Bankrupt - Eastern Airlines

After evolving from a aeronautical company in the mid 1920's, to a major airline along the United State East Coast by the 40's, Eastern Airlines was an iconic brand name that only grew larger by the year. With a massive fleet of state of the art aircraft and service spanning multiple countries, it seemed there was no stopping this massive airline. However it all came crashing down by the late 90's and saw the brand name disappear entirely by the early 90's following a devastating bankruptcy. Join me today as we take a look at the rise and fall of this once revered airline.

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[copywriternj]

My dad was an Eastern pilot, hired by Eddie Rickenbacker right after WWII. I took his last flight with him on an L1011 the day before his 60th birthday, which was the legally required retirement age at that time. It never occurred to me that Eastern and other legacy airlines like Pan Am and TWA would go out of business. The airline industry has changed so much in the last three or so decades...and in my humble opinion, not for the better.

I miss those days. Miss those airlines. And most of all, I miss my father.

[hozerius]

My father worked for Eastern for 23 years and I remember he was getting ready to go into work in 1991 when he got the phone call that the company had shut down. He was in the shower. My mom answered the phone. She said let me get him and you can talk to him (my dad) and they just said just tell him not to bother coming in. My mom told him when he got out of the shower. He called them and confirmed it and I remember him just sitting on the edge of his bed for awhile afterward. Things were hard for several years afterwards and it affected him for the rest of his life. I believe the stress from it and the life after it played a huge part in him dying only 9 years later.

[Wemfsh]

The airline videos are always the best ones

[jeremy]

Hi Jake. I grew up in Miami, from 1972 onwards. Originally from New Britain Ct, we used Eastern Airlines to go back and forth. The famed 727 was the North East Work horse back then. In 1981, when my dad's mum had a stroke, we flew one of the first A-300's northbound. The plane was empty, so we were upgraded to 1st class, pretty snazzy for a kid my age. I was in 8th grade. That was the last Eastern Airlines flight I would ever take.

Somewhere in the archives of the Miami Herald, is a shot of a widebody Eastern Airline plane, back where their hangers used to be, on the back lot of MIA. The doors and cargo doors were open, and the plane was left there to rot. The shot is in the old black and white stock. I haven't seen that photo in a very long time, but it does exist.

Back in the late 70's and early 80's Eastern had the market on the North East Corridor. Where American Airlines sits now in MIA, is where Eastern used to be. You would drive into the airport, up to the arrivals deck, and Eastern was the first airlines you would come to at the top of the ramp. They had a huge operation at MIA with the hub being moved there. The entire, I guess (Eastern end of the airport) because the airport was a kind of oblong horse shoe shape, and you drove around it to the exit end, is where Eastern housed its operations. My uncle Tommy worked for Eastern his whole life, as a machinist. They had good service and we always flew them back home, when I was a kid.

[mrrpepsi]

It always amazes me how a CEO runs a company into the ground, but still gets their PAY !!

[ChrisMcCarroll]

My mom was a flight attendant for this airline.

She was on a flight from Atlanta to Chicago. As she was serving drinks, a little old lady pointed out that she was bleeding from her ears. Pilot told her that the door, her seat was located on, had a bad seal. She insisted the plane turned around. The pilot refused and kept going onto Chicago.

By the time she landed, she had to go to hospital. Because of the bad she lost about 85% of her hearing. She was also told she could never fly again. The airlines fired her.

She sued them for wrongful termination. They eventually hired her back to work the ticket desk. But then went bankrupt.

She wants some money in the lawsuit and used that to purchase a lot of Eastern airlines stuff when they were selling off the company. Our house was filled with plates and glassware and other stuff from Eastern.

[Purple]

My father was a pilot, and mother a flight attendant for Eastern Airlines. I have lots of memorabilia from Eastern. It was truly one of the best airlines. Until it was purchased and the money was misused. Anyway, my mother and father are both in their 90’s now. They love watching airline videos. Will show them this one for sure. Thank you.

[michael-michaelmotorcycle]

Thanks for getting this done Jake. I suggested this a few months back. My dad was a machinist for Eastern airlines for 28 years before they crumbled. He worked LaGuardia, Kennedy and at Miami international during his career. I remember walking the picket lines with him during the strike when I was 12-13 years old at Mia.

[blastedmcgraw]

My mom was a reservationist at Eastern Airlines for over 20 years. My childhood was filled flying across North America on Eastern using standby tickets she was able to get for free by working there. This airline played a huge role in who I am today. Can’t wait to watch this!!

[hgman]

The 1987 film Wall Street featured a plot line where the corporate raider characters in the film tried to take over a struggling airline, which was very a case of art imitating real life

[jimlubinski]

My father worked for Eastern for many years. I worked for them through the Borman/Lorenzo disaster. I was not union, but both of those "leaders" eliminated any chance of survival for the airline. Borman used 2 sets of books, showing whichever worked to his advantage to investors and unions. When the unions found out they were being scammed, they lost all trust. Lorenzo destroyed far more airlines than just Eastern. But in Eastern's case (which was making more money than Continental at the time), he clandestinely transferred assets from Easter to Continental so that the surviving carrier was the one with weaker unions. Your treatment of this is one of the most factual I have seen. Thank you for mentioning the 30 million dollar golden parachute that Lorenzo took from a company that he put under. Also notable is that after all this, Lorenzo tried to start new airlines ("The airline builder"), one of which called ironically Friendship Airlines, but was prevented by the U.S. government.

[denisesmith]

Frank Lorenzo killed us at Eastern. Flight attendant there married to a captain. Sorry those of you have never heard of us at Eastern… you never knew how fabulous air travel was. Best years of my life

[MrAsmith]

Both my uncles worked for Eastern. They immigrated to the Atlanta area in the late 70's from the Philippines. They prepped the plane between flights by vacuuming, cleaning, replacing pillows and blankets, cleaning the bathroom and of course emptying the sewage tank. They were so PROUD to be working for Eastern and I distinctly remember they had been worried for a while that the company may go under and they would lose their jobs. Thankfully, after the company went under they were able to get jobs at Delta. One of my uncles retired after being the head of customer service in ATL and my other uncle is still with Delta in ORD.

[Official_Kezzie]

Not sure if you’re going to mention it, but my favorite fun fact about Eastern is that it was - at one point - headed by Frank Borman, who was a former astronaut. He commanded the first crewed spaceflight around the moon in ‘68.

[CZrv]

As a pilot I love how accurate you are with everything

[nagasako]

$30m golden parachute in 80s is crazy

[TrainGuru]

I was watching a video about Eastern Airlines flight 401, and thought “Bright Sun Films should really do a video about their bankruptcy.”

Major Deja vu here lol.

[andrewnardelli]

My grandfather ran the tampa res office literally until they shut the doors. My grandparents both worked there for 20+ years, they lost everything the day the doors shut. Amazing video as always

[MikeHarris]

After 25 episodes, I still absolutely love the bankrupt intro with the video, talking over stories, and the stock footage of Enron and other companies. Freaking love this channel

[bradcolby]

Frank Lorenzo was the death of Eastern. As a Miami native it was devastating for our area at the time. I worked for Delta and Eastern was constantly canceling flights and send them to us last minute with guaranteed interline tickets. They delayed our flights. Total nightmare. Executives got paid of course..