Comments on: Airline Timetables Disappear, Airline Dorks Die a Little Inside

By: aomd88

aomd88 — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 09:25:07 +0000

Dude, I love that photo. As a “die-hard” timetable collector, I fuly understand you. How I miss the “golden age” when every visit to an airport, even the smaller ones, meant for me coming back home with a bag full of goodies. I remember the first time I went to Madrid airport as a kid … I was in paradise : I had a pic taken at the Olympic airlines desk … I was so happy I could get so many timetables in a day !

By: Basil

Basil — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 06:29:25 +0000

I’m going to have to show this thread to my wife and kid
I used to point at low flying international carriers in Mexico City and tell her where they were coming from and where they would go next
Of course AF was coming from CDG and IB from MAD, but I also knew that LF came and went via DFW in the 80s
My son thinks anyone with a box of old timetables has a screw loose
I guess I got most of mine through the mails as the only airline in our town growing up was Texas International with Convair 600s
I used timetables to route myself through every airport and on every possible carrier from prep school to home and back (and knew when/where best to get socked-in on the airline’s tab)
I worked after school in a travel agency and eventually went to Kansas City to learn PARS from TWA thinking I’d work in an agency in college but never used it
Timetables have now gone with that era, when air travel was an adventure, not a drudgery

By: Fritz

Fritz — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 01:38:11 +0000

I thought I was the only one that did that. You sound like my long relative. (Actually until the time of 9-11 I was still gathering tons of them).

Unfortunately in the mid 1990′s we suffered a flood and my many boxes of timetables, and other airline paraphernalia was ruined. I also had posters, letters, baggage tags, playing cards, so much stuff I cannot remember it all.

By: frank

frank — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:22:25 +0000

DRG
I did the exact same thing, alas I have none of them any more. They were thrown out at some point along my many moves. In my imagination, I was a 12-year old Frank Lorenzo — merging airlines to create the perfect carrier.
============================================

Speaking of memories, I worked for “Frank Lorenzo” in the early 80′s. He boarded my plane once as I was greeting passengers and he said with his hand held out for a handshake, “Do YOU know who I am?”

I laughed and shook his hand.

(He’s a scotch drinker)

By: DRG

DRG — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:40:02 +0000

I did the exact same thing, alas I have none of them any more. They were thrown out at some point along my many moves. In my imagination, I was a 12-year old Frank Lorenzo — merging airlines to create the perfect carrier. It’s no wonder I grew up to be practically Republican.

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 19:42:08 +0000

I hate to go into hyperspazz mode here, but where can one take an online gander at old OAGs? I mean OLD…like 60s and early 1970s.

Also, for retro digital timetables and route maps featuring nonstop service from Fresno to Dayton, check out the most excellent sight maintained by a friend of mine:

http://www.departedflights.com/

By: Tony

Tony — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 18:29:05 +0000

Its quite amazing to see the airline dorks on here all doing the same things I did as a kid (and I thought I was the only one that did this – none of my friends could understand why I collected those things). I remember making my younger brother go into travel agencies and airline offices to get some of the schedules I missed or when I thought I had been in a few too many times. I remember a family trip to Portugal in the mid 80′s and one of the things I did was take the subway as close to the airport as possible and then walk the rest of the way for the purpose of watching the planes and grabbing as many schedules as possible. Then heading for downtown Lisbon where the airline offices were and getting even more.

I guess the closest that comes to that in modern times is going online to see the route maps of airlines and seeing the list of cities the airline flies to and picking two random pairs of cities to see how often they fly there and when. Its just not the same.

By: frank

frank — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 15:22:19 +0000

For those of you who love airline collectibles, I recommend this show that is traveling the country. I saw some incredible TIMETABLES at this show when it was in NYC in the spring. It’s coming back in the fall. Great stuff there. Really enjoyed the “Eastern” table and enjoyed the retired guys who had wonderful memories and stories!!!

GO!

http://www.vcibackup.com/wahs/showinfo.html

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:55:10 +0000

I am laughing my @ss off at that pic…not because of the ‘chubby cheeks and buffalo hair’ but because I had/have the SAME timetables in my ‘stash’ of plane porn LOL. Yea, it is a sad day for airline dorkasaurus’ everywhere :/

The timetable is a throwback to the days when marketing mattered and each carrier had its own sense of ‘style’. Even though it was printed material, it added a human touch to the travel experience (like the reservation center agent, airport CSAs, city ticket offices, skycaps who actually worked for the airline, etc). I think it is compelling that Southwest, which clings to the ‘old school’ mantra that marketing can actually contribute to the bottom line, was the final holdout of the printed schedule.

Much like human beings working the check out lanes at the grocery…the timetable is something my kids will never know.

By: frank

frank — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:15:34 +0000

LOL, thanks for the laugh. Throughout my early career in the late 70′s into the 80′s, I would also search out timetables at all the counters throughout my travels. There’s a container in my basement with many.
Ozark, PeoplesExpress, Eastern, PanAm, Piedmont, Empire, etc.

We, airline geeks do amazing things. How many of us have non rev’ed just to go flying for the day? Yep. I have. Or drove out to the airport to watch planes land or take off, Yep, I have.

thanks for the memories this article has reminded me of during my junior days.