Who remembers Stapleton International Airport?

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by BarryK123

An era when they treated people respectfully, rather than simply herding them as cattle, thinking of nothing but their profits. To me, the current airline industry is no better than the tobacco or casino industries....

I recall those days (I'm 70) before commercial aviation was "de-regulated" by the government. When the cabin was full on UAL there was a free glass of champagne for everyone of drinking age who wished a glass. The lasagna on UAL was excellent and you could get seconds; with real metal eating utensils. The fare was the same six months in advance or six hours in advance. You could change reservations without a hassle and there was no charge, and no charge for cancellations and a full refund too, at any time, no strings attached. Baggage flew free up to a certain weight limit and bags were interlined to connecting airlines automatically and at no cost. Fares to small cities were reasonable because it was illegal in those days to charge more for a short flight than a longer flight. It's all gone now. Gone with the wind.... On some websites I'm known as IH8Flying and I drive most everywhere if I can.

Deregulation bankrupted much of the industry in ruinous fare wars. Pan American was the de facto national flagship carrier of the United States and was THE airline that taught the world how to fly. Competing with Sir Freddy Laker of Laker Skytrain (cattle cars) drove Pan Am into bankruptcy. AFAIC, de-regulation of the airlines was an economic crime that was foisted on the public who mostly judge things by ticket prices. Most airline pension funds went info Federal receivership (taxpayers got the bill) and salaries in the industry plummeted. We went from 3 makers of jets down to one, and airlines financed them with foreign banks.

Every time they de-regulate something I shudder. Energy de-regulation gave us Enron, et al, with deliberate rolling brownouts in California to extort higher rates; like de-regulation of the S&L industry that gave us the S&L bailout of @$325B; like de-regulation of Wall Street (repeal of Glass-Stegall) that gave us the Great Recession. Currently those in charge are 'de-regulating' the EPA by gutting rules on pollution - oh swell.

Back on topic, I had to change planes once in Stapleton, saw the mountains out in the distance, was like magic for a flat land city boy like me.

[mbalmedpoet]

Originally Posted by reed303

I have the dubious distinction of having flown out of Stapleton on its last day of operation, and back into DIA on its first day in Feb 1995. (Overnite business trip to Seattle).

Upon arrival, we were told to be careful stepping off the plane on to the jetway as there was snow on the jetway. I thought to myself: "$5 Billion dollars and no brooms or shovels ?"

They had shuttle buses for us to get back to our cars parked at Stapleton.

And I still have the 1st day postage stamp bought at the PO at DIA.

Great story! Would you believe that I still haven't flown out of DIA? The last time I had to fly was in 1994. I flew a lot that year, none since.

A little story. My Great-Uncle, who was a WWII fighter pilot (his plane is actually on display at the Smithsonian) was also a United pilot. When I was younger, he took me into the training facility at Stapleton and let me play in the simulator cockpits. For a kid, it was the next best thing to actually flying a plane!

[N610DL]

Also as another tidbit the inaugural 777 flight on United in 1995 was from Denver to Chicago/O'Hare.

[SkyDog77]

Originally Posted by mbalmedpoet

Great story! Would you believe that I still haven't flown out of DIA? The last time I had to fly was in 1994. I flew a lot that year, none since.

A little story. My Great-Uncle, who was a WWII fighter pilot (his plane is actually on display at the Smithsonian) was also a United pilot. When I was younger, he took me into the training facility at Stapleton and let me play in the simulator cockpits. For a kid, it was the next best thing to actually flying a plane!

The United flight training center is still located in Stapleton. I toured it a couple times as a kid and got to fly the simulators twice. Once they were in demo mode so you couldn’t really crash them, but once I was there with a pilot and he made it very clear that he was handling take off and landing because they were realistic enough that a guy broke his collar bone when he crashed one.

Can’t imagine not flying since ‘94. Here’s my Southwest total so far this year and i have a few flights on other airlines as well.