MSYtristar From United States of America, joined Aug 2005, 6251 posts, RR: 51 Reply 1, posted (8 years 11 months 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 2972 times:
Pan Am had a daily 747 flight from IAH to both JFK and MEX through the mid 80's. It was flight 1/2, and continued on from JFK to LHR. Also, Pan Am flew IAH-LGW nonstop with the L1011-500. That service started around 1980 I believe. After the National integration, Pan Am still flew DC-10's between IAH and LAX/LAS/MSY/MIA for a time, although those routes were relegated to B727 service by the time 1983 rolled around.
CougarAviator From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 349 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (8 years 11 months 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 2966 times:
I've seen photos of 747s, L1011's, and DC10's, as well as 727's all at IAH.
I'd love to see Pan Am timetable from the late 70's or early 80's.
Isitsafenow From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 4984 posts, RR: 26 Reply 3, posted (8 years 11 months 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 2908 times:
Go back to the 60's and 70's and it was a nice crew base. They ran a few trips through there mostly to South America....Nothing like JFK in volume though.
safe
If two people agree on EVERYTHING, then one isn't necessary.
JET1977 From United States of America, joined May 2004, 66 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (8 years 11 months 1 day 10 hours ago) and read 2875 times:
If anyone reads "Airliners" magazine, You will find a wonderful article on the original National airlines. This article includes photos that tell National's story from the very early days to the how they intergrated into PAN AM. There are a few side stories about the "Fly Me" scadal and other tid bits. I think it would have been in a summer 1999 issue.
EddieDude From Mexico, joined Nov 2003, 7254 posts, RR: 45 Reply 5, posted (8 years 11 months 1 day 8 hours ago) and read 2796 times:
Could anybody tell more about that 747 IAH-MEx service. I appreciate that there is a lot of traffic between Houston and Mexico City but a 747 for such a short route seems like a little bit too much (well, okay, AM and MX flew DC-10's in domestic routes, so maybe it's not that surprising).
Anybody know how many months or years the service lasted and if the plane continued from IAH to another city in the U.S. or elsewhere? I hope I can find a pic of a Pan Am 747 in MEx in the a.net database.
CougarAviator From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 349 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (8 years 11 months 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 2753 times:
Great info, Stirling!!!
I guess Pan Am was big on the 727 here at IAH, than the widebodies...
Stirling From Italy, joined Jun 2004, 3943 posts, RR: 27 Reply 9, posted (8 years 11 months 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 2723 times:
An A300 at IAH is entirely possible, I just can't find anything on it at the moment. I think what you may have seen was an equipment substitution, or a very brief scheduling blip....
What year do you remember seeing the A300 in IAH?
Here are the A300 routes from 1990.
Sccutler From United States of America, joined Jan 2000, 5103 posts, RR: 28 Reply 10, posted (8 years 11 months 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 2699 times:
Just an anecdote, but I recall that PanAm had suspended its service from Houston to London, and CO (after its life-saving bankruptcy in 1983) announced that it was taking up the route (I also recall $249.00 introductory round-trip fares!).
PanAm immediately announced that they were resuming the service, radio ads, billboards, the whole nine yards. Then, instead of doing so, PanAm abandoned its IAH presence in a massive move-out. I still recall the TV footage of ticket counters with trash strewn about and wiring from hastily-removed terminals, etc.
I seem to recall that CO was being allowed to assume the service because PanAm was not using the route authority, but I also acknowledge that my recollection may be utterly bogus. Any authoritative sources out there?
In any event, that was the shaky beginning to what is now the very proud international service of CO.
...three miles from BRONS, clear for the ILS one five approach...
DFWMEX From United States of America, joined Dec 2003, 112 posts, RR: 0 Reply 11, posted (8 years 11 months 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 2693 times:
I am very curious about the MX), Mexico">MEX route with the 747. I have limited info of the route. I did have a friend that told me that he flew MX), Mexico">MEX-IAH-MX), Mexico">MEX on PA 747. On one ocassion, in 1981 or 82, I saw myself the 747 next to the MX plane that I was already onboard of (next to PA). However, I didn't know about the continuing flight to JFK and LHR as mentioned above.
Pan Am also flew to LAX with 727 and Orlando and Tampa with A300/727/Lockheed Tristar (more than the D10) in addition to the multiple JFK and MIA daily flights.
My father told me he did get to fly to CCS in PA via Central America (multiple stops), I think he told me it was the 707, but can't remember. The called it the "pan-american route."
Stirling From Italy, joined Jun 2004, 3943 posts, RR: 27 Reply 12, posted (8 years 11 months 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 2689 times:
Sccutler-
I am trying to remember too!
But my memory includes British Caledonian in the mix as well, but your version sounds correct too.....
The early 80's were very active with deregulation being relatively new. I will check it out and see what I can come up with.
Type-rated From United States of America, joined Sep 1999, 4398 posts, RR: 20 Reply 13, posted (8 years 11 months 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 2676 times:
In 1982 I took Pan Am IAH-MEX on a 747. IIRC, it was a evening flight that was delayed for over two hours so a overheating engine could be fixed. I remember that we had to sit on the plane while this was being done. We couldn't go back in the terminal, so there we sat for two hours in this hot 747.
Once we got going, it was an ok flight. It was 100% full. It was the week before Thanksgiving. On the way back we took Air France which also was a 747. It went MEX-IAH-CDG. The safety announcement was done manually, and I think they did it in about six different languages.
Fly North Central Airlines..The route of the Northliners!
Thomasphoto60 From United States of America, joined Jan 2000, 3727 posts, RR: 25 Reply 14, posted (8 years 11 months 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 2675 times:
Scuttler,
You pretty much nailed it. My last PA 747 flight was in '84' from JFK into IAH. I was communting between the cities for most of the 80s. If I remember correctly after '85', PA abandoned it's int'l ops from IAH and went purely domestic, shortly thereafter they moved ops across town to HOU. They re-started IAH ops in the late 80s or early 90s with tenative plans to re-start int'l flights (MEX) but as we all know PA would cease to be a year or so later.
A side note, rumour was that back in the early 80s, PA actually considered moving it's HQ, to Houston.
Type-rated From United States of America, joined Sep 1999, 4398 posts, RR: 20 Reply 15, posted (8 years 11 months 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 2670 times:
Stirling:
Yes, BCal offered either Daily or thrice weekly DC-10 service IAH-LGW. I can't remember what the frequency was, but I do know it was with a 10.
I also remember partying with a few BCal gals while they had their three day layover here in Houston. They'd call when they arrived and off we would go. Whenever they would leave to go back to England, they would say "We're off again, walking the Atlantic!"
One Thanksgiving several of them arranged to have Thanksgiving here as it's not celebrated in England.(Obviously) They wanted to experience an American Thanksgiving Holiday. They cooked up a few English specialties so we had a Turkey with English side dishes and lots and lots of Champagne. Those were some of the best times I ever had! This was 1981.
I remember one F/A in particular. She put on my cowboy hat, looked in the mirror and had a somewhat bewildered look on her face and said "It's not very English, is it?" Just the way she said it. Cracked me up for days!
Fly North Central Airlines..The route of the Northliners!
Lt-AWACS From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 16, posted (8 years 11 months 1 day 3 hours ago) and read 2644 times:
BCal went to daily at some point, as I have an Apr 29-Oct 27, 1979 BCal schedule. My routemap insert shows Houston and NYC as the only 2 US cities at that time.
From Houston to London the flight left at 6pm and arrived London at 9am next day. From London to Houston the flt left at 1140am and arrived Houston 4pm.
Tony Trivia: Bcal was my second airline and flight as a kid. When we moved from Houston to London we took Pan Am, and when we came back in late 79 we flew BCal nonstop to Houston.
Ciao, and Hook 'em Horns,
Capt-AWACS, Oklahoma-a Native American word for "Trailer Park"
Dutchjet From Netherlands, joined Oct 2000, 7864 posts, RR: 58 Reply 18, posted (8 years 11 months 17 hours ago) and read 2552 times:
Pan Am indeed flew the MEX-IAH-London route, with 741s and later with L1011-500s. At the same time, I think, Air France flew a MEX-IAH-CDG route with 747s....thus flying between MEX and IAH offered some very interesting choices! First Class fares on AF between IAH and MEX were very reasonably priced, and was one of the greatest bargains available at the time....luxurious service (full meal services were offered with champaegne and other extras), very comfortable seating, and a 747 on a 2 hour flight!
Operations at Houston were greatly influenced by the Pan Am/National deal - Houston was a mini-hub for National at the time of the takeover. And, as they say, the rest is history.
PS-one poster mentioned a Pan Am service long ago operating between Houston and Caracas via Central America - I believe that is one of the old Pan Am-Grace (PANAGRA) routes. Most PANAGRA routes ended up with Braniff, then Eastern and now American.
Type-rated From United States of America, joined Sep 1999, 4398 posts, RR: 20 Reply 19, posted (8 years 11 months 14 hours ago) and read 2512 times:
....thus flying between MEX and IAH offered some very interesting choices!
At the time there were lots and lots of destinations where you had a wide choice of equipment to choose from, cost wasn't really an issue back then. I guess I got spoiled, God I miss those times!
If people think that they can get creative nowadays with routings, back then you could REALLY get creative!
Fly North Central Airlines..The route of the Northliners!
Stirling From Italy, joined Jun 2004, 3943 posts, RR: 27 Reply 20, posted (8 years 11 months 14 hours ago) and read 2501 times:
type-rated-
So I would assume you had an "intimate" knowledge of the B-Cal ops at IAH?? I can only imagine the proper little BCal FA wearing nothing but a cowboy hat! You dog You!!!!!!
And to Cougaraviator-
I too enjoy the history of airlines and aircraft much more than the constant bickering found in some of the other topics.....A vs B, NWA DC-9, whatever!
Bluemeatball From United States of America, joined Oct 1999, 174 posts, RR: 0 Reply 21, posted (8 years 11 months 14 hours ago) and read 2490 times:
I flew into Houston in August of 1970 on a PA 720B that originated in Sao Paulo (VCP) at 8AM and landed at IAH at 1159PM. This was flight 502 and was a Saturday only flight. The flight transited GIG, BSB, PTY, GUA, and MEX before IAH. You could connect with a 707 at PTY for service to LAX and SFO.
Stirling From Italy, joined Jun 2004, 3943 posts, RR: 27 Reply 22, posted (8 years 11 months 13 hours ago) and read 2484 times:
bluemeatball-
Funny that you mentioned flight 502, because that was the flight number of the first leg of the IAH-MEX flight I posted above. By 1977, the flight was truncated at PTY, after the Central America milk-run.
In 1977, getting to GIG from PTY, was then Flight#516, a MON and THU only service, but upgraded to a 747 from the 707 you flew on. In addition, other differences from 1970 to 1977 include the flight to Brasillia(BSB) having been moved over to MIA, as a continuing service to GIG.
That connection to LAX at PTY, was on a 747, it operated on WED, FRI, SUN, and also on a 747, but either with a stop in GUA 1-stop(WED/FRI), or in SJO and GUA 2-stop(SUN). Probably the last time SJO or GUA will see anything as large as a 747 in a passenger configuration....unless Iberia does something in the wake of MIA closing as its Americas hub.....we will see.
I will never cease to be amazed by the aircraft PANAM used to certain places. Back in those days, PANAM was truely an INTERNATIONAL airline! There wasn't one corner of the globe that PANAM couldn't get you too! Even Africa, (which is totally ignored today by U.S. airlines) flying to Dakar, Monrovia, Abidjan, Accra, Cotonou, Lagos, Douala, Libreville, Kinshasha, Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, and Johannesburg. Sad to see this airline gone.
I will never forget as a child, living under the approach to PDX, climbing a tree to get a better vantage point of the PANAM 707 landing on its daily LHR-SEA-PDX-HNL service. I was an odd child, in that at 10 years old, I could correctly identify each and every aircraft, and from where it came! Those were the days!
CougarAviator From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 349 posts, RR: 0 Reply 23, posted (8 years 11 months 13 hours ago) and read 2455 times:
Stirling, what you said is exactly what draws me to Pan Am. At the height of their success, they were truly a global airline. Every corner of the world was served by Pan Am.
Part of me wished I could go back and watch Pan Am at JFK for days at a time. I really miss Pan Am, even though I wasn't old enough to enjoy it.
Texdravid From United States of America, joined May 2004, 1266 posts, RR: 0 Reply 24, posted (8 years 11 months 8 hours ago) and read 2398 times:
As a kid, I remember my mom and dad always using this particular travel agent in north Texas. Behind her console was this big map of the world and where PanAm flew to.
It truly was an international airline, flying to every corner of the world!!
Sadly, the hub and spoke model won out, and PanAm's poor business practices also became too much to bear, and it died out!
Tort reform now. Throw lawyers in jail later.
25 7e72004: Wasn't Eastern the dominant carrier at Houston? or was it continental? or neither? *lol*
26 Lono: here is one for the memory banks... about 1980-81... PanAm had an interchange flight with Wien Air Alaska Flight went IAH-SEA as a PanAm flight.. then
27 Skyhawk: Lono-Many time I worked the IAH-SEA portion. We used a 727-100 much of the time when I was working. You are right though, never an open seat, in fact
28 Lono: Skyhawk I was on the receiving end in SEA...!!!! worked the SEA-ANC-SCC portion... ahh good times!!! good memories... was glad that I remembered it!!
29 Thomasphoto60: 7e72004, I would say that there was no real 'dominant' carrier at IAH during those years. Braniff was big here as was EA, CO, NA, TI, PA, ect.... It w
30 COfaninBOS: In 1986 I flew with British Caledonian from IAH-LGW. Great flight and was my first solo trip abroad. Also, sometime in the late 70s or early 80s, I to
31 EddieDude: I am sure I was on many more PA flights during my childhood, but the ones that I recall only were MEX-JFK-FCO and CDG-JFK-MEX in the summer of 1990 (m
32 Type-rated: Stirling: A gentleman never tells! I just remember that one BCal F/A in particular arrived at my place still in her "school girl" BCal uniform. She ju
33 JoseMEX: Hola Eddie! >nybody know how many months or years the service lasted and if the plane continued from IAH to another city in the U.S. or elsewhere?
34 Stirling: JoseMEX- You almost got it! It's confusing, I will admit that! The 747 that left Mexico City daily at 9:00am for Houston, had TWO (2) separate flight
35 JoseMEX: Stirling, >The 747 that left Mexico City daily at 9:00am for Houston, had TWO (2) separate flight numbers....
36 Stirling: JoseMEX- I agree, the flight number assignments doesn't make sense.....I wish I could answer! As for the L15. I am looking...it seems that it was very
37 JoseMEX: Stirling, >it seems that it was very short lived, since I see a DC10 operating the 8:00am Mexico-Houston-New York
38 LatinPlane: Eddie " I hope I can find a pic of a Pan Am 747 in MEx in the a.net database." You probably have already seen it on myaviation.net, but if you haven't
39 CougarAviator: I know this question is a stretch, but does anyone know how many gates Pan Am had at IAH? From pictures, it's seems they had quite a few in Terminal A
40 Thomasphoto60: Tough question. After BI's demise, PA acquired many (if not all) of BI's gates at 'B's east satellite in addition to their int'l ops at 'B's west sate
41 EddieDude: Wow, thanks for all this info and for the pic guys. Sometimes I wish I had been older during the eighties since it was a really exciting time in terms
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I can only imagine the proper little BCal FA wearing nothing but a cowboy hat! 
You dog You!!!!!!
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