Which Past Airline Is Missed The Most In US?

jetpixx · Sun Aug 17, 2014 1:44 pm

I was looking through some old photos, remember flights I have taken in the past. I have flown on plenty of defunct airlines, including Continental, Eastern, Northeastern Int'l, Northwest Orient, Pan Am (original), PeoplExpress (original), Piedmont, Skybus, etc. I never had the pleasure of flying JetAmerica, New York Air, Ozark, Presidential, TranStar or TWA, but saw them pop up in photos, too.

Which airline do you miss the most from yesteryear?

FlyPIJets · Sun Aug 17, 2014 2:02 pm

After spending years reading posts on a.net I would say the most missed U.S. airlines are

1. Piedmont
2. PSA
3. Air California
4. TWA

Airlines missed but folks are probably just nostalgic for:

1. Eastern
2. PanAm

Northwest and Delta really was a good merger, just as predicted by a.net CEOs - pmNW is pretty much like DL today. (going to miss NWs 747 though edit: and red tails.) Both pmNW and pmDL were fine airlines - merged they still are.

Continental - too soon to tell. But as time marches on and pmUA +pmCO tries to become something, that will tells us about if we are going to miss CO. Same will be true for US.

[Edited 2014-08-17 07:06:11]

pjc747 · Sun Aug 17, 2014 2:04 pm

Of course I wasn't alive when it was around, nor during its heyday for that matter, but I believe that Pan Am is likely the most lamented airline here in the U.S. Pan Am was, albeit much by over-regulation, the de facto flag carrier of the United States; they shaped the course of aircraft development in a way no airline really does today, they introduced services which before Pan Am had been nonexistent.

USAirALB · Sun Aug 17, 2014 2:05 pm

I would say that Piedmont is probably the most missed, at least in the Carolinas. I hear that Western is missed quite a bit out west as well.

I feel like PanAm/TWA/Eastern are missed, but for a different less personal reason, a more nostalgic reason.

[Edited 2014-08-17 07:07:10]

FlyPIJets · Sun Aug 17, 2014 2:15 pm

Quoting pjc747 (Reply 2):
Of course I wasn't alive when it was around, nor during its heyday for that matter, but I believe that Pan Am is likely the most lamented airline here in the U.S.

I concur that folks miss PanAm. But, not in the same way folks miss PI or TW etc...

Back in the day, folks flew PanAm if they had too, else pick a different airline. (that is a generalization I know. )

With Piedmont fans can actually articulate what they miss...the whole can of coke, staff glad you are there, friendly. (of course some of that is a generalization as well. but still...) Same holds true for PSA, Air Cali, TW.

JAAlbert · Sun Aug 17, 2014 2:16 pm

I sure miss PSA. The fares were great, the crew was fun - even the planes smiled!

OzarkD9S · Sun Aug 17, 2014 2:20 pm

Here in STL, the older folks tend to miss Ozark more than TWA based solely on the conversations I've had. While TWA eventually moved the HQ to St Louis, Ozark was always the hometown carrier. Many Americans root for the underdog, and OZ was always #2 to TW at STL.

Of course, many people in the area also miss TWA, the hub status STL once enjoyed, and the small but growing international service TWA provided.

And yes, I miss both carriers...but what I really miss was the early 80's when new airlines popped up all the time, carriers that never served your local airport came to town, and watching the airlines adapt to the new market paradigms. Exciting times.

mwh787 · Sun Aug 17, 2014 2:24 pm

Quoting JAAlbert (Reply 5):
I sure miss PSA. The fares were great, the crew was fun - even the planes smiled!

For longer hauls out west and to Hawaii, I really miss Western. The Only Way To Fly !

FlyPIJets · Sun Aug 17, 2014 2:35 pm

I find it surprising that you don't read a lot on a.net of folks missing Braniff (1).

IslandRob · Sun Aug 17, 2014 2:38 pm

Quoting jetpixx (Thread starter):
Which airline do you miss the most from yesteryear?

I really miss both PSA and Western Airlines. They were such friendly, energetic airlines. Regards. -iwbs

bjorn14 · Sun Aug 17, 2014 2:54 pm

I miss Rocky Mountain Airways, the 2nd incarnation of Frontier, Republic, Ozark and Aloha.

Mortyman · Sun Aug 17, 2014 3:10 pm

***Pan Am*** and ***TWA***

EWRandMDW · Sun Aug 17, 2014 3:10 pm

For the first 30+ years I lived in or near Northern New Jersey. With some exceptions, all my airline travel was out of Newark, NJ. While there I often flew PI, AL, PE (original), EA, and CO. I also flew NY, MO, AA, NW, DL, KP, and UA, although much less frequently. I realize some carriers are still with us, but of those that aren't, I most miss PI and PE. Yes, I said PE. It was because of PE that I didn't have to slog into NYC to get a flight somewhere I needed to go!

For the past 20+ years, I have lived just outside Chicago. While here I've flown a lot on WN, UA and AA with occasional trips on other carriers. I like WN the best because they don't try to crush too many passengers into their planes and their services more than meet my expectations without breaking the bank. I don't care for the new seats and extra row in their 73Gs, but I still have more room anywhere on board than on UA or AA or DL, and without having to pay extra. That said, I miss AA's More Room Throughout Coach concept, but I can take AA (and UA and DL) or leave them.

Boeing778X · Sun Aug 17, 2014 3:17 pm

I'm too young to remember airlines like PanAm or TWA.

However, I will certainly miss the heck out of CO

And NW wasn't bad either.

georgiabill · Sun Aug 17, 2014 3:31 pm

I miss Hughes Airwest! Loved the livery served alot of smaller cities and alot of good people worked for the carrier.

Western would be a close 2nd to Hughes Airwest. Loved their commercials! "The only way to fly!"

Third for me would be a tie between Ozark and the original Frontier. Both had services to alot of smaller communities and the employees were excellent. They took pride in their companies.

Piedmont rounds out my top 5 missed airlines. Again because of the employees and the services offered to smaller communities

GulfstreamFive · Sun Aug 17, 2014 3:35 pm

PSA was great. Hop on, pay on board, crews were the best. Hop off.

Easy, simple, fun.

Nowadays if you say PSA, people assume you have a health problem.

IMissPiedmont · Sun Aug 17, 2014 3:50 pm

Mind would be TWA, Hughes Airwest, Ozark and, I guess I kind of liked that little airline from North Carolina.

superjeff · Sun Aug 17, 2014 3:55 pm

Quoting jetpixx (Thread starter):
Which airline do you miss the most from yesteryear?

Braniff: "The end of the Plain Plane;" inflight service in both cabins much better than most on domestic service; a lot of "flair." Prime US airline to South America, even with a full hub in Lima, and a bunch of etceteras. . . .

N766UA · Sun Aug 17, 2014 4:04 pm

Continental, Continental, Continental.

caleb1 · Sun Aug 17, 2014 4:27 pm

I suppose because I grew up near DTW, my vote for most missed airline would be North Central. Would love to see the duck grace the skies once again!

UALFAson · Sun Aug 17, 2014 4:27 pm

Quoting N766UA (Reply 18):
Continental, Continental, Continental.

Why? They're still around. They misspelled Continental as "U-n-i-t-e-d" on most of their planes, but you can fly them as easy as getting to your closest airport.

PA110 · Sun Aug 17, 2014 4:31 pm

I miss PanAm for sentimental reasons, but for sheer NY chutzpah, I miss NY Air. The flying nosh was an inspired bit of both catering and marketing, capitalizing on the ubiquitous "bloomies" brown bag. Free tastings of NY State wines, great crews, smart interiors on their DC9s and MD80s. I flew NY Air almost weekly between LGA and DCA. They were fun, energetic and stylish. The original livery with black titles outlined in silver looked great.

Tomassjc · Sun Aug 17, 2014 4:36 pm

Out here on the left coast, and for me personally, it's PSA and Western. Fond memories growing up with both and they sparked my first interests in working for the airlines. Long live "The airline that won the west with a smile" and "Wally bird".

Tomas SJC

strfyr51 · Sun Aug 17, 2014 4:37 pm

Eastern's demise was "Engineered" and perpetrated by Frank Lorenzo, As was TWA's Demise by Greedy arrogant
Trans World Corp's management. They would Both still be around were it Not for that.
Richard Ferris (and lackey's) tried the same thing at United and got the Boot before he could complete his plan with "Allegis" (with a Nazi salute). Pan Am was denied for Years to build a strong Domestic market operation by the Civil Aeronautics Board. But I can see that with the present trend there would BE no room for them in today's market. Thought they are and will be missed.

delta88 · Sun Aug 17, 2014 4:42 pm

While i wasnt alive, the most airline missed up here in Boston would be Eastern, My parents always flew that to catch a connection with American Airlines in DFW to Honolulu.

ltbewr · Sun Aug 17, 2014 4:46 pm

A lot depends on your age and where you lived. In the USA.
PanAm was mostly in SFO, LAX, JFK, MIA and a few more places after deregulation.
TWA was in far more places in the USA including in the mid-west and western states.
Eastern, well, mainly on the East coast, from BOS to MIA.
CO while a big airline pre merger with the already large UA, did give good service from it's revision under Bethune in the 1990's to its end.
Diversity of aircraft types due to so many different airlines. Now we are seeing maybe each airline have 3-4 basic models with a few variations of each.
You had many other airlines that were regional in structure, including those cited in previous posts.
One problem with the demise of so many airlines has been the increasing in prices for fares, sharply decaling service without fees that long dead airlines offered.

N766UA · Sun Aug 17, 2014 4:47 pm

Quoting UALFAson (Reply 20):
They misspelled Continental as "U-n-i-t-e-d" on most of their planes

Haha "most." The merger was like 17 years ago and I definitely saw an RJ with "Continental Express" written on it only a few months ago. They're not foolin' me.

canyonblue17 · Sun Aug 17, 2014 4:52 pm

For me it's TWA and Pan Am....the first two airlines I flew.

kanban · Sun Aug 17, 2014 5:02 pm

TWA, PAA, Western, Hughes AirWest, Braniff, Flying Tigers, Eastern; and DC-6s, DC-7's, Connies, 377 Stratocruisers.

Along that line being able to just wander out in the terminal or go to the terminal roof and watch

DocLightning · Sun Aug 17, 2014 5:05 pm

Quoting UALFAson (Reply 20):
Why? They're still around. They misspelled Continental as "U-n-i-t-e-d" on most of their planes, but you can fly them as easy as getting to your closest airport.

No, see, Continental was a great airline to fly as a passenger with a consistent and constantly improving onboard product, happy employers, and a reputation for quality.

United took over CO in just about every way possible, from my viewpoint as a passenger. I simply won't fly UA until they get their act together.

I miss the United of the 1990's. Now that was a great airline.

ChiGB1973 · Sun Aug 17, 2014 5:13 pm

I miss ATA Airlines the most. I worked there for 2.5 years, not near enough. What an amazing job that I miss dearly! I saw many parts of the world and met world class people. Thanks TZ for the time.

M

azstar · Sun Aug 17, 2014 5:17 pm

Pan Am was probably the single most influential airline in the development of international U.S. Aviation. Pan Am pioneered most, if not all, the international routes flown from the USA today. They developed and built airfields and airport terminals in many countries around the world. If not for Pan Am's accomplishments, the U.S. airlines would not be able to fly to many of the destinations they do today. So those of you stating that PA is missed for "sentimental reasons" or "nostalgia" don't know your aviation history too well.

masseybrown · Sun Aug 17, 2014 5:20 pm

The smaller airlines were definitely a more 'intimate' experience. You would see the same flight crew and ground staff more than once and develop a connection with the company. That doesn't happen with today's Big Four.

superjeff · Sun Aug 17, 2014 5:21 pm

Quoting strfyr51 (Reply 23):
Eastern's demise was "Engineered" and perpetrated by Frank Lorenzo, As was TWA's Demise by Greedy arrogant
Trans World Corp's management. They would Both still be around were it Not for that.
Richard Ferris (and lackey's) tried the same thing at United and got the Boot before he could complete his plan with "Allegis" (with a Nazi salute). Pan Am was denied for Years to build a strong Domestic market operation by the Civil Aeronautics Board. But I can see that with the present trend there would BE no room for them in today's market. Thought they are and will be missed.

I can't fully agree with you. Yes, Lorenzo took bean counting to the ultimate level, but what caused Eastern's demise started long before Lorenzo. Charles Bryan and the IAM made it personal and I think Bryan and the IAM bear a lot of the blame for that.

I agree about TWA, specifically Carl Icahn and Karaboo, but TWA was in bad shape even before him.

Allegis was a bad idea but the same one followed by many other airlines (Pan Am had InterContinental Hotels; TWA had Hilton International, etc.). UA just tried to do it on a different scale, with a primarily domestic route network.

I agree that an airline like Pan Am couldn't survive today - they were unable to leverage the National route system to build a viable domestic network, and were outmaneuvered on the new routes front by the other domestics which wanted to add international routes.

JBo · Sun Aug 17, 2014 5:23 pm

I can't speak for the rest of the universe, but as far as the airline that I personally miss the most:

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superjeff · Sun Aug 17, 2014 5:25 pm

Quoting delta88 (Reply 24):
While i wasnt alive, the most airline missed up here in Boston would be Eastern, My parents always flew that to catch a connection with American Airlines in DFW to Honolulu.

Stongly doubt it. EA never flew BOS-DFW (or BOS-DAL for that matter). Would have required a connection in Atlanta. Why would somebody make that kind of connection when AA flew nonstop BOS-DFW? Other viable connections between Boston and Hawaii would have been over the west coast or Chicago, either of which would probably not have involved Eastern at all (I worked for both Eastern and Braniff in the day so am somewhat familiar with Eastern's route network and Dallas connections.

CV990A · Sun Aug 17, 2014 5:28 pm

I am *shocked* no one has mentioned Tower Air yet...

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Photo © AirNikon Collection-Pima Air and Space Museum

And soon to be missed:

AirTran

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delimit · Sun Aug 17, 2014 5:30 pm

You have to be a certain age to really miss Pan Am. There just aren't many people that remember flying them when they were still in their prime. Same with TWA. Same with Braniff.

Quoting azstar (Reply 31):
Pan Am was probably the single most influential airline in the development of international U.S. Aviation.

Yep.

ChinaClipper40 · Sun Aug 17, 2014 5:35 pm

Without question, I would say the dedicated Eastern Shuttle service between BOS, LGA, and DCA. Hourly departures, complementary newspapers, spacious seating, and fares that were actually lower than coach. No reservations, no seat assignments, no check-in, no boarding passes. One simply walked straight to the shuttle-dedicated departure gates, boarded the plane, and took any open seat. After leveling off at cruise altitude, the cabin crew went down the aisle collecting fares - either by cash or credit card. Eastern guaranteed everyone a seat for each hourly departure. If a plane filled up, one did not need to wait for the next hourly departure. A back-up plane was standing by to fly you - even if only a single passenger. In the late afternoons, I frequently saw Shuttle planes dispatched from DCA just as quickly as they filled up - often every 15 or 20 minutes. It was the most elegantly simple way to fly imaginable - a municipal bus-like operation, but with passenger airliners. I REALLY miss it. I could get to DCA with just 5 minutes to spare, and still be in NYC less than one hour later. Yes, I REALLY miss it.

aviationaware · Sun Aug 17, 2014 5:45 pm

I imagine. Sounds great, thanks for sharing!

readytotaxi · Sun Aug 17, 2014 5:53 pm

From this side of the pond looking in I was lucky enough only to fly Business Class, and without doubt I miss NorthWest and Continental. Found the service level warmer and better than BA, a much better product all round. Golden days.

UltimateDelta · Sun Aug 17, 2014 6:00 pm

Quoting JBo (Reply 34):
I can't speak for the rest of the universe, but as far as the airline that I personally miss the most:

Everything about them was awesome...the employees, the service, the old DC-9s...and to a young kid, the cookies were the best things in the world.

flaps30 · Sun Aug 17, 2014 6:01 pm

I am really surprised that nobody has mentioned the original National Airlines (sun king logo) unless I missed it somewhere.This airline brings back great memories as me and my brothers would always fly them from LAX-MIA to go visit my grandparents in Miami Beach. They used to serve popcorn with the movies on those great DC-10's.

kurtjeter · Sun Aug 17, 2014 6:12 pm

I really do miss Piedmont--yes, that whole can of Coke!

And--guys, how about Midwest and those warm chocolate chip cookies?

ozark1 · Sun Aug 17, 2014 6:39 pm

Anything Braniff, Anything Piedmont and Southern Martin 404's

freakyrat · Sun Aug 17, 2014 6:47 pm

For Me:

Piedmont
Muse Air

Virgin America is very much like Muse Air.

johns624 · Sun Aug 17, 2014 6:54 pm

I miss NW and their mini alliance with KLM.

SpaceshipDC10 · Sun Aug 17, 2014 6:57 pm

Quoting flaps30 (Reply 42):
I am really surprised that nobody has mentioned the original National Airlines (sun king logo)

Perhaps is it due to the fact that it was one of the first to leave the skies following deregulation, and perhaps also due to the fact they had many strikes during their final years. If anything, I surely miss that Sun King logo.

AAlaxfan · Sun Aug 17, 2014 7:05 pm

Since most of my early flying was between LAX and MKE, the airline I miss the most is Midwest Express. Great comfortable seats, first class service and best of all, the best fresh baked chocolate chip cookies at 30,000 feet in the air.

wedgetail737 · Sun Aug 17, 2014 7:27 pm

For me, I miss Air Cal, PSA, Reno Air, Wien Air Alaska, the Vegas-based National Airlines, CPAir, Sierra Expressway, Sunworld, Jet America and World Airways.

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