Old Timer's Airline Quiz and Discussion.
Sep 5, 2024, 7:22 pm
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BONUS QUESTION C2 re. AA's response to Legend's all Business Class DC-9-30 flights out of DAL
I seem to recall this - vaguely - didn't AA rip some seats out of its regular fleet to get around the Wright Amendment? I don't think it acquired special 50-ish seaters for this
Not exactly - at least not fleet wide. They did modify a few examples of a single aircraft type with 2x2 seating throughout so that they still met the restrictions of the Wright Amendment. And of course, inflight service standards were also enhanced on those specific aircraft and flights competing against Legend Air.
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I seem to recall this - vaguely - didn't AA rip some seats out of its regular fleet to get around the Wright Amendment? I don't think it acquired special 50-ish seaters for this
Not exactly - at least not fleet wide. They did modify a few examples of a single aircraft type with 2x2 seating throughout so that they still met the restrictions of the Wright Amendment. And of course, inflight service standards were also enhanced on those specific aircraft and flights competing against Legend Air.
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Sep 5, 2024, 7:22 pm
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one more for BQ A — The Hawaii Express ran all-Y 747s on LAX<>HNL in the 1982-83(?) timeframe
Sep 5, 2024, 7:32 pm
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Exactly. The 56 seat single class service was marketed as "Executive Class" and the affected Fokkers were slangily referred to as "Love Birds" Only until Legend called it quits were the Fokkers returned to their prior F/Y configurations.
Sep 5, 2024, 7:48 pm
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5. What major US trunk line operated 747s for less than two years?
Wasn't this AA?
It was not. AA flew its original batch of 747s as passenger aircraft from 1970-74, after which many were converted to freighters. AA later leased some ex-PA birds and resumed passenger flights to HNL and SJU and even flew a couple of ex-TW 747SPs on flights to Tokyo up until 1984. I believe AA also deployed a few 747s on European routes.
Please, guess again!
Wasn't this AA?
It was not. AA flew its original batch of 747s as passenger aircraft from 1970-74, after which many were converted to freighters. AA later leased some ex-PA birds and resumed passenger flights to HNL and SJU and even flew a couple of ex-TW 747SPs on flights to Tokyo up until 1984. I believe AA also deployed a few 747s on European routes.
Please, guess again!
Sep 5, 2024, 7:51 pm
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Sep 5, 2024, 10:38 pm
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My guess is CO. I seem to recall once having a CO 747 postcard. And then I remember having a tour of CO facilities at LAX mid-70s. I had not yet had a flight that I was old enough to remember on a commercial aircraft . I was very excited to get to see a 747 ... Only to get there and see a DC 10 and learn that CO didn't have 747s anymore. Unless my memory is totally shot?
Sep 6, 2024, 2:03 am
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It had a very premium heavy seating configuration: https://www.aerolopa.com/aa-74l-1987
Sep 6, 2024, 4:08 am
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Re. Trunk line carrier operating 747 less than two years...is
My guess is CO. I seem to recall once having a CO 747 postcard. And then I remember having a tour of CO facilities at LAX mid-70s. I had not yet had a flight that I was old enough to remember on a commercial aircraft . I was very excited to get to see a 747 ... Only to get there and see a DC 10 and learn that CO didn't have 747s anymore. Unless my memory is totally shot?
I suspect your memory's probably still pretty good, Eastbay, but alas, the airline we're looking for was not CO, which operated its original batch of four 747s from 1970/71 until divesting its fleet of them in favor of the DC-10 in 1974. Here's a link to that old CO 747 postcard...
Original Continental 747 Postcard
Thankfully, I logged my first flight aboard a 747 with CO between ORD and DEN in 1971. What beautiful airplanes those early 747s were, inside and out. The Saul Bass designed livery of orange, red and gold cheatline sweeping to a golden tail with the black "meatball" logo looked particularly handsome on the 747, not to mention every other airplane in CO's fleet. Word is CO president Bob Six's wife - movie star Audrey Meadows - had a lot of say in the Interior design of those early 747s.
As a result of the merger with PE in 1987, Continental acquired another batch of well worn secondhand (thirdhand, including PE) 747s which it flew until the early 1990s. I flew aboard a fairly beat up example of one SYD-AKL-HNL in 1989. Sadly, by then CO's livery was the drab white and gray fuselage offset by a thin gold line with the blue tail bearing a stylized portion of a globe - much like United's was immediately after the merger.
In any event, I sense you are closing in on the correct answer here. Please, deposit another dime and guess again!
HINT: The airline we're looking for ordered four 747s, but then sold the delivery slots for those four to another US airline, before ultimately choosing to lease a couple from yet another US airline for two years. Again, we're talking a major US trunk carrier here...
My guess is CO. I seem to recall once having a CO 747 postcard. And then I remember having a tour of CO facilities at LAX mid-70s. I had not yet had a flight that I was old enough to remember on a commercial aircraft . I was very excited to get to see a 747 ... Only to get there and see a DC 10 and learn that CO didn't have 747s anymore. Unless my memory is totally shot?
I suspect your memory's probably still pretty good, Eastbay, but alas, the airline we're looking for was not CO, which operated its original batch of four 747s from 1970/71 until divesting its fleet of them in favor of the DC-10 in 1974. Here's a link to that old CO 747 postcard...
Original Continental 747 Postcard
Thankfully, I logged my first flight aboard a 747 with CO between ORD and DEN in 1971. What beautiful airplanes those early 747s were, inside and out. The Saul Bass designed livery of orange, red and gold cheatline sweeping to a golden tail with the black "meatball" logo looked particularly handsome on the 747, not to mention every other airplane in CO's fleet. Word is CO president Bob Six's wife - movie star Audrey Meadows - had a lot of say in the Interior design of those early 747s.
As a result of the merger with PE in 1987, Continental acquired another batch of well worn secondhand (thirdhand, including PE) 747s which it flew until the early 1990s. I flew aboard a fairly beat up example of one SYD-AKL-HNL in 1989. Sadly, by then CO's livery was the drab white and gray fuselage offset by a thin gold line with the blue tail bearing a stylized portion of a globe - much like United's was immediately after the merger.
In any event, I sense you are closing in on the correct answer here. Please, deposit another dime and guess again!
HINT: The airline we're looking for ordered four 747s, but then sold the delivery slots for those four to another US airline, before ultimately choosing to lease a couple from yet another US airline for two years. Again, we're talking a major US trunk carrier here...
Last edited by Seat 2A; Sep 6, 2024 at 4:41 pm
Sep 6, 2024, 4:34 pm
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BOEING 747
N9896 132 19896/72 101 10/70 to 09/74 GEORGIA BELLE
N9897 132 19897/82 102 10/70 to 02/77
N9898 132 19898/94 103 11/70 to 03/75
N9899 132 20246/155 104 09/71 to 03/77
N9890 132 20247/159 105 11/71 to 04/77
One of the favorite OAGs in my collection is from 1974, in which there are many Delta 747 flights running into places like LAS, DTW, TPA, ORD and SFO along with the usual DL hub cities.
And that leaves....
Sep 6, 2024, 7:44 pm
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Eastern it is. Turmoil and delays in Lockheed's Tristar program, caused largely by Rolls-Royce’s problems with its RB211 engines, left Eastern vulnerable to competition - primarily NA and DL who both were operating the popular new 747s. Pan Am - like most other US carriers - was at a bit of a loss in dealing with the sheer size and capacity of its 747s - and was more than happy to part with three of them - if only for a couple of years.
Too bad the interiors were stock PA - not nearly as nice as the L1011 interiors originally delivered to Eastern.
Sep 7, 2024, 1:08 am
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...And then Eastern leased a couple of 747-200s from Qantas in 1980 and had one repainted, but didn't put them into service. They expected to use the 742s on a new MIA-LHR route but could only get authority to LGW, so they backed out of the deal.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F...ey_Airport.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F...ey_Airport.jpg
Sep 7, 2024, 7:19 pm
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1.) What East Asian Airline started to fly to EWR in 1996 and then Suspended it in 1997 from MNL. Years later switched to JFK as restoration instead of restoring it to EWR from MNL? Does anyone have the 1996-1997 schedule of EWR-MNL in both ways for the airline question?
Question 2.) What airlines of East Asia used the US as stopping points for their fifth freedom routes from East Asia to Latin America and what years when they ended?
Question 2.) What airlines of East Asia used the US as stopping points for their fifth freedom routes from East Asia to Latin America and what years when they ended?
Last edited by allianceflyer9506; Sep 7, 2024 at 7:22 pm Reason: adding in fifth freedom routes East Asia US Latin America