Pacific Southwest Airlines was a United States airline headquartered in San Diego, California, that operated from 1949 to 1988. It was one of the first large discount airlines in the United States and is considered a precursor to Southwest Airlines. PSA was known by its slogan "The World's Friendliest Airline" and for the iconic smile painted on the nose of its airplanes. Opinion L.A. of the Los Angeles Times stated that PSA was "practically California's unofficial in-state airline for almost 40 years."
PSA is one of the four heritage airlines that form US Airways, the other airlines being America West Airlines, Piedmont Airlines and Allegheny Airlines.
Its Boeing customer number was 14. Following the merger with USAir, the PSA name was given to Jetstream International Airlines in order to preserve the PSA name and trademarks.
I remember flying as a passenger on PSA from L.A. to San Diego during the late 70's and early 80's. Back then the stewardesses were sexy and very friendly. It's sad that today so many people would take offense or advantage of such things. Back then it wasn't uncommon for a stewardess to hand a pair of wings to a child, or a deck of cards to a passenger, offer a free drink to a passenger that seemed to be having a bad day. A smile, a joke, or especially cutting up during the pre-safety brief made flying fun. Back then the stewardesses didn't seem so stressed or have to take so much crap from passengers either. God bless them all.
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