Looking back - UA's service to Hawaii in the 1970's
 

Well, just to tease UA mainlanders from certain cities, FWIW, here's a crop of map of the airports that pmUA flew _non-stop_ to HI back in May 1970 (courtesy of erussell1984/airbus777 on Flickr):


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...885e7cb5af.jpg

Note that this is _prior_ to delivery of UA's 747s. I get LAX, SFO, SAN as well as ORD, WAS and NYC - but this map shows DTT, KCI/MCI, BUF, CLE, PIT, BOS, PHL.

Let's see if UA opens up some of these routes non-stop back to the islands in the future...

David

Is this for real? CLE-HNL nonstop was a thing?
What equipment and frequency?

Wonder if it was seasonal 1x a week type routes? Hard to believe Kansas City could support a daily non-stop.

But with airline regulations back then could these be mail subsided routes?

Buffalo? I never would have guessed.

As always, thanks for sharing timeless UA memorabilia like this.
It was common airline practice at that time to list/display routes that were authorized but not necessarily operated. UA purchased long range DC-8s, actually DC-8--62, to operate routes like BWI-HNL.

DC-8s most likely, with DC-10s taking over at the larger stations as they rolled off the assembly line.

People forget how integral Hawaii was to the pre-deregulation, all-domestic United brand identity. Hawaii was what the leisure market mostly knew them for.

Color me skeptical that BUF/CLE/MCI/PIT-HNL nonstop ever existed.
Is there a timetable that shows any of this?

I was already an airline nerd by 1970 and lived in CLE, and cannot recall any scheduled non-stops CLE-HNL. One-stop direct service (through flights with same flight number) via ORD, LAX and SFO: yes, but non-stop: no.

Now this makes more sense. But odd that the map says nonstop routes.

MCI would have been MKC at that time. At departedflights.com I find a 1972 timetable; from HNL I only find LAX, SFO, ORD, JFK.

Back then there was a lot of marketing confusion among consumers, perhaps intentional, between "direct" and "nonstop".

Hawaii was promoted in advertising literature as "Our little corner of the world."

1969 timetable shows DTW and CLE as direct via LAX - - http://www.timetableimages.com/ttima...69/ua69-02.jpg

Dc-8-62
 

The United Dc-8-62 was used for the following longer non-stops: JFK,BWI,DTW,ORD to HNL
all other routes on the map were direct not non-stop

from Cleveland United has had direct but non stop service as follows:
CLE/SFO/ITO. Dc-8-62
CLE/ORD/HNL. 747-100
CLE/LAX/HNL. Dc-8-71, DC8-6,. DC-8-50

Going a little further back, here's my mom as a kid standing at bottom of stairs getting ready to board UA's current inter-island partner (now Hawaiian Airlines).
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...3ac9bbed6e.jpg
For the geeks, I looked it up and it seems to be a Sikorsky S-38s or S-43S (probably the former as the one below is a S-43s and the windows look arranged differently). Timeframe would have been late 30s considering my mom's age at that time. Both were in service for Inter-Island at the time.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...86147defbd.jpg

Such an awsome photo!!! Thanks for posting it!!