The same time that I took the picture of the Air West F-27A (just to the right and out of the picture above), I took this picture of a new Air California 737-200. The airline replaced the Lockheed Electras with these. They also expanded their routes to now include Oakland, SFO, and San Jose in Northern California, as well as Burbank, Orange County, and Ontario in Southern California.
It might have been in 1969, but it surely would have been in 1970 otherwise, Air California offered a weekend bonanza promotional airfare. For $25, you could fly throughout their entire route system for the whole weekend. Of course, Mike and I took full advantage. We were joined by our friend at the time, Richard Wright. We drove to OC in my Mustang, I believe, and boarded the first flight out on Saturday morning, determined to get in as many flights that day as we could.
The first flight took us to San Francisco. We got off the plane and promptly got back aboard for the return flight to OC. (The stewardesses did not notice that we were repeat customers.) We flew back to OC and then boarded a short flight to Ontario that continued on to San Jose. From San Jose, we flew to Burbank and next boarded the same aircraft out to Oakland and then finally back to OC. On the Ontario to San Jose flight, we were finally recognized by one of the stewardesses who engaged us in conversation, briefly.
She was unaware of the weekend promo. Unfortunately, Richard made a remark, intended as a joke but very badly conceived, that thoroughly embarrassed both Mike and me and caused the stewardess to give us a highly wary look and then left us alone--we were lucky she didn't report us to the pilot. When she asked what we were doing on so many flights that day, Richard boldly explained, "We're in a plot to destroy this airline." In later years, such a thoughtless comment might have gotten at least Richard tossed off the plane at the next stop. Mike and I definitely let him know that he should never have said anything like that.
The following morning, we again took the first flight out of OC for San Francisco. However, instead of spending the entire day in the air and at airports, we took the bus into San Francisco to the downtown airline terminal and then caught a tour bus that took us again to Muir Woods. At the end of the day, we flew back to OC, having felt that we'd gotten our money's worth that weekend.
I learned at some point in the 1960's, that the original Frontier Airlines offered a similar promotional fare, though I no longer recall for how long it lasted or how much it cost. However, I couldn't take advantage because Frontier did not fly to California in those days, and I would have had to pay for a ticket on a different airline just to reach one of the cities Frontier served. But it was mighty tempting nonetheless.
1 comment:
Gregory, I absolutely loved this story. I grew up in O.C. from 1960 until 1972. I graduated in 71 from El Modena H.S.and I've been a lifelong aviation enthusiast. My best friend and I hung out around the airport a lot. I can picture exactly where you were standing on the second floor viewing area by the coffee shop. But we never had an adventure there as good as yours. The best we did was ride our 10-speed bikes down and hang out in the control tower with the a.t. controllers or occasionally go over the the Cessna flight school and take the Introductory flight for $15. If only Steve and I had known about that deal, we would've been in the seats behind you! Chris
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