TWAHistory.com

Today we have TWA’s December 1993 schedule for review.

What’s interesting in this one?

• Well, first off, it’s the second of a few of schedules that features actual (well, at least I believe they’re actual!) TWA employees on the cover, looking happy. (Even though, I think, in this day and age, Robert Thomas should have probably removed his pack of smokes from his front pocket! Just kidding.)
• This schedule is also after the infamous sale of the London-Heathrow routes to American Airlines. This schedule contains a single flight to Gatwick, out of St. Louis.
• Still has the ‘Atlanta mini-hub’.
• Finally, contains the Trans World Express flights out of Los Angeles operated by Alpha Air. I don’t think they had these flights very long, though. I also know the routes for this changed a few times. One change included Phoenix in the routes, as I remember PHX using one of the emergency exits as a gate with a sign for the Grand Canyon, I believe.

As always, click on the images below to see it full size.  Enjoy!

As I was wondering the isles of Hobby Lobby the other day with the wife, I swung by the model area, to see if they had any TWA ones.

Imagine my surprise when I noticed one that I haven’t seen before. Yes, it’s a Boeing 777 in “Lindbergh Line” colors!

It’s slightly hard to see in the picture, but the TWA logo is at the front door of the airplane.

This model is made by Minicraft Models, and is part of their “Flights of Fancy” line, where they also have versions for Eastern Airlines, a PSA 777, a Pan Am 777, and a “Wrong Way Corrigan” 777 too! They also have a TWA H-4 Hercules, and a Pan Am Spruce Goose!

I haven’t had a chance to work on this model yet, though. Took it out of the box and remembered that I also now need to stock up on paint, as well as model glue and such.

Click the links above to checkout their website and models.

Here is a TWA schedule from October 1992.

Interesting things about this schedule:

• After TWA (or rather, Carl Icahn) sold off the London-Heathrow routes.  All trips to London now are via Gatwick.
• This includes the infamous Atlanta hub.  Not sure how long this lasted, but according to this New York Times article, it seems to have been until at least  October of 1993.  (If anyone has any comments about the TWA Atlanta hub, please leave a comment!)
• On the back of the schedule, they have an advertisement for their frequent flyer program.   They say that you can get free travel within the US at 20,000 miles.  Looking at American Airlines website today, this would take 50,000 for an unrestricted ticket.
• 35,000 miles for the Middle East or Europe.  Today on American?  You’re looking at 100,000 for unrestricted.  Gotta love inflation.

I’ve just upgraded to the latest version of WordPress, so thumbnails aren’t working right now.  Click below to see the pictures.

TWA October 1992 Schedule - Cover

TWA October 1992 Schedule - Route Map

TWA October 1992 Schedule - Back Cover

Man, you gotta love the Holidays.

Of course, after all that, it’s time to go back to work, and that means trying to catch up.   That is where I find myself right now.

While reading this thread on airliners.net, the topic of TWA’s order of the Airbus A330 came up.  TWA was actually one of the first to order the plane, but of course, never recieved it.

In the thread, a link to transportarchive.org.uk includes this image of the A330 in old TWA colors. I remember seeing this picture, or one very similar, in an issue of Skyliner.  Of course, I don’t know where that issue is, of course.

(Click for a larger image.)

Yes, it’s Christmas time. Time when flights are full, and winter weather in STL brings it down to one runway.

Good times.

In honor of the Holidays, I bring you, the TWA SkyMall catalog, Holiday 1993 edition.

Offering in-flight ordering (just dial *023 from the GTE Airfone) and a wide variety of gadgets for that loved one on the ground.

Some of the included favorites are Casio Personal Digital Assistant, which is about the size of paperback book, and goes for the low, low price of $699.95.

Or, the excellent WordPerfect 6.0. Yes, it was for DOS. Yes, it was $319.00, or $129.00 if you had an earlier version.

Included is the cover. Happy Shopping!

(Click for a larger version.)

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.  Me?  Well, I spent it with family in beautiful Aztec, NM.  Slightly colder than Arizona, but still good.

And, of course, I caught a cold.  Oh well.

This update brings the original (probably not the original, per se, but one that seemed to be used most of the 70’s, 80’s, and early 90’s.)  TWA 727-231 safety card.

I always found these fascinating, in the true lack of detail.  For example, in the window emergency exit pictures, it doesn’t show you want to do with the door once you remove it.  Do you throw it out on the wing?  Sit it in the isle? Leave it on the seats?  Then again, I guess the newer safety card doesn’t really say either, but it implies you leave it on the seats.  Oh well.

(Click images for a larger version.)

Here’s the TWA schedule from December of 1994. Unfortunately, TWA stopped showing the route map with ‘lines’ showing the flights, so this one is just the cities server. Bummer.

BUT…

TWA did start to show flight numbers, and the equipment operating that flight. So that’s a plus. And since it’s the Holidays, and I’m a nice guy, I’ve included the equipment listing scanned at a higher resolution, so you can read it.

We’re heading out of town for the Holidays, so I probably won’t update until later next week. Enjoy!

(click to enlarge images.)

Here is the safety card from a TWA 727-231 (International). I believe the only difference between a regular 727-231 and an international version is the inclusion of life rafts aboard the aircraft. (Anyone have any idea on that, if so, leave a comment!)
This is the later version (early 90’s) of the safety cards, after they switched from the ‘plastic’ ones with the 1960’s drawings on it. I kinda liked those, but these definitely have more information on them than those.

(Click images to enlarge.)

Here’s the front page from the TWA Skyliner, TWA’s internal newspaper. I always enjoyed reading them after my father was done, as it always included interesting stats, or a look at a certain TWA station. Also interesting was reading the letters from passengers. During the Icahn years, it was pretty depressing to read most of them.

According to the front page, the main thing that was going on at TWA was that they were going through approvals to get service to the Soviet Union. I believe they got it later that year. It didn’t seem to last too long, though.

Also noted was the selling of TWA’s Chicago-Heathrow route to American Airlines.

Skyliner, of course, also being the name TWA called their 747’s.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a newspaper sized scanner, so it’s not the whole front page. Any hints on how to scan this stuff?

Click on the image for a larger version.

Here’s a picture of the TWA Moonliner in front of “Rocket to the Moon” at Disneyland:

(Click for larger image) 

Thanks to Gorilla’s Don’t Blog for this image.