Christmas Party onboard a TWA Jumbo

As the largest account for Trans World Airlines in the U.S. our company was privy to all kinds of perks from free travel to lavish escorted vacations.  But one of the most interesting events I remember was one where we never left the ground.

It was 1974 and TWA had just introduced its new wide-body jet, the Lockheed L1011 into commercial service.   It was exciting and very popular as wide body jets were still a novel thing. The new 1011 was very quiet and had the galleys on a lower level reducing congestion in the main cabin.  It could accommodate 400 passengers.

Mr Travel Company President Sid Kutchin thought it would be really cool and innovative to have our Christmas party aboard a plane and the large new jet was a perfect choice. But it was also very popular and an aircraft TWA didn’t want out-of-service for any amount of time. However Sid could be very persuasive and we did generate that revenue, so to our surprise, TWA said “yes.”  I was jobbed the handling of the party logistics. 

I made a guest list of company employees and family as well as important company  suppliers and people important to our operations and sent out the invites in the form of a “Royal Ambassador First Class” TWA boarding pass wallet with a “ticket”  giving the date and the time, which was a certain gate at O’Hare Airport.

On that date I was at the boarding station greeting our 100 party-goers,  checking the list and welcoming them aboard. The TWA jumbo airliner sat at the end gate at O’Hare on the TWA concourse. The first class seats had all been removed and instead there was a small dance floor, band and two bars.  A full TWA crew was aboard  to serve drinks and appetizers.

Gates at O’Hare are in heavy demand, so after all guests were aboard, they were temporarily seated per regulation, and the plane pulled away from the gate and taxied over to and parked in one of O’Hare’s “penalty” areas reserved for planes that landed without available gate space.  FAA regulation required a full cockpit crew, so they sat at position but allowed people to come up and view the flight controls, a very popular option.

 Part of my job was to arrange for the on-board service.  Many of us had frequently taken the popular TWA  service to London. We would take flight 770 eastbound nonstop on a Thursday evening and return on flight 771 on Sunday. Onboard ,First class was always served  Chateaubriand with bouquetiere of braised vegetables and potato as well as an ice cream Sunday dessert.  All agreed this was to be our dinner, so after a period of mingling, guests were asked to be seated in the coach section of the aircraft where dinner was served.  A nice touch was the  Japanese Oshibori (hot scented towels)  presented at meal conclusion.  Guests then were free to sit and talk or roam around, dancing, enjoying more cocktails or just the adventure of having been invited to a private aircraft party.  After four hours, the plane was taxied back to a gate and the guests disembarked.

One of many amusing stories that came about was that of our TWA group representative Alice Hendrickson.  Alice had come from TWA offices downtown while her husband Al drove from his work separately, meeting up at the airport.  As the evening drew to a close Alice could not locate Al and became worried.  A check showed his car was still in the lot , but Al was nowhere to be found.  One of our employee’s husbands was a Chicago police dispatcher and put out a call to check.  The home was empty so Al hadn’t taken a cab home.  Alice headed home very worried while police put out a search. 

The next morning very early, TWA employees arrived at the airport to begin their day. They turned on the baggage carousel on the lower level in  preparation for the first day’s flights.  As one carousel revolved, into view came Al, sprawled asleep in the revolving circle.  Al had been too intoxicated to drive and just found this spot with the impaired thinking of a drunk, and had crawled into it and fell asleep.  

It became one of the most talked about events of the trip. However, the many conversations about this unique outing reached the ears of the FAA, who govern all airline operations. They definitely did NOT want other people to be having private parties at a public airport tying up the (at the time) world’s busiest and largest airline hub.  Regulations were hastily written prohibiting the use of aircraft for private events .

So our Christmas party went down as the one and only event of its type ever held in the history of commercial aviation.  It remains a unique part of my many memories of a fabulous time and place.