Jan 30th, 2018 : Mohawk

Not the tribe or haircut, the airline. In the late 1950s Mohawk was hearing squawks from customers because the competition have
switched to jets. But for Mohawk to survive they needed to fly two of their DC-3s an couple more years before they could afford all jets.



So the collective wisdom of the airline and ad men came up with a clever solution. Sex sells, duh.
Just turn back the clock when sex was cheaper and less scorned. The marketing ploy, make businessmen feel as if they were enjoying
an exclusive private club. Interiors featured brocade curtains and carriage lamps, some flights were restricted to men only,
stewardesses dressed like dance hall hos passing out 5 cent cigars, pretzels, and free beer.



It worked brilliantly; suddenly passengers wanted to fly the previously scorned airplanes instead of their faster rivals.
During the two years of service, 1960-62, Mohawk served 31,700 cans of beer, 17,600 cigars, a ton of pretzels, a half a ton of cheese,
and earned enough money to buy new airplanes.



Actually Mohawk was pretty cool, in 1958, Ruth Carol Taylor became the first African-American flight attendant in the
United States... but fired her six months later for being pregnant.
In 1961 Mohawk was the first airline to use a centralized computer-based reservation service, and in 1965 the first
regional airline to use flight simulators. Mohawk was sold to Allegheny in 1972.

link

Fascinating. I love stuff like this!

What Pam said.

What TWA said.