A recent campaign by British Airways points up exactly what United, Delta and American are missing in their approach to airline branding. Namely, a sense of history and drama.

BA’s Brand Engagement Head Abi Comber, in an interview posted on YouTube, says the campaign is all about what BA stands for as a business.

The venerable airline has taken a bold move to brand itself as the world’s most experienced. Its new campaign centered around “To Fly, To Serve” shows a narrative of British Airways, and its predecessor companies such as BOAC, BEA and Imperial Airways. The film is directed by Frederic Planchon; the flight director is Simon O’Connell.

British Costume Drama

There is great CGI work on the film, including animations of a Concorde flying alongside a VC-10. Each plane has been filmed with costumed passengers and staff.

This campaign is running not only on Facebook and other social media channels, but it is on major news networks as well. The big push comes as American Airlines is rumored to be running short of cash, and Delta and JetBlue, USAirways and Southwest all have stock prices less than $10 a share.

BA is now part of IAG, which now includes Iberia. Each airline is to be branded separately as a nationalistic flag carrier, but then is part of a larger whole. The intent is to add other airlines to the group.

American is in a pinch. Unlike other major carriers, it did not go through bankruptcy. In a sense, it is being punished for being successful. But there is no way around that, and other airlines like Southwest have been able to succeed after competitors had the ease of restructuring through the courts.

Analysts peg the unit as having $2.3 billion in revenues, and the equity value could be around $400 million. The company has a fleet of 270 Bombardier, Embraer and ATR jets and turboprops, and a route system with hubs in places like New York, Chicago, Dallas and San Juan and routes in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Caribbean.

I would add another issue that makes the selloff difficult. American Eagle is but a brand extension of American, and to sell the unit as a stand-alone is harder when there is no separate corporate identity and goodwill. It appears, to most takers, as a part of American, and indeed it looks, feels and speaks like American.

But let us think of another scenario. What if American, when it purchased the assets of TWA, had not shut down the TWA identity. What if it had done as USAirways has done, and used its predecessor companies (Piedmont, etc.) as subsidiary unit names. In 2001, when American shut down TWA, it wasted what was a golden American brand name. One of the greatest brands, by the way.

Now mind you, there is nothing wrong with the American brand, but there is no reason why the TWA brand could not have survived in some form. One option would have been to run the commuter airline as TWA. If that had happened, American today would have been selling off something that had SOME goodwill separate from American. Certainly, American did not want to confuse customers when it merged, but that could have been done many different ways without obliterating the TWA identity entirely.

Certainly branding cannot fix the vexing issues of pilot salaries and fuel prices. That is too much to ask. But as companies merge and divest willy nilly, the need to think that a decade down the line, the preservation of an old brand identity could have been of use today.

American Airlines must now either invent a name for the new spin-off, or confuse the investors and public about which company is which.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The news that a civilian airliner was a bit off course and went into restricted airspace around Washington, D.C. made a bit of a surprise for many folks in the South. The reason? The plane was listed as a Piedmont Airlines plane, and Piedmont is an airline that many thought had completely disappeared when it merged with Allegheny and PSA to form USAir, now USAirways.

Piedmont. Oh Piedmont, how we miss your almonds and full cans of Coke!

The news reports today say that Piedmont Airlines flight 4352, which was heading from Hilton Head, S.C., to Reagan National, lost contact with Air Traffic Control, and the incident scared federal officials, who evacuated the U.S. Capitol.

The Piedmont of airline history is not the Piedmont of today. Piedmont is a subsidiary of USAirways, and it operates commuter flights as USAirways Express. A bit about them from their website:

Our airline was founded by Mr. Richard Henson in 1931 as Henson Flying Service, a fixed-base operator. In 1962 scheduled airline service commenced as Hagerstown Commuter. Today, Piedmont operates nearly 440 daily departures to 55 cities throughout the eastern United States and Canada. We currently operate 44 deHavilland DHC-8 turbo prop aircraft.

In the 1970s, they were mostly known for puddle-jumpers, most interestingly Japanese-made NAMC YS-11s, and today they operate the DHC-8. And while it isn’t a puddle jumper, its turboprops give the feeling of another era.

USAirways has been smart in its strategy with old airline brands that it has purchased. While many other airline companies have ignored or shut down their old brands during mergers, USAirways has kept the legacies of their original brands alive. This does three things. First, it keeps the brands alive so that others cannot use the brands. Secondly, it keeps the goodwill alive for passengers and staff who remember the old name. Lastly, it keeps the brand alive in case the airline might have a future use for it. While it may not be that much actual cash goodwill for the balance sheet, using an old brand as a subsidiary name is a smart way to preserve an old brand, and protect it for the future.

North Carolina (and the rest of the South) loved Piedmont, and even though it has been over 20 years since it merged into USAir, it is still remembered for its customer service and sensible, good humored-staff.

There is some revenue from licensing, we guess, but not much to speak of compared to companies like GM, which license jettisoned brands like Pontiac on shirts and other models. Nevertheless, if such a program even breaks even it is a win for USAirways, as it is free promotion for the airline.

USAIrways has found many ways to keep its old brands alive. It also had a brilliant scheme where it painted planes in the manner of smiley-faced PSA, Allegheny and Piedmont. These types of activities cost little, and are a bit of fun and harmless nostalgia for airline staff and passengers.

Portsmouth, N.H. – The Pan Am brand is making a new push at a comeback, with a new TV show from ABC and a revived fashion line. The airline Pan Am died years ago after two successive efforts to revive the airline. Today, it lives on companies as varied as Pan Am Railways and a flight acadmeny.

The successor Pan Am Systems, which owns a variety of transportation and other corporate assets, is now developing the logo as a fashion brand as well as licensing it out to ABC for a television program.

Recently, the company unveiled a new effort at licensing a fashion line that was exhibited at the “Project” tradeshow in Las Vegas. Not only did it include bags, which were developed a few years ago, but fashion items such as the belt seen here. Said Director of Marketing and Corporate Development Stacy Beck:

“One of things we noticed along the way was that while people only wanted to pay $49 for an airline ticket, they didn’t mind paying $150 for a bag,” Beck said.

In recent months, the interest in the brand has grown with the news published in Variety of an ABC television show based on the rights. Sony will produce the show, which is based on the airline during the 1960s.

In addition, a grassroots effort is developing to raise awareness about the future of the old Pan Am Worldport at JFK Airport. The landmark structure, which hosted hundreds of thousands of important visitors over its 50 year history, is threatened with demolition by its successor airline Delta and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

The United-Continental merger appears to have the WORST of both. It will keep the Continental colors, but the United name.

There is no changing an airline’s mind when there is a merger. Airline management is too much into industry groupthink to do anything else.

Airlines are rather like banks. They are building market share in a monopolistic fashion, and their only course is to shut down old brands, eliminate staff, and increase economies of scale while reducing capacity. Each merger creates a rationale for another merger; the Delta-Northwest union pushed United and Continental together. Frankly, in the way that the airline industry works, brands do not matter. Except in some rare cases, the whole industry runs on price, and “branding” is merely an exercise that allows airlines to think they are marketing. Realistically, the way the airline industry is going in the U.S., the industry has much more in common with Aeroflot. There is one benefit to airline mergers; law firms and broker firms make lots of money up front.

We’re not saying here that there is no value in each of the brands. Each brand has a great brand story, and has some fans. No matter how much of a commodity the industry has become, getting rid of the old brand is a mistake.One day, the airlines might need the old brands. The example of BP and Amoco is telling. BP purchased Amoco, but with the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, the BP brand has been tainted in the U.S. If the disaster lingers, BP will have the Amoco brand to fall back on, as it keeps the Amoco brand alive as a sub-brand on its premium fuel.

What would be some options?

• Use Continental brands on subsidiary elements of the company. For instance, Presidents Club lounges should keep their names; perhaps Red Carpet should become Continental Presidents Club or Presidents Club.
• Rename airport clubs after Continental. Or start calling it Continental Business First.
• There are a web of subsidiary brands of both companies. Frequent Flyer programs are Mileage Plus and OnePass. Perhaps the OnePass brand survives as the name? One Pass is well-known in Latin America. The other option is to allow consumers to keep OnePass or MileagePlus cards, but have one name for the program.
• Interestingly, the sister airlines Copa and AeroRepublica will survive, as they were only partially owned by Continental.
• Use Continental in some subsidiary corporate names and shell names. That keeps the company shells alive, in case United needs it. Small business units under a single company can be valuable, and give identity and structure to something that might be just an ignored business unit. We suggested in the merger of Delta and Northwest that Delta keep the Northwest Airlines weather desk and brand it to Northwest. That way, a business unit that could be forgotten instead becomes a center of excellence for the new company. It could then be
• License the Continental name to other entities to keep it alive.

NEW YORK – In the wake of discussion about the possible demolition of the Pan Am Worldport (now Delta’s Terminal 3), there is one key element that has already been removed. The Zodiac Screen sculptures (or sculpture), now in storage, that used to dominate the front of the building. The screen was once the largest sculpture in the world.

Through the years, stars and blue sky were part of the branding of Pan Am. The zodiac was a major part of the Art Deco Pan American terminal in Miami at Dinner Key. The ceiling there had panels depicting the signs of the zodiac symbols on it. The building still exists as Miami City Hall.

The sculptor, Milton Hebald, at age 92 lives in Los Angeles and still works in terra cotta. He created the 24 x 220 sculpture in 1961.

Of all Hebald’s works, the Zodiac Screen is the most famous. “So many people identify with it,” says Hebald’s trustee, Karen Lupton. ” They remember it. It was such an image for people.”

The ultimate would be to have the zodiac reinstalled in any renovated or new Delta terminal. While they were created for Pan Am, and were taken down by Delta, the company officials who did it are long gone. Plus, the images don’t have anything to do with the logo of Pan Am, so they would fit. Lupton says it is his dream to have the sculptures resurrected.

The Zodiac Screen is Hebald’s legacy. Known for his various sculptures throughout the world, Hebald’s dream is to find the Zodiac Screen a new home. Created in bronze, there are 12 unique pieces, Aries, Aquarius, Cancer, Capricorn, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Pisces, Sagittarius, Scorpio, Taurus and Virgo. Each piece is a representation of Hebald’s vision, and his unique contemporary baroque style.

The 91-year-old Hebald states, “The creation of this sculpture took the greater part of my life. I felt that it truly related to all people. For some it spoke to astrology, others history, but even more so it spoke of beauty, love, and aesthetic gratification. I have never been more proud of one of my creations. I can happily go to my resting place knowing that
people can once again enjoy the Zodiac”.

Interest in Hebald is growing again; he now even has a website and had a new show last year. Documentary artist Linda Carfagno is working on a story of his life, which includes an interview in the Port Authority hanger where the Zodiac sits.

Many of his older pieces are in private collections and some have been sold off.

Lupton says that she did speak over a year ago to the Port Authority, which has the sculptures “still safe” in storage.

“Milton’s time will come again,” says Lupton.

Hebald is represented by the Harmon-Meek Gallery in Naples, Florida. See www.harmon-meek.com.

NEW YORK – We read in Crain’s New York that the old Pan Am Worldport at JFK might be demolished soon by Delta. The building is one of the great landmarks of aviation, though it has been so abused over the years that few would actually believe it if they toured it.

It’s where the Beatles arrived; it was even in the news today as the place where that Cuban hijacker left in 1968; I think then they called it skyjacking. In 1970, millionaire dilettante singer James Brody asked Richard Nixon to come there and talk about world peace. Dozens of great scenes have been enacted in the lobby, perhaps none more frightening than the 1978 return of the remaining, elderly cultists from Jonestown, Guyana. And then there was the arrest of Axl Rose in 1992 at the WorldPort after that St. Louis concert gone wrong.

The terminals, believe it or not, were top tourist attractions in their Catch Me If You Can era. Pan Am’s Idlewild terminal was such a snazzy destination that during the Kennedy Administration, Jackie and Caroline left for Italy from the terminal on a commercial Pan Am jet. Likely Caroline got to play in Pan Am’s toy-filled nursery, staffed by bi-lingual attendants.

The WorldPort was built in 1961, and designed by Ives, Turano & Gardner Associated Architects and Walter Prokosch of Tippets-Abbett-McCarthy-Stratton. Delta owns the terminal next door, Terminal 2, which was designed in 1962 for Braniff, Northeast and Northwest. Pan Am also had tenants in the building, including JAT, the Yugoslavian airline.

The WorldPort (actually UPS now uses the term for its terminal elsewhere) is of the same vintage as JetBlue’s TWA Flight Center nearby, and that building has been preserved, though no one has quite figured out what to do with it. Certainly, it is not as interesting a building as the TWA Flight Center, but the Eero Saarinen building is one of the world’s greatest architectural landmarks.

Part of what was so fascinating about JFK was that each of the airline brands had their own branded terminals. TWA was coolest. The most sublime was the Sundrome of National Airlines. This was an I.M. Pei masterpiece of glass that allowed visitors to step into the Sunshine State when they headed into their terminal.

Questions about the building and its future:

1. How bad? Critics call the building “insufferable” but are its problems beyond fixing? Technology keeps changing, and part of the challenge of the building is that it was built for 707s, but by the time it got just 10 years old it had to adapt to Pan Am’s 747s. The other challenge for buildings at airports is that because airport space is limited, you can’t leave too many old things around.
2. Is it eligible to be a National Landmark? As far as we know, that eligibility work has not been done. Even if it is a national landmark, that does not mean it cannot be taken down. What it does mean is that its merits have been weighed.
3. Are there preservation tax credits if part is saved? If the building is eligible for the National Register, and pieces of it can be utilized in a manner sympathetic to the old, then there are tax credits possibly available. Certainly, much of the building has been destroyed, and a series of renovations have not done well by it. Part of the idea of a building is whether the historic fabric has been destroyed. But if good bits are still there, there might be a case. These questions are not easy, though; someone needs to really look at the structure.
4. Is there Section 106 review? If a building is eligible for the National Register, and it is threatened with demolition with projects that involve federal dollars, the government goes through a process called Section 106 Review. It basically means that there should be an official process as to whether the building should be demolished. Section 106 review does not always mean that a building cannot be demolished. What it means that there must be a process if it is to come down, more than a decision by the Port Authority and Delta saying that they want it down. If it must come down, it needs to be documented properly, and any pieces that can be saved, must be saved. In addition, there is remediation; that might mean that a replacement building could utilize pieces of the building, such as the Hebald zodiac scupltures that were removed in the 1990s.
5. Can the Milton Hebald Zodiac be re-mounted? Sometime after Pan Am went bankrupt the first time and Delta took over its European routes, the wonderful Milton Hebald sculptures of the zodiac came down. They are now reportedly in a Port Authority of New York warehouse.

Tomorrow: We will examine the history of the Milton Hebald zodiac and Pan Am’s fetish for star designs on its terminals.

It’s Porter Airlines of Canada. Kind of like a regional Virgin Atlantic, but it has a serious, more business-feeling approach. Says the airline on their website:

Each team member has been specially selected and trained to put travellers first with impeccable and innovative service.  (Their uniforms are pretty sharp too!)

A bit more of the features:

• The fly with Bombardier Q400s, which are turboprops that feel more like jets, but still actually LOOK like an airplane.
• They have a snazzy in flight magazine called Re: Porter. Kind of looks like Wallpaper, but small.
• They run from their own private plane FBO in Toronto, and have a free shuttle bus into the old hotels downtown.
• The free drinks mean free beer. Good idea.
• Destinations include Boston, Chicago, Halifax, Moncton, Montréal, Mt Tremblant, Myrtle Beach, New York, Ottawa, Québec City, St. John’s, NL, Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Toronto

Airlines like Delta would do well to see how this niche approach could be used with their ignored Northwest brand in order to keep rights to the name.

Find out more at www.flyporter.com

He tells us that a group of retired TWA employees and airline history enthusiasts have developed a fascinating museum at Downtown Airport. The last of the Super Constellations (“Connies“) is there and they recently acquired the last airworthy TWA Lockheed L-1011.

The L-1011 was one of the last two in the U.S., and an angel named Paul Pristo donated the plane to the museum. The FAA came in and permitted it to travel on a special airworthiness certificate. Anyone who cares about American aviation needs to cheer the rescue, as it is a critical part of American aviation history, and now it has been preserved.

For those who have forgotten about the L-1011, it was a great plane, but it never found a wide market. Nevertheless, TWA was one of the major operators of the plane, along with Pan Am and Delta.

See more about the plane at: http://www.kansascity.com/105/story/1707369.html

Visit the museum at http://www.ahmhangar.com/

• North Central http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQFaVy0Kl2Y
• National http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbWWF7nBV84
• Southern http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tgmHGqtDv
• TWA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RnhwK8Id3Y
• Southwest http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-g0yOFUlOQ
• UAL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPWTcu0yPGs
• Delta http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBm1YEO4Q_Q
• Eastern http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf9sJSvzpqE
• Western http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfmRKHtzfFs
• PSA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOtv1lQ3Sgw
• Braniff http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3_aNtQFsLk
• Frontier http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyZYi7WZz-U
• American http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd4gAHmRJWo
• America West http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4s0GQSeQdCk
• Pan Am http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDPAwMXKro8
• Allegheny http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG47_G_JmHk
• Ozark http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es-l7Zf0Xyc

In preservation, there are basically three approaches, to restore the building exactly as it was, renovate the building to something like what it was, or to go through a process called adaptive reuse, where you take existing elements of something old to create something new.

Often, adaptive reuse is a better idea than straight out restoration, and is more faithful to the original. For instance, internationalists who were inspired by the idea of internationalism did not try to resuscitate the League of Nations. Instead they tried again with a new name and twist, the United Nations.

For businesses, what assets do you have that can be adaptively reused? How can you stay with the times, yet not waste great resources of the past? Below are a few examples of business and organizational ideas that are adaptive reuse. The idea is to find assets, then look at market needs, and recombine them in new ways to add value.

Older, large companies can do this easily, as they have unproductive assets. Smaller companies would have a harder time with it, because there are fewer assets lying around. Here are some examples:

1. SNL: Saturday Night Live is a perfect example of adaptive reuse. In 1976, NBC was an unsexy network with little to lose. It did, however, have some great assets. One asset was its empty sound stages, including 8-H, where Toscanni performed for NBC radio. Another asset was its leadership after 11:30 p.m with The Tonight Show. Another asset was its network overhead of publicists, cameramen and talent, including booth announcer Don Pardo. So when it needed to try some new ideas, Lorne Michaels hired a cast and they created Saturday Night Live. If NBC had chosen to try to recreate Your Show of Shows, it probably would have been a disaster, as an exact recreation would have always been tied to what the original was. SNL, however, had its own spirit. In a sense, it became the spirit of Your Show of Shows, with a current twist. (Read about 8H in Tom Wolzien’s address.)
2. BA London City Flight: British Airways had a problem. No more Concorde. So what did they do? They found a small Airbus and decided to run an all-business flight from London’s City Airport to JFK. The flight (number 1) has a number of unique elements, including the fact that passengers clear customs in Shannon, Ireland. That means that passengers arrive in New York as a local flight. Brilliant. Whether this idea pays off is yet to be seen, but it illustrates the same idea. See the Financial Times review of the flight, which includes an interview with Chris Stubbs, the British Airways product manager, talking about the flight.
3. Pan Am Shuttle: What is now the Delta Shuttle was created in 1987 at a time when Pan American World Airways was struggling. It had an old fleet, and a poor domestic route system. Persistent recession and fuel issues hindered its success, and while passengers still relied on its international service, it did not have a powerful domestic passenger base. So what did it do? It took underutilized assets like a bunch of old 727s, the old Marine Air Terminal  at LaGuardia (which had been home to Pan Am Clippers), and created the Pan Am Shuttle. By 1989, it was making $20 million a year for Pan Am.
4. Metromedia and Fox Television: Few remember it, but when Fox television network launched, it was created with the pieces of the old Metromedia network, mostly channel 5 stations in big markets. Metromedia itself was a re-casting of the failed DuMont television network. Most could not understand how it would succeed, but it did. Notice, Murdoch did not call it DuMont, but he kept the idea of the fourth network alive, and recast it and added value.
5. K-Car and the Minivan. In 1981, Chrysler had a big problem. It was not only broke, but its cars were crap. I can vouch for this, as I grew up with a Plymouth Volare. (Once all the recalls were fixed, it was actually a good car). That meant that there were some good pieces to work with. So they took a Torqueflite transmission and other off the shelf elements, added them to a new platform, and the K-Car was born. Later, the K Car platform was modified to create the Plymouth Voyager and Dodge Caravan.
6. Magnum, P.I. In 1980, CBS had a problem. When Hawaii Five-O was canceled after 12 seasons, they had a whole crew in Hawaii. The slavish adherent to the brand would have made a new version of the show, calling it something like Book Em and having the same cast members. (CBS has actually talked about this idea recently. Lame.) What CBS did was far more brilliant, and kept the idea of the Hawaii private eye alive. They simply used the crew, and created a new show, Magnum, P.I. Magnum ran for another eight years.
7. Kmart: The chain went through a messy period. Some things that were memorable were its low-income roots (i.e. lay-a-way) and its Blue Light specials. A few years ago, the “blue light” came back, in the guise of an online retailer. It flopped. But Kmart didnt give up, and Mr. Bluelight was reborn as a mascot. They then brought back lay-a-way.

What assets do you have laying around that might be valuable? Old brand names? Real estate? Old products? Archives? Yes, you can sell them off at the dump. And that might be the right idea. But a better idea might be to see how you can combine old physical or intellectual property assets with old or temporary employees. That’s when it really gets interesting.

Certainly, both have been through bankruptcy. And now, to travel a distance, both can be about the same price. But with the new designs and service of Greyhound, the line is on its way to being a far more interesting, and useful, brand experience than Delta.

In this morning’s Financial Times, columnist and magazine guru Tyler Brule remarked upon the “undifferentiated” service of the business class of the legacy air carriers in Europe. That description also describes American legacy carriers like Delta, even more than carriers like BA, which he happened to be flying.

The situation is less inspiring in the U.S. On a recent Delta trip, I could well have been on a bus, except for Delta logo printed on a napkin and Delta logos painted on the outside of the plane. The crew was nice, the flight on time, the luggage in its place. Even the price was right. I even had a cozy spot in the back of my MD-88, just to the right of the service area. But the experience was bland, sterile.

That is compared to Greyhound, which has done a 180 with its image. In April, Greyhound began unveiling its fleet of new buses, which it will evetually completely replace the entire fleet.The first of the 102 re-designed buses debuted on the company’s New York to Montreal and New York to Toronto routes, with additional buses slated to begin appearing on the New York to Boston route by mid-April.

“More than an updated paint job, our new buses offer a truly upgraded experience for customers and anew way to sit back and experience the open road,” said Dave Leach, president and chief executive officer, Greyhound Lines, Inc., in a company press release.

The new buses sport a revamped and slightly retro logo. Inside, there is extra legroom, free Wi-Fi access, power outlets and three-point seat belts. The buses are Prevost X3-45 buses and they seat 50 passengers. The image was developed by the San Francisco Bay Area-based firm Butler, Shine, Stern and Partners.

In the press release, the company said the inspiration for the new bus design started with a look back at Greyhound’s “rich and recognizable design heritage from the early and mid-20th century, when the brand’s signature colors and running dog were first introduced to underscore the adventure, luxury and efficiency of leisure bus travel.

I am sure that the average Delta plane and Delta waiting area would be more pleasing than the average Greyhound waiting area and Greyhound bus, but that’s not saying much.

What could Delta do to improve its brand? It’s not about large amounts of money. It’s about spirit. The below are not prescriptive, but instead are intended to show ideas that could be considered.

1. Pilots should visit the cabin before flights and walk the aisle. That shows confidence and control of plane, and the age and experience of the pilots will help differentiate Delta’s full-line service.
2. The pilots and flight crew should be named on the flight. While this does not need to happen each time, knowing the names of staff helps the passengers see them as people, indeed professionals.
3. Look to Publix. How does a grocery chain “brand” a simple and utilitarian thing like a grocery chain? It does so in myriad ways.
4. Flight attendants should have a tray of freebies for guests. With the price of importing items like playing cards and such from China, having a few around to give out to waiting guests would go a long way to selling the brand of Delta.
5. What happened to freebie kits for kids? McDonald’s can afford them for a $2.99 Happy Meal. Why can’t the airlines?
6. The meal has to be better. Simple sandwiches could be heated with presses to go along with a pre-wrapped lunch. I am sure most of us would pay $10 for this.
7. Not sure what’s up with the uniforms. I’m just askin’.
8. Northwest as a brand should be not eliminated, but instead incorporated into Delta. Said this too many times, but needs to be said again.
9. Delta ought to give out things in the waiting room. What happened to airline brochures for vacations? Why not give those out to encourage other travel. And why not give out Sky in the waiting area? It’s always missing from the plane anyway, and if it is there it is a nasty copy where the crossword is already done. Ick. Taking them off the plane and into the lounge would save weight, too.
10. Delta ought to sell its routes and service on the plane. Passengers love the details of what the airline is doing. Instead of selling credit cards, staff could talk to passengers about new routes, technical aspects of the plane, etc.
11. What happened to airline jingles?

Recently, The Fantastiks came back. That’s quite interesting. And then a version of the old Horn &  Hardart Automat returned, in the format of Bamn!

It got us thinking. What are the other tourism opportunities out there involving brands or classic things that have gone missing in New York?

Here are few ideas, all a bit wacky, we admit, but designed to make folks who are paid to think about these things think about something other than boring junk:

1. Permanent World’s Fair: The old World’s Fair in Queens is still there, and people still love to stand by the Unisphere. It needs to come back as a more utilized urban park, with some of the park elements revived to create a more dynamic experience. Face it; Manhattan gets all the attention for tourists, but Queens deserves a bit, eh?
2. Proctor & Gamble Soap Opera Land: So Proctor & Gamble’s productions are gone, except for As The World Turns., except for Young and the Restless. Guiding Light’s sets were thrown out into the streets. Why wasn’t this developed into something before it was lost? Good news; you can always start it back. Here’s what it looks like. Sets for soaps, combined with P&G products, all mixed together. The Guiding Light, Search for Tomorrow and As The World Turns will go on forever in Internet versions that guests can walk onto. In the land of the Internet, bandwidth is cheap, and everyone wants to be a part of the show and will pay for a walk on bit. They make a reservation, give their name, sex and age, and get sent the “script” the week before. Shows are short, only 15 minutes. Apparently, P&G is doing some web with live couples and Pampers (no, not that sort of thing!), but seriously they aren’t with the TV brands that people know, like Guiding Light. Big bore. Bring them back.
3. Sesame Street: Why oh why, when Children’s Television Workshop was born in New York, did they open a theme park with Busch near Philadelphia? New York needs an urban attraction that is all about the production of the actual show. It could be connected to other PBS programming in New York, though Sprout is through Comcast in Philadelphia, home of Sesame Place. It does not have to be elaborate, just authentic.
4. Colgate World. When the old New Jersey Colgate clock was set up on the ground, it lost all its oomph. I want a Colgate factory tour, thank you. Their factory building was torn down in the 1980s; thankfully the clock was saved. Well, let me tell you. It is time for manufacturing to come back to New Jersey. I am sure Colgate could get some nice old tax breaks if it rebuilt a factory. The factory needs to actually employ human beings, and it needs to have glass windows so folks like me can get my jollies by watching the tubes in the factory line. Colgate World would have a number of additional features including reduced price teeth cleanings (all market research), product samples and photos up on the roof with the clock, with the New York City skyline in the background. Take that P&G!
5. World Trade Center: Call me a stick in the mud. But when sand-bandit sent his creepy minions to destroy this place, we would have shown him by rebuilding it better, not smaller. And then nothing is yet rebuilt.
6. Lost Retail: All of these great retailers are gone. Quite missed. Retailers we miss include Abraham & Straus, Gimbel’s, Peck & Peck, B. Altman, Rumplemayers and others. These could all return. Not ALL of them could return, but certainly they could return in reduced form. Some ideas:
   • Macy’s Brooklyn returns as A&S.
   • One other idea is Abercrombie & Fitch, Original Store. Yes, this chain is known for tarted-up teens, but it could actually have an “original” N.Y. store where it sells sporting goods to encourage tarted-up teens to do things outside, rather than procreate.
   • Times Square Howard Johnson’s: This place could have been cleaned up with a bit of Clorox. Well, actually LOTS of Clorox. Where to buy those subliminal clam strips?
7. S. S. United States: As a Virginian, I admire the National Historic Landmark ship, the S.S. United States. It was built in Newport News Shipbuilding. It rusts in Philadelphia, all rust. Perhaps it needs to come back to New York? Jersey? Near the Statue of Liberty? Underwater? Who knows, but the beautiful thing needs a home and maybe there is a solution in New York.
8. Pan Am: While the old airline is gone, and I will forever be sad about that, remnants of the airline survive, in the name of the Delta Shuttle terminal at LaGuardia and the Pan Am WorldPort, now Terminal 3. Delta could exploit these branded experiences more, without switching to the Pan Am name. How? It’s all about Delta claiming the Pan Am legacy. And what the heck happened to those Hebald Zodiac sculptures?
9. HotelPennsylvania: It’s still around, but it could be bold and grand again. One other thought. In the UK, the regional railroad brands were revived when BritRail was privatized. How about reviving some of the regional railroad brands to add some oomph to commuter rail? New Haven, Pennsy, that sort of thing.
10. The Biltmore: The Grand Hyatt New York, connected to Grand Central Station, was once The Commodore, and a sort of cousin to all those other Biltmore Hotels across the U.S. The chain could be revived, though there would certainly be some issues as to who exactly owns the Biltmore brand (perhaps it has become genericized). There is also a Biltmore apartment building in New York, and the clock is in an office building.
11. Chrysler Building: How about some way to get to the top of the Chrysler Building and look at some Chryslers, Dodges, Fiats and such in the lobby? And what the heck happened to the Cloud Club?

MIAMI – There could not have been a more perfect Florida ambassador, and airline, than National Airlines.

When the “Sunshine Airline” merged into Pan American World Airways in 1980, a uniquely Florida institution was lost. Arguably, it was the only airline that promoted a state as its marketing position and achieved national prominence with that approach. (New York Air sort of succeeded for a time; Air Florida was the other, and we know what happened there.)

National, founded in 1934 by George T. Baker, did everything for Florida. It was the first domestic jet carrier and the first all-jet carrier. It pioneered transatlantic service from the South to Europe. After being taken over by appliance heir Bud Maytag, it created a nationwide stir with the airline’s 1971 “Fly Me” campaign, which highlighted stewardesses telling of reasons to “Fly Me” by flying National. Feminists protested, but the campaign worked.

The Florida sun theme (and Sun King logo) was everywhere, and not just painted on DC-10 tails.

In New York’s JFK, National built the Sundrome, an extravantly elegant glass-walled terminal designed by I.M. Pei. (It sits next to the TWA Flight Center (now of JetBlue) and the Pan Am Worldport (now of Delta). No matter what the weather in New York, this Florida “embassy” was warm and sunny, filled with gorgeous flight attendants in Oleg Cassini uniforms taking guests to the sun. National changed the marketing of Florida from a seasonal destination to an all-year market. It also helped change the image of Florida as a place not only of hotels and swamp-brokers, but a state where technological leadership and business acumen were celebrated.

Every bit of the airline was close to perfection. The airline even owned its planes outright, which made it a too-plump takeover target. It is a cautionary tale, and proof that in capitalism, something that is run very well can still disappear for reasons that have little to do with economics.

A successor airline also had the moniker National Airlines, but it had no direct connection with the original. For a time in the 1990s, the Sun King logo appeared on the planes of Key Airlines, which was a small Southeast airline.