Looking back - UA's service to Hawaii in the 1970's
Jul 7, 2020, 7:58 am
#16
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https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...tail&FORM=VIRE I see in the clip that the dc8's loaded passengers from the front and back.
Jul 7, 2020, 9:23 am
#17
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1970 Marketing Slogan
"Our Little Corner of the World".
UA undoubtedly has a far reduced market share of Hawaii traffic since then.
And Hawaii likely constitutes a much smaller portion of overall UA revenue.
Jul 7, 2020, 9:48 am
#18
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I don't know the market share in 1970 - or how much Hawaii contributed to UA revenue in 1970, but pre-Covid - UA was the dominant Hawaii-Mainland carrier in the market. Despite Southwest's entry, I saw no indication UA would make a retreat the planes seemed 100% packed - its been years since I've seen a HNL-SFO not 100% full.
Jul 7, 2020, 9:59 am
#19
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I don't know the market share in 1970 - or how much Hawaii contributed to UA revenue in 1970, but pre-Covid - UA was the dominant Hawaii-Mainland carrier in the market. Despite Southwest's entry, I saw no indication UA would make a retreat the planes seemed 100% packed - its been years since I've seen a HNL-SFO not 100% full.
Jul 7, 2020, 10:13 am
#20
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I was a Reservation Sales Representative at SFORR shortly after UA bought the PA Pacific routes. (I was disappointed PA dropped NRT-MNL service shortly before that.)
At the time, Hawaii was still a very important part of UA marketing.
As a Nonrev, I used to fly out to Hawaii for the day (in F), taking The Bus to the beach. I would bring law books to study. Because of my low seniority, I went via LAX, and took a red-eye home, HNL-SFO.
For weekends in L.A. or SoCal, I would take the 18:30 "Nonrev Express", SFO-LAX. It went from the SFO to LAX International Terminals, continuing to SYD, so no local tickets were sold.
At the time, Hawaii was still a very important part of UA marketing.
As a Nonrev, I used to fly out to Hawaii for the day (in F), taking The Bus to the beach. I would bring law books to study. Because of my low seniority, I went via LAX, and took a red-eye home, HNL-SFO.
For weekends in L.A. or SoCal, I would take the 18:30 "Nonrev Express", SFO-LAX. It went from the SFO to LAX International Terminals, continuing to SYD, so no local tickets were sold.
Jul 7, 2020, 11:24 am
#21
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Jul 7, 2020, 9:33 pm
#22
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I remember going to BUF in the mid-70s, and my great grandmother was going to Hawaii. She took an American DC10. Back in those days, they let our whole family onboard prior to departure to see the plane, and wish her a great trip. I remember it like it was yesterday.
I don't remember the itinerary, but I believe she had a stop. But I could be wrong. How times have changed. I have a picture of this somewhere, with my parents, my grandparents, all on the DC10, and then leaving her and watching her takeoff from BUF.
I don't remember the itinerary, but I believe she had a stop. But I could be wrong. How times have changed. I have a picture of this somewhere, with my parents, my grandparents, all on the DC10, and then leaving her and watching her takeoff from BUF.
Jul 8, 2020, 7:32 am
#24
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I don't know the market share in 1970 - or how much Hawaii contributed to UA revenue in 1970, but pre-Covid - UA was the dominant Hawaii-Mainland carrier in the market. Despite Southwest's entry, I saw no indication UA would make a retreat the planes seemed 100% packed - its been years since I've seen a HNL-SFO not 100% full.
Jul 8, 2020, 9:43 am
#25
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You're probably right. Still, 50% meant they were king. The rest of the market was divided among Western, NW, Pan Am and TWA (others?), but UA wanted to be known as "Hawaii's airline." And this was before there were nonstops to other Hawaiian destinations (except Hilo.) De-regulation changed all that.
Jul 8, 2020, 11:21 am
#26
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You're probably right. Still, 50% meant they were king. The rest of the market was divided among Western, NW, Pan Am and TWA (others?), but UA wanted to be known as "Hawaii's airline." And this was before there were nonstops to other Hawaiian destinations (except Hilo.) De-regulation changed all that.
On July 1, 1969, five airlines were awarded new routes to Hawaii, and Northwest Airlines, Pan American World Airways and United Airlines were awarded additional routes. The new carriers, as announced by the White House, were American Airlines, Braniff, Continental, Trans World Airlines and Western Airlines. With the exception of TWA, the new carriers were also awarded routes into Hilo.
Pan American initiated 747 service into Honolulu on March 3, 1970 with one daily 747 flight, and within a month expanded the schedule to two.
On a side note - Hawaiian started mainland service in 1985 and Aloha in 2000
Jul 8, 2020, 2:47 pm
#28
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They also ran a more recent nonstop from EWR a couple days a week (not sure if this discussion is limited to the 70's sorry), I think it was on Sunday and Monday (probably a turn around). It was said to be the longest domestic US flight. Having flown to Hawaii hundreds of times over the years on UA for work (and play) there indeed was never a CLE-HNL flight although I would have loved it as I was living in Cleveland back in the day. I usually connected through ORD or SFO.
Last edited by nomad420; Jul 8, 2020 at 3:09 pm
Jul 9, 2020, 8:06 am
#29
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They also ran a more recent nonstop from EWR a couple days a week (not sure if this discussion is limited to the 70's sorry), I think it was on Sunday and Monday (probably a turn around). It was said to be the longest domestic US flight. Having flown to Hawaii hundreds of times over the years on UA for work (and play) there indeed was never a CLE-HNL flight although I would have loved it as I was living in Cleveland back in the day. I usually connected through ORD or SFO.
Jul 10, 2020, 12:17 pm
#30
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I took that SQ flight SFO-HNL-HKG in the early 80s, too! I remember the FAs walking to the gate in SFO always caused quite a stir, they were so immaculately attired.