For those who do not know me, I grew up in an international family in Tokyo, Japan. Having family to see back in the US East Coast, I was involved in a lot of air travel from a young age. According to my parents, my first flight was when I was 5 months old, on a Northwest flight from Tokyo to Detroit.
Naturally, I came to love air travel and aviation, and with it came many memories including photos, model airplanes, gifts, and other items. Many of them are still around, collecting dust.
Now that I’m back in Tokyo for a little while, I had a chance to dig through some old printed photos and aviation memorabilia in closets around the house. Most of my stuff is from the 2000s.
Here’s some that I’ve found so far.
To start off: This is my AAdvantage card, which has my name and AAdvantage number on it. These obviously do not get passed around today, and I love the previous American Airlines logo and design.
The back reads:
- “Please give your AAdvantage number when making reservations”
- “Visit our website at www.aa.com”
- “Or contact your local American Airlines reservations office”
I presumably received this when I first joined the loyalty program many years ago.
This is my dad, my brother (in the stroller), and I at Guam International Airport. The airport appeared quiet, and we walked towards our gate, which was gate number 20.
This was the view from the Fiesta Resort Guam, which is now the Crowne Plaza Resort Guam by IHG.
That’s me in front of a Continental Airlines Boeing 767 that took us to Guam.
Continental used to have a base in Guam with Boeing 737s and Boeing 767s. United now operates this base after the merger, with flights throughout the Asia Pacific.
This is an American Airlines Boeing 777-200ER at Dallas Fort Worth, with the previous bare metal livery. This was taken on a connection from Florida, onwards to Tokyo Narita.
This livery is personally my all-time favorite. It’s such a classic; I think it’s the best livery American will ever have. Although these have been replaced with the current livery we’re all familiar with now, they still have a heritage Boeing 737 with this livery still flying around today, with the registration N921NN.
I was also a huge fan of the DFW Skylink.
“Doors are closing. Please do not block the doors.” Those who frequent DFW can probably imagine the Skylink jingle and that announcement.
And speaking of American Airlines, I found plenty of little aircraft models in the closet. Clearly old, with the plastic starting to show some yellow.
There’s something about the old AA logo, too. Such a classic.
A couple more smaller ones in the same livery, also a Boeing 777-200ER.
This is a Japan Airlines Boeing 747, with the previous Japan Airlines livery, both of which you won’t find anymore. Unlike American Airlines with their heritage liveries, JAL does not do any on their aircraft.
Similarly, here’s an ANA Boeing 747.
Interestingly, this aircraft is still active today. JA8958 went on to become a cargo aircraft for a few different carriers and is now with Emirates, operated by ACT. The current registration is TC-ACG, according to airfleets.net.
Here’s a Southwest Airlines model with a previous generation livery. This aircraft, N316SW, was scrapped in 2012.
Finally, we have some Boeing 777-300ERs, in the current Japan Airlines livery.
These JAL 777s will be a thing of the past soon enough though; they’re slowly getting replaced by the A350-1000s.
I’m still going to be looking for more around the house throughout this weekend, and I’ll be sure to post more whenever I see good ones. It’s a lot of fun going through these, and it’s a reminder to always capture every moment. One day, I’ll be looking back at my life today just as I’m looking back at these trips from the 2000s right now.
All photos taken by the author.
