Eastern Airlines was a US domestic carrier and once one of the largest airlines in the world. The forerunners of the airline started service in 1926, and the airline ran until they went bankrupt on 17 January 1991.
Along the way, the airline was the launch customer for some very famous aircraft, such as the Boeing 727, Boeing 757 and Lockheed L-1011 TriStar. The 1980s were the beginning of the end for the airline, with some quite notorious mismanagement from Frank Lorenzo and Texas Air International.
Eastern Airlines Video
Following on from the last video about Ansett Airlines of Australia, this time we head to the United States for a look at Eastern Airlines. This video runs for eight minutes and gives a very brief overview of the airline’s history.
One interesting thing not mentioned in the video were the so called Moonlight Specials. The airline decided to sell seats on the overnight cargo services to raise revenue. You could purchase food and drinks and since the cargo holds were full, passengers were permitted to bring two cabin bags each. Sounds like fun to me!
Overall Thoughts
My first knowledge of Eastern Airlines came about due to knowing about the Everglades accident in 1972. I believe I probably saw the TV movie about it when I was a kid, which pretty much explains that.
From reading around on aviation forums, there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of love for the airline, especially when compared to airlines like TWA, who seemed to have a really cohesive bunch of employees, or Pan Am, who again seems to have people who have a lot of pride in their old carrier.
Did you ever fly with Eastern Airlines? 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 Torsten Maiwald on Airliners.net via Wikimedia Commons.
Indeed I remember Eastern. I started flying them in the mid ’50s and flew them for years, almost until they went belly up in 1991, though by that time I was mostly flying another airline that no longer exists, TWA which flew for a decade after Eastern was gone. My first flight on Eastern was a DC-6B from Philly to San Juan. It was also my first flight anywhere. The two flights on that round trip I was on had a lounge in the back with tables to play cards, etc. On each flight I got a cockpit tour. Yes… Read more »
Sounds like you would have flown them during their heyday and right on through. I heard the Douglas DC-6Bs had lounges at the rear section, very different from today. We all miss visiting the cockpit, that’s for sure. Thanks for sharing that!
I used to work for Eastern in LGA airport, NYC. I loved it in all types of weather. We had a great ramp crew. We were like family. I walked in for my shift the night we shut down. We moved furniture out of our offices. Then we all went to a nearby bar to reflect. Back then employees flew standby for $7 anywhere we flew. It was one of the best times in my aviation career.
Glad to hear you have such fond memories of working for Eastern. Those employee standby tickets are crazy cheap! Thanks for sharing that, I love hearing people’s memories.
I grew up in Miami and flew Eastern a number of times. They had a very strong following in both Miami and Atlanta. Their route network to the Caribbean and South America was frankly unparalleled, between a major hub in SJU and a huge hub in MIA. They were also about the biggest airline on the East Coast. The staff were quite a bit more hit-or miss as the years went on but as a whole I have good memories of Eastern. The story of their demise is similar to that of many legacy carriers: comparatively sudden deregulation, massive competition… Read more »
Thanks for all of that. It’s a real shame it all ended like it did. It seems to have been going downhill since the 1970s with lots of debt and despite ordering new, fuel efficient aircraft, they never seemed to get away with that. Of course, then the 1980s happened and we all know that story. I do believe they were once one of the largest airlines in the world.
Remember it well. Even flew a Moonlight Special, tho my faulty memory thought it was called Moonlight Madness – which is actually more apt. General boarding and $69 RT between BWI & FLL on an impromptu spring break trip. We had a blast, but our flight home was so turbulent my buddy became permanently afraid to fly. FA spilled a freshly brewed pot of coffee on one passenger, causing a trio of blood-curdling screams…quite a memorable overnight flight!
From what I’ve heard, Moonlight Madness is far more apt indeed. Sounds like some experience all round. Sorry to hear about your buddy though! Definitely an experience all round, it seems. Thanks for that!
Eastern planes frequently looked like they were in bad shape but that was mostly because the exterior looked dirty. Most were unpainted but not polished.
I thought that particular look was hideous, always have. The white looked much, much smarter imho!
Ah, good old Eastern. Only flew them once, STL-DCA on a DC-9-30 because we were bumped off a TWA flight as we were non-revving. Perfectly normal flight for the 70’s, including a full dinner…in COACH! Standard for the times of course. Back in the 60’s there was an organization called WHEAL (We Hate Eastern Airlines) because the CEO at the time, Eddie Rickenbacker, was an old WW1 pilot and was notoriously cheap when it came to customer service. Butts in seats was all he really cared about in that regard. After he retired, new management made improvements to customer service… Read more »
Nice you got to fly them once! Didn’t know about WHEAL, but that is certainly interesting. While Eddie Rickenbacker is mentioned among those CEOs of the period who basically built US aviation, I’ve not really heard much in favour of him. Thanks for the additional info!
Growing up in Boston meant that you flew with the Yellowbirds of Northeast or the Whisperjets of Eastern, otherwise it was Allegheny or National Airlines if you wanted to fly somewhere on the east coast. Eastern had the hourly air shuttle flights to LGA which guaranteed you a flight if you were at the gate on time, and I frequently didn’t board hoping that a second section to the flight would occur – invariably handled by an Electra instead of a DC9 or 727. I flew them frequently to LGA, FLL and MIA, and rarely did I have issues except… Read more »
I would have loved to have got on board an Electra, that would have been an interesting aircraft to fly on. Great to know you flew them frequently and it’s also nice to hear your impressions of how things were towards the end. I’ve also heard and read that re the bad service and poor maintenance etc, but if that were the case the end would have come a lot sooner. Still one of the best liveries ever put onto an aircraft, in my opinion. Timeless, classy and elegant. Thanks for that!
Eastern flew everywhere it seemed in the 1980s and be it on the Shuttle LGA/BOS or on an A300 JFK/MIA/SJU and back, or on a 757 EWR/MSY., it was always “interesting”. The labor Unions and Frank Lorenzo doomed EA at the end.
Yes, they were huge really! Always found it interesting that they hired Frank Borman, an astronaut, to run the company, I get there are transferable skills, but I always found it weird.