Customer Reviews

Airlines For the Rest Of Us: The Rise and Fall of America's Local Service Airlines

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a very interesting and entertaining work, one any airline enthusiast will enjoy. The local service carriers were a special breed and sadly, we will never see their like again. I'd heard of these airlines but had no idea about their origins or backgrounds or the people who built them. The info isn't as deep as some might like because there are so many carriers covered, but IMO the book earns 4 stars for content. It's a good overview of the local service airlines that may leave some readers wanting more information.

So why is my rating 3 stars when I just said the book's content earns 4? The presentation is, well, not up to standard. All through the book are weird instances of spacing, like a word (usually an airline's name for whatever reason) that has 2 or 3 spaces before it instead of one. There are continuous parenthetical notes like (see Chapter Such-and-such) that are overused, as if the writer only expected a partial reading and was concerned someone would miss something. Such references are appropriate once or twice for critical points but it's overused here. It almost reads like a term paper as opposed to a book. These issues do not detract from the content but may annoy some readers.

Overall, this is an excellent source on the local service carriers' fascinating stories. Highly recommended.

I'm a professional pilot and am greatly interested in airline history. This book is a must read for airline history buffs. It's a quick and easy book that discusses briefly how our airline transporation network of travel used to work. The local airlines are a much missed niche that used to grace our skies. I liked the way the book was written. It first introduces the local airlines to you and then chapter by chapter you learn their impact to the industry and what may have become of them. The author also includes foot notes throughout the book so you are able to look back for information you want to review. I only gave this book 4 out of 5 stars because I was hoping for just a bit more on each of the airline's history. Overall a great book and a must read.

Just as the subtitle suggests, "Airlines for the Rest of Us" covers the rise and fall of the U.S. Local Service Airlines, covering the years 1944 to "the last man standing" (USAirways). The author has done an excellent job of presenting the story in a well-researched informative manner that is fun to read. Also included are serveral B&W photos of various planes flown by the Locals.

Highly recommend this book to anyone interested in a concise, sometimes anecdotal, history of the U.S. Locals that one will not want to put down once they start reading it.