Airlines: Watch the Yellow Birdie

Amelia Earhart helped found Northeast Airlines 35 years ago, and some critics insist that that was the highest Northeast ever flew. Its equipment included the oldest DC-3s flying regular service in the U.S. Schedules through and out of New England were as patchy as a Cape Cod fog, baggage and reservations were often scrambled. Anguished anecdotes about Northeast service became a fad. There was, for instance, the plane that loaded up and then sat for so long on the apron that passengers joked to one another about not having a pilot. As...