Your first airline flight

[audreyh1]

I was 3. Flight to Germany 1963. No, I don't remember it at all.

 

[jabbahop]

1 year old - Guam to USA. I was born there.

 

[W2R]

The very first airplane I flew on was in 1949, from Miami to Cuba. The aircraft was a puddle-jumper, a small unpressurized tail-dragger - - I guess probably a DC-2.

I was one year old, but I am one of those weirdos whose clear memories go back that far. I remember my ears hurting enormously and consequently screaming my brains out (figuratively speaking).

I have no idea what airline that was, so I didn't vote. I doubt it is still flying. I suspect it was just some little fly-by-night.

 

[PawPrint53]

I was 33 and it was from Portland OR to Chicago and then on to Tampa where we were closing out my late MIL's estate. We got upgraded to first class on the first leg and I thought, wow, this is great. The next leg, not so much. It was United.

My grandmother's first flight was when she was 94 years old. She flew in a smaller plane from Redding, CA to Seattle, WA. She did that three times, I think, the last time was when she was 96.

 

[bclover]

Pan Am to Rome for Easter with the girl scouts back in the dark ages.

 

[braumeister]

1948, NYC to Chicago. I was two years old, and it's one of my earliest memories. Probably Eastern Airlines, which went out of business about a quarter century ago.

I remember running up and down the center aisle of the plane to blow off steam. My mother teased me for the rest of her life about "walking from New York to Chicago".

 

[calmloki]

The very first airplane I flew on was in 1949, from Miami to Cuba. The aircraft was a puddle-jumper, a small unpressurized tail-dragger - - I guess probably a DC-2.

I was one year old, but I am one of those weirdos whose clear memories go back that far. I remember my ears hurting enormously and consequently screaming my brains out (figuratively speaking).

I have no idea what airline that was, so I didn't vote. I doubt it is still flying. I suspect it was just some little fly-by-night.

Huh. Was almost ten and my family flew to Havana from Florida in 1959 just after Fidel and the guys took over. I remember a prop plane and a scattering of bullet sized holes in a panel between the passenger area and the cabin - but that is probably active imagination. My memory almost stretches to yesterday mostly.

 

[ERD50]

Very young, sort of remember it, late 50's. Chicago to Miami, where my grandparents had retired. A prop or turbo prop, but maybe that was something that was mentioned to me later, or when seeing old pictures.

I'm sure it was TWA, my uncle was a mechanic for them, he got a job with them right after getting out of the service from WWII.

TWA is out of business of course.

-ERD50

 

[Katiek]

I don't really remember it well because I was very little but my parents took my sisters and I on a plane trip to DC when we were young for our first trip. I remember my Mom dressing us all up in our "formal" clothes and it being a big deal.

 

[rodi]

I was in the 4th grade. My junior Girl Scout troop did a "field trip" outing where we toured San Diego Linbergh field, flew PSA airlines to LA - toured LAX, then flew back... all arranged through PSA. They charged us each $5 for the tour and r/t. It was awesome!

I wasn't sure what to say about whether the airline was still in business since PSA was one of the 4 companies that merged into US Airways... which recently combined with American airlines.... so it's "kind of" still in business in that it never went bankrupt - but it ceased to be PSA in the 80's.

I remember their ad's in the 60's and early 70's as well... Stewardesses (before they were called flight attendants) with micro mini skirts and pill box hats. My how things have changed.

 

[Gumby]

Did you move from the UK to the US, or had you already crossed the Atlantic west to east by ship?

This was my mother and me emigrating to the USA. It was her first time on an airplane as well. She was 21 years old.

 

[MuirWannabe]

Age 15. From Houston to Lubbock. Visit my brother at school. Southwest Airlines still going strong.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[Meadbh]

There are some great stories here!

 

[Lakewood90712]

I was in the 4th grade. My junior Girl Scout troop did a "field trip" outing where we toured San Diego Linbergh field, flew PSA airlines to LA - toured LAX, then flew back... all arranged through PSA. They charged us each $5 for the tour and r/t. It was awesome!

I wasn't sure what to say about whether the airline was still in business since PSA was one of the 4 companies that merged into US Airways... which recently combined with American airlines.... so it's "kind of" still in business in that it never went bankrupt - but it ceased to be PSA in the 80's.

I remember their ad's in the 60's and early 70's as well... Stewardesses (before they were called flight attendants) with micro mini skirts and pill box hats. My how things have changed.

PSA owned the west coast short haul routes back then, before southwest.

PSA had mostly 727 and all ex navy pilots. You differently know you landed, they flew them like they were landing on a carrier

 

[Car-Guy]

First flight was on Braniff, in the early 1970's when I was in my very early 20's. I recall the ticket price for a one way trip for the GF and I was $38. Best $38 I ever spent!

 

[Another Reader]

PSA owned the west coast short haul routes back then, before southwest.

PSA had mostly 727 and all ex navy pilots. You differently know you landed, they flew them like they were landing on a carrier

Yep. You could tell the ex military pilots in the 70's. Many were Vietnam "graduates." Besides the take offs and landings, they were the fastest taxiers on the runway. No messing around getting to and from the gate. Pull in, load up, and back out.

 

[ls99]

KLM, 707, Budapest to Amsterdam. My departure from Hungary. 1965.

 

[Nemo2]

You could tell the ex military pilots in the 70's. Many were Vietnam "graduates."

Went for a helicopter ride on the Ile de La Réunion, circa 1986; apparently/supposedly some/all of the 'older' pilots were French, pre 1954, Vietnam veterans.

 

[MRG]

There are some great stories here!

+1

I've flown on Aer Lingus too, probably around 2001?

My first was Memphis to KC in '78 at 21 for a job interview. Both were a success.

Someone mentioned Alleghany Air, DW and I flew them in '78 too. I remember DW being so afraid of this old plane, when the fog started filling the cabin I didn't know what to do for her. The attendant had it all together, "don't worry honey it aways does that".

 

[Nodak]

My first flight was on Northwest in the spring of 1969 from Minneapolis MN to Grand Forks ND. If I remember correctly the ticket cost about $15.

 

[Cobra9777]

Wow, I can't recall for sure. It must have been a Southwest flight from Dallas to New Orleans when I was a freshman or sophomore in college. I remember flying over the holidays to visit family because the fare was like $25. This was 1979 or 1980.

I know we never flew anywhere when I was a kid growing up in the 60s and 70s. We drove everywhere. Although I do recall a helicopter flight around New Orleans when I was about 5, and a Cessna flight over our suburban house when I was maybe 8.

 

[timo2]

9 years old, from Malta to Naples, with a stop in Sicily. (Dad was in the US Navy)

 

[bssc]

1960, leaving Tehran headed back to Washington on PanAm. For some reason, we went through Anchorage, where the picture was from. Everyone worn suits and ties back the. For State, it was mandatory.

 

[BrianB]

Growing up in a small Midwest farm town, travel was by car or bus only. Never even thought about flying!
First flight was in 1980: Minneapolis to Shannon (Ireland) to Copenhagen for a college study abroad program. I don't remember why Northwest Orient used Shannon, but I think all of their Europe flights stopped there.

That year started a life long love of travel - I'm writing this from an airBnB in Amsterdam, first stop on a three week trip for DW and I.

Regarding the question: Northwest Orient became Northwest, then part of Delta. How does that count?

 

[Meadbh]

FYI, Wikipedia has a list of defunct airlines.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_defunct_airlines