A few years back my business required a lot of travel to and all over the United States. I was a Northwest WorldPerks member and it was of course only natural that I flew via Amsterdam and than on the NWA system in the US.
Northwest was the fourth largest airline in America and for some reason they did not enjoy a stellar reputation… They flew old planes and customer service was supposed to be below par. Some people called them NorthWorst. May be I was lucky but in all the hundreds of thousands of miles I flew with them, I never had a single reason to complain.
There was nothing wrong with flying the trans-Atlantic leg in a DC-10-30 that had a sticker in the galley proving that it was approved by the US Health Authorities in 1973 or flying between Orlando and Memphis on a 727! I missed my connection only twice in 10 years of flying with NWA and in both cases it was due to weather.
In the early years, Northwest Airlines had been one of the pioneers, pushing West and establishing lines to Japan and other places in the Pacific. They had what it takes.
They fought their way through bankruptcy and strikes but their spirit was never dampened.
And now Northwest is gone… Their takeover by Delta was not the kind that happened to KLM when Air France gobbled them up but at least the well known KLM blue is still there to see. Northwest, the name, the brand is gone joining the likes of Pan Am, TWA, Sabena and Swissair and others… They all took a final flight into the Sunset, never to be seen again.
Mind you, I have no problem with Delta, they are a great company and the people and spirit of Northwest will be a big asset to them. Nevertheless we have lost another piece of aviation history.
Fair well old friend.
