I'm getting tired of those meaningless links they stick in everything. In this column, for instance, we have "New York," "airport," "flying" and "Paris" hotlinked. Who the fuck CARES?

...did Lindbergh actually wake up in Paris? Wasn't he also awake during the trip?

First the Bon Marche is eaten by Macys and run into the ground, now Northwest is gone. Very sad.

I still remember when Delta swallowed up Northeast Airlines; that's when Delta first moved into New England. I miss the Northeast "Yellowbirds" that used to fly to Florida.

I loved the paragraph about folks thinking of Paris while scraping snow and going to work. Reminded me of the "Mom's passport" scene in "Breaking Away" -- one of my favorites.

Sorry, I know Minnesotans will mourn the loss of their monopoly national flag carrier.

Northwest's dominance of MSP made it the most expensive major airport to fly to and from (no choice if you want to go nonstop). It hacked me off when I had to fly there. NWA was competitive on other routes; Minnesotans subsidized the rest of us for years. What syndrome do they call it when the oppressed love their oppressor?

Thank God for Keillor.

One sorry note though, if you liked the union-busting execs of Northwestern, you'd love the guys from Delta. Being a southern airline, it was the least unionized airline there was.

It looks like AlPA is going to fight this one though hard. But with Bush's court and justice appointments it just doesn't look too hopeful to me.

least unionized airline save for JetBlue which I believe is the only major carrier lacking an airline pilots union.

Which is why I don't fly them. Sorry there, but I WANT to know the pilot can refuse to fly the plane if s/he doesn't think it's safe to and not be worried for his/her job and so forth. Those minor details. If it costs me five bucks more, I'll gladly pay it - although so far I haven't noticed the savings being passed on to me after union busting just about anywhere.

...flying from NY State down to a Florida vacation with the family when I was young. Back when they served food (and it was GREAT!). I took the Eastern shuttle down the eastern coast a couple of times, calm and hassle-free trips they were, too.

one thing about northwest, they are the hub here in detroit and they bring to my mind the shiny new mcnamara terminal, which was mainly built to support increased demand from northwest. What is this terminal named for you might ask? You mean the airport named in honor of robert mcnamara the 60's equivalent of donald rumsfeld? Well no, of course not, it's for Edward H. McNamara. Who? That's the guy who oversaw the construction of the new terminal and then stuck his own name on it. He's also known for supporting Mayor Kwame the hip hop mayor in first campaign.

People who fly into mcnamara terminal, the busiest northwest hub invariably think that it was named for robert mcnamara not edward mcnamara, so I guess that is ed's reward for being a non-famous guy thinking he can gain fame by naming an airport terminal after himself.

I yield to no one in my nostalgic excess -- with the exception of cars and consumer electronics, my default position is that everything was better in the good old days. But to get all misty-eyed over Northwest Airlines is a bit much, even for me.

Those of us in the Midwest who were forced to rely on this carrier learned to loathe the experience -- between the frequent delays, price-gouging, dirty airplanes and surly staff, the airline truly earned its 'Northworst' moniker.

Of course, nobody ever raved about their experiences with Delta either, and any time an out-of-town company acquires a local, the local company suffers (if it doesn't quickly disappear).

So as bad as Northwest was, things will undoubtedly get worse in the future -- and, of course, a bunch of people in the Midwest will lose thier jobs.

Happy flying, y'all.

But as you mentioned, the proper time to eulogize Northwest was in 1989. Lately they've been miserable. I flew them over the holidays and they rapidly made my very short list of airlines I'd never use again.

...but hey, "Randall Cameron", those of us in the Cincinnati area always see reports that WE, not Minneapolis/St. Paul, endure the highest fares (all things being equal) of all major airports in the U.S. Nothing to be proud of, in any case -- especially since the wise analysts examining this merger say that even HIGHER fares will probably result, after paring back routes following merger.

Something to look forward to!

from their radio ads, too. now gone with eastern, pan am, twa...northworst no more.

only someone named "Garrison" would end up penning a story that would include the mentioning of having a house that was previously owned by someone or another, but always famous, who's name he could coincidently drop in the middle of any conversation with no regard as to whether or not it actually added anything to the event.

The element of nostalgia here is strong ... I will fly to Paris soon ... but it is not a romantic venture per se .... Would that it where such ... I too had imagined the escape to distant and alluring places in my youth but it did not happen.

The Pushkinia blossoms are easier to admire than the atrocious machinations of corporate takeovers/mergers and the wanton and casual impact it has on many peoples lives.

Living a couple miles from MSP, the Northwest/Delta merger is big news.

When Minnesotans and the airline pilots union look for "guarantees" that jobs will be kept, I scoff. It's annoying, in fact. The whole point of the merger is to get rid of jobs to create more profit for the executives, who are the primary shareholders of companies.

Both Garrison Keillor and John McCain remember the good old days before the young whipper snappers fouled everything up. Why I remember once back in 19 and 48 we were...