Eastern Air Lines

Although I didn't realize it at the time, I was a very lucky man. United Air Lines' offering to "loan me" to Eastern Air lines could have meant my flying to one of Eastern Air Lines northern cities, but here I was enroute to Miami, Florida. On board our flight I met a fellow United Airlines employee, Jack Frederickson, from the Oakland office. We spent the time getting acquainted and wondering how Eastern Air Lines may differ from United. Fred, as he liked to be called, suggested that we try to find accommodations together. Eastern would be paying us our current salary, plus a housing and food allowance. I agreed, as I felt that Fred was a very nice guy. I felt we could get along for the five few months we would be with Eastern.

Upon our arrival in Miami, we were met by Ed Noaks, who was the Miami Airport ticket counter manager for Eastern. He sent us off to a nearby hotel with instructions on where to report the next morning. At the hotel, we met other United employees, who had arrived earlier. It was at the hotel that we met Dan, who was a United employee from Los Angeles, and George, from Seattle. The four of us decided to get accommodations together. There were about fifteen people at the hotel, both men and women, employees from various United Air Lines cities.

The following morning we were picked up and taken to the Miami airport where we were going to have a two day training session on Eastern Air Lines procedures. After training, the people were assigned jobs such as in reservations, at the ticket counter, in accounting, with operations, etc. Fred was assigned to Terminal control, Dan to the airport ticket counter, and George and I to reservations. The four of us would all be working at the airport.

Now we had to find a place to live. At that time, Eastern, National, and Pan American Airways, the only airlines serving Miami, were located on N.W. 36^th Street. Eastern had their own facilities at the corner of LeJeune Road and 36^th Street. National and Pan Am were together further north, on 36^th St. Today's Miami Airport is on the 20^th Street side of the old location. It's hard to believe that the airport of the 1940's with only one runway and the entire length ending at Red Road, would grow to what it is now. And it keeps growing…

The four of us decided to look for a place in Hialeah, which was very close to the Airport where we would be working. We found a great house that was being rented out by famous jockey Eddie Arcaro. We rented it for around $200.00 a month, for the four or five months we would be there. The house was fully furnished and even had a TV set. If I remember correctly, TV was only on in the evening until 11.00 PM. In any event we never watched it as our house became the meeting place for most of the United employees. It seemed that almost every night was party night at our house. We were all pretty young, but, to everyone's credit, our parties never got out of hand.

Things were going great at Eastern. We all liked what we were doing and the Eastern Management treated us very well. We had been there for three months and thinking about our return to United. It was about then that Fred and I both started to get extra attention and complimentary remarks like "We're sure going to miss you guys".

Eastern decided to give all of us a farewell fishing trip. All fifteen of us plus some Eastern escorts, set sail from Miami. We had been out for about three hours when a rain and wind storm hit us. We were bobbing like a cork, and nearly everyone was sea sick. We were a happy group when we reached shore. I don't think it was a great farewell fishing trip. I'm sure we all would have preferred a beach party.

Back at work, I was called into the reservation manager's office along with two supervisors. They started out with some compliments on how much they appreciated United Airlines loaning us to them and the great job we had all done. The conversation became more personal when they asked me to consider the possibility of staying with Eastern. They outlined an employment offer that included a substantial salary increase, management training, etc. They informed me that there were two other United employees that they would like to keep, but did not reveal who they were.

It looked like another crossroads in my life. Should I return to United Airlines in San Francisco, who had been very good to me? Should I resign from them and stay with Eastern? I had a little time to decide before I had to give an answer. It was not an easy decision; I wanted to give it a lot of thought.