May/June, 1977
page three
Interesting interlining
If you have time, a cruise would be fun
This column on discount travel information is
offered as a service to employees. We compile it from
material sent to the Piedmonitor and the interliiie
department. Neither Piedmont nor the Piedmonitor can
assume any responsibility for irregularities that may
occur in connection with offers that are described.
For the greatest variety in ships and ports
of call your best bet is probably ITR Interline,
Ltd., 39 West 55th St., New York, N.Y. 10019.
They have more than 500 cruises on 15 ocean
liners available this year at rates providing dis
counts of up to 65 per cent.
The sailings are aboard luxury liners in
cluding: Cunard’s Countess, Princess and Queen
Elizabeth 2, Holland America’s Prinsendam,
Rotterdam and Statendam, Norwegian Ameri
ca’s Sagafjord and Vistafjord, Costa’s Andrea
C, Angelina, Carla C, Enrico C, Federico C,
Italia and Leonardo da Vinci.
The offerings include three-day weekend
cruises from Florida to the Bahamas, two-week
Indonesian cruises from Singapore, transatlan
tic voyages between New York and England or
France, Mediterranean cruises from Venice and
Genoa, Bermuda cruises from New York, and
Caribbean cruises of two to 19 days’ duration
that start in 13 ports ranging from Boston to
Venezuela.
A listing of cruises with details of departure
dates, itineraries and fares can be obtained
from ITR, address above.
In addition to those exotic ports of call ITR
is also offering the leisurely elegance of Miss
issippi riverboat cruising at interline rates.
As with most ITR’s offerings Piedmont em
ployees, their families and retirees are eligible.
These cruises, aboard the historic Delta
Queen and the new Mississippi Queen, depart
every Saturday until December 17 and call at
Baton Rouge, Natchez and St. Francisville. The
Delta Queen sails November 25 and December 2,
9, and 16 for four day cruises. On November 28
and December 5, 12 and 19 the vessel leaves
for five-day cruises. For complete details write
ITR at address given above.
Try a different U.S.S.R.
While trips to Moscow, Kiev and Leningrad
don’t come along everyday, interline excursions
to the other side of the Soviet Union are even
more rare. The following Interline Reporter
tour includes the Black Sea Resort Yalta: They
say Yalta has a balmy, romantic atmosphere
where snow is rare even in January. Pink
almond blossoms are a familiar sight and sun
bathing on the beach is comfortable 200 days
a year.
This Interline Reporter tour, in connection
with KLM, is a 12-day, 11-night package that
includes Moscow, Simferopol (Capital of the
Crimea), Yalta and Amsterdam. All this for
$613.00 per person double, except January 2,
March 13, March 20 and March 27 when the
cost is slightly higher. The KLM transportation
is positive space and leaves from New York
every Monday evening from December 5, 1977
through March 27, 1978.
The package price includes all transporta
tion, transfers, accommodation in twin bedded
rooms with private baths in first class hotels,
all meals in the USSR, sightseeing, entrance
fees, theatre tickets, gala dinners and a wine
tasting party to sample the famous Crimean
wines. You will be escorted throughout your
stay by an English speaking INTOURIST Guide.
For additional information write Interline Re
porter Tours, 2 West 46 Street, New York, NY
10036. The tour is open to Piedmont employees,
spouses, children, parents and retired employees.
Headed for Hawaii?
If you’re going some place in the islands
other than Maui you might be interested in
Tropical rent-a-car’s special offer for airline
employees. Features include no mileage charges,
free pick-up at all island airports, free tour
information and all-island telex reservation
service. In addition to the basic charge — a
compact is $10 a day or $65 a week — you pay
only for your gas. The company has offices in
Honolulu, Kauai, Kahului, Maalaea, Maui, Hilo
and Kona. We assume the toll free reservations
number on Tropical’s brochure is good from
the continental U.S. That number is 1-800-446-
8008.
Mexican mark down
Special rates for all Piedmont employees
are being offered at the El Presidente Chapul-
tepec Hotel in Mexico City, the first luxury
hotel to open there since 1968. Effective im
mediately, the airline employee rate is 50 per
cent off' all regular room rates for airline
employees and members of their immediate
families who share the same room.
The rates from now until December 31 ai'e
$29.30 single and $33.70 double occupancy,
standard accommodations. You deduct 50 per
cent of that. You must show proper identifica
tion upon check in. For further information on
El Presidente Chapultepec, call the toll-free
number 1-800-223-1818.
Italy is inviting
News Tours, Inc. and Pan Am are inviting
interliners to meet at II Ciocco. Their three
interline programs range from four nights at
II Ciocco for $174 to four nights at II Ciocco
and three nights in Rome for $272. Prices in
clude round trip economy air transportation
between New York and Rome, round trip first
class rail transportation between Rome and
Pisa, round trip transfers in Rome and at II
Ciocco and breakfast and dinner daily at II
Ciocco. Several optional exciu’sions are also
available. The final departure in this offering is
on December 9, 1977. For further information
write News Tours, 5915 West Irving Park Rd.,
Chicago, Illinois 60634.
Christmas is coming
Thinking about Santa’s shopping. Caesar
Hotels makes it a little easier with the an
nouncement of their fourth annual “Christmas
Shopping Weekends.” These mini-trips are
planned so you can make the most of your shop
ping budget and get in that extra trip even
though not many vacation days are left come
November. Until December 15, 1977 you may
want to sneak in a week-end in London, Rome,
Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Madrid or Paris. And
if you are lucky enough to have more than a
week-end, this year they have new two-city
Christmas Shopping Weeks. For a green and
red brochure with all details, write Caesar
Hotels, Interline Vacations Department, 7733
Fcrsyth Blvd., St. Louis, Missouri 63105.
Father-doughfer flyers are indusfry first
Piedmont and Eastern chalked up an indus
try first this spring when an Eastern captain’s
daughter donned a Piedmont first officer’s uni
form.
Denise Blankinship is Piedmont’s second
woman pilot and one of only 15 female pilots
flying for commercial airlines in the U. S. The
Company’s first woman pilot, Cheryl Ritchie,
has been on the senority list since June, 1974.
1
%
The daughter of Capt. and Mrs. Clyde D.
Blankinship of Newman, Georgia, Denise grad
uated cum laude from the University of Georgia
in 1973. She majored in home economics but
flying was always her first choice. Denise
started taking lessons during her freshman
year and by the time she graduated, had earned
her commercial and instrument ratings. In
three more years she had gotten her air trans
port pilot’s ticket. She was working for Tifton
Contractors as a company pilot by then. When
Denise joined Piedmont’s spring pilot class she
was among the most experienced trainees with
3,700 hours.
Denise and her father fly out of Atlanta. He
is a DC-9 captain and she is a YS-11 first officer.
Several news reporters have interviewed them
there and say it is hard to tell who is the proud
est — Denise, with her very own three stripes
or Capt. Blankinship, with his only child in a
commercial pilot’s uniform.
Denise says her dad didn’t “push” her into a
flying career but admits having an airline pilot
for a father certainly helped. She says he al
ways told her “Fly only because you love it,
not because of the money.”
Though no airlines have father-daughter
pilot teams, Denise and her dad do fly together
in private planes. The family used to have a
Beechcraft Baron. Denise says they used to
discuss who would be captain.
Captain Blankinship said, “I never won the
arguments.”
Denise says a lot of pilots, including her
dad, look up to her. They’re not as tall as she
is, 5-feet, 11 inches.
But her best story on being a pilot involves
something an older, unnamed pilot told her
when she first started:
“Denise,” he said, “you’ll never make it as
a pilot. You don’t smoke. You don’t drink. And
you don’t chase women.”
Pilot requirements just aren’t what they
used to be.
BEFORE she actually joined the ranks, Denise went
through Piedmont's regular rigorous pilot training pro
gram.
AFTER she was officially hired Denise found time to
pose tor a picture with her Eastern Captain father. Both
are based in Atlanta.