Random thought of the day: Airlines

Well - there's the old financial joke:

"What is the fastest way to become a millionaire - start with a billion dollars and buy an airline"

Also:
Continental
Western
Aloha

My first flight was on Mohawk, bought by USAirways. My second was on Allegheny, bought by USAirways. Also, I used to go to Vegas on America West, bought by USAirways. I used to fly National to Florida. Also have flown on Braniff and Pan Am.

MY bad, flew many times on the yellowbird: Northeast Airlines.

Let's not forget Midwest Airlines. Used to fly it from Boston to flyover country a few times per year. Every seat was Business Class and they used to serve wine and warm chocolate chip cookies. I miss that airline.

I started with Western Air Lines on 3/20/67 and retired from Delta Air lines on 4/1/2009. Everything was stable until the public demanded lower prices through deregulation. New start ups came in with lower prices forcing the majors to match them. This led to companies going out of business and mergers.

Now the public bitches about the lack of services when they fly. I'm glad I'm retired and don't fly anymore.

My last 2: Continental and Air Tran.

How bout that powerhouse Trump Shuttle - man what an airline

Air Tran and US Air were both major airlines hubs at my home airport. I used to love those days. They were both engaged in fare wars on many routes I travelled. Going to Vegas direct round trip for $125 and since I had a US Air credit card I almost always got upgraded to first class and free checked luggage. Air Tran had XM radio while you were flying, which was relatively new at the time and this was before Wi-Fi on planes that actually worked well was a common thing.

Now I’m stuck with the shit box that is Spirit if I want to fly direct to Vegas or many Florida destinations. I’ll often take a layover on Delta or Southwest before I fly Spirit. Southwest is now my preferred airline (forced not by choice). I remember when Southwest used to be the cheap airline. Not anymore. BTW Southwest was who bought out AirTran which was renamed from ValuJet after they had a plane crash in the Florida Everglades in the mid 90s.

I took the Trump Shuttle between LaGuardia and Logan a few times. Even though it was only about an hour flight there were free meals (which were pretty good for airline food) and free cocktails. The cabins and bathrooms were jazzed up in typical Trump style. There was no advanced reservation needed - you just showed up, bought a ticket and got on the plane. They had a guarantee that if the plane was full, they'd roll out another one immediately. It happened to me once and I ended up on a flight with just three passengers on board. No wonder they went out of business. It was a really nice service though, and prices comparable to other flights.

Spirit and Frontier are in the process of merging

Anyone remember Peoples Express? You walked up and paid for the flight, and you were good to go. I think I took it from Newark to Logan a few times.

Security was minimal - or nonexistent- back in those days.

Piedmont in NC. Yeah I'm old.

Anyone here ever flown on Pan Am ?

My first flight was USAirways. Since then, I've been on just about everything domestic.

I miss Hooters Air.

https://youtu.be/ZHIcVi7F6hM

25 - I flew on a Pan Am charter back in 1965 from Yokota AFB Japan to Travis AFB CA. I was also around when Delta took over Pan Am in a merger.

^^

I remember when the MetLife building on Park Ave was the Pan Am building, and I still mistakenly refer to it as Pan Am sometimes. Lol

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/d5/ac/39/…

"I miss Hooters Air."

Fresh and tasty chicken sandwich served by Hooters-uniform wearing stewardesses on every flight!

I never until this moment realized what a bunch of old farts we have become.

The one place Icee can’t troll because that poor bastard has never been on a plane before:

I worked with a Vietnamese national that was on board the last Pan Am flight out of Saigon.