Originally Posted by
F15andMD11
Not on the Patriot Express. That was a regular flt that went to stateside pax terminals, no weapons.
Yeah it was cheaper to fly NWA/Korean, but it was very convenient for a family. How easy was it to board a flt at the base? Now a family of 4 has to load up in a little van or bus to the regional airport, transfer, fly up to Korea or Japan and then push the strollers through those airports. Its been crazy from what I've heard.
Word is its coming back! Lets hope! Rumor is a new F/A class this winter, perhaps another hint.
Respectfully, I completely disagree. The rotator was horrible for families. Going to Incheon from anywhere in Korea is painless -- whether it be by car, taxi, bus, subway, or train.
The problem with the rotator was that it wasn't World's fault but the military itself. You had to show like 4 hours before and sit in the secure area of the crappy Osan pax terminal. Shoving 300+ people into this area was completely unacceptable. Additionally, if you had the layover in Kadena, that layover was 4-6 hours!!! I remember spending many hours in the secure area at Kadena and it was just an aweful experience. I think my total transit time from Korea to the Seattle took over 24 hours -- and then I needed to take two more flights to get to my final destination.
Assume disaster would strike ... and occasionally it did; the airplane would break, World crew rest problems (yes its happened), sending 300 people over to airmen snuffy at the base lodging office was "the perfect storm".
With DAL/Korean Air, 15 hours and I was in either NYC, CHI, or ATL. Sometimes, you were bumped into Business or First Class! For those of us who traveled back to mainland on orders during our stay at Osan, you did everything you could to get out of flying the rotator!!!
Originally Posted by
dutch747
Yes. It was actually called the Patriot Express.
I'm confused. This was a free trip to military families. Equivalent of a military hop. I flew it when I was in the Air Force to OSAN and paid only some tax making the grand total airfare $35 for me, the wife and two kids. Don't know what your talking about but its not the Patriot Express. Some people complained about our service to the higher ups, we always gave hot meals, hot towels, it was better than any commercial economy - but some didn't see it that way.
There's a lot of talk right now about bring back this run. Apparently the new AMC Commander wants this back. Stay tuned.
The rotator was essentially free to "space available" passengers. However, it wasn't free for people on orders. Many military members couldn't understand why their tickets were so expensive but they weren't allowed to book cheaper tickets on other commercial carriers.
I remember when we sent F-16s to RedFlag Alaska (I think it was RedFlag). Anyhow, for the people who needed transportation to AK, the squadron commanders wanted to save money by flying people on the regular KC-10s that would come in to Osan (a free ride). Unfortunately, there was some government rule that you could not do this. Even though those KC-10 seats were available, the military still had to pay the cost of flying those guys to AK ... whether it was by KC-10, World Rotator, or another commercial carrier.
Bottom line, World provided a wonderful service to the military. But the military being the military, found ways to screw it up.
-Fatty