Braniff Airways "End of The Plain Plane"

[yuripapov]

Stupid. This man don´t know brazilian or argentine culture! Cha-cha-cha? What is this? Go back to the school.

[BraniffPages]

We plan on another Christmas Sale for the whole DVD (with all the ads) in the next week. Look for it on our website braniffpages

[BrownBrother27]

Who is the guy speaking in the commercial?

[Mickagume]

As a native Texan, I grew up with Braniff. It was the first airline I ever flew (round trip from San Antonio to Dallas Love Field). I've flown a lot of different carriers over the years, but there was never one with the color and style of Braniff. Here's an interesting bit of trivia: The president of Braniff , who was a University of Texas grad, provided an Orange plane with White tail to fly Darrell Royal and the Longhorn football team to all out-of-town games! (Hook 'Em!)

[graycloud057]

You could get a cocktail and some stewardess tail on the same flight, and they were classy, I mean classy! Miss you Braniff.

[irishmom58]

I was a 'Braniff Brat' dad was a MSP based mechanic. I loved flying on Braniff, it was family. I went to school in DFW - Braniff's hub, so easy to come and go non-rev from school. Lived in HNL as well, and flew the big orange 747 17 times.

We always dressed up to fly, it was an event. First flight was when I was 2 yrs old on a propeller plane to DFW via Wichita and Omaha!

We had a set of Hostess outfits for Barbie that dad bought at the company store, shoes, gloves, even bubble helmets,thanks

[cjskamen]

@irishmom58 : I was a Braniff kid, too. My dad worked for them starting out in Wichita when they had only two pieces of equipment (planes) and flew the mail routes. He ended up at Dallas Ops & Maint. Base on Lemmon. Remember that? He retired after 45 years. I was a Braniff hostess in 1967-68. I think my first flight was probably a DC-3 or a Convair. Then they got the prop jets.

[tnerual888]

why doesn't it exist now anymore?

[dougfw1]

This was the beginning of the end for Braniff. Their management was a joke and drove them straight into the ground by spending money on gimmick BS like this and leveraging routes with half-filled planes. Too bad. It was a great airline for a long time.

[TomsFriendKake]

@dougfw1 It really wasn't. End of the plain plane launched them from a large regional airline into a major airline. CEO Harding Lawrence was known for his temper leading to bad communication within management and because of this Laurence drastically misjudged the health of Braniff and made major stratic mistakes after deregulation. They lacked a powerful computer to manage yeld, chose Boston as a Europe hub using 747s which were too big and tried to compete with entrenched NWA and PA in Asia.

[slh950]

model plane at 0:22 looks like an Ilyushin 86 (wtf)

guy holding models (wtf)

[CanadianMapleLeaf01]

I've heard that Braniff installed atari playing consoles aboard it's planes. Was that true?

[TomsFriendKake]

@CanadianMapleLeaf01 On the 747's.

[FlaneurHawaii]

I remember when I was a kid in the late 70s, we used to dress up to fly. Now, almost everyone looks like pigs. Deregulation made airline travel more affordable, and so more people started flying. But sometimes, when you make something more affordable, that something gets ruined.

[greenmint401]

@FlaneurHawaii Too bad people use flying just to get to places nowadays.

[calmcoolandcollected]

How cool is this? We live in such uninspired times..sigh..

[Dizalica86]

Very true

[AuContraire]

I remember flying over Dallas just after braniff parked for good. The planes looked like Easter Eggs.

johnlouisville, you are right! The flying public has been slowly duped into accepting ERJs and I can't figure out why.

I wsa Allegheny when even that was a real airline.

[robertsez]

Hi, Parker. Much of what you saw in that commercial was from another era, when travel by jet was something you actually looked forward to. Braniff was one of the premier, trend-setting airlines. The hostesses (flight attendants) dressed in fun outfits, but never compromised safety. Real meals were served, not a tiny package of peanuts. Braniff set the standard for other airlines (like Southwest) to follow.

[holbrooke7]

You are free to move about the cabin and party on the wing of the plane! Woo-hoo!

[ParkerLiberty]

Braniff seems to me like it was a joke. I dont know that much about it, i am waaay to young. Could somebody fill me in please?

[varigdc10]

It was not a joke, this is when flying was flying. Nowadays its not the same. stewardesses had class, passengers had class, it was CLASS all around. Now its a zoo !!!

[TomsFriendKake]

@ParkerLiberty Braniff was THE trend-setter in style from the mid-60's until their demise in 1982. TWA, Pan Am & National were close seconds & everyone else followed far behind. Braniff was the first major airline to hire celebrity chefs to create their menu's, artists to design their cabins and their service items, a high end fashion designer to do their uniforms and a trendy ad agency to pull the whole thing together. This was a time when airlines competed with their service, not ticket price.

[InNebraska]

Awesome.... Came accross this by accident  while reflecting on Michael Jsckson's impact/influence on my life... This sounds Zennish, but it made me realize that Braniff was to aviation/transportation, what Michael Jackson was to entertainment... They redefined the parameters by which we assess and compare components of each!

jeffrey (BI DALRR MKCRR)

[DEP717]

That's not a plane, it's a pimpmobile with wings! I wish flying was like that now!

[johnlouisville]

In the end it wasn't the unions nor the recession that did Braniff in....it was the huge over-expansion just after deregulation that made Braniff vulnerable...All the other airlines gradually increased their routes and capacity....Braniff vastly increase their routes...especially international routes after the deregulation of 1978 . It's the top execs who brought it down.

[TomsFriendKake]

@johnlouisville And they flew 747s on their international routes which were far too big, especially for a Boston gateway, a gateway city that Pan Am and TWA began cutting back on after deregulation because the yelds were lower than New York and DC. Also, Pan Am and TWA began installing deeply reclining sleeper seats on their international planes, and Braniff didn't. Finally, all the major airlines quicly realized the importance of the super computer to manage yields, and braniff didn't.

[mrsgarrettrocks]

Deregulation SUCKS!

[Avantime]

Haute couture isn't for everyone.

[nulifeagain]

they actually WORE those helmets?????? that's a joke isn't it??

[Manongjojo]

No they didnt. But I do remember the mini skirts.

[thibaulthalpern]

Ugly.

[Paulosoy]

I remember Braniff stewardess posed once for Playboy. (I am not joking)

[usadan]

I flew Braniff in 1987 for $92 RT between Boston and San Francisco. Seems all the planes were brown by then. Don't think they were around much longer than that.

[monte6714]

There is deregulation at it's worst!

Anybody that thinks deregulation is the best for all business is full of shit!

Look at the trucking industry..in the toilet.

Unless you are regulated and union ran..you will work for peanuts!

AND THERE IS NO ARGUMENT THAT IS WORTH LISTENING TO!

[buster757]

That is what happens when you have an industry that should never have been price regulated in the first place. Then competition would have weeded out the non competitive airlines early on.

[johnlouisville]

Designer clothes and planes didn't do Braniff in....It was brought down by massive over expansion that coincided with the 1980-82 economic crisis.

Braniff was an innovative airline in that it was the first to use a common aircraft type (727) on all its routes to save money in parts and pilot training.

[buster757]

Yes but they ran a lower seating density than American or Delta and therefore made less money on a given flight because ticket prices were regulated and there was no competition.

[johnlouisville]

If maximizing profit is the ultimate criteria, then just have all flights with ERJ's flown by 23 year old pilots making $19,000 a year.

[buster757]

That is not the point. The point is that a lower profit margin along with some generally poor business decisions and bad timing (i.e. the over expansion) all contributed to Braniff's demise, not to mention a very expensive new contract with the IAM for maintenance personnel, which I voted against because I thought it would eventually cost jobs.

[Yakantheterek]

I worked in the industry for 8 years in the '90's and I remember many empty planes then. Yes, deregulation destroyed the industry and turned a business that once paid well into another minimum wage industry. And when one considers all the bankruptcies, mergers and acquisitions, there is less competition now than there was during regulation. Fares might cheaper on average, but very restrictive. And many small towns no longer have air service. I fail to see any benefits brought on my deregulation

[fulcrumSMT29]

I think the end of the commercial would've been better without the sound of the helicopter towards the end. They seemed ahead of their time.

[wien19]

I remember near empty planes a lot in the 70's regulation.

[Jtaylor1]

The creators of South Park borrowed it.

[ebf1957]

They were colorful. Deregulation killed the airline industry.

[electrogeek77]

I used to be fine with deregulation, but now I'm starting to think twice about it...

[phillyslasher]

Ahh the helmets, I remember those.

[iLiketoWatch2006]

so cool. thanks for posting.

[AeroJunkie20]

chachacha lol

[vargas37]

Space helmets to keep out the rain!

[thomasTFE]

CHA CHA CHA!! got any pucci?

[FlyBoy7X7]

...those were the days...I was with Six's CO many years ago

[theproperty]

IF YOU LIKE BRANIFF CHECK MY PAGE

[PARABRAZ]

oldest and very cool...

[tk421720]

Outstanding! THANK YOU