People Express flying 747s from Denver to Newark.
2. United's fleet of 18 Boeing 747s which flew only domestic routes. (One example 747 flight: Chicago-Newark.)
3. Flying on the original Frontier's Convair 580s. (Yes, there was a mainline airline still operating prop planes then!!)
4. Many flights in 727-100s. (3 engines and 3 pilots for a 95-seat aircraft)
5. Continental's 737-100s (only 30 737-100s were ever built, so these were rare)
6. Flights in United's DC-8s.
7. You had to check in for each flight separately at the departure gate, i.e. you could not receive boarding passes for your connecting flight at your originating city. You had to check in again at your connecting point. (It was a big deal when the airlines came up with the service of giving you your connecting boarding passes at your originating city.)
8. Tickets printed on carbon paper.
9. Eating filet mignon in coach class (on a Delta L-1011).
10. The early days of FF programs when it took 50,000 miles to get a free domestic coach ticket.
11. No codeshare agreements, thus no United Express, no American Eagle, etc. Regional airlines all had their own names and identities.
12. 34 inches of pitch as the standard seating configuration in coach. Most airlines' 727s had 135 seats (instead of 150), most DC-10s had 250 seats (instead of 280), etc.
13. United Airlines before they flew a single international flight (other than Mexico, Canada or the Bahamas) and Pan Am was the only truly global airline from the US.
14. Northwest Orient when it only had a handful of domestic routes (before the Republic acquisition) but was a powerhouse in the Pacific. (Of course, NW is still big in the Pacific today)
15. TWA when they flew to a gazillion cities in Europe and the Middle East and had a huge fleet of 747s.
16. Mainline jet service (737s and 727s) to all kinds of small cities: Stockton, Bakersfield, Monterey, Klamath Falls, Sioux City, Wilmington (Delaware), Topeka, Grand Island, Jackson Hole, and others.
17. Continental's huge hub in Denver.
18. Denver Stapleton when it had three large hub airlines: Continental, United, and the original Frontier.
19. Southwest when it was just a tiny niche carrier serving Texas and a handful of cities in Arizona and New Mexico.
20. Southwest 727s.
21. I remember watching the news reports of the original Braniff's bankruptcy filing.
22. Eastern's old paint job before they went to the bare metal look.
23. The original Frontier's old paint job (before even the one they had when they went bankrupt) which was a boring blue stripe along the side of the fuselage.
24. I remember United's advertisements for its very first trans-Oceanic routes: Seattle-Tokyo, Seattle-Hong Kong, and Portland-Tokyo.
25. The terrible business class product that many airlines offered at the time. United used to advertise its 8-across seating in trans-Pacific business class (even on its trans-Pac DC-10s), as if this were something to be proud of!
26. United's L-1011-500s acquired from Pan Am which the airline operated in a 10-across coach layout on trans-Pacific flights.
27. PSA when they flew jets to practically every West Coast airport in existence, including Stockton, Concord, Yakima, etc.
28. United's hub in Cleveland, Piedmont's hub in Dayton, American's hub in Nashville.
29. Flight attendants who would always pass out playing cards and other games to kids on flights.
30. 747s initally had 9-across seating in coach. (How many here think that A380s will eventually switch from 10-across seating to 11-across in coach?)
31. Washington National's horrible, dumpy old terminal.
32. United's Chicago hub before the opening of Concourses B and C. All mainline flights flew out of the current United Express concourse (E and F??)
33. Old airline TV commercial jingles: United ("Fly the Friendly Skies," later followed by "You're not just flying, you're flying the friendly skies"), American ("Doing what we do best"), Eastern ("America's favorite way to fly"), TWA ("You're gonna like us")
34. Eastern was the number one airline in terms of passenger count
35. A300s on Eastern's shuttle flights between Boston and LaGuardia
1. Widebodies flying everywhere domestically. I remember DC-10s in places like Omaha and Colorado Springs. I also remember People Express flying 747s from Denver to Newark.
2. United's fleet of 18 Boeing 747s which flew only domestic routes. (One example 747 flight: Chicago-Newark.)
3. Flying on the original Frontier's Convair 580s. (Yes, there was a mainline airline still operating prop planes then!!)
4. Many flights in 727-100s. (3 engines and 3 pilots for a 95-seat aircraft)
5. Continental's 737-100s (only 30 737-100s were ever built, so these were rare)
6. Flights in United's DC-8s.
7. You had to check in for each flight separately at the departure gate, i.e. you could not receive boarding passes for your connecting flight at your originating city. You had to check in again at your connecting point. (It was a big deal when the airlines came up with the service of giving you your connecting boarding passes at your originating city.)
8. Tickets printed on carbon paper.
9. Eating filet mignon in coach class (on a Delta L-1011).
10. The early days of FF programs when it took 50,000 miles to get a free domestic coach ticket.
11. No codeshare agreements, thus no United Express, no American Eagle, etc. Regional airlines all had their own names and identities.
12. 34 inches of pitch as the standard seating configuration in coach. Most airlines' 727s had 135 seats (instead of 150), most DC-10s had 250 seats (instead of 280), etc.
13. United Airlines before they flew a single international flight (other than Mexico, Canada or the Bahamas) and Pan Am was the only truly global airline from the US.
14. Northwest Orient when it only had a handful of domestic routes (before the Republic acquisition) but was a powerhouse in the Pacific. (Of course, NW is still big in the Pacific today)
15. TWA when they flew to a gazillion cities in Europe and the Middle East and had a huge fleet of 747s.
16. Mainline jet service (737s and 727s) to all kinds of small cities: Stockton, Bakersfield, Monterey, Klamath Falls, Sioux City, Wilmington (Delaware), Topeka, Grand Island, Jackson Hole, and others.
17. Continental's huge hub in Denver.
18. Denver Stapleton when it had three large hub airlines: Continental, United, and the original Frontier.
19. Southwest when it was just a tiny niche carrier serving Texas and a handful of cities in Arizona and New Mexico.
20. Southwest 727s.
21. I remember watching the news reports of the original Braniff's bankruptcy filing.
22. Eastern's old paint job before they went to the bare metal look.
23. The original Frontier's old paint job (before even the one they had when they went bankrupt) which was a boring blue stripe along the side of the fuselage.
24. I remember United's advertisements for its very first trans-Oceanic routes: Seattle-Tokyo, Seattle-Hong Kong, and Portland-Tokyo.
25. The terrible business class product that many airlines offered at the time. United used to advertise its 8-across seating in trans-Pacific business class (even on its trans-Pac DC-10s), as if this were something to be proud of!
26. United's L-1011-500s acquired from Pan Am which the airline operated in a 10-across coach layout on trans-Pacific flights.
27. PSA when they flew jets to practically every West Coast airport in existence, including Stockton, Concord, Yakima, etc.
28. United's hub in Cleveland, Piedmont's hub in Dayton, American's hub in Nashville.
29. Flight attendants who would always pass out playing cards and other games to kids on flights.
30. 747s initally had 9-across seating in coach. (How many here think that A380s will eventually switch from 10-across seating to 11-across in coach?)
31. Washington National's horrible, dumpy old terminal.
32. United's Chicago hub before the opening of Concourses B and C. All mainline flights flew out of the current United Express concourse (E and F??)
33. Old airline TV commercial jingles: United ("Fly the Friendly Skies," later followed by "You're not just flying, you're flying the friendly skies"), American ("Doing what we do best"), Eastern ("America's favorite way to fly"), TWA ("You're gonna like us")
34. Eastern was the number one airline in terms of passenger count
35. A300s on Eastern's shuttle flights between Boston and LaGuardia
May 17, 2005 | 7:49 pm
#2
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: SFO
Programs: UA Mileage Plus
Posts: 235
36. Getting dressed in a suit & tie to meet my grandmother at the gate when she visited us. She always flew Eastern's L-1011's from Tampa, connected in Atlanta and arrived at "Greater Pittsburgh International" wearing a dress and gloves!
JK-SFO
JK-SFO