Which of the US Major airlines do you miss the most?

US Airways comes to mind for me, as does Continental, and of course the ancient TW and PA.

New York Air. I used to love the "Flying Nosh" bags they handed out! But they were never a major.....

In truth, I miss the real United.

I flew Continental transcontinentally alot back in the day when I used to do business in the US.

Also flew US Airways alot and are still the worst airline I have ever flown with - make Turkmenistan Airlines look like Emirates. They were also my introduction to American air travel (well flew Virgin America once before that), and as an Australian, it was a shocking experience.

Eastern... blue hockey sticks and Tristars. Horrible late in life but still missed.

Western too, I loved the bud-light scheme

and Piedmont

Northwest. Their 744s were part of my childhood flying between JFK-MNL via NRT. I loved their bowling shoe scheme.

I second NW. My first ever first class experience was with them, very memorable. Also my first and only DC-9 flight. N776NC.

-Rowen

Only from my Avgeek perspective: Eastern Airlines. As a west-coaster I only saw them every so often since the late 70s when I became an Avgeek. Of course as I grew older and started travelling I saw them more and more. My first A300 flight was N203EA ATL-SFO in 1981 after the AI '81 show in Ft. Lauderdale. Also flew on DC-9-31, 727-25C, 727-225, 757-225. Living in England 85-88 I got to see the DC-10-30s from MIA. Living in PHX after their demise I saw a number of their planes come thru DynAir for maintenance/repaint. Went onboard the stripped-down 757 that became the MGM Grand Air N701MG. Miss EA a bunch.

Pan Am - always flew with them to the US, plus I could watch them fly over our house heading West

Northwest Orient - always wanted to fly on them, I especially liked the livery with the blue stripe that stopped short of the front door.

TWA - like Pan Am, I grew up with them at LHR, their Tristars, 747s, 727s and 767s, and would have also seen their 707s in their last years.

I lament the lack of choice there is these days really flying to or around the US compared to 25-30 years, when there were more regionally based carriers like Piedmont, Western, Republic, America West, Ozark, Air Florida, Continental etc....

n729pa wrote:

I lament the lack of choice there is these days really flying to or around the US compared to 25-30 years, when there were more regionally based carriers like Piedmont, Western, Republic, America West, Ozark, Air Florida, Continental etc....

Yes we are creeping closer and closer to Ameriflot, aren't we?

Moe

aeromoe wrote:

n729pa wrote:

I lament the lack of choice there is these days really flying to or around the US compared to 25-30 years, when there were more regionally based carriers like Piedmont, Western, Republic, America West, Ozark, Air Florida, Continental etc....

Yes we are creeping closer and closer to Ameriflot, aren't we?

Moe

Ameriflot? I wish. Aeroflot has a better product on newer planes than AA, UA, and DL.

TWA - growing up in the Midwest I flew them all the time connecting through St. Louis. No particularly fond memories, other than enjoying St Louis airport.

I guess for me it would be Piedmont, if they count as "major". I grew up near Charlotte, so they were the "hometown airline". Also US Airways to a lesser extent, as Piedmont's successor.

I also miss Northwest, and for similar reasons. Even though I never lived in the area myself, most of my relatives live in Wisconsin and Minnesota, and I have memories of tagging along to pick up relatives from CWA, and seeing the NW Airlink SAABs taking off.

TWA is one, Midwest also comes to mind. I flew on TW once, but never Midwest. Though my many trips to Kansas City that commenced in 2013 would have been a perfect opportunity for me to give them business if they were still around. I know that MCI was a hub for them, and they flew a few dailies between LGA and MCI.

Side note: Is it weird that I resent WN for taking over FL?

Continental. No disrespect to United, but the vibe on CO was always classy and professional after Gordo took the reins, at least in my view.

Pan Am and TWA, sure there was Eastern as well, but Pan Am and TWA were in a whole different league.

Eastern and Pan Am. I was a resident of Miami for many years and was a frequent flyer on both of them.

Majors: Continental, Northwest and U.S. Airways.
Smaller ones: America West and Midwest Express.
I have good memories of spotting their aircraft.

Continental Airlines miss the nice service.... I really wonder how IAH would look today if CO had there 787s, and still part of Skyteam or Star Alliance?

NWA miss there 747, seeing there logos around DTW. Really wonder how NWA will look today?

Midwest Express.

Miss United Airlines Battleship livery.

PSA and Air California. Not sure if count as a "major" but I miss them the most. PSA would probably be successful today if they hadn't been gutted out and then left for WN to take over most of their old routes.

I'd say NWA. It always felt kinda cool having such a big global airline be locally headquartered. And red is my favorite color so I miss seeing their livery. That said, the on-board product and service is much improved under Delta, so I don't miss NWA *too* much...

Continental. Living in NYC they were my first choice. Over years of flying with them, I generally had very friendly and efficient crews and good meals/service. Some of the FAs even remembered me from prior flights (I took EWR-MAD 4-5x per year, and ran into the same FAs a few times - it was great to have them welcome me back, chat, etc). With Polaris and the cabin upgrades, I'm hoping that UA finally steps it up. However, one BIG upside of the UA "merger" is staralliance. It's such a bigger network than skyteam, and from my perspective probably the biggest benefit of CO becoming UA. LH, Swiss, AC, Aegean, ANA, etc....all great airlines. Excellent lounges and generally better service than the US majors.

LH658 wrote:

Continental Airlines miss the nice service.... I really wonder how IAH would look today if CO had there 787s, and still part of Skyteam or Star Alliance?

NWA miss there 747, seeing there logos around DTW. Really wonder how NWA will look today?

Midwest Express.

Miss United Airlines Battleship livery.

I know CO was planning on launching IAH-TLV as soon as the 788 came. Enter left: Smisek and the UA merger.

Granted, TLV wound up getting its 787 to SFO, but I still feel bad for IAH, especially now that the Dreamliner is moving to Dulles.

Miss NWA/KLM livery. Was NWA/KLM partnership better than Af/KLM ?

Continental future for IAH 10 years ago.

By BILL HENSEL JR.
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

Dubai, Rome, Milan and Madrid are among the cities Continental Airlines is considering for Houston service once it begins getting next-generation planes in 2009.

Continental Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Larry Kellner cited those as possible nonstop destinations from Houston when it gets Boeing 787 Dreamliners.

"Those would be leading the list," said Kellner, who noted that only one of the two Italian destinations would be served nonstop from Houston, not both.

Kellner often has described the sought-after Boeing aircraft as a game-changer because of its fuel efficiency, longer reach, cabin improvements and other amenities. The 787 is 20 percent more fuel-efficient than existing aircraft, he said.

The new Boeing is in production. While a delay has been announced, the first aircraft still are expected to come off the assembly line in late 2008.

Continental has an order for 25 Dreamliners to be delivered between 2009 and 2013 and has options with Boeing for more, Kellner noted.

"The 787 is going to allow us to do things from Houston," he said. "The future is bright for Houston for international travel."

Kellner's comments on Dubai come on the heels of new nonstop service that Emirates started earlier this month from Houston to that destination.

A host of carriers have their eyes on Houston because of the significant amount of business from energy companies.

Houston-based Continental is somewhat constrained for further international expansion until it gets new planes, Kellner said. It has been expanding continuously during the past several years, but much of that has been from Continental's New York-area hub in Newark.

Continental begins service to London's Heathrow Airport in March from both Houston and Newark. Kellner called Heathrow the single most important airport in the world.

The Heathrow connection is possible because of the agreement dubbed "open skies" signed between the United States and European Union earlier this year. Continental also has been awarded service to Shanghai starting in 2009. It already has service to Beijing.

Kellner said launches to destinations like India have been highly successful.

Also, Continental reiterated that it expects to expand its capacity by 2 percent to 3 percent in 2008, although it expects mainline domestic capacity, which doesn't include regional aircraft, to be down slightly.

Continental said in a regulatory filing that demand throughout all the regions where it flies remains strong and the pricing environment favorable for leisure and business travel.

JP Morgan analyst Jamie Baker said in a report issued Thursday that Continental's updated guidance points to a respectable fourth-quarter profit instead of an expected loss.

That forecast was welcome given gloomier reports from carriers like Delta Air Lines and JetBlue Airways, Baker wrote.

The Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported Thursday that airline passenger traffic in the U.S. was up by 3.6 percent through September of this year. Carriers likely will set a record this year if that demand keeps up, the government said.

maortega15 wrote:

Northwest.

AUGH!!!
Pretty Bowling Shoe 744s, I grant but you can only get stranded/mistreated by an airline so many times before you start wishing your hometown (DTW) would get a real airline.

National with its Sun King tail and Eastern. Growing up in Florida and the East Coast, Eastern was just part of the fabric...they were usually the first airline you called. National had wanted to merge with Northwest for years and we knew it was going to disappear eventually but it was always around.

I miss Pan Am and TWA, although I flew on neither.

Out of the ones I flew, I miss US Airways. Never really had a bad experience with them, even if their airport employees weren't outstanding, flight crews were always great.

Eastern and TWA

Eastern. There was nothing like First Class on the L-1011!

BOAC Comet
Pan Am 747
Trans-Texas DC-3

Braniff International. Only flew on their 727-200s but the flights were always great. The leather seats made the whole cabin smell wonderful. They did the entire beverage and meal service without carts, everything hand delivered. Plus, great attitudes from all the flight attendants. Classy airline!

There's no doubt that Northwest is my most-missed airline. Growing up in Wisconsin, NWA was the dominant airline at most the commercial airports in my state (sans MKE) and was the only airline to fly mainline equipment - mostly DC-9s and later A319/A320s - into my hometown of Green Bay. My first flight was on Northwest - from MKE to MSP - on a DC-10-40 in 1996. I have many fond memories of flying Northwest in my youth, including visits to the cockpit, saying hello to my mom & dad over the PA, and that one time a FA gave me his wings when he found out I was such a big fan of NWA.

I was lucky enough to fly on these Northwest/Northwest Airlink aircraft back in the day:
A319-100
A320-200
B757-251
B757-351
CRJ-200
DC-9-30
DC-9-50
DC-10-40
EMB-175
RJ-85

I also have to give honorable mention to America West and Midwest Express (though I'm not sure if either of them fall into the "major" category). I'm grateful to have flown on both of those carriers a handful of times before they disappeared.

But most of all, I miss the way this industry used to be. I miss seeing off friends and family at their departure gate before 9/11. I miss looking out at the concourses at my home airport and seeing more than three different logos on the tails. I miss flying on trijets and seeing them in passenger service. I miss turboprops being ubiquitous in the United States. I miss the days when people thought it was a privilege to fly and knew how to behave at the airport.

I do miss NorthWest from the UK, travelled in here many times, great space and good service.

TWA and NWA

Northwest and Continental for me. Those were my two most flown carriers prior to merger mania. I remember seeing so many red tails in AMS and NRT. Domestically I used CO exclusively almost.

I haven't been around to witness some of the older ones like TWA or Pan Am, but I really miss Midwest Express. The service, the cookies and the 717 were the perfect package.

DocLightning wrote:

maortega15 wrote:

Northwest.

AUGH!!!
Pretty Bowling Shoe 744s, I grant but you can only get stranded/mistreated by an airline so many times before you start wishing your hometown (DTW) would get a real airline.

I'm given to understand that's actually not the worst of Detroit's problems

I miss them all. From a nostalgia stand point the airline I flew the most that is no longer is ATA. Their 737-800s were the best looking ones out there in that paint scheme. Loved their hub at MDW.

With Continental I remember Continental Connection with Gulfstream in Florida and the Bahamas. For U.S. Airways I remember DCA being one of their big hubs when I lived in DCA. And for Northwest, its all about those 747 and DC-10 aircraft.

I miss the first version of Midwest Express Airlines. The one with 2x2 seating on DC-9s/MD-80s and first class service.

More than once, I forwent a nonstop out of YYZ to fly YYZ-MKE-wherever!

Other than the on-board product, what impressed me the most was the employees. They were hugely proud of their airline. Other than the occasional fanboy on here, when was the last time you saw an employee that was proud of the Economy product of an American carrier?

None of 'em, except possibly Continental. US Airways were horrible, especially here in PIT where they seemed to take the old Bell Telephone motto ("Reach out and crush someone", augmented with "We don't care; we don't have to"). NW were OK but nothing special that I can recall. If you go back far enough, Pan Am, TWA, and the like were nice, but they should have been considering the prices one paid for flying back then (easily the equivalent of J or F fares in today's money).

Continental Airlines was hands down my favorite, from both the perspective of a traveler, as well as an employee.

Dating myself, but Braniff International. They really tried to be classy, and had a brash 1970's Texas attitude about them. The flight attendants were professional and friendly, and the leather seats in the planes were a treat.
I also miss the Bethune days Continental Airlines. Those flight crews were proud of the turn-around they had made, and were super nice. Can't tell you how many times I would get free alcohol minis if I was just pleasant to the FA's when boarding the aircraft. Those were the days before they started tracking every dollar!

My avatar answers this question for me - Braniff International. BN was my family's preferred airline of the 70s. My first flight was on a BN 727-200, rocketing out of MKC to DAL.

NWA. I flew them in the early 2000's from Atlanta. I swear, it felt to me like they flew their takeoffs agressively with little derate. I remember one time, taking off to go to Dayton, I actually said out loud "holy shit!" when the plane lifted off right past the touchdown markers. People looked at me like I was crazy.

Then again, these could have been idiosyncrasies.

Majors: TWA and National (Sun King version) - I flew both of these airlines (TWA more, after moving to St Louis) - I always liked watching the L1011s and 767s to the west coast and New York, and the 747 to Hawaii.

Smaller airlines: Ozark, PSA. I flew on PSA several times, but never flew on Ozark - they had already merged into TWA when I moved to St Louis.

Texas International

My most-missed major carrier is Pan Am. I flew them at a very young age quite frequently between Washington/Dulles and Frankfurt on PA60/61. I was a WorldPass Member and also a UM. I was always treated to sit in Upper Clipper Class the last 30 minutes or so before landing so the cabin crew could keep an eye on me since I was an unaccompanied minor. I crossed the Atlantic in many 747SP and 747-200's which was always fun! I really loved the cabin crew and they made me feel so welcome each time. After a while, a few stews remembered my face on these flights as I was the young frequent passenger flying alone between parents on my school holidays. They would even send me off with a bottle of red wine for my father as a kind gesture! Just so many lovely memories of flying Pan Am!

Northwest for sure! As an AMS resident I still miss those red tails lined up, an interesting mix of DC-10s, 742's and 330's if you were lucky enough! Even the silver livery was a welcome sight.

I had the pleasure of flying NWA a number of times, on the 330, 32S and D95. Only once on a 319 still wearing the famous Bowling Shoe livery Though sadly I missed out on the DC10!
I have to say on TATL flights they we're never particularly memorable, but I always liked them a lot on the domestic runs. Drinking Mountain Dew and browsing through the ridiculous Skymall magazine. I liked DTW and MSP too.

Also I was happy to log a former Airlink (Mesaba) Saab now with Silver Airways a few years ago.



Martijn