Remembering my first airline trip:

It occurred to me that when I board my flight to Montreal in June for the Canadian GP, it will mark almost exactly 50 years since I first boarded an airliner.

In June, 1960, when I was 7, I flew with my family from San Juan (SJU) to what was still called Idlewild (IDW), on an Eastern Air Lines DC-8-21 ("DC-8B"). At the time there were only two classes of service, F and Y, so we were in what would be called today "full-fare coach". (If you're wondering how we got to Puerto Rico in the first place, the answer is: by freighter! In the '50s we traveled back and forth between NYC and PR on ex-USN C2-class cargo ships operated by the Alcoa and Bull Steamship Lines; the trips nominally took 3 days.)

I still remember that these aircraft had no overhead service unit as on contemporary 707s; the reading light was in the seatback alongside the headrest, while the oxygen mask was in a compartment on the top of the seatback in front. I don't remember where other items like the flight attendant call button were located, but because of all of this the seatbacks were higher than those used currently. I would have to assume that replacing seats would be a difficult affair because of all the electrical connections.

Of course, seat pitch was greater than the norm today, about equivalent to that in emergency-exit rows on today's 737s and MD-80s. And of course the DC-8 had only one window per seat row, not 2 as on all the Boeings and all later U.S. jetliners. I don't recall the meal but in those days one typically got a pretty nice meal with real silverware and dishes. (I flew Delta first-class to Seattle this past August and that meal was no better than coach-class meals in the 60s.) On the other hand, in-flight entertainment was still a few years in the future, so the airline's magazine was the most interesting "entertainment" on board.

I bought an Eastern June 1960 timetable at an airline collectibles show a few years ago, and I was surprised to find that EAL only had one DC-8 roundtrip a day between IDW and SJU; the other flights were all handled by DC-6Bs. The time listed for the jet flight was about 3 hours & 15 minutes in each direction, exactly half the time listed for the propliners.

(Ironically, the same flight today is listed at about 4 hours! I can think of a number of reasons. Firstly, I don't believe that timetables in 1960 allowed for ground delays on departure; it was assumed that once you left the gate you taxiied right out and took off, while today's schedules include a buffer for expected ground delays. Secondly, I think the jets actually flew faster in '60; kerosene was cheap and the airlines wanted to sell the speed of the jets, so I suspect the flights were made at max cruise speed. Today everyone is more economy-conscious, so flights are made at a lower cruise speed. It's not that today's jets are physically slower, just the way they are used.)

Over the next 8 years we made at least one annual trip to NYC, on either Pan American (707-120s or even 720s) or Eastern; later Trans Caribbean showed up with their DC-8s, and they were the first to introduce 60-series DC-8s to the run. Of course, neither Pan Am or Eastern are still around, while Trans Carib was absorbed by American, which is partly why they are such a strong player on the same route.

One last note: even by the time we left in 1968, SJU still did not have jetways, and the main terminal was open air, with the trade winds providing "natural" a/c at the location very close to the Atlantic Ocean. And there was still only one runway.

Does anyone else want to reminisce about their first airline flight?

 

One interesting coincidence: in November 1965 we took an unplanned flight to NYC on Thanksgiving Day so that my mom could be with her brother who was in the hospital. Ironically, the Pan Am 707 we flew on was Jet Clipper Mayflower! Now how appropriate was that?

By then the NYC-SJU run had introduced the very first discounted jet airfare, K-class, which was officially called "Jet Thrift". I don't remember what restrictions it had, but when first introduced, the one-way fare was $55 and was called "El Cincuenticinco" accordingly. After a short time I remember that it went up to $59.25 and stayed there for a number of years; the equivalent K fare to Miami was $46.25. And from all that eventually resulted (after deregulation in the late 70s) in today's alphabet soup of discount airfares.

 

Not quite so glamorous.

Continental Airlines Convair 340 from Albuquerque NM to El Paso, TX.

Was pretty young but knew that it was a 340.

It was parked next to a Frontier Airlines (the original Frontier, not the one flying now) DC-3.

Also a TWA Martin 404 and a Connie.

Was amazing, I thought... best day of my life so far.

 

You're lucky - I never got to fly in a propliner. The only piston-powered aircraft I've ever flown in were a Cherokee Six and a Bell 47 helicopter. And the only airliners with props were several Brasilias and a single Dash-8.

 

What a great thread! I had to think a bit about my first commercial flight and it was a DC-6 in 1952 when I had to fly SEA. to Shreveport, La. to see my critically ill dad. I remember spending a lot of time in the aft end in the comfortable lounge area reading and having a drink while the " stewardess" played on her ukeleli ( spl) . My seat was over the center section and soon my feet went numb from the vibrations. We had to stop in Tucson for fuel and also El Paso. Then in 1959 I was able to fly on a Western Airlines DC-4 on my way to the Rose Bowl game when Washington U. beat the Big Ten champs. I believe that I won the tickets in some kind of raffle and saw a fantastic game. The flight down the coast couldn't have been much higher than 3 or 4 thousand feet, maybe less. But it did go down the coast and I remember seeing the pulp mills in operation that are no longer there. My first jet flight was on a NWA 707 for Boeing where as a flyer in tourist class I was served a steak and and champagne for lunch. I don't care to fly anymore.
Switches

 

1973, I was 6 years old on the #1 observers seat on a DC-10 bound for Rome. Pretty cool still to this day.

Time flies..........

 

In the early to mid-1960s we'd regularly fly between our home in Reno and my grandparents' place in Los Angeles.

We'd either fly a United DC-6 or a Western Lockheed Elektra. My mom liked the Elektras better because they were newer and faster; I thought their prop-jet whine was sort of scary. The DC-6 had real curtains instead of plastic sliders over the windows. United's magazine was called "Mainliner."

I loved to watch the smoke from the engines at start-up and see the propellers start to turn. I also remember how huge the LA airport was and to this day remember the overwhelming smell of jet fuel. The planes were also much louder than they are today.

A few times the Captain would let me look around the cockpit, and I recall getting a set of "junior pilot" wings to wear on my shirt.

Lastly, I don't remember any security procedures. Hijackings began popping up in the late 60s.

Those are some of my random memories of air travel in the 1960s.

 

Wow, I was a little kid in 1957, it was my first flight in a plane. It was a silver DC3 from Des Moines to Kansas City where we boarded a triple tailed constellation (Connie) to Phoenix. We landed in Albuquerque first because of engine problems and were laid over six hours or so. What a great adventure, I still remember we parked next to the original silver metal tower in Phoenix and they rolled the staircase over to the Connie.

 

Damn!

 

Mine too was on Eastern Airlines, and also in 1960. Our family flew from (I think) Newark to Sarasota, Florida on a Lockheed Electra for our annual vacation. This was the Series 1 Electra, the one that was later grounded after suffering several catastrophic wing spar failures due to harmonic vibrations from the engine mounts. Fortunately, we made it there and back again alive.

 

My first flight was from Denver, CO to Washington, DC. We (Mom, Sister and I) flew on Piedmont Airlines. Coming into DC, they constantly played the recording "Your seat cushion is also a flotation device." It was about 3 months after the Air Florida hitting the 14th St bridge and went into the Potomac River. The flight had a layover in Chicago.

On the way back, we were stranded in Cincinnati due to a snowstorm. We sat on the runway for 8 hours. Oh were we mad!

That wasn't my worst experience flying. I have had 3 others that have made it so I will never again fly Southwest, Continental or Quantas.

 

My late sister was a scheduled passenger on the Air Florida flight that went into the Potomac but she missed it by 5 minutes. Upset at her tardiness she went into the lounge and ordered a scotch. When they announced that Flight 39 had crashed into the river she ordered another scotch and forgot her anger. She died several years later of other causes.

 

WTF!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Are you serious?!?!?!?!?!? Wow...

I grew up and spent a number of months at a time at my grandma's house. She lived under finals into LAX, so the roar of 727s, DC-8s, 747s, you name it were just overhead at hundreds of feet. My parents (bastards) never once took me the two miles up the road to ever watch planes land even though they knew I was obsessed with airliners. All I had was my grandma's house, my Dyna-Flites and Matchbox Skybusters, and that was it.

First flight finally came at age 13 on Jet America out of LGB to LAS, 2 months before they transitioned to Alaska Airlines.

Side note - my former partner who is an aviation nut, was on inaugural flights for PSA L-1011, and the Pan Am inaugural flight from JFK to LHR on the 747-100. We never did fly Concorde (still kicking ourselves), and cockpit seats during take off and landing (at least on International flights) are no more thanks to a certain group hiding out in Afghanistan.

Last side note - my son is named Braniff. That's another story...

 

During those years that a Concorde would show up at EAA Oshkosh and take people on a supersonic "flight to nowhere" over Canada, I always hoped that I could do that someday. (My only trip to the Oshkosh show was in '83, before the Concorde flights, and I still haven't had a chance to go back there.) And now it's too late......

 

I do not remember, the first time I flew on an airplane.


As a young boy, I used to look for airline postcards all over the airplane. I still have several old Delta postcards of DC-8's and a Convair 880. I actually flew on a Convair 880, with Delta !

 

And this is what those stainless-steel steps to the Connie SuperC's looked like.And what the passengers might wear when traveling...Mom with a big Montaldo's hat box[no way that fits in the overhead] and Dad along with Henry&Dell going to a market in NYC probably...mid 50's.
cheers,
RE
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Another chance that I missed. I was flying back to Miami from Columbus, Ohio in the summer of '73 and had a choice of two Delta flights. One used an 880, the other (I believe) a DC-9. I chose the latter for no particular reason that I remember. And just a few months later, Delta withdrew their 880s from revenue service. Oh well......

P. S. At that time, Port Columbus was a rare big-city airport that still didn't have jetways!

 

727 from Norfolk VA via Charlotte NC to Tampa FL, in 1987. I remember being a little scared, but I loved the takeoff.

I was more afraid of the possibility (at least I thought so) of being irradiated by the baggage X-ray. Yes, I was a wiener when I was a little kid.

 

My first flight was also on a DL CV880. PHL - MSY - HOU at age 11. Years later when I went to work for DL as a mechanic I used to love hearing the old farts ***** (with great fondness) about the 880's.

My personal favorite,as a mechanic, was the DC-8 both 61 and 71 series. Rigging that beast was a true challange.

 

I have no idea! Either it was from SAT to DEN? or SAT to CLT? I do remember going on a 747 at a very young age into New York City at some point. I think it was from CLT? Do 747's even do domestic flights in the states? or would they have back in 1993ish?

 

I flew transatlantic on Swissair Convair 990s at least a couple of times. Very smooth and quiet, as I recall.

 

They might have, if it was a segment of a flight that subsequently went international. In the '80s I occasionally flew JFK-SEA on Northwest 747s that would then go on to Tokyo.

 

This is easy. It was 1978 or so. I was flying From DC to Vegas for pleasure. I'm in a Boeing 727 seated near the engines on the port side taking off upriver and the sun is on the other side of the plane. I see the shadow of the plane going across suburbia. I am totally comfortable with flight.

All of a sudden I hear a terrible sound from the engines! I see the shadow of a huge black cloud coming from the plane! I know this isn't right. The plane is loosing altitude. It is sick for sure.

I'm thinking about the safety announcements and thinking I might become a statistic.

The noise subsides. The plane stops that sinking feeling.

After a short time the pilot comes on and fills us in. One of the engines had gone into reverse in mid flight and was not reconfigurable and had been powered down. We returned without further incident.

 

Not my very first, but one of the first. I was a student spending a year abroad in the late 60's and took a KLM Comet from London to Amsterdam. I thought the plane looked rather interesting at the time. It wasn't until some years later that I learned they were death traps.

 

Only the very early ones. You were quite safe in the late 60s.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Comet