Site Admin

Joined: 17 Jun 2005
Posts: 949
Location: Carmel, IN

While we're waxing nostalgic, I once flew PIT-IND-CMI on an old US Air prop. I actually lived in central IL at the time and was flying ROA-CMI via PIT. The agent needed one volunteer bump, and I took it for the free flight voucher. My alternative was to fly PIT-IND-CMI, getting into CMI just a couple hours later than my original PIT-CMI flight.

Site Admin

Joined: 15 Jun 2005
Posts: 2316
Location: Indianapolis, IN

What was an IND connection like back then? Do you recall? I mean we are going way back when

Site Admin

Joined: 17 Jun 2005
Posts: 949
Location: Carmel, IN

What? Am I showing my age? I was -2 years old back then...

Well, this was back in the day, before there were regional jets around. So no one really gave much thought to flying on a prop plane. I know this was Chautauqua service, because I flew on US Air/Chautauqua a lot back then. IIRC, the plane was a 50-seat turboprop, but I don't think it was an ATR, because this was after the AA crash that grounded most of those planes. But maybe my memory is fading in my old age...

Anyway, again IIRC, the plane in service flew PIT-CMI-IND-CMI-PIT in a couple of loops every day except Sunday. So my wife and I were flying back from ROA to CMI, via PIT. The agent tried to relieve the overbooking by offering a free flight and like $200 or something; I just remember it being her 3rd try and she had upped the ante. There was some a-hole businessman who absolutely HAD to get to CMI on that flight, and he had paid a ton for the ticket. This was back in the day where the airlines still pretended to give a shit about customers; as compared to today, where they would just bump the lowest-fare passenger for the high-fare a-hole.

So I took a different prop plane PIT-IND and then had to sit in Terminal D for about 2 hours or so. I just hung out in D. The connecting gate was right across the terminal. Wasn't much to do. Still isn't. So connecting wasn't much of an experience. Still isn't.