Is UA the old Pan Am
Oct 27, 2013, 8:50 pm
#16
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Oct 27, 2013, 9:34 pm
#17
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I was a PAM AM flyer before I flew United, therefore, I have a hard time understanding OP's assertion.
I lived in Miami for a long time where PAM AM had significant presence until it folded. I would argue PAM AM during its peak (or low) were quite different from United anytime in the past 30 years.
United was the first airlines to serve all 50 States of US, did not start its first international flight until the 1983 (SEA-NRT), and PAM AM was essentially all international with no significant domestic traffic until it bought National in 1980.
As we looked at the history of both airlines since 1990 until Pam Am folded in 1991, nowhere had they ever been remotely comparable.
Interesting about the RJ argument, my MIA-IAD flight in December has just upgraded from RJ to A319.^
I lived in Miami for a long time where PAM AM had significant presence until it folded. I would argue PAM AM during its peak (or low) were quite different from United anytime in the past 30 years.
United was the first airlines to serve all 50 States of US, did not start its first international flight until the 1983 (SEA-NRT), and PAM AM was essentially all international with no significant domestic traffic until it bought National in 1980.
As we looked at the history of both airlines since 1990 until Pam Am folded in 1991, nowhere had they ever been remotely comparable.
Interesting about the RJ argument, my MIA-IAD flight in December has just upgraded from RJ to A319.^
Oct 27, 2013, 10:14 pm
#19
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For those of you who say UA flies only Barbie Dream Jets domestically...I'm pretty sure that my ORD-SFO flight is on a 777 tomorrow. Hope my upgrade clears. 
Oct 27, 2013, 10:29 pm
#20
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Oct 27, 2013, 10:33 pm
#21
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UA bought Pan Am's pacific routes so there is the tie. One reason PA went under was lack of a domestic network. I see same for new UA. Building up international but down gauging domestic. I like UA but now reluctantly my third domestic choice due to poor connections and too many RJs. Am I alone?
The old Pan Am would be a combination of United + Delta.
If you take
UA at SFO/LAX/ORD/IAD/NRT/HKG/GUM
and DL at JFK
And what used to be UA at MIA ( MIA used to be a hub) and UA at JFK (yes the old JFK operation)
You would get the old Pan Am (for the most part)
UA later bought PA's LHR authority. DL then bought PA's NE Shuttle and Atlantic routes including the FRA hub and domestic German routes in/out Berlin. Pan Am kept flying, and it ultimately failed when DL decided to lend no more $ to keep the rest of Pan Am operating. UA then picked up PA's Latin America routes in bankruptcy court for cheap.
I'd rather talk about this than the ridiculous premise brought by OP.
I'd rather talk about this than the ridiculous premise brought by OP.
Last edited by iluv2fly; Oct 28, 2013 at 12:59 am Reason: merge
Oct 28, 2013, 5:26 am
#22
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The people who pining for old panam forget that was the tail end of when fat old white guys flew and gawked at the 25 year old FAs. Capitalism killed that
Oct 28, 2013, 9:10 am
#24
Join Date: Jul 2013
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This is a funny thread. Pan Am had almost NO domestic flights at all. In the late 80's they had added one single 727 flight a day between JFK and DEN for some domestic feed to JFK. Before that, they didn't even fly to DEN at all, a major US city. UA has domestic flights galore and always has. Pan Am flew to odd exotic markets that made little sense, like Rabat, Morocco. They did strange things like serve Tel Aviv via Paris rather than nonstop from JFK. I can't even begin to explain the differences. I flew Pan Am several times before they folded by the way.
Oct 28, 2013, 9:29 am
#27
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City-state
Scroll down to Hong Kong and Macau in the link.
Oct 28, 2013, 10:08 am
#28
Join Date: Dec 2005
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Hong Kong ceased to be a real city state when the turnover to mainland China happened. Though they do still enjoy quite a bit of autonomy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City-state
Scroll down to Hong Kong and Macau in the link.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City-state
Scroll down to Hong Kong and Macau in the link.
more or less operate just like "city states". I also would question to what extend there is real autonomy. They are effectively and exclusively under Beijing's control. That's all one needs to know about autonomy. But I digress, this is not supposed to be a political forum.
As far as the OP's question is concerned : No other airline will ever be (like) Pan American World Airways; no ifs, no buts. Any effort to try and make a comparison is pointless.
Oct 28, 2013, 10:53 am
#29
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 227
I think the competitive and customer experience/expectation environment are totally different. It wasn't until the 90s that the airlines realized no matter what they did, pricing was the number one buying criteria (makes watching VX UA compete interesting)
Oct 28, 2013, 11:02 am
#30
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UA flies only mainline from MIA to EWR and IAH. IAD,ORD, and CLE RJ's. No service to DEN or SFO hubs. Why is ORD-MIA RJ's. When they had the South America Interantional operation I think they ran 747's to ORD.