Thanks for the suggestion
One thing: Are we allowed to look back here, here, or here to check our previous answers to this question? 
The term ālegacy airlineā is stupid in my oh-so-humble opinion. Thereās *nothing ālegacyā about them. They just happend to be older airlines that have survived mismangement.
Legacy doesnāt even really apply for the airlines. Hereās the two definitions of legacy:
1 : a gift by will especially of money or other personal property : BEQUEST
2 : something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past *
The first definition obviously doesnāt apply. Going to the second definition: what was transmitted or received by an ancestor to make the so-called legacy airlines legacy?
Because these airlines are composed of other airlines, why not extend the poll to the airlines that merged into these.
Hereās a few airlines I can think of that were merged into the so-called legacy airlines:
Eastern is now part of Continental
Ozark is now part of American due to TWAās merger into American
Hughes AirWest (itself a merger of three airlines), Southern, and North Central merged into Republic and then merged into Northwest (this is the reason why NWA has so many DC-9ās)
PSA was raped by US Airways (USAir)
Air Cal is now part of American.
Piedmont also went to US Airways (actually, it was USAir at the time).
Because they donāt exist anymore.
And I was under the impression that EA dissoved and sold its route network to CO and AA.
Donāt forget Westernās merger with Delta. I noticed flight attendants wearing pins that said āRDā on them. When I inquired they said it stood for āReal Deltaā. There was quite a flap merging the unions and pilot schedules.
Eastern was sold to Texas Air, owned by Frank Lorenzo. The unions were asked to take cuts in benefits. The mechanics and ramp service people went on strike. The pilots and flight attendents joined in a sympathy strike.
Lorenzo sold the Air Shuttle to Trump and other parts of Eastern to Continental at terms that were not good for Eastern. Eastern then filed for bankruptcy. They sold their Latiin American services to American and transatlantic services to Continental.
In January 1991, Eastern, one of the oldest airlines in the USA, died due to the strikes by the idiots in the union and by the idiot in management.
The poll should be one of which airline is your favorite, whether itās still flying or not.
Still, Eastern would NOT have been one of my favorites. No, Far from it! I flew on Eastern once (and ONLY once). It was my 3rd trip on a jet airliner, and I was every bit as excited about it as I was my first. During the flight, a male flight attendant singled me out and asked me for my ticket. Iād put my ticket away in my bag, but had my boarding pass handy so I handed that to him. I figured how could I get a boarding pass without a ticket? He snidely said, āWould you like to BUY a ticket now?ā I told him, "No thanks, I have one already. I motioned to the guy next to me that I had to get into the overhead bin - he got up, I got my ticket out and handed it to the boy-stew. He examined it, handed it back to me and then just walked awayā¦ no aplogy - nothing. That really stung me and left a pretty bad āEasternā aftertaste in my mouth.
TWA would be my pick.
In the āno longer airborneā category my picks would be National and PanAm.
If weāre going to turn this into an āairlines that no longer existā discussion, consider Mohawk and Allegheny (became part of the original US Air); America West (lastest addition to US Air); Capital (bought by United, I think); Texas International (bought by Continental); Braniff (just plain folded); and Peoples Express (maybe another Continental buyout on its death bed).
Bonanza, Republic, Lake Central, Florida Express, and Northeast have also disappeared.
For the purpose of this poll, Iām going with American, but itās far from my favorite airline. Being a former New Englander whose first favorite airport was KBOS, the āyellowbirdsā of Northeast have found a soft spot in my heart, though Iām not sure whether Iād ever flown them.
Hereās a research assignment ā¦
I donāt know if this one is still flying or not, but it would never be classified as a āLegacyā line: Boston-Provincetown Airways.
Another dead airline: Champion (hubbed out of KLAS).
Gasping its last breath? Hooters.
It was Provincetown-Boston Airways (PBA) and their niche market has been filled by CapeAir.
I had the pleasure of flying the old PBA DC-3s on many an occasion heading for the Vineyard or Provincetown as a jumping off point for some Downeast sailing.
You could tell all the āold handsā on the planes if it was raining as weād all don our foul weather jackets before boarding. All of those old birds leaked like a sieve, but they were utterly reliable and would shake, rattle and groan their way to your destination.
It was rather other-worldly to arrive in BOS from LGA via the shuttle, get off the usually shiny new 727, usually via the rear airstairs if you were in the rear of the aircraft, and see the prehistoric appearing PBA DC-3 waiting for you.
If youāre heading for the Vineyard or Nantucket nowadays from NYC or BOS, you could do a lot worse than to consider flying with CFIJās wifeās employer, Linear Air.
People keep screwing up the English language. PBA was an old airline - it started service in 1949. If people are using ālegacyā to mean old airlines then PBA would have been one. If you go by aircraft used, they would also be a legacy airline. They flew the worldās highest time DC-3.
Continental is good for me, they protect me he he he. 