Bye-Bye Northwest Airlines

No question that there are too many airlines and, with fuel costs a negative impact to the bottom line, consolidation was inevitable. Delta and Northwest Airlines merging to become the world's largest carrier makes complete sense.

Took a moment this morning to head over to the Minnesota Historical Society web site and search the photograph collection for Northwest Airlines and found these. It's always fun to look back and see what times were like in the early days, and force myself to compare-n-contrast it with what I'm doing right now and what it will be like for my kids to look back on 2008.

No question it will seem quaint that Mom and Dad struggled with finding wireless internet access; that we used that silly Twitter thing; that Second Life avatars were what we used to represent ourselves; that we didn't have machine augmentation allowing our thoughts to just jack into the 'net and connect with others with our thoughts.

Though it's easy to brush off, this development is a melancholy one for many of us here in Minnesota. We've seen many brands go away (e.g., Dayton's, Norwest Bank) and others explode (Sound of Music turning into Best Buy Company) but it doesn't make it any easier to watch.

I doubt we'll see any improvements in leg room, seat width or less crowded planes. Air travel truly is a Greyhound bus in the sky and is one of my least favorite activities...though one I (and everyone, I'd guess) will put up with since it beats driving, the train, an actual bus or not going at all.