I think a big part of sim-flying for me has been fantasizing about being able to be a pilot for some of my favorite passenger airline companies.  Unfortunately, it seems I have coincidentally rotten luck in picking which airline companies will be my favorites.

Because it was the airline company that took me to Japan and also the airline company that serviced the small city where I know live, my first favorite airline company was Northwest Airlines.  I loved the livery, I loved the routes, I loved the hubs (MSP and DTW are actually fairly interesting airports to have long layovers at), and I loved the fact that they used 787-400's and once let me sit in the cockpit of said glorious Boeing jumbo jet.

We all know what happened to NWA. <insert sigh> Delta, I am sorry, but you just cannot have my heart the way NWA did.  Especially since you unnecessarily re-branded an airline that did not need it at a cost that was ridiculous.  Grr.

Anyway, my other "favorite" airline was Japan Airlines (JAL, or also, 株式会社日本航空インターナショナル, Kabushiki-gaisha Nihon Kōkū Intānashonaru, for those with a love of 日本語).  Superficially, I also love the JAL livery.  Beyond that, I am not sure how JAL first capture my eye, but as goes with favorites, sometimes our inclinations are nearly subconscious.  Certainly my love of Japan plays a part in the matter, but then there is also ANA, and I have never felt the same passion about ANA as I do about JAL (though I could come to love ANA, but I really do feel a great deal of antipathy towards Delta).

And now I read in the news about how much financial trouble JAL is in and that they are requiring government bailouts to avoid bankruptcy.

Noooo!  BOTH my favorite airline companies CANNOT disappear! It just wouldn't be fair.

<insert another sigh>

So, anyone else out there had their heart broken by an airline failure, sale, or re-branding?

I miss TWA. Carl Ichon ran that airline right into the ground. Then American airlines being as kind hearted as they are, said they'd save everyones job buy buying out TWA then proceeded to screw every employee that came aboard.

That included my former flight instructor who was right seating 727's, and several other pilots of 757's and 727's who were customers of mine at the time.

In 2000-2001 Canadian Airlines was absorbed by Air Canada. Canadian had a reputation for better service and their staff showed it as well (a bud of mine was transferred from Canadian to AC when this all went down, took a deep pay cut and started dreading to go in to work each day, due to morale issues). One can explain why this merger had to happen with as much info to back it up as they want, but a general perception was that the competition had to be eliminated (Canadian) by the big govt-subsidized company (AC), with the latter's service reputation taking an even further dive in the years that followed. While not having anything personal against Air Canada (I love all airlines ), the manner in which it all happened and the demise of the Proud Wings goose tail wasn't a welcome sight. In fact, the Proud Wings livery appeared only a year or two before Canadian disappeared, and which was a really nice scheme at the time - sad that it didn't see service for very long. R.I.P. Canadi>n

I miss a few big ones..  TWA..  PanAm..  Eastern


But I  REALLY miss the old, Blue Goose..  NorthCentral