How Braniff Went Bust: The Collapse Of The Fastest-Growing Airline In America

[@andrewsaviation7792]

Comment your Braniff experiences and which airlines you'd like to see next down below! *CORRECTIONS BROUGHT TO MY ATTENTION* - My wording made it sound like Delta Airlines was based in Dallas, instead of had a base/hub in "Dallas" at the time Also, see the description for some more information about the airline/citations.

[@jimxavcal]

Can you do a mini documentary on Private Jet Expeditions/ National Airlines? .

[@LotusFlyer]

how about we go international? the fall of once biggest airline in africa; Sudan Airways

[@omermakki4320]

@@LotusFlyer yesssssss

[@ombmm9408]

@@LotusFlyer i remember that airline, had pretty good services too ill miss their large fleet

[@DatamasterCorporation]

I would like to see one on Valujet, from start to end, because their history as Airtran seems to be never mentioned.

[@jimharris6213]

Braniff had one of the best liveries with the pin-striped design. I flew them once between Omaha and Tulsa through Kansas City.

[@KCFlyer2]

"Splash of Colors" is an excellent book about Braniff's downfall. It was written by John Nance, who was a former pilot. From the book - Harding Lawrence felt that deregulation would fail and there would be a small window of opportunity before they were reregulated. That's why they expanded so quickly - if they already had the routes, they could be "grandfathered" for future growth. It didn't work out that way. AA played a huge role in their demise....several examples are outlined in the book. But Andrew, you did a pretty good job of covering basically what happened to them.

[@andrewsaviation7792]

Thank you! I tried to keep this video very simple, to get the basic general idea, especially since many like yourself are familiar with "Splash of Colors"

[@donnafromnyc]

'Splash of Colors' was a helluva book. I was working for New York Air when it came out and I was in tears by the end. It didn't help that their CFO, Ted Beckwith, who knew all the byzantine financing of BI was fired by Casey in 1981 then wound up murdered in an East Texas cornfield 18 months later--a crime which remains unsolved. Nance went on to a substantial post-aviation career as a writer and opiner on airline safety (Air Disasters).

[@wayback75]

​@@donnafromnyc I used to work for Braniff back then, to bad about Ted , I was told it was a hit job as he knew many people with skeletons in the closet.

[@wayback75]

I still have my copy of "Splash of Colors " , the first print and your right about American Airlines role. Since Braniff and American reservations were using the same system, Sabre, American went and loaded or booked Braniff flights with fictitious names of passengers. At that time, I was told that American was also in financial trouble and banks only had enough money to bail out one of them and American got the loan. I feel there was some politics involved here.

[@donnafromnyc]

@@wayback75 Bob Crandall was crafty that way, would you agree?

[@davidhood2200]

Grandfather was a 727 Flight Engineer and First Officer for Braniff until he was furloughed in 1981. I even have a couple of his old 727 operating handbooks and his flight engineers diagram for the 727

[@tommcglone2867]

3:22 That is Clipper Maid of the Seas. Which was the 747 that was brought down over Lockerbie.

[@wendysloan7470]

That crash was always creepy to me because if that plane was delayed by 5-10 minutes it would of been brought down over my house

[@nighthawk7863]

@@wendysloan7470 wow

[@williamhaynes7089]

End of the south park episodes... that is all most people ever see of the logo anymore

[@jimreuss]

Believe it!

[@aston-martin-internationalist]

Not too many have heard of Braniff in the UK, although I definitely have, I visited the little aviation museum at Love Field a few years ago and saw a few Braniff things there and was reminded that there was interest in Braniff to purchase Concorde. I live 30 miles from where Concorde did many of its test flights (Filton near Bristol) - they now have a de-commissioned Concorde in a new museum there, I've also been on the original Concorde test mule 002 which resides 15 minutes from my house at the Yeovilton airbase. Great video - now subscribed.

[@RedStallion2000]

Hi Andrew! In the video's description, you make mention of "American Airline's sabotage." However, I didn't hear anything about it in the video or find it in the transcript. Can you expound on this?

[@robm3074]

Andrew....spot on. BN is close to my heart. Check Splash of Colors. Great reading.

[@donnafromnyc]

A great book, written by tbe multitalented John Nance who flew for them (I believe as F/O).

[@Dana_Danarosana]

I never flew on them but they sure did expand fast. I remember as a kid in the late 70s/early 80s seeing more and more of that cool randomly colored fleet everytime I got to fly.

[@UncleBooBoo]

I wonder if there’s a video to be made about the parallel journeys and demises of TWA and Pan-Am. Both owned by mavericks, both owned the skies in the glamorous 70s age of the 747 and the Jet Set, both barely survived deregulation in the 80s, both operated very elderly aircraft by the 90s (presumably could not fund adequate fleet renewal) and both finally brought down (literally) by 2 tragedies.

[@RTS222]

For those who quote "Splash of Colors" by John Nance, remember the full title of his book includes "the self destruction of Braniff International". Can't blame American for all of the bad decisions made by Harding Lawerence that led to the downfall of Flying Colors. There was no "crowd funding" per se towards the end, but a concentrated effort by civic and business leaders to encourage Texans to fly Texas Class on Braniff. When Howard Putnam arrived in 1981, the company had just about run out of working capital and lenders wouldn't advance a single dime. The Latin American Division was not sold, but leased to Eastern for a five year period and then would revert to Braniff. While Putnam and thousands of BN employees gave it their best shot, it just wasn't meant to be.

[@jamiecloud1897]

I used to fly Braniff back-and-forth between DC and Dallas, as I went to school at SMU. It was an absolutely dreamy air carrier. The leather seats were the bomb. Was so sad to see it go. Keep up great work, Andrew! It's neat to see you getting more and more subscribers as time goes on - from one of your earliest fans......

[@devonnewest7990]

idk know if this channel is new but I'm so glad I found it, excellent aviation enthusiast channel & love that you explore subjects like where iconic airlines disappeared to. Not your typical subject lines of other channels. Love your voice to, I could listen to you all day! Wishing great success with this channel, you deserve many subs and likes!

[@andrewsaviation7792]

Thank you very much for your wonderful support! I'm so glad to hear that you enjoy my little corner of YT. Cheers!

[@boatlover1875]

Sadly, my cousin, who was trying to get in to the pilot business during that time had just finished his trining with them about a week before they went under.

[@ericjones7769]

I was also told on several different occasions that AA sabotaged Braniff as well

[@Airplane_4000]

They did. At least a big part of AAs sabotage was mentioned when they matched Braniff’s sales when they were desperate for cash.

[@flybarbflybarb8227]

@Whirlmode Flutter lot of people work there! And the creeps took the money and ran!

[@charlesjwin]

@@Airplane_4000 Price-matching is not "sabotage"... AA® wasn't even part of Braniff®. It IS, however, some serious, maybe even "cutthroat", competition.

[@miniena7774]

@@charlesjwin Incorrect. "sabotage (n): a: an act or process tending to hamper or hurt b: deliberate subversion " www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sabotage Ergo, AA's price-matching was sabotage in that it undercut Braniff in its markets when the airline was at its weakest. AA not being part of Braniff is impertinent.

[@miniena7774]

@@charlesjwin If that still doesn't constitute as sabotage for you, another user posted this: " *weprusso* 1 week ago Just prior to Braniff's demise, American when around to travel agents and told them to "plate" Braniff tickets on American ticket stock.. This means that all cash from these types of tickets went to American, not Braniff. (Had Braniff survived, American would have had to fork over the cash eventually) This action severely cut Braniff's cash flow during their final few months of operation and American sat on millions of dollars that was owed to Braniff... Dirty play, Bob Crandall (Amerian's CEO)"

[@CinderFox98]

I work for Airport Terminal Services (ATS) at Sky Harbor International Airport and we service Westjet and Sun Country here. That was truly interesting to learn SY is the legacy of Braniff

[@ASAviation]

Amazing video man, I love watching these videos of yours! So well put together. If you don't mind me asking, where do you get those archive b-roll video clips from?

[@andrewsaviation7792]

I got them from MANY different sources all around youtube and stock footage websites. I searched what was licensed "creative commons" and used those.

[@MileHighDaredevil]

You should mention that the Braniff employees pension was also ruined. Our good friend, a pilot, committed suicide because of it. My dad flew for Braniff for 35 years but he had the older pension that, although small, was safe.

[@nope5445]

My Dad also worked for Braniff for 35 years as an inspector. He began in the era of prop planes. Yes, he did receive a pension but reduced. Braniff was the coolest airline in the world! I remember when we flew Fat Albert to Honolulu. I was 15 I think. My wife did not believe me until I showed her photos. The 747 had a lounge upstairs with couches, a bar, and bartenders. It was really a club. Passengers walking around with drinks in hand and chatting. The meals then were outstanding and cherries jubilee for dessert. We flew 1st class because as an employee Dad only had to pay the sales tax for the tickets. Those were the days.

[@cris_261]

For some reason, I have this memory of a commercial proclaiming "we're Braniff, and we're super!" that aired sometime in the 70s. Not sure why I remember that, other than the cute flight attendant/stewardess uttering that line.

[@strafrag1]

Great video! I am retired airline and I remember this well. BN had gone route-mad in '78 with the deregulation act and started flying all these new routes and most importantly not within the hub and spoke system at their DFW hub. eg, they flew PIT-BRU with a 747. It was a money loser from day one. It was very sad when closed. I remember BN people in tears.

[@1computernew]

I used to work with several Braniff Airlines employees. They all had nothing but good things to say about the company.

[@bencass9693]

@James Donohue At no time did we fly a Boeing 747 from Pittsburgh to Brussels, Belgium. All of our European service was highly profitable. It was double fuel price increase in two consecutive years that caused us so much trouble.

[@CAboy]

Bob Crandall was the CEO of American Airlines who had to vacated his position at American for his involvement in the hacking of Braniffs’ reservation system to reflect that Braniff was flying at full capacity. American had the Sabre System while Braniff had the Cowboy system. Back then there were no cell phones or the Internet. The only way to book a flight was to contact a travel agent or purchase your ticket at a City Office counter of the airline’s downtown office. When a customer would use the travel agent the hack displayed Braniff with a full load but American was flying to the same destination around the same time as Braniff. As you can imagine Braniff flew empty planes while American cheated and stole passengers from Braniff.

[@marksinthehouse1968]

Shane braniff went bust ,for me as a aviation enthusiast l love the livery with its different colours which made it unique orange 707 next to a blue one a BAC 1/11 in red one of my favourite US airlines even tried Concorde .all the big carriers from when I was was small pan am ,TWA, gone

[@timcarlos]

They also operated the BAC1-11.

[@craigjackson2428]

Great Job!!!!! So remember 1978 airline deregulation and the airlines that came along, regional players that expanded to become major players, and legacies that all eventually fell victim to shutdowns, bankruptcies and rendered to history books of failed business models. Braniff International was the first to exit the market.

[@TheCasualRealtor]

I remember flying Braniff airways as a kid out of Long Island’s MacArthur airport. People would be smoking on those planes like forget about it! LOL It was a cool airline in the 70’s and 80’s.

[@antr7493]

Do more of these short docs. They are great. Maybe Sunjet video

[@resdupbug]

I lived in Quito, Ecuador and the bright colors of Braniff airplanes is a memory I cherish. Traveling to Miami to visit Disney world was almost obligatory. Great content, thank you!!! Subscribed

[@andrewsaviation7792]

Thanks! I'm glad you got a chance to walk down memory lane.

[@resdupbug]

@@andrewsaviation7792 absolutely! Binge watching your content right now, fantastic videos, thank you!

[@vibekestronstad7859]

Can you make one about northwest or braathens safe? Lovey video BTW!!

[@andrewsaviation7792]

Got those on the list! Thanks!

[@donnafromnyc]

Great job on this and loved the footage. It would be great if you could do one on New York Air 1980-1987. Active Facebook group could help. Also I was ad manager 1983 to end of 1986 so I was around for a decent chunk of the history.

[@mr.fullsend5498]

Great job Andrew very informational. Keep doing what your doing!!! Nathan :)

[@andrewsaviation7792]

Thanks for your wonderful compliment, will do :D

[@Springbok295]

Rapid over expansion beginning in 1979 led to a lot of problems. They went on an ordering spree of new 747s. They were flying 747s with only a handful of passengers on routes in the Pacific beyond Hawaii. Increase in domestic routes meant hiring less than desirable ground staff who were poorly trained. American kept pulling the rug out from under BN at DFW. By late 80 into '81 the writing was on the wall.

[@Springbok295]

@James Donohue I think BN had 747s operating on the Bogota route '79-'82

[@97I30T]

Awesome video. You should do a video on Vanguard Airlines. They were a short lived low cost carrier that a lot of people have probably forgotten about or have never even heard of, so it might be an interesting one for you to cover.

[@andrewsaviation7792]

Sounds like a good idea, I'll add it to the list!

[@wayback75]

I used to work for Vanguard in KC, I miss those days,,

[@wayback75]

I worked for Vanguard back in 96 ,, awesome airline, many fond memories.

[@97I30T]

@@wayback75 There was a guy who went to my church in the late 90s who was a captain for Vanguard. He loved flying for them.

[@leemartin1417]

Remember as a young kid flying a few planes. I was in awe of the numerous color schemes. It was enchanting, the interior seemed of bright colors also. Braniff was friendly, stood out, ahead of its time. Sad to hear of their downfall. One day the airline should make a comeback by petition!

[@RNWDawg]

Probably the best flight in my life was 1st class on a Braniff 747 from Honolulu to Dallas in the mid-1970s. That was the time when upstairs on 747s was a lounge, no seats, just couches. After a filet mignon dinner my brother and I went upstairs to the lounge where a full bar was laid out. Had a drink or two and then lay down on the couches and slept until about 1 hour out of Dallas. Was served a cook to order omelette with all the sides and then landed in Dallas. Memorable.

[@RandallCarrierINC]

We flew on Braniff between LAX and SFO. These flights originated in South America.The DC-8s were old and orange. The fare was cheap. Service bad. Great report. Equally great comments.

[@mikemitchell9421]

I loved flying Braniff in the early 1970s

[@MrBullsFan]

Hey! Enjoyed the video mate! I suggest you do Virgin America. Though very recent, it was quite quirky and different from others. (safety video was sick and entertaining) It also was the launch customer of A321NEO. The airline then merged with Alaska Airlines. Again, loved the video!

[@kyotokid4]

...yeah I liked them as well, if you were ticketed through to a Virgin Atlantic fight, you didn't have to pay luggage fees on the domestic leg.

[@daveblevins3322]

I remember that well. One gentleman came to my office one day, and asked if we were hiring pilots. ( I was in a position to help him being a check airman, but I worked in the helicopter 🚁 industry flying offshore in the GOM ). He hadn't flown a helicopter in years, but I kinda felt bad for him a little bit. As we talked about aircraft and knowledge of helos, it was apparent that he would have cost me huge $$ to get him back up to speed. We didn't hire him, and I lost track of him. I hope he was successful in finding a great job.

[@NALTOHQ]

Wish you would upload again.

[@andrewsaviation7792]

Your wish is granted :D

[@lukedavison9430]

Another awesome video!

[@soco13466]

I always thought Braniff was foreign owned, probably because as a kid, I had a travel bag with their logo, with the phrase, "Entrada las Americas" on it. I was about 10 yrs old at the time.

[@markmonse5285]

Lots of reasons, including over-expansion in the post-1978 deregulated environment. In the later months (but before they filed Chapter 11 in May of 1982) the airline I was working for picked up some their brand-new "white-tail" 727s for new service. They were 727-200 ADV with JT8D-17R engines that they'd ordered, and were some of the last 727s off the line. GREAT aircraft and never had any payload problems with them. Air Florida had five of them, and after QH's own bankruptcy, I think a couple went to Cayman Air and one went to Wien in Alaska.

[@aviation7973]

Can you do America West Airlines next? I have really wanted to know why that airline went down

[@andrewsaviation7792]

Got them on my list :D

[@charlesjwin]

They didn't go down: they accepted U.S. Airways in a merger of the two and took the latter's name as the sole-surviving name because it was recognized more by the public masses.

[@ewengb3485]

Can you make a video on the downfall of Swissair and Sabena?

[@andrewsaviation7792]

Good suggestions! I'll write 'em down on my list!

[@Lee247Jamaica]

That is a good guess dude

[@mikestone9129]

Do a video on Piedmont Airlines.

[@douglasdixon524]

I loved seeing the Braniff International planes at the airports in the 1970s and early 1980s. They head the most interesting paint schemes.

[@lil_a_6273]

Can you maybe do a airtran one about the history of it. Thanks. Great video btw

[@andrewsaviation7792]

Got that one listed!

[@johnlopez7529]

Stopped by to see the air strip commercial but stayed to see entire video. Great presentation! Love documentaries of old airlines (Pan Am my favorite). You have my subscription!

[@redeye_]

if you like south park. you might know the company name until it stopped being used on the series

[@trevorgwelch7412]

I have a one of a kind 727 display model Of a Braniff Jetliner . It is blue . Any Offers . ?

[@LMays-cu2hp]

Yes, I do miss that airline.

[@robertleewhitt6241]

I worked with Braniff airline’s Pilots > and these Pilots were some of the most talented & nicest pilots to work with in my 38 year career . I learned so much from their vast Aviation experience as a Young Pilot at Piedmont Airlines . To this day, Braniff airline employees flight attendants,agents , mechanics & pilots will always be in my heart as people that I loved to work with in my Airline career.

[@johnsymonstcu]

Excellent video. My only issue is that Delta Airlines, though having a large presence in Dallas/DFW has never been based in Dallas. They have always been and continue to be based in Atlanta. I am one of the minority who is not a fan of deregulation. Eliminating the CAB and allowing deregulation of fares and routes has been quite detrimental overall to the present state of onboard airline service. I am not a fan of flying "Greyhound in the Sky". 🤣

[@andrewsaviation7792]

You are correct that Delta was never based in Dallas, but they were included because they had a large presence in Dallas at the time.

[@johnsymonstcu]

@@andrewsaviation7792 Yes, they were quite large at DFW in the '70's. I was a student at TCU in Fort Worth at the time and regularly flew DL back home. They had incredible service back then and the flight attendants were so nice and professional. This was at the time DFW had just opened and I remember feeling so optimistic about the future of the airline industry. Those were the "good old days". 🤣

[@KCFlyer2]

Yes....Delta wasn't based in Dallas, but it was one of their hub cities, so there were many nonstop flights to almost every one of Braniff's destinations.

[@milehightv6077]

You should make a video on the all business class airline silver airlines

[@lindayapchai7268]

You amaze me! This one took a lot of research, great job Andrew.

[@jamescarroll6954]

I once read that Allegheny Airline was in negotiations with Braniff, and that the newly formed carrier was to be named “All-Bran.”

[@JC-ft8fx]

Very interesting & a great report.

[@AndrewStinsonAPU]

I was hired as a flight attendant for Southwest Airlines at Love Field on the same day Braniff ceased operations. Love Field was a zoo! It was a Wednesday and I couldn't get back home to S. Texas on a company pass because every flight was packed full. By Friday, I was eventually put on the aft jumpseat with the B flight attendant in order to get back home to the Rio Grande Valley and return to Dallas by Monday to start my flight attendant training. A couple of years on, Southwest leased 6 ex-Braniff Boeing 727's and I found some cool Braniff items still stuffed away in the galley and lavatory compartments. I flew for 16 years and was one of the first male flight attendants hired by Southwest after they were sued for not having any. It was certainly the best of times!

[@txtabby]

May 12th 1982. Got a message from my travel agent while I was in SF. Said Braniff went bankrupt, had to book another airline. I kept that ticket for years, but was lost in a move. It'd be worth a lot of money to collectors now... But I'll never forget that call.. really sad.

[@shoesofemelda]

9 months man why are you not uploading?

[@garymathis1042]

In 1970 I flew Braniff from Colorado Springs to Dallas Tx via Denver. It was a 727 and I was the only passenger on the plane. The pilot came back to the passenger section. looked at me and said, "Looks like you've got the plane all to yourself." I flew standby and was the only passenger in coach. The first-class stewardess came back to the coach and moved me up to first class, I guess because she was lonely. We sat beside each other in first class and just talked for the whole flight. She kept offering to bring me all these beverages, food, and stuff but I kept deferring, so we just talked. She told me all the places she had been, including Vietnam. I'll never forget that flight and I bet no one else has ever flown a flight like that since.

[@OneAmercia]

Mr. John J. Casey became head CEO of Braniff and his brother was CEO of American Airlines together they destroyed Braniff so American Airlines could take over DFW from its move from New York. Then there was a Federal Court inquiry into AA's criminal activity. Ted Beckwith, the CFO of Braniff, was murdered a day before he was to testify on Casey's crime of bankrupting Braniff. Then there was the third Casey. William Joseph Casey (March 13, 1913 - May 6, 1987) was the Director of Central Intelligence from 1981 to 1987. In this capacity, he oversaw the entire United States Intelligence Community. After Ted Beckwith's murder by the Casey family, the former CEO Harding L. Lawrence moved to Europe in order to not be the next target. You see my fellow Braniff employees the airline that you worked so hard for was destroyed by criminals and of course, William Casey head of the CIA made sure that the crimes were never investigated, and still, to this day the murder of Braniff's CFO Ted Beckwith remains unsolved. Braniff did not go Bankrupt it was a corporate murder.

[@davidkellymitchell4747]

Great airline that got ended by poor management and deregulation. The best management was unable to save it. Braniff was the first to have multicolored planes in a world of boring same livery planes.

[@frankwarren8829]

Wasn't a member of the Pritzker family of Chcago (hotels) involved in the ownership/operation of Braniff after the first Chapter 11 filing? I seem to remember that, and also remember a Braniff BAC-111 stuck at a gate at MCI for several weeks after that effort failed.

[@johniii8147]

The same reason they all failed. Bad management that couldn’t survive deregulation

[@phishbill]

It's hard for some to survive degradation. People can be so mean.

[@johniii8147]

@Kittykitty Katt Until recently buffet actually have more than $4 billion invested in airlines. That was Crandall that advised against investing. Buffet’s company Was very active in airline stocks with sizable holdings in all of the big 4. Cashed out when Covid hit but very active investor during the good times

[@johniii8147]

@Kittykitty Katt He’ll be back when the money is there

[@terryw8432]

The first pic of a Pan Am 747 was "Clipper Maid of the Seas" , This was the ill fated Lockerbie Aircraft.

[@thomassharp2719]

Do a video on Air21 Airlines.

[@luisvaldes1568]

At 1:07, I think that's Utah's Capitol building in Salt Lake City. Look at that big power plant in the back ground.

[@luisvaldes1568]

By the way I remember Texas International Airlines.

[@villiamo3861]

I've been going through the comments just to see if somebody else noticed that all that deregulatory legislation was coming out of Utah!

[@CinemaDemocratica]

"Braniff expected their profits to increase, *but* ... the exact opposite happened!"

[@waitwhatdoyoumean]

Can you do the rise and fall of pan am idk if u made it's already I just started to watch your videos

[@andrewsaviation7792]

Got that one on the list :)

[@DaveMiller2]

I had a toy Braniff 747 when I was little back in the 70s. Until I saw this video, I thought all Braniff planes were orange like my toy plane.

[@1867Phoenix]

Delta had a hub in Dallas at the time, but they were based out of Atlanta.

[@jarrellbabb1344]

Braniff in 1971 had daily flight to Dallas from San Antonio with stop in Austin. I took that flight 3 times in a year.

[@Alex-se4tk]

pls make more videos about bankrupt airlines they are really good

[@2000AVIATION]

another great video!

[@andrewsaviation7792]

Thanks! I'm happy you enjoyed! :D

[@peternicolaides6256]

I used to fly some of those SA flights that we purchased from Braniff at Eastern Airlines loved Argentina, Peru , Costa Rica, Bolivia and more.😎

[@andrewsaviation7792]

Sounds wonderful!

[@Springbok314]

The Calder DC-8 and other artful schemes set Braniff apart.

[@andrewsaviation7792]

Absolutely. Some of the most gorgeous planes in the sky!

[@schoolssection]

"Flying Colors" happened to be the airframe I was on in Dec. '76 -- Omaha to DFW. But I swear it was a B-727.

[@juanone66]

@@schoolssection There were 2 Calder aircraft - a DC-8 (Flying Colors of S. America) and a 727-200 (Flying Colors of USA)

[@fao831]

As a kid i remember seeing the Calder DC-8 in Bogota, Colombia. What a beauty! A piece of art.

[@legmyth]

My Dad worked for Braniff up to when they shutdown. We were fortunate to fly on a 747 (Big Orange) out of DFW several times to Hawaii when we were kids. Even as a youngster I could remember that, that giant plane did not have very many passengers. Great memories, it was truly sad to see them go down. My Dad loved working for Braniff.

[@nope5445]

Fat Albert... yes flew on it too. Before they bought it we had to fly on a 727 to Hawaii.

[@PlasmaCoolantLeak]

My first airplane flight was on Braniff out of OAK to LAX on my way to basic training.

[@michaelosgood9876]

Love the Braniff DC8s used on bus stop servjces thru Latin & South America in late 60s into the 70s. Different style of flying back then, but the DC8 62 was the A350ULR of that Era, before the 747SP came online

[@canadianplanespotter]

Very professionally-made! That stock footage must cost a pretty penny :P

[@andrewsaviation7792]

Thanks :D. It was not easy to come by!

[@christao408]

Interesting, I find the stock footage usage pretty distracting and irrelevant (Euros depicted even though the Euro was not in use when Braniff was around). And there are a number of free sites that offer high quality stock footage.

[@philscholze6528]

My only trip on BN was a MAC flight from BienHoa Vietnam to Travis AFB with a refueling stop at Yokota AFB Japan. A beautiful sight for war weary GIs coming home. Attractive, friendly stews, too. A big, green 707! What memories!

[@Rath316]

Can you do one on ProAir airlines and Gulfstream International Airline? Thanks.

[@andrewsaviation7792]

Thanks for the idea :)

[@lauraesser6044]

GREAT JOB !!!! SO PROUD OF YOU!!!

[@andrewsaviation7792]

Thanks :3

[@zacktong8105]

Bob Crandall the tough talking but capable chief of American Airlines once remarked "Fun to work for and lots of other good things, but DON'T EVER INVEST IN AN AIRLINE. Braniff spent lavishly on show and reckless decisions on equipment and routes. The nonsense tag line summed it up : "WE'D BETTER BE BETTER WE'RE BRANIFF!"

[@horacesawyer2487]

I like the video. Good production. A condemning report on high level operations of the airline. Are you sure all this information is completely accurate? I can't imagine all the work that is needed to run such a mega business. Stumbled in here after listening to the CVR of Braniff 352, May3, 1968. Lockheed Electra. Four turboprop whining smokers is cool. Some say it was a bad airplane. Lockheed don't build junk. Would love to delve into that and learn the 'Rest of The Story"

[@2000AVIATION]

Great video I subscribed a long time ago Is this the end of the channel

[@miniena7774]

Can you do Independence Air?

[@jocelynharris-fx8ho]

You forgot to mention that American Airlines' CEO at the time, Robert Crandall, was charged with using anti-comoetitive tactics that helped drive Braniff out of business. He used the company's Sabre computer system to manipulate prices and he was charged in court.. I was 14 at the time, but I loved the airline business and kept abreast of the goings on. In 1976, I had to have major surgery and my mother's aunt, who was a nurse, flew from D.C., to helo me with my recovery. She flew back on Braniff and she told the pilots and flight attendants about me and they signed a get well card, which "aunt Polly" mailed back to me. For some reason, I remember that the Captain of her flight was a man named Don Berhman. I never forgot what these incredible people did and it angers me how Robert Crandall helped to destroy these people's careers. To this day, I refuse to fly American. Braniff was a wonderful company with great, kind hearted people and I mourn it's demise even to this day.😢😢😢

[@onfin3al6]

I worked for Braniff in Orlando . I know why . Was a real shame the employees were happy , the flight were going full and leaving on time . The problem was upper management and what they did to take us down and there is more to that .

[@Mr.DuckieUwU]

Wow😯,the video is good,thanks for sharing this video 😀,hope new video out.

[@scottiew11]

I worked in their Bond Street ticket office and sometimes at Gatwick in the late 70s and I left in 1981, just before the closure. Although our uniforms were designed by Halston I only remember the itchy polyester pants! I still hate American Airlines to this day.

[@dougramey4571]

My first airline and loved every minute as a Flight Engineer. Friendliest co-workers ever. Such a sad ending but US Airways became my future for the next 25 years.

[@andrewsairplaneandtrainspo7947]

Very nice commentary Andrew!

[@ChrisBakerauthor]

I wish you had mentioned the fact that a Braniff clip is used at the end of _South Park_.

[@jonellard6686]

I was just a few days from flying to Hawaii when they ceased operations. Worthless tickets. I don't know how it happened but United honored our tickets. My 8 hr non stop turned into 20+ hrs. Same on the return! At least we got to enjoy Hawaii!

[@andersschoen3613]

I flew on them once as a 12 year old. It was a green colored Braniff B727. Little did I know back then that later in life i was to became a B727 driver myself. Love all those defunct legacy airlines. Sad so many have closed down.

[@robertwest6350]

Can you do a video about Mexicana de Aviación, please.

[@atatexan]

They were going to hire me in 1979. Too desperate at that point. Harding Lawrence rolled the dice after deregulation as you point out. Grow big or die. This error combined with a recession and Iran Revolution caused fuel price spikes caught Braniff with no forward fuel contracts. Kaboom.