Piedmont Airlines began operations in 1948 from its home base of Winston-Salem, North Carolina and eventually grew into a national carrier with a route network stretching to the west coast (and later to London’s Gatwick Airport). The east coast was still its strength with the largest frequencies operating from hubs in Charlotte, Baltimore and Dayton.…
Commentary
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The next ancillary airline product for coach passengers: amenity kits
An article appeared in the San Jose Mercury News in May discussing the evolution of amenity kits since their introduction around the 1950s. As a collector of the kits myself, I’m keen to know what the future holds for them as some airlines are foregoing fully stocked bags/containers and simply handing out individual products upon…
Video: Cute television commercial from India’s SpiceJet Airlines
I stumbled across this video from SpiceJet Airlines and thought it was a unique way to promote the hot meal options available on the low-cost Indian carrier. Avoiding cold meals on the undisclosed carrier he’s flying, the featured passenger’s stomach growls loudly as he reads “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish” much to the annoyance of fellow…
Review: American Airlines pre-order onboard food offer for premium JFK routes
Last week I had a work trip to New York and flew American Airlines instead of my favorite United Airlines p.s. flights between LAX and JFK since I’m taking the challenge to achieve Platinum status in the AAdvantage program. I’ve been fortunate to have always flown in United’s Business Class on this route, so this…
Australia’s ash, Qantas overhaul & strike and Virgin Australia & Qantas upgrade offers
There has been some interesting airline news the last week or so from Australia, and here’s a recap: The pesky ash cloud from the Chilean volcano made at least two passes over Australia & New Zealand in the past 10 days causing widespread flight cancellations and reroutings. From shutting down the major airports at Sydney…
United Airlines “Mileage Plus” name remains & dedicated merger updates website
Via Wandering Aramean & United’s tweet from about an hour ago, United Airlines will retain the ‘Mileage Plus’ name as its frequent flyer program. I’m in agreement with Seth that Continental’s ‘OnePass’ doesn’t carry the same strength of brand & name as Mileage Plus, so I’m happy with the not-so-shocking decision to keep it as…
Vintage Airline Seat Map: TWA Boeing 747-100
It’s time for another Vintage Airline Seat Map and I bring you a Trans World Airlines Boeing 747-100 from the early 1980s. Divided into three cabins, this workhorse of TWA’s international operations seated 21 passengers in First Class, 52 in Ambassador Class (Business) and 359 in coach. Pan Am also filled the pointy section up…
Airline collectible show and United Airlines DC-8-52 in Los Angeles
The Saturday before last I attended an airline collectible & memorabilia show in Los Angeles and then took a side-trip to the California Science Center to visit the United Airlines DC-8-52 on display. I arrived at the show shortly after it opened at 9:00am and made a couple of passes through the various tables. The…
Ridiculous edit appears in newspaper’s response to “Can I recline my seat” question
I was flipping through the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday this week and came across the title, “Can’t recline on plane†under the ‘Ask Amy’ column. Anything airline, hotel or travel industry related always gets me to stop and read the article, and this one had me running to my computer to send in a…
The evolution of elite level qualification in airline frequent flyer programs
Qualifying for elite status with an airline requires meeting a certain threshold the carrier has published, whether it be point, mile or segment based. Those thresholds have been periodically raised, lowered and adjusted even to the point of birthing new tiers. Delta’s fairly recent addition of the Diamond level at 125,000 Medallion Qualifying Miles is…