I Flew America's Most BIZARRE Airline: 1 FLIGHT A MONTH!

Eastern is mainly a charter airline operating under Supplemental rules. In order to maintain Domestic/Flag currency with the FAA, they have to operate a scheduled flight at least once every 30 days. And you found it.

Man if you were on a 767 in business class seats back in '84 you were absolutely living. Kick up your footrest, spark up a Marlboro, and watch some Risky Business on the ceiling screen. That is how you know you had it made.

Just consider that if you were flying on a 40 year old aircraft in 1984 it would be made in 1944. Things have not changed as much from 1984 as they had changed from 1944.

Eastern was a major airline back in the 70's with lots of international destinations. I flew on a 30 days airpass with unlimited travel in north america, mexico, middle america and the northern parts of south america - for about USD250 including meals and checked in luggage. We went to Santo Domingo, Barranqilla, Mexico City, Montego Bay, Miami, New York. Their main hub used to be Atlanta. It was an incredible journey for a young lad.

Fun facts! This is the only 767-200 left in commercial service; this is one of the oldest planes left in commercial service

Note to wife: don't wait until the flight is over before providing your opinion. Wait until luggage is delivered.

Ah! The good ol' "cargo door won't open on the plane" trick explaining the baggage delays. American Airlines uses this trick in Miami all the time as well, can't tell you how many times we waited for hours recently in MIA for bags to show up on the belt ... Every single time, they told us "the cargo door won't open and they needed engineering to fix it". The reality is much simpler than that, they simply don't have employees - that's all. I confirmed this with an AA employee in MIA. Whenever bags are delayed, its either someone (bag handler) didn't show up to their shift on time or at all, or they quit, or the airline simply doesn't have an employee to service the flight on time of arrival. A malfunctioning cargo door would actually send the plane to the hanger for repairs.

Say what you want about that 767 being 40 years old, but Boeing back then was run by engineers, not accountants. These jets were put together to last an extremely long time with the correct maintenance. I hope Eastern keeps these flying for a bit longer and someone preserves these after they're done!

I’m going to assume that because I’m watching this video, the plane just stayed intact

This is really interesting. The original Eastern Airlines was founded in 1926. They had a blue logo with the words "Eastern" on the side of the aircraft. They flew several aircraft including the A300, B727 and B747, util they went bankrupt in 1991. Eastern Airlines LLC (Limited Liability Company) came into existence as Dynamic Air in 2010, but the airline was not sustainable, and they filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy in 2017. After the restructuring in 2018, they obtained the licence to use the intellectual property of the original Eastern Airlines which was held by Swift Air. They now fly with a hybrid Eastern Airlines and Swift Air livery. They own several B767-200/300/ER and B777-200/300/ER aircraft which flies cargo and passengers. Probably military passengers as per contract you mentioned. They used to fly to Ecuador, Guyana, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Uruguay, but these flights where all terminated. Now they only fly to the Dominican Republic, with plans for a flight to China in the future. As I said, most interesting!

The flight attendant that greeted you when coming on board had a pin on his chest from the original Eastern Airlines (the wings with their original logo). I flew Eastern a few times when I was a kid in the 80s. Eastern and Pan-Am are both brands I'd love to see flying again in full glory. Oh well... it was still cool to see that FAs wing pin.

That used to be Dynamic Airlines, a charter operator, but they were able to get the Eastern brand from their affiliate Swift Air a few years ago when Swift went under. They then rebranded. They had a plane catch fire on the ground in Ft. Lauderdale FL in 2015 which didn't help their finances or image. ACMI (charters) is still their main gig but they have to operate a scheduled flight each month to maintain their certification.

Eastern Airlines also manages the New England Patriots two B767-300. During the off season, one of them is used for flights via MIA.

Fun fact: Eastern was chartered to fly Australian cruise ship tourists from FLL to SFO to meet up with an extra SFO - SYD segment on United to take them back to Australia when COVID hit.

For those unfamiliar, this Eastern has nothing to do with the huge legacy carrier that once existed. That being said Noel I chuckled when you said there was no signage for EA at MIA. Trust me back in the day you'd have had no problem spotting them. MIA was their home turf.

Cargo door issues do not only happen to older planes. My wife and I took a non stop 17 hour flight from LA to Singpapore on a new Singapore Airlines A350. We arrived in Singapore during a heavy rainstorm and the airline could not open the cargo door. We waited at baggage claim for 21/2 hours along with the captain, flight crew and passengers before we finally got our luggage.

I made my one and only flight on a Constellation on the old Eastern shuttle from Boston to NYC sometime in the later 70's. The Eastern shuttle customarily used contemporary jets (DC-9s or 727s, I forget which) but there was heavy customer traffic that day and they fired up a Connie to accomodate the overflow. I was travelling on business with a half-dozen colleagues and we comandeered the tiny little lounge in the tail. I can still feel the vibration from those big pistons!

Eastern airlines ran a lot of US embassy repatriation flights from South America to Miami in 2020 for people stuck in various countries.

Great video Noel. Despite the age of the aircraft, having the opportunity to fly the iconic 767-200 is something I would do in a second. Was recently at the Delta Museum of Flight in Atlanta where they have The Spirit of Delta 767-200 in one of the hangers completely restored inside and out. Same as this aircraft with the giant video projectors on the ceiling and the pull down screens. Beautiful wide body of the past brings back great memories! Thanks for this fantastic as always and Happy Anniversary to you and Rach !

The takeoff was quick, wow! It's interesting to see the classic PW logo on the engine, the seats were missing their disposable headrest covers, and such an throwback experience!