The Airline Time Machine Podcast

The story of the scrappy Icelandic airline Loftleiðir, how it became a significant player in budget travel transatlantic tourism in the Jet Age, and the role it had in promoting tiny Luxembourg as a noted Europe travel hub!

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United Airlines recently announced that a woman is now the airline's most senior captain, a first for a major airline.

But women piloting U.S. jetliners is something that only began to occur in the 1970s, and today just over 5% of all U.S. Airline Transport Pilot rating holders are women.

Join me for the story of the first U.S. airline captain, Emily Howell Warner of Colorado, and the challenging environment she had to conquer to earn four stripes on her uniform sleeve!

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After keeping a secret for seventy years, a former stewardess shares her story of a rainy day, a DC-3, a famous journalist, and a crash landing at Yakima, Washington!

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Every airline in the world has a two-character designator code that represents the airline’s name identity across reservation systems, flight information displays, ticketing details, luggage tags, and all of the other places where showing an airline’s full name can be simplified by substituting that recognized designator code.

The development of those codes evolves as the early airline industry expands, and airline name codes that, in some cases, have been in use for eighty years, continue to be used in digital applications today.

Join me for the story of how airline name codes came about, their sometimes hidden meanings, and how they’ve developed, and been perceived, over generations.

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Have you ever found yourself looking out of a cabin window on an airliner, and wondered what was keeping you in - and the outside out - during your flight?

If you ask an aerospace engineer what their ideal airliner cabin window size and shape is, they might just tell you that the ideal airliner has no cabin windows. They’re a hassle to design and build, and they add to the maintenance and cleaning work required for an airliner.

But airlines know that a lot of their customers wouldn’t enjoy flying in a tube with no outside view, so windows in the passenger cabin have been a fixture since the earliest days of air travel.

With this Airline Time Machine podcast, let’s explore the role that airliner windows have, the many variations in window design over the years, and how a modern airliner window’s made. And, looking ahead, how might future airliner design change the windows we’ll find in airplanes.

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Delta Air Lines has a rich history in the air travel business, and this year is celebrating its one hundredth year of operations.

And while a lot of Delta’s story is focused on the southern United States where Delta was founded in Macon, Georgia - a state where Delta is headquartered today - there's another large Delta hub in the eastern half of the U.S. at Detroit.

Join me for the story of how an airline from Georgia finds itself with a big hub operation far to the north in Michigan, on the border with Canada, and how that hub is contributing to Delta’s business today.

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During the first fifty years of air travel in the United States, the airline industry - as a service provider, and as an employer - is largely focused on White people.

Black Americans are usually locked out of many airline jobs until long after the 1940s, and Black households have little exposure to air travel, both because of the high cost, and the segregated nature of many airport facilities.

In a 1976 magazine article I found while doing background work for this podcast episode, a Black airline pilot is quoted saying: “Whites have long ago realized that time is money. Some of us [and he’s referring to Black Americans] are still wondering if it’s safe to ride on trains.”

Then in the early 1960s, a 19-year old from North Carolina opens a small flying school at the airport in Chapel Hill, close to where he grew up. Warren Wheeler loves to fly, he’s determined to make a living doing it, and he’s Black. 

Join me for this look at how Warren grew his flight school into the first Black-owned airline in the U.S., while also becoming a jet captain for a major airline, and the impact his work has had across generations.

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One of the most successful U.S. start-up airlines of the 1990s had six airline brands, and several legal names, involved in just its first four years.

Then it settled down to become a nimble competitor, known for low fares, a quality product, cheeky advertising, and a multi-billion dollar business volume that generated a long string of profitable annual results.

With this Airline Time Machine podcast we’ll look at the early years of AirTran Airways, its predecessor ValuJet Airlines, and what ultimately became of the eighth largest airline in the U.S., its unusual fleet, and 8,500 staff. 

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Airline tickets have changed dramatically over the roughly hundred years of passenger air travel, transforming from a simple paper “proof of purchase” modeled on railroad passenger tickets, to today’s digital transaction and security records.

Join me for this look at airline ticket history, and the steps along the way that have been made to ensure that the correct passenger… is on the right airplane… of the proper airline!

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Before large jet airliners accelerate air travel growth in the late 1950s, flying between continents is an exhausting experience, requiring fifteen hours or more for the flight to New York from Europe.

To help travelers pass the time, meal service is a big focus for the airlines, and the cuisine offered is an important way to distinguish an airline from its competitors in an era of tightly regulated airfares.

Then, in early 1958, a fierce food fight breaks out between the European and U.S. airlines over what constitutes a “sandwich”, and the fight involves disparagement, threats to cancel landing rights, legal actions, and a big financial penalty.

Join me for this look at the Transatlantic Sandwich Scuffle of 1958, and how it’s resolved as the airline industry moves toward defining what low cost air travel will look - and taste - like!

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