Pride Air Offers Trips East for Price of 2 Meals

SAN FRANCISCO — For the price of a pair of good San Francisco dinners, a new airline, Pride Air, sold ultra-cheap transcontinental flights Wednesday to hundreds of people who formed a line that ran around a block.

A crowd of more than 500 people was drawn to a downtown hotel by an advertisement that offered “the first 2,000 customers” flights from San Francisco and San Jose to seven Florida cities for $89 and to New Orleans for $79, without restrictions. Round-trip coach flights to the Florida cities cost $178; to New Orleans, $158.

Some of the people had been waiting since before dawn for the 10 a.m. start of sales in a hotel ballroom for flights on the employee-owned airline’s Boeing 727s. The airline started flying passengers Aug. 1.

Employees Funded Firm

Pride Air’s initial capitalization of $15 million to $20 million was contributed by employees. Most of them were formerly with Continental Airlines, which filed for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the U.S Bankruptcy Code. The airline said all of its pilots were formerly with Continental.

Outside the hotel, the crowd in Union Square was in a merry mood, ogled by the crowds of tourists that always jam the city’s most fashionable center for shops, department stores and hotels.

One of those in line was John Plunkett of San Francisco, who said he had been waiting in line since 6:30 a.m.

“I’m going to West Palm Beach to see my relatives,” he said, adding that “I wouldn’t go if the price was regular. . . . I think it’s a great idea. It’s a funny name for an airline, though.”

Nearby, Ed Barnes of San Francisco said he had been waiting since about 6 a.m. to collect his ticket to New Orleans, near where he has relatives. He said he wouldn’t go if Pride Air was charging its regular fare of $98.

Barnes said his sister flew Pride Air from New Orleans to San Diego with her four children this month for $500, round trip.

Pride Air serves 15 cities out of New Orleans. In Florida they serve Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa, Sarasota, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami. The airline also serves Denver, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas and, in California, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles and San Diego.