The Rise and Fall of PeoplExpress Airlines (and will SPIRIT be next??)

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flaps 10

Күн бұрын

Пікірлер: 67

@erik_griswold 3 күн бұрын

PeoplExpress did merge into Continental, which later merged with United. And the Newark hub is still in use by United,

@AndyCash-lq2jy 2 күн бұрын

I flew People's Express in the eighties. I flew on a 747 to London. It was only about 25% full. After the flight started we were allowed to move seats so many of us had three suits to ourselves. It was that way to and from. It was a great flight to and promise. If it hadn't been for People's Express and their low rates I would never have been able to have gone to Europe.

@idunnoalaska 2 күн бұрын

He was absolutely right to decouple the add-on prices. If someone still wants to spend a month’s salary to get large seats, meals and “free” checked bags, they can.

@flightforensics4523 Күн бұрын

It ALL began 43 years ago. April 1981 at once Newark International Airport...North Terminal. I worked there! Now, not one single PE aircraft survives and the North Terminal is long gone.

@kcindc5539 2 күн бұрын

It was 40 years ago… I so wanted to work for them after college. By the time I graduated in ‘88 they had been absorbed into Texas Air. But I found a better solution and started my career at America West a year later.

@obamtl 3 күн бұрын

I'd be interested in understanding why low cost carriers in the US always seem to be one 'set of bad conditions' away from trouble, while European low cost carriers like Ryanair and EasyJet are so stable.

@MrBlazemaster525 3 күн бұрын

It's American geography

@visioneerone 2 күн бұрын

Debt. Lots and lots of debt.

@idunnoalaska 2 күн бұрын

Americans are rich Europeans are poor. What’s confusing?

@idunnoalaska 2 күн бұрын

@@MrBlazemaster525also Americans are rich and have cars. Europeans are poor and make car ownership expensive.

@jasperhunter8386 2 күн бұрын

not entirely, we "Europeans", prefer a large quantity of cheap, easy, relatively good priced flights over filing for bankruptcy every time we fly on some overpriced garbage with poor customer service

@iworkout6912 2 күн бұрын

Toward the end of Peoples Express I flew from Newark to Rochester, NY. We were delayed by some sort of argument between the flight crew and the refueling truck driver. I half expected the flight crew to ask for help in paying for the fuel. I was willing to donate 10 dollars just to get back home, but eventually the fuel guy hooked up his hose, after much arm waving.

@georgemichael9106 Күн бұрын

When I worked for SWA at Hobby airport we worked the one People Express flt I think to NY and after some fairly light weight bags on our flts we dreaded when we saw the P.E. 727 taxing in with at least 100 bags weighing double what we loaded on the SWA flights all day long.

@davemillington6975 2 күн бұрын

I flew people’s express in early ‘86, sf to nyc. On my return flight in ny we were just about to push back when a baggage truck backed into the plane. We got off the plane, waited 10 hours while they called in a sheet metal crew to fix it. Put us back on the same plane and flew to sf. -You had a reservation, but they didn’t collect your money until after take off. That way they can reject a flight and they had no obligation to get you where you needed to be. But, sf to nyc, $99.00 in ‘86!

@herzogsbuick 2 күн бұрын

well that was an easy subscribe. you got a knack for this, keep it up! cheers from alaska

@KyrilPG 3 күн бұрын

This video reminded me my late ex. He flew People Express transatlantic from Paris to New York and talked about how surprised he was to pay at the plane's door... The flights were a bit" special", like a lively flying bus ride with sports supporters... :-)

@flaps1019 2 күн бұрын

Sounds like a great memory - do you know how much he paid for that Paris to NYC flight??

@KyrilPG 2 күн бұрын

@@flaps1019 No, but I remember him saying that it was really cheap and quite boheme as, if the plane wasn't full, they'd even let a few people that were a bit short on cash pay whatever they had left, sometimes in various currencies, and take the remaining seats near the aft galley to get back home (like guys doing a penniless backpacking tour of Europe working odd gigs)... Something that wouldn't even be imaginable today and that no one would believe if it was in a movie. They had plenty of backpackers on transatlantic flights, many that really could use a shower. 😂 Though I'm not sure it was from Paris, but it was on a 747 and from Europe to New York. Maybe London, cause he also lived there for some time in the 80's. At the time (early 2000's) I had a small collection of diecast aircraft models, and managed to get a pair of Peoplexpress 747-200 N605PE. He's buried with one of them. So, every time I hear about Peoplexpress, I think of him.

@Ben-xe8ps 2 күн бұрын

@@KyrilPG I think you will find it was London as I don't believe this airline ever operated to Paris. I also don't think that passengers were required to pay at the plane's door. It would be completely impractical. Even if every single passenger completed the transaction in 1 minute, it would have taken several hours for all the passengers to board a full 747! For several reasons I doubt that the pay on board system was ever applied on international routes and as for the idea of letting passengers pay 'whatever they had left', that sounds like a perfect recipe for cabin crew theft.

@ljthirtyfiver Күн бұрын

@@Ben-xe8psyea in a world that didn’t have apple or google pay I don’t believe her……but I want to tho

@KyrilPG 21 сағат бұрын

@@Ben-xe8ps I don't know if it was like that for all international flights, but for the ones my ex flew on it happened like that. That's the only reason why he'd have remembered it enough to tell me about it like 15 years later. He wasn't a plane enthusiast at all, nor a frequent flyer, so if it had been like any other flights, he wouldn't have remembered any of this and certainly not enough to tell me... I had never heard of Peoplexpress' specificity before him telling me, and he only flew them for transatlantic.

@dncnlltt 16 сағат бұрын

I Ihad two very interesting People's Express experiences. 1) I flew from Brussels to New York on a one-way $129 ticket (even cheap for back then). I had a headache and asked the flight attendant for a glass of water to take my aspirin. She just looked at me and said, "if I gave you a glass of water, I would have to give one to everyone on this plane, go to the bathroom to get some water." 2) I was in that terminal in Newark in 1985 for Christmas travel. The only reason I made my flight to Birmingham, Alabama, was by kicking my way through the terminal to get to the gate.

@flaps1019 12 сағат бұрын

@@dncnlltt jeez that’s awful, did you end up either 1) going to the bathroom for water or 2) buying a water or some other drink?

@dncnlltt 9 сағат бұрын

@@flaps1019 I just swallowed it without.

@mvl9591 Күн бұрын

Peoples Express flew out of the North Terminal in Newark. The same terminal that UPS. DHL and FedEx used. It cost $25 from Newark,NJ to Boston, MA. One time I had a 3:30 PM flight but got to the gate an hour early so they put me on the 2:30 PM flight. Cheaper than driving.

@flaps1019 12 сағат бұрын

@@mvl9591 that’s incredible. Almost sounds too good to be true 😂

@mvl9591 12 сағат бұрын

@ that was 1985 or 86. Different times.

@gman83090 2 күн бұрын

In Australia we had compass Airlines as our first low cost airline and if it wasn't for low cost airline's we wouldn't be able to afford to fly

@daveporter0217 3 күн бұрын

People Express had a disastrous revival attempt in the mid 2010s, based out of the redundant Newport News airport in Virginia (which lost out on routes and travelers to Norfolk and Richmond).

@flaps1019 2 күн бұрын

Yes, glad you mentioned that - the new PX sounded like a failure from the start... but also very sad for Newport News & the surrounding region - they lost PeoplExpress, Allegiant, Frontier AND AirTran between 2011 and 2014.... passenger numbers declined 50% :(

@capitalaviation 2 күн бұрын

great story

@zabadazidit 11 сағат бұрын

This is why I (a) use branded credit cards for my favorite airlines and (b) refuse to fly carriers such as Spirit and Frontier. SMH...

@mikestone9129 2 күн бұрын

Why is no one talking about Laker Airways? Sir Freddie Laker was a genius in the low cost airlines. I used to fly Laker all the time in the late 70's from Miami to London and loved them.

@flaps1019 12 сағат бұрын

@@mikestone9129 Sir Freddie does probably deserve a video… £32.50 fares between London and New York?? That’s nuts

@Ben-xe8ps 3 сағат бұрын

@@flaps1019 Laker never offered such fares. That was what said he wanted to charge in 1971 but he never got a licence then. The 1970's was an era of high inflation and increasing fuel prices. The Skytrain launch fare in 1977 was not that low. Laker said a lot of things. He said he wanted to take over the Concorde operation, take out the ovens and serve passengers the 'very best cold meals'. Never happened either. Laker is overrated. The original comment regarding flying Laker to Miami in the 70's would be a reference to a charter operation, not the scheduled low cost Skytrain service. Many airlines, not only Laker, operated the ABC advance booking charter flights across the Atlantic in the 1970's whereby the aircraft was chartered to a tour operator who would sell the seats to the public subject to certain conditions, usually round trip only, 21 days advance purchase and minimum/maximum stay requirements. Such flights were nothing to do with the low cost Skytrain scheduled service. There could be some confusion as all of Laker's DC10 aircraft had the Skytrain branding painted on them irrespective of if they were operating the scheduled Skytrain flights to New York or charter flights to Spain, even before the Skytrain operation actually commenced. Laker Airways was one of many UK package holiday charter airlines which specialised in operating low cost inclusive tour charter flights to various holiday destinations on behalf of various tour operators. It is to some extent a myth that the Skytrain scheduled service was particularly cheap. It removed the advance purchase, minimum/maximum stay and fixed trip duration requirements of the charter flights but was not particularly convenient. It was not pay on board. Tickets had to be purchased in person from a single sales point. In the UK this was the Laker Skytrain ticket office at London Victoria railway station. Tickets were sold only for the next flight until the flight was full at which point they started selling for the flight after that. Only one-way tickets could be purchased which I suspect must have caused a lot of problems in those days when most people didn't have credit cards, not to mention potential problems with immigration. Meals were not included but had to be purchased if required with the ticket. Westbound Lunch and Afternoon Tea were offered. These arrangements didn't last very long. By the early 80's Laker had adopted a more normal fares structure for the Skytrain with reservations, round-trip tickets, travel agents could sell their tickets and a Business Class was introduced. The normal scheduled airlines also had low transatlantic fares at this time. The 1978 British Airways timetable shows one-way standby fares of £64 or £68 (depending on season) London - New York and round trip Advance Purchase fixed-date round-trip fares of £149 or £156 (again depending on season) for the same route. The other airlines such as Pan Am, TWA, Air India etc also offered similar low fares. When comparing fares of the past to fares of today it is important to compare like for like. The high cost (so-called full fares) so often referred to were usually paid only by business travellers who could not accept the advance purchase, fixed date, restricted refund and/or minimum/maximum stay requirements associated with the lower fare types. An internet search produced the following result 'When Laker's Skytrain service went into operation in September 1977, tickets cost $138 one way, compared with $385 for the cheapest ticket on one of the scheduled airlines.' This may well be true but compares the Skytrain one -way fare with the full one-way fare of other airlines without taking into account the existence of lower discounted round-trip fares, which could be lower than the unrestricted fully-refundable fully-changeable one-way 'full' fare and is therefore grossly misleading. To illustrate the point, the British Airways 1978 timetable shows the full one-way economy class fare London - New York as £170 (£340 round-trip) or £208 (£416 round trip) depending on season. As the exchange rate between the £ and the US$ in 1978 was in the region of £1 = $2, that would appear to match the information given. But various discounted round-trip fare types with differing conditions (the higher the fare, the less restrictive the conditions in terms of advance purchase requirements, ability to change date, obtain refunds, minimum/maximum stay) existed priced between £149 and £342.50, the very highest of such round-trip fares being only £2.50 more than the lower of the two economy class one-way fares. The ABC charter flights would have been a bit cheaper. The only new fare type introduced to compete directly with Skytrain were the standby fares. I actually few London - New York on the Skytrain in 1979. I have no averse recollection so I assume it was OK. The only thing that stuck in my mind is that the young lady seated next to us hadn't paid for any food and my mother feeling so sorry for her that she gave her some of her's!

@Tofu69 2 күн бұрын

I don't if he said "new york" or "Newark" when talking about the EWR-BUF route, but I really hope it was "Newark" Because that's where they were flying from

@rjv1415 2 күн бұрын

People express claimed to have the best cup of coffee ,and it was.

@skinnerhound2660 2 күн бұрын

Wonder how many People pilots were absorbed by Continental

@herzogsbuick 2 күн бұрын

HOLY CRAP is that doug ford crack ad from spirit real??? looooooooooool

@kcindc5539 2 күн бұрын

Yep! And remember the JetBlue flight attendant who quit by grabbing two beers and deploying an emergency slide? Spirit did an ad based on that stunt about a week later.

@celebrityrog 2 күн бұрын

Airlines need severe regulation again.

@johnp139 2 күн бұрын

Such as?

@ljthirtyfiver Күн бұрын

I fricking hate frank lorenzo

@dalecooper9942 2 күн бұрын

I flew People Express in February 1985, DTW-EWR which was cancelled due to poor weather, and EWR-MIA which incredibly late also due to poor weather in Buffalo, where the plane was coming from. I almost lost my international connection in Miami because of that. Hopefully I made it. The ticket was inexpensive, and it was funny to see a flight attendant coming on the aisle collecting the fare while we were flying. I thought to myself, "what if you don't have money? Of course! They make you jump!"