This Heatwarming Thanksgiving Classic Movie Is Also An Avgeek Time Capsule
Every Thanksgiving, millions of Americans settle down after a turkey dinner for a holiday tradition. They laugh as Neal Page (Steve Martin) and Del Griffith (John Candy) suffer through the worst Hollywood-ized version of Thanksgiving travel. John Hughes’ 1987 classic, Planes, Trains and Automobiles stands the test of time with relatable humor and a heartwarming ending. For aviation enthusiasts, there’s another reason to watch. The airlines and airport featured in Planes Trains and Automobiles are a time capsule and a trip down memory lane for avgeeks.
Mid-Central Airlines: A Caricature of 1980s Budget Airlines
When Neal Page’s business trip goes sideways with a winter storm, he finds himself dealing with the laughably bad staff at Mid-Central Airlines.
Mid-Central is a great caricature of some of the airlines that existed in the early days after the deregulation of the 1980s. While watching, you can definitely relate to some of the poor experiences of that era. New York-based Tower Air comes to mind along with a host of other airlines who were dealing with bankruptcy and labor challenges during that era.
Hughes’ fictional airline had a host of delayed departures, cancelled flights, a weather diversion to Wichita, crabby flight attendants, and a monotone Ben Stein announcing Neil’s cancelled flight.
Trans-American Airlines: Airplane!
Avgeeks and film aficionados immediately key in some of the exterior plane shots in Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Hughes’ recycled film from the movie Airplane!
Trans-American Airlines 707 makes a sneaky cameo. The production team obscured the tail but the similarities are unmistakable. Aviation nerds like us have paused the movie just to examine the scene thinking “hmm, I’ve seen that before somewhere.”
TWA: The Real Airline Star In Planes, Trains And Automobiles
While no real airlines were featured in Neil’s and Del’s travels, multiple TWA aircraft are visible in scenes at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.
The St. Louis airport scenes include TWA L1011s on the ramp, 727s taxiing, and even footage of a TWA MD-80 on departure. It’s a bittersweet reminder of how busy St. Louis Lambert used to be.
Southwest Makes A Cameo In Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Also visible at St Louis Lambert is a brief clip of a Southwest 737-300 taxiing to its gate at St Louis Lambert. At the time the movie was filmed, the Dallas-based airline had only been serving the St. Louis airport for two years with flights to Chicago-Midway, Little Rock, Houston Hobby, and Phoenix. Today, Southwest is now the dominant carrier in St. Louis with around 110 daily departures.
America West, American, and US Air Make Subtle Appearances
In a brief b-roll clip from New York, American Airlines Boeing 767 taxis past. In a cut scene showing a snowy O’Hare, multiple US Air DC-9 jets are briefly shown parked at the gate. Near the end of the movie, an America West ad shows discount flights to Phoenix and Tucson. Back in the ’80s, you could easily fly to the land of the desert sun for less than $100 each way.
The Airports of Planes, Trains and Automobiles
The film’s airport scenes span New York to Wichita, Kansas with an additional stop at St Louis Lambert to pick up their rental car.
New York serves as the starting point of the trip despite Neal’s ticket. The departure boards and terminal architecture look similar to LaGuardia airport. While multiple pages online cite that the scenes were filmed at New York’s LaGuardia old terminal (and it does look similar), others state that the NY airport scenes were filmed in Hollywood or St. Louis Lambert. We may never know.
O’Hare International Airport (ORD) is the promised land Neal never quite reaches by air. The only scene supposedly showing a snowy O’hare is a brief cut with a terminal filled with US Air DC-9 jets. US Air never really had a particularly large presence at O’Hare making the footage more likely taken from one of their hubs in the northeast. (You can watch the brief scene in the timestamped YouTube clip above.)
Wichita, Kansas becomes the unlikely setting for the film’s pivotal weather diversion. The terminal is so generic that it too was likely just a Hollywood set.
Lambert-St. Louis International Airport (STL) hosts perhaps the most memorable aviation scenes in the entire film. A frustrated Neil walks on the tarmac at Lambert to get back to the car rental desk after his rental was stolen from a spot.
Neal’s profanity-laden confrontation with the Marathon Car Rental agent (Edie McClurg) was pure comedy classic. His vulgar rant likely led to the film’s R rating. (We even tracked down a great video by Ryan K Films above showing where the St. Louis airport scenes were filmed.)
Why Planes, Trains and Automobiles Stands The test of Time
Planes Trains and Automobiles captures something essential about the human spirit and frustrations of travel. Anyone who has ever flown has felt the annoyances and fallout of an on-time flight changing to delayed, then diverted, then finally cancelled. As if things couldn’t get any worse, they did for Neil. An annoying passenger who then becomes an unbearable and unwanted travel partner. Yet through all the absurdity, Del somehow turns into a friend by the end.
As fans of everything aviation, the film works on so many levels. We’ve all experienced the pains of travel and met people we can barely stand to be around for a few moments. Yet travel also reminds us of how fortunate many of us are to be able to have something to come home to at the end of a trip. And it reminds us of the opportunity to extend that gratitude to someone in need, just like our buddy Neil did with Del–the shower curtain salesman with nowhere to go.
As you settle in for some movie watching this Thanksgiving, take a moment to appreciate the brilliance of John Hughes and appreciate his attempt to portray the world of airlines, airports and travel within his larger plot to remind us of why we take the time to give thanks each year.
