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mga707 |
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The End of an Era for Southwest and the Airline Industry |
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Well, I just got back from TUS and grabbed six more copies of the final WN timetable. I didn't 'clean them out', though, as I said I was going to. Guess I felt guilty.
Anyway, now I have 9 copies, as I have always grabbed three copies of each new issue when it comes out: Two to actually look through and/or use for travel planning, and one which goes, unopened and (hopefully) un-fingerprinted, into the schedule archive. The archive consists of 11 file boxes of 'post-deregulation' (1980 to present) schedules, and two file drawers full of the 'crown jewels'--pre-1980 schedules going all the was back to 1932 (American Airways and Transcontinental and Western Air [T&WA]). Additional file drawers are stuffed full of other airline ephemera such as route maps, "Welcome aboard" packets, safety cards, annual reports, etc.
Oh, and let's not forget the old OAGs (Official Airline Guides), which back in the pre-1970 era were basically a bound collection of schedules from all US and Canadian airlines. I have three (1940, 1956, and 1961), and they are a great 'snapshot' of the industry at a particular point in time. Would love to get more, but, as Brian mentions above, they are pricey. I do intend, as always, to search for a few more old schedules at next week's Airliners International convention in Orlando, but I am buying far fewer examples of airline stuff than I was 20 or even 10 years ago. Guess my collection is just about complete!
One thing I've always wondered is why airlines don't offer a printed schedule by paid subscription. It would be wonderful for us collectors, and I'd gladly pay the cost to receive a "real" schedule four times or so per year. It wouldn't even have to show connections: Just direct flights with maybe a numerical-order flight routings section at the end. That would be wonderful! An era has ended not only here at Southwest but in the airline industry as a whole. The current paper timetable that was released on June 28 is our last. Not only that, as far as we can tell, only Lufthansa will be left with a paper timetable. In fact, most of the other Categories: Airports, Nutty stuff, Under the hood Jul 15, 2009 |
