Trans World Airlines – TWA for short – was a major international airline based in the United States. It rose to prominence globally from the middle of the 20th century just after World War II. Beloved by many and popular with Hollywood types, the airline serviced destinations throughout the world.
A variety of factors contributed to the airline’s final bankruptcy and eventual purchase by American Airlines in April 2001. Alas, much of the TWA workforce was laid off after the events in September that year. This removed much of the unique culture of that airline permanently.
A Video About TWA
Following on from the last video about Pan Am, we stay with Bright Sun Films for a look at “Bankrupt – TWA”. This runs for just over 18 minutes and I think it’s well worth a look.
Just like the other video, it all begins with a potted history of the airline, which was initially known as Transcontinental and Western Air. The iconic Lockheed Constellations are seen of course, marking the debut of transatlantic service in 1946.
With involvement at various times of people like Charles Lindbergh, Howard Hughes and the notorious Carl Icahn, the TWA story is an interesting one. Each time it seemed like the airline was turning around, something would happen to set them back again.
It’s amazing how the people who worked there kept the airline number one in customer satisfaction. What’s also fun is seeing some of the footage used in this video – even David Letterman makes an appearance.
Overall Thoughts
I’ve always found that TWA people are still passionate about the airline, even today. There seems to have been a real esprit de corps among the employees which is remarkable.
Sadly it all ended badly with so many laid off by American Airlines, who perhaps understandably, tried to protect their own people first. Either way, the achievements of TWA are many and will be remembered in the aviation industry.
Did you ever fly with TWA or even work for them? What were they like? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image by Ralf Manteufel on ABPic via Wikimedia Commons.
Throughout the 90’s TWA was my go-to airline. Due to their financial difficulties, Gold status could be obtained after flying just 20,000 miles/year. This allowed for unlimited day of flight first class upgrades (I always got upgraded this way.) Mileage earned was based on the class flown rather than the paid class. Food was great in F and as they continued paring international service, they flew their wonderful widebody L-1011’s to several domestic destinations. The seats in F on L-1011’s were wide and as comfortable as LA-Z-BOYS. The food was also consistently good. My parents had fond memories of working… Read more »
Wow, now that is a relatively easy road to status. I’ve only see Aegean with something that low since I’ve been writing. I’ve heard the L-1011 was a pretty good aircraft to fly on. The seats sound wonderful! Nice to read some of your experiences there, thanks for that!
In the late 90s I would travel business class in the upper deck from JFK to TLV almost every month. The flight attendants knew me and would have a scotch on the rocks in my hands as soon as they could without even being asked. I loved leaving out of the TWA terminal at JFK. The lounge would have great food and drinks to get the trip started on the right foot. I never had it so good again while earning tons of miles. Ah, the good old days.
Now that’s proper service for a regular passenger. I love it! All of that sounds pretty great – a shame it all had to end!
Flew TWA several times in the 60’s and 70’s. One trip I remember so distinctively was aboard a 707 in First Class “Royal Ambassador” flight to Rome from Chicago with intermediate stops at JFK and Paris. The inflight service and meal were exceptional with multi course dinner served off the trolley out of JFK and breakfast before Paris and then another full meal enroute to Rome Fiumicino. Good times . Fond memories . TWA also had a great First Class service between ORD and West Coast cities as well.
Sounds like a wonderful experience in First Class there! You had some trip to Europe there. I wish I’d had the pleasure of doing that myself. Thanks for that!
My most indelible TWA memory is flying them from JFK to LHR in 1980 with my parents on a TWA vacation package. We flew out of the venerated TWA terminal at JFK, and I (12 at the time) was in awe of the place. I still have the menu and boarding pass from that flight, and I’m sure my parents kept the commemorative TWA tote bag we received.
That’s fantastic that you still have the items from the flight. I tell you what, I went to the TWA Hotel and believe me, I was in awe of the terminal. It’s some space, so I’m not at all surprised you felt the same. Thanks for that!
Another TWA brat here. Dad came home from Vietnam and joined TWA in March of 1967, as a Flight Engineer domiciled at LAX. Far too many good memories of flights with my Dad to various places, where a long layover enabled us to walk the Freedom Trail in Boston or go to dinner in New York City. A great airline with great employess. Then came Icahn and the writing was on the wall. So sad to see TWA go.
Great that you have so many memories wrapped up in the airline. It must have been very exciting all round to travel so often!
When American took over TWA, I thought that they should have kept the TWA name. They certainly thought the American name was better but it was not.
I believe that the STL hub was too centrally located that it never pushed TWA to get a second major hub not on the coasts. In contrast, United had ORD and DEN. PIT was held too tightly by Allegheny so a TWA hub in PIT wouldn’t have worked easily.
Well, American Airlines has a long history as a name as well, and since TWA was the minor player and had recently had a very high profile accident, it was probably the right choice in the long run.
It is a shame TWA went bust though, as much as they tried their best!
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As a former TWA customer I feel that Icahn contributed much to the demise of TWA. The AA merger should of worked out OK but they mismanaged it all including Shuttering the STL hub right when the city was building a new runway that you could land the space shuttle on to grow that airport. My first flight ever was in the late 70’s MCI-LGA. It was magic. As an adult in the 1990’s I remember a flight from New Orleans to Kansas City where I got upgraded to first and one of the FA’s sat in an open seat… Read more »
Sounds like a wonderful experience flying TWA. I’m sure many would agree with you on Carl Icahn.
Don’t get me started! Ozark/TWA airline brat here, live in TWA’s former hub of STL and have flown them more times than I can count going back to the early 70’s. Flew on 747s, L-1011’s, 727s, DC-9s, MD80s, 757s. Never got on one of their 767s. Even during the worst of TWAs drama over the years I never encountered a bad flight crew. A couple of disinterested ones here and there but never really bad. Mom retired from TW in 1999 and still know quite a few former employees. There used to be a monthly reunion/luncheon here until the pandemic… Read more »
You never made it onto one of the 707s either? Nice that you managed to get on so much of the fleet. Also good to hear service on board always held up. I think a lot of airline people have great stories. Hopefully the monthly reunion thing will come back again, a shame if it’s ended for good.
I managed to get on a Boeing 747SP fight on TWA! The 707 was before my time but I did manage to snag a 707 on another airline in the mid 1980’s.
Very cool! The 747SP and I think the -200 are the two I never managed in that line, oh, and the -8, but they’re still around. Never managed a 707 though, well before my time, though I could have hunted one out, as some aviation fans did on Saha Air of Iran as late as 2013!
707 is dicey in my memory per TWA. AA and PA certainly, TWA maybe on ORD-JFK in the 70s but could have been a 727, just not sure!
“Red” Bob Holman was the crew scheduler at LAX, and I would visit with him while my Dad bid for the following month. He then went to STL and I saw him once. I hear he has passed on, but I think of him often.
Flew TWA frequently from Boston to Europe, Chicago, St Louis (a requirement at one point) and San Francisco. I remember roasts being carved seatside in 1st on the L-1011’s to SFO, always great service and comfortable cabins, even when sitting in int’l coach cabins. They also gave me my only ride on a 747 SP. AA swallowed them up and spat them out unfortunately.
That kind of on board service with the carving of roasts at your seat is long gone. The only equivalent these days are some airlines that roll out the cart in business class and plate your food in front of you based on what you want. Great that you got to fly TWA a fair bit, and snag a 747SP as well. Thanks for the comment!