This is the Last Christmas For American’s MD-80 Fleet

MD-80s are great planes and have been solid workhorses throughout the years. I grew up with them and preferentially flew them when I had the opportunity. I've taken hundreds of trips on them through the years.

I'll miss these planes.

One should be in the AA Museum or a museum somewhere

I always loved flying on the MD-80. Best seating, comfortable and roomy. Today's more modern planes are configured for the benefit of the airlines, not the pleasure of the passengers!

Kent Wien posted a phenom vid on why he loved the MD-80. Worth a watch if you have ten minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R0CViDUBFs

I will miss them..they replaced the 727 "workhorse" that american had,and were fairly comfortable aircraft..goodbye old friend..kind of like saying goodbye to that silver bird that had the aa on the tail!

Sorry to see the DC-9s (-10 -20 -30 -50 -80 (i.e. MD-80) -90 & the B-717) going the way of 727s, L-1011s, DC-10s, etc. Still, there will be a few MD-80s still flying for a while. It's a nice airplane to fly. Comfortable cockpit, easy to operate, reliable, and so on. I've give a lot of type rating rides and IOE checks in the DC-9 family of aircraft. But then I retired so there's no reason why the -80 shouldn't retire too.

Best

Capt Rick Cremer
ATP DC-9 (ret.)
FAA Aviation Safety Inspector (ret.)
Mechanic, A&P
Flight Instructor
Ground Instructor
Aircraft Dispatcher
Air Traffic Controller

Delta will still continue flying them for a bit.

I will bet that I flew nearly a million and a quarter miles on AA's MD 80's from 1984 until 2006. That aircraft was basically all I flew in those years out of O'Hare and Miami.

We just retired the rest of ours at Allegiant last month. We were sad to see them go. Can’t beat that engine sound!

I logged 20,000 hours in the DC-9 series - almost all of them - before I retired in 2015 (Ozark, TWA, American). I can count on one hand the number of times I was met by ARFF in 37 years. She treated me very well. In addition, the P&W engines were extremely reliable, never had an inflight shutdown or failure during my entire career.

the DC9 is similar to the MD80. The DC9's engines were noisier. The MD80 more quiet. Either one was a pleasure to fly in. I made many trips on both aircraft and are my favorites in civilian transport. I am a U.S.Air Force Veteran.

Can't wait. Noisy B------s that go over my house!

The “Mad Dog” will always be one of my favorite aircraft to fly in. I had more legroom in those planes than American’s Boeing 737-800s. Nothing like listening to those Pratt & Whitney JT8D-200 series turbofans spool up on engine start and the start of the takeoff run.

Really glad I've had the privilege of not only photographing these planes but also being able to fly in them several times. Good legroom even in economy, and you gotta love the characteristic whine of those JT8Ds. Plus they look great in AA's bare-metal livery with the red, white and blue stripes.

I’ve flown numerous times on MD-80s(typically the MD-82 or MD-83 and once on a MD-88)operated by TWA,American and Delta .Like the Boeing 727 before it the MD-80 proved to be a very effective workhorse on short (and some intermediate) length runs. And McDonnell Douglas aircraft have a reputation for longevity so many of these aircraft will still be flying for years to come. A popular running gag is that sometime in the 25th century one might be able to see a DC-8 flying a cargo route in Latin America!

In the accompanying video at 0:33 there appears to be an MD-80 with its tail visible in the new American paint scheme, which was something we had believed, confirmed by the airline, that would not happen. Does anyone know the registration or tail number, or have an actual photo of this aircraft?

I'll definitely miss the Super 80s when they're gone. Growing up about an hour south of DFW, we took those everywhere we went, which was mainly to ATL, AUS, SAT, and even up to BWI. My longest flight on one was DFW-PDX. Got to fly on one a few days ago on Christmas ATL-DFW and enjoyed every minute of it. Hoping to get at least one more flight in.

A bulkhead window on the mad dog has always been my favorite American Airlines coach seat.

I remember moving up from the F100 to the Super 80's. I sure have spent a lot of time on them.

I had plenty of rides in Trans-Australia DC9-30s, only one in an MD 80-something of Korean Air. I loved them all....vale DC9 family....sad to see them go. The 717 lingers on here in Australia.

The 1st class lavatory had enough room to host a small party. Placing it aft of the boarding door was genius! Instead, we will have the 737 MAX, and the 737-800 reconfigured to fill it to the max...

The most beautiful plane form when viewed from the ground.
Art