United serviced DTW-HNL, with a DAILY NONSTOP, according to their July 1, 1970 timetable.
Flight 965: EWR-DTW-HNL, left DTW at 12:00PM, and arrived HNL at 4:10PM.
The equipment is not listed, but I'm assuming it was a DC-8.

The return flight:
Flight 960 (HNL-DTW-EWR)
Depart HNL: 4:45PM
Arrive DTW: 6:05AM

The schedule also shows BWI-HNL daily nonstop (flight 952: PHL-BWI-HNL)

Looking at timetables from the 1960's and 1970's is fascinating!

EJ

TNere are many, many routes that had nonstop service in the old days that would surprise the younger ones



How about AL with SDF-BUF

727LOVER wrote:

TNere are many, many routes that had nonstop service in the old days that would surprise the younger ones



How about AL with SDF-BUF

UA had nonstop HSV-LAX back in the day

Wow. I find it quite interesting that this service was operated daily. Any idea when it commenced / terminated?
I think it's also interesting that they offered service from BWI instead of IAD.

Capt.Fantastic wrote:

Wow. I find it quite interesting that this service was operated daily. Any idea when it commenced / terminated?
I think it's also interesting that they offered service from BWI instead of IAD.

UA had non-stop flights on DC-8-62s on BWI-HNL and JFK-HNL in the early 1970s. I didn't know about DTW-HNL though. They also did ORD-HNL, which was on a 747 I believe.

Capt.Fantastic wrote:

Wow. I find it quite interesting that this service was operated daily. Any idea when it commenced / terminated?
I think it's also interesting that they offered service from BWI instead of IAD.

Dulles had only opened less than a decade earlier and was basically in the middle of nowhere back then. Consequently, it was not busy - it had barely 2 million passengers in 1969. BWI was a well-established airport that was, as it is today, able to draw from both Baltimore and DC.

The routes in the days of regulation were definitely sometimes obscure. For example, one that always struck me with Air Canada (then a Crown Corporation to boot) was a daily YOW-YVO (Ottawa-Val d'Or, Quebec) flight on a DC-9.

BoeingGuy wrote:

Capt.Fantastic wrote:

Wow. I find it quite interesting that this service was operated daily. Any idea when it commenced / terminated?
I think it's also interesting that they offered service from BWI instead of IAD.

UA had non-stop flights on DC-8-62s on BWI-HNL and JFK-HNL in the early 1970s. I didn't know about DTW-HNL though. They also did ORD-HNL, which was on a 747 I believe.

United had twin daily nonstops ORD-HNL-ORD for many years. I don't remember the equipment on the afternoon departure, but yes, the morning departure was 747s for many years. When I moved to Hawaii I flew out on a 747 in first class in the upper deck!

My Grandparents flew from BWI-HNL in 1974. They said it stopped in CMH on the outbound and was non-stop coming home. I have their pictures....DC-8!

Cody wrote:

My Grandparents flew from BWI-HNL in 1974. They said it stopped in CMH on the outbound and was non-stop coming home. I have their pictures....DC-8!

I don't think that's correct unless for some reason, the DC-8 needed a tech stop in CMH. It was scheduled non-stop each way.

Capt.Fantastic wrote:

Wow. I find it quite interesting that this service was operated daily. Any idea when it commenced / terminated?
I think it's also interesting that they offered service from BWI instead of IAD.

many of these routes were mandated by the CAB...more times than not there was some sort of political reason for a route assigned, or denied to a carriers route applications. At time the CAB would simply add a route to be served in the process of granting routes during a proceeding. The CAB had quite a bit of power..Most carriers had some plum, very profitable routes..that made them tons of money, and they were simply legally obligated to provide the service on routes that the CAB decided they were to fly.

BoeingGuy wrote:

Cody wrote:

My Grandparents flew from BWI-HNL in 1974. They said it stopped in CMH on the outbound and was non-stop coming home. I have their pictures....DC-8!

I don't think that's correct unless for some reason, the DC-8 needed a tech stop in CMH. It was scheduled non-stop each way.

The only reason, that I can think of, would be that the aircraft could not take off from BWI with all the required fuel..Runway length? weather restricting available runways? or construction/ repairs of a long enough runway.

Maybe some folks might remember back then if there was runways work being done in that time period.

CLE had the same issues in the early 80's and occasionally some flights to the west coast made a quick fuel top-off tech stop at FWA. ( over 11 K ft runway at FWA)

BoeingGuy wrote:

Capt.Fantastic wrote:

Wow. I find it quite interesting that this service was operated daily. Any idea when it commenced / terminated?
I think it's also interesting that they offered service from BWI instead of IAD.

UA had non-stop flights on DC-8-62s on BWI-HNL and JFK-HNL in the early 1970s. I didn't know about DTW-HNL though. They also did ORD-HNL, which was on a 747 I believe.

In the summer of 1970, I was working for Eastern in Atlanta. My Dad was working in HNL for the US government and had to go to New York on business. I flew up and met him at JFK - he flew in on the United DC8-62 nonstop from HNL. So they did operate that. United had a strong operation in BWI at the time, but I don't remember that service, nor do I remember DFW-HNL, but both are possible.

I'll check, but I don't think BAL-HNL was daily. Doesn't the timetable have a qualifying footnote?

Might have been daily from (BAL or DTW) to HNL-- total seven flights a week from the two cities.

Remember too that in 1970 Detroit was still in its heyday. The auto industry was booming and it was a large and affluent metropolis. A far cry from the sad state that it is in today. Those were very differnt times in Detroit.

I am amazed that the DC-8 had the legs to do BWI-HNL. That must have been quite a workhorse!

Dominion301 wrote:

The routes in the days of regulation were definitely sometimes obscure. For example, one that always struck me with Air Canada (then a Crown Corporation to boot) was a daily YOW-YVO (Ottawa-Val d'Or, Quebec) flight on a DC-9.

That was a leftover from a Viscount flight that went daily YYZ-YYB-YXR-YUY-YVO-YOW-YUL, while one was doing the reverse at the same time!

When the Viscount was retired, YXR and YUY could no longer be served, so a DC-9 went YYZ-YYB and YVO-YOW-YUL.

jaybird wrote:

BoeingGuy wrote:

Capt.Fantastic wrote:

Wow. I find it quite interesting that this service was operated daily. Any idea when it commenced / terminated?
I think it's also interesting that they offered service from BWI instead of IAD.

UA had non-stop flights on DC-8-62s on BWI-HNL and JFK-HNL in the early 1970s. I didn't know about DTW-HNL though. They also did ORD-HNL, which was on a 747 I believe.

United had twin daily nonstops ORD-HNL-ORD for many years. I don't remember the equipment on the afternoon departure, but yes, the morning departure was 747s for many years. When I moved to Hawaii I flew out on a 747 in first class in the upper deck!

The 747 did CLE-ORD-HNL in the mid 70's. My dad and uncle used to clean them right out of high school.

putthoff wrote:

I am amazed that the DC-8 had the legs to do BWI-HNL. That must have been quite a workhorse!

BWI-HNL = 4,856 miles. DC-8-62 (of which UA had 10, all delivered in 1969) range with full payload = 6,000 miles. Nonetheless, I would guess there were occasions when an unscheduled fuel stop was necessary, especially westbound, due to strong headwinds.

putthoff wrote:

I am amazed that the DC-8 had the legs to do BWI-HNL. That must have been quite a workhorse!

slightly longer jl flt 1/2 nrt sfo was a dc8

timz wrote:

I'll check, but I don't think BAL-HNL was daily. Doesn't the timetable have a qualifying footnote?

Might have been daily from (BAL or DTW) to HNL-- total seven flights a week from the two cities.

I have the timetable referenced by the OP: Both flights were indeed operated daily

Capt.Fantastic wrote:

Wow. I find it quite interesting that this service was operated daily. Any idea when it commenced / terminated?
I think it's also interesting that they offered service from BWI instead of IAD.

Why? IAD's first flight after being built was 11-19-1962. United was founded 04-06-1926. Where did you think they flew to serve that area before it was built?

Back in the days when u used to get lei'd walkin down the steps when u got there !

Great topic. Some other UA routes that come to mind in the 1970s were SEA-MCI and SEA-BWI. One interesting route, shown in a Braniff June 1, 1979 timetable is LGA-SAT (Flight 301 Dep 6:40pm). Was the LGA perimeter rules in effect back then?

loisencroach wrote:

727LOVER wrote:

TNere are many, many routes that had nonstop service in the old days that would surprise the younger ones



How about AL with SDF-BUF

UA had nonstop HSV-LAX back in the day

Well that made sense due to NASA activities in Huntsville and Jet Propulsion Lab in LA area.

UA flew MKE to LAS,LAX & SFO in the 70s too.
Any now they are finally getting some mainline back after what? 20 years?

UA also has done SEA-NRT and PDX-NRT... (although UA did have a hub at PDX way back in the day...)

How about MRY-ORD, LAX-GRR, and PDX-GEG on the subject of odd UA routes.

seat1a wrote:

One interesting route, shown in a Braniff June 1, 1979 timetable is LGA-SAT (Flight 301 Dep 6:40pm). Was the LGA perimeter rules in effect back then?

1984-->

In the early 70s, American offered an El Paso-La Guardia nonstop (eastbound only) with 727.

mtnwest1979 wrote:

loisencroach wrote:

727LOVER wrote:

TNere are many, many routes that had nonstop service in the old days that would surprise the younger ones



How about AL with SDF-BUF

UA had nonstop HSV-LAX back in the day

Well that made sense due to NASA activities in Huntsville and Jet Propulsion Lab in LA area.

UA had MEM, HSV, BHM, BDL, DSM, OMA, GJT & MKE non-stop from LA in 1974 - http://www.departedflights.com/LAX74intro.html

FA9295 wrote:

UA also has done SEA-NRT and PDX-NRT... (although UA did have a hub at PDX way back in the day...)

UA's very first truly International flights were ORD-SEA-NRT 6 x weekly x2 & ORD-PDX-NRT 1 x weekly 2 (both directions, the 747's crossed paths in SEA or PDX) The passengers all cleared customs at PDX or SEA & the domestic leg was open for sale with the International service level.

BoeingGuy wrote:

How about MRY-ORD, LAX-GRR, and PDX-GEG on the subject of odd UA routes.

some of the old routings in the Northwest were SEA-PDX-PDT-BOI-SLC or SEA-PDX-SLE-MFR-SFO, PDX-EUG-MFR-SFO, UA also flew PDX-SEA-OGG on some of their first 757's that were ETOPS, In fact I think UA was the first carrier to use the 757 to Hawaii.

Tango-Bravo wrote:

putthoff wrote:

I am amazed that the DC-8 had the legs to do BWI-HNL. That must have been quite a workhorse!

BWI-HNL = 4,856 miles. DC-8-62 (of which UA had 10, all delivered in 1969) range with full payload = 6,000 miles.

The DC-8-62 and 707-320B were true long range airplanes. Lots of fuel capacity. I like to describe a 707-320B as a 737-800 with 767-sized wings.

AA used to fly a DC-10-10 LGA-ROC in the early 70's.

I flew the UA DC-8-62 "Super 8 to the Aloha State" BWI-HNL in 1970 as a nonrev. I was assigned the last row with just me in it, and the F/A's served the last 2 rows first so I had first choice of meals, seconds on any leftover and what seemed like an unlimited amount of free Primo Hawaiian beer. The crew were based in NYC and rotated through the JFK-HNL and BWI-HNL schedules as an early W pattern of trips.
Trader Vic's teriyaki chicken was the featured meal served with a complimentary Mai Tai. F/A/'s wore muumuu's.
Fun atmosphere going over and mostly sleep on the overnight return HNL-BWI after dinner service.
A great flight on United when it was renowned for its Hawaii service dating back to the 1950's on DC-6's and Stratocruisers, then DC-7B's and finally the 8.

RWA380 wrote:

some of the old routings in the Northwest were SEA-PDX-PDT-BOI-SLC or SEA-PDX-SLE-MFR-SFO, PDX-EUG-MFR-SFO, UA also flew PDX-SEA-OGG on some of their first 757's that were ETOPS, In fact I think UA was the first carrier to use the 757 to Hawaii.

And UA will likely be the last carrier to use the 757 to Hawaii, considering the fact that AA is utilizing the A321s and DL is beginning to swap the 757s with 737-900ERs...

longhauler wrote:

Dominion301 wrote:

The routes in the days of regulation were definitely sometimes obscure. For example, one that always struck me with Air Canada (then a Crown Corporation to boot) was a daily YOW-YVO (Ottawa-Val d'Or, Quebec) flight on a DC-9.

That was a leftover from a Viscount flight that went daily YYZ-YYB-YXR-YUY-YVO-YOW-YUL, while one was doing the reverse at the same time!

When the Viscount was retired, YXR and YUY could no longer be served, so a DC-9 went YYZ-YYB and YVO-YOW-YUL.

I had a feeling YXR stood for Earlton but had to look it up. What a routing that would have been. Evidently the majority of YVO-YOW-YUL traffic was going to YUL or else a Dash 8 or CV580 would have taken over for AC post-deregulation.

loisencroach wrote:

UA had nonstop HSV-LAX back in the day

I flew on that, though it was actually a one stop TYS-HSV-LAX!

diverdave wrote:

loisencroach wrote:

UA had nonstop HSV-LAX back in the day

I flew on that, though it was actually a one stop TYS-HSV-LAX!

What aircraft type? The July 1, 1974 UA timetable shows two non-stops to BHM and MEM as well (morning/afternoon) around the same time as the flights to HSV.

UA operated a 727-100 on the GSO-HSV-LAX flight.

7/70 OAG says DTW-HNL was SuTuThSa-- the 10/70 timetable says BAL-HNL and DTW-HNL were both daily.

PI4EVER wrote:

I flew the UA DC-8-62 "Super 8 to the Aloha State" BWI-HNL in 1970 as a nonrev. I was assigned the last row with just me in it, and the F/A's served the last 2 rows first so I had first choice of meals, seconds on any leftover and what seemed like an unlimited amount of free Primo Hawaiian beer. The crew were based in NYC and rotated through the JFK-HNL and BWI-HNL schedules as an early W pattern of trips.
Trader Vic's teriyaki chicken was the featured meal served with a complimentary Mai Tai. F/A/'s wore muumuu's.
Fun atmosphere going over and mostly sleep on the overnight return HNL-BWI after dinner service.
A great flight on United when it was renowned for its Hawaii service dating back to the 1950's on DC-6's and Stratocruisers, then DC-7B's and finally the 8.

In 1984, I experienced that distinctive service when I flew PVD-ORD-HNL with the outbound ORD a 747-100 just before service started to go generic. There were not many options to go straight to the neighbor islands in those days and the Super DC-8 handled the OGG and KOA flights from the West Coast. DC10s supplanted the 747 over time.

United_fan wrote:

AA used to fly a DC-10-10 LGA-ROC in the early 70's.

even crazier there were 17 (yes 17!) daily flights to SYR/BUF. now people drive to BUF for WN flights

the most hilarious one i came across was 3 daily AGS SAV, one of which departed at 345.....AM

I wonder how much of these early 70's Hawaii routes were influenced or supported by the Vietnam war. 1970 335,000 US troops in Vietnam, supported by tens of thousands of American civilians. Plus hundreds of thousands more troops in Thailand, the Phillipines, Korea, Japan, Guam etc.

timz wrote:

7/70 OAG says DTW-HNL was SuTuThSa-- the 10/70 timetable says BAL-HNL and DTW-HNL were both daily.

The January 1970 UA timetable had pretty much all flights n/s, DTW, BAL, and JFK included.

Before I got my hands on an OAG, I wondered from a 1970 UA timetable what the route Reno-Elko-Ely-Salt Lake City was all about. There was no indication of equipment type. It wasn't till a year later it was operated by a Frontier CV580 on behalf of UA.

AAvgeek744 wrote:

Before I got my hands on an OAG, I wondered from a 1970 UA timetable what the route Reno-Elko-Ely-Salt Lake City was all about. There was no indication of equipment type. It wasn't till a year later it was operated by a Frontier CV580 on behalf of UA.

It was a DC-6. This topic has been on A.net before. That was the last piston airplane in service with a large US carrier.

Mexicana and Air Micronesia had DC-6s in service until at least 1970 also.

BoeingGuy wrote:

AAvgeek744 wrote:

Before I got my hands on an OAG, I wondered from a 1970 UA timetable what the route Reno-Elko-Ely-Salt Lake City was all about. There was no indication of equipment type. It wasn't till a year later it was operated by a Frontier CV580 on behalf of UA.

It was a DC-6. This topic has been on A.net before. That was the last piston airplane in service with a large US carrier.

Mexicana and Air Micronesia had DC-6s in service until at least 1970 also.

Interesting. This old thread claims both. https://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=147615

STT757 wrote:

I wonder how much of these early 70's Hawaii routes were influenced or supported by the Vietnam war. 1970 335,000 US troops in Vietnam, supported by tens of thousands of American civilians. Plus hundreds of thousands more troops in Thailand, the Phillipines, Korea, Japan, Guam etc.

The Vietnam War was a big part of it, because many troops went to Hawaii on leave, and were met by their wives and children there, but I think another factor was that Cancun / Riviera Maya did not exist, there were relatively few hotels in the Caribbean outside of Puerto Rico and Jamaica, and there were just a few cruise ships in the Caribbean.

The only large scale "tropical" vacation destinations in the early 1970s were Hawaii, Acapulco, Puerto Rico, and Montego Bay. I think a big reason travel from the Midwest and the East Coast to Hawaii declined in the late 1970s and 1980s was that people who wanted a tropical vacation could go to Cancun, a Caribbean cruise, the Virgin Islands, St. Maarten, etc - all of which were at most 6 hours from home, and did not require the 10 to 12 hour flight that a trip to Hawaii does.

AAvgeek744 wrote:

January 1970 UA timetable had pretty much all flights n/s, DTW, BAL, and JFK included.

The 15 Jan 1970 timetable shows no nonstops BAL-HNL or DTW-HNL. The 26 Apr 1970 timetable says they were to start on 1 June.

Slightly off-topic but additional info to some earlier posts:

As far as the DC8-62's go...

Way back in the day - prior to the arrival of the 747-100 - a DC 8-62 was the a/c of choice for the UAL ORD-HNL nonstop flight. There was one n/s per day and it was almost always full (and a non-rev nightmare to try to ride on).

Once the whale arrived (UA flight crew slang for the 747 - mechanics called it the BMF - fill in the words as you see fit) the DC8-62's were reallocated to other duty until they eventually disappeared altogether.

The frequency and number of 747-100/200 ORD-HNL nonstops, along with the flight numbers from ORD; varied as the years passed. I believe there was always at least one nonstop per day. For a while there were two. And for a very brief time I remember UAL's 747's lumber over my house three times per day on their way to HNL (as well as the NW 747 n/s to Tokyo (flight 3, IIRC)) due to their weight. The house was five miles from the departure end of the runway (32L or 32R). Some days we wondered if it was going to clear the trees in the back yard (which is a bit of an exaggeration, but it paints a picture).

What a sound that was passing low over the house at or near max capacity.

Piedmont767LGW wrote:

Slightly off-topic but additional info to some earlier posts:

As far as the DC8-62's go...

Way back in the day - prior to the arrival of the 747-100 - a DC 8-62 was the a/c of choice for the UAL ORD-HNL nonstop flight. There was one n/s per day and it was almost always full (and a non-rev nightmare to try to ride on).

Once the whale arrived (UA flight crew slang for the 747 - mechanics called it the BMF - fill in the words as you see fit) the DC8-62's were reallocated to other duty until they eventually disappeared altogether.

The frequency and number of 747-100/200 ORD-HNL nonstops, along with the flight numbers from ORD; varied as the years passed. I believe there was always at least one nonstop per day. For a while there were two. And for a very brief time I remember UAL's 747's lumber over my house three times per day on their way to HNL (as well as the NW 747 n/s to Tokyo (flight 3, IIRC)) due to their weight. The house was five miles from the departure end of the runway (32L or 32R). Some days we wondered if it was going to clear the trees in the back yard (which is a bit of an exaggeration, but it paints a picture).

What a sound that was passing low over the house at or near max capacity.

BMF is pretty easy to figure out.

Did the DC-8-62 every fly to ITO, or only the -61? I think UA did ORD-ITO in the past.