On Time, On the Hour, and On the Money
Written by Shea Oakley
If you are an older traveler and airline enthusiast living along the so-called “Northeast Corridor” of the U.S. it is likely you have a story about the Air-Shuttle. When I use the term “Air-Shuttle” I’m not referring to those run today by Delta or American. For me this reference has always been synonymous with Eastern Air Lines, the airline that started the whole concept of an hourly guaranteed seat service between New York-La Guardia, and both Boston-Logan and Washington-National airports. The airline that “threw in the towel” only after over a quarter-century of dominance on those routes, and that only two years before its own demise as a pioneering American air carrier. At the time of the Shuttle’s sale to Donald Trump in 1989 there was perhaps no greater symbol of the decline of a once great company than its loss.
I am one of those “avgeek” denizens of the Northeast who has a few personal recollections of the Eastern Air-Shuttle to share.
Sorry, no tales about eventful LGA-DCA Connie flights through summer thunderstorms. The last back-up L-1049’s were retired less than a week after my birth in February 1968. The retirement took place on St. Valentine’s day that year and EAL had a brilliant advertising tagline touting the advent of all jet-powered service: “On Valentine’s day You can Kiss Connie Goodbye.” I do, however, have a Lockheed Electra story. It was July of 1977 and my dad and I were returning to our home in New Jersey from a whale-watching trip in Nova Scotia. At Logan we hoped to catch what I believe was the last La Guardia-bound Shuttle that night. I remember gazing at two aircraft from the concourse windows of Eastern’s exclusive terminal building at that airport. One of them was a newly stripped to bare metal DC-9-31. Beyond it, gloriously lit by airport floodlights, was a white EAL airplane with four turboprop engines incorporating the largest propeller blades I had ever seen. Apparently the load looked heavy that evening so Eastern, true to its perennial Air-Shuttle guaranteed seat policy, had trundled out the old bird (one of several still being used for back-up sections only). I was nine years-old and more than a little excited. The Electra looked so exotic to this child of the “Jet Age” and I wanted that ride so dearly that I could taste it. Alas, it was not to be. We were all accommodated on the ‘Nine and as we pushed back my dream plane sat there, forlornly alone on the ramp. Three months later the airline retired its last Electra’s, thus crushing my hope of ever having such an opportunity again. At age nine you don’t tell your parents you are heading out to the airport and catching every Air-Shuttle flight until you manage a ride on a Lockheed 188.
One day in 1981 I boarded flight 18256, once again from Boston to New York. My logbook confirms it was a Boeing 727, and my strong recollection was that it also was a 727-100, the airplane possibly was an equipment sub for the Shuttle-dedicated 727-200’s on strength at the time. The interior (and the “flight dynamics” that day) seemed to me a bit rough around the edges, generally projecting an aura of the aircraft in question having been perhaps an early, 1964-era, build “Three-Holer”. That said, the flight was on time and the service as good as the Shuttle framework allowed. It is interesting to me that some of those very early 727-100’s were still wearing the distinctive EAL “Falcon” logo while flying late into the 1980’s.
My last Shuttle trip was just before I left home to get an aviation management degree at college. I wanted my father, with whom I had enjoyed many trips in earlier years, to accompany me on one last journey before I “left the nest,” so to speak. Having decided on a day together in Washington D.C., we were on the first LGA-DCA flight that morning. This was during the late summer of 1986 and Eastern was in the process of renovating all of its Shuttle terminals. The recent Texas Air buyout struggle (which would ultimately lead to the ignominious end of EAL) seemed very far away as the smells and sounds of construction filled its section of National Airport when we deplaned that day. I remember that the 727 stretch back to La Guardia said “Air-Shuttle Plus” on the forward fuselage. This was part of a leftover marketing effort to become more competitive with the New York Air shuttle which had attained to a fairly large chunk of the market at Eastern’s expense. New York Air ironically had also belonged to Frank Lorenzo’s short-lived airline empire along with the airline that “earned its wings every day.”
Today if I want to head North to Boston or South to our nation’s capital there is, of course, no Eastern Air-Shuttle to fly. There is little doubt in my mind that American or Delta’s contemporary shuttle operation will get me there with reasonable dispatch and bearable service. But they are still imitators as far as I am concerned. When someone uses the term “Air-Shuttle” I will always only remember the one that was “On Time, On the Hour, and On the Money.”
Note: All photos sourced from Wikipedia.com and WikiCommons
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Lester Anderson
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My only flight on an Electra was a Shuttle flight from DCA when I was in high school. I boarded and there was only an aisle seat. I was looking out the window from that seat before we started to taxi when the wonderful woman (I remember dressed formally as business woman —as was the custom in those times) asked me if I wanted to sit in the window seat which I gratefully did. I hope her business tasks went as well that day as my flight home because she truly “made my day” perfect.
As a note—in my flying experiences in high school and college I recall I (and my flying friends) always wore a shirt and tie. You were out of place if you didn’t.
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Donna Benton LeBlanc
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Great article! Thanks
EAL BWI/DCA 1974-91 ramps/gates/ops/ticketing/cto/sales/Sato
Best airline ever!
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Ancientskies1
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Glad you enjoyed it, Donna!
Shea
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Phil Brooks
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Great story- so sad you didn’t get the EAL Electra ride! That same summer I was passing through LGA and saw one of them- and was shocked that they were still operating, as I assumed that (this is long before the internet or any way of finding out info -I had JUST joined the WAHC- about current airline operations) that they had all been retired. Also, are you saying that the 727-100 you flew on was still in the Golden Falcon color scheme? I figure that they had all been repainted by the early 70s!
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Shea Oakley
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Hi Phil,
Guess I never answered this three years ago. The “Golden Falcon” 727’s were actually all repainted by the end of 1965. I was referring to the 1964-91 stylized “New Mark” Falcon symbol in the context of Eastern still having 727-25’s until 1989.
Best,
Shea
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Dan Goldzband
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I remember my last Electra flight, in 1976. I was taking the Claremont Colleges speech team to the year-end tournament at UN Reno, and determined it was cheaper to fly to Tahoe and rent cars there than to do the same via Sacramento (this was pre-dereg, so interstate fares were much higher). We flew Air Cal from Orange County to SFO and changed to the Electra. What a magnificient airplane, and a great flight. At one point the flight deck door opened and I looked straight at the snow-capped Sierra Nevada. Wow!
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Scott Ennis
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Great article
As a former EA employee 1977-87, I really appreciate your recollection and remembering the iconic Eastern brand.
Unfortunately, they were unable to trademark the name but even today, the imitators do not come close to the importance of the unique market years ago.
Again, thank you for the deserving recognition.
Best Regards
Scott Ennis, Atlanta
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phil brooks
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Scott, when I was at Britt Airways, I was told that EA threatened to sue us for having “Britt Air Shuttle” painted on our FH-227s. So we painted out the “Air”. You can google that and see before and after photos. Sounds like EA may have had a trade mark on at least some aspect of the name.
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Bob Clayton
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Nice recollections of the EASTERN Shuttle. Me and my two teenage sons rode it in the ‘70’s from LGA-DCA. It was a B-727-200. We recognized California Senator Alan Cranston, sitting across the aisle from us. We’re from Alabama so this was a big deal for us. I worked for Eastern for 27 happy years.
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Tom Ziobro
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As an EAL shuttle crew, I enjoyed your article. I was a 22yrs old “new hire” 2nd Officer on the Connie from Mar. 67 until “Kiss Connie Goodby Day” Feb. 68. Most of my EAL career involved the ‘Shuttle”, not always by choice, but by seniority. It seems that every time I was promoted to a new airplane or a new position, I ended up on the “Shuttle”! FWIW the Shuttle flight numbers were four numbers, even numbers southbound, odd numbers northbound. (BOS-LGA 1010, while same hour LGA-BOS 1011) Once again, great article!
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Bill Sablesak
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Truly honored to have been your Second Officer on The Shuttle back in the day. . Thanks. 👍✈️
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