Inter-airline co-operation
Air Support mentioned the co-operation between airlines (in his case Ansett & TAA) from the engineering point of view. I'm happy to say it was the same on the passenger handling side as well. I can remember starting an early shift for QF at Melbourne, just two of us getting things ready for the days work. We recieved a call from Customs to say a Yugoslav 707 had just landed and there weren't any Pan-Am staff (who were the handling cxompany for JAT) to meet the flight. The two of us met the aircraft and saw passengers through Immigration and Customs. By the time the Pan-Am staff arrived, everything had been done. Their Station Manager personally found us both to offer his thanks and we all got on with our own jobs then. Other airlines (including Pan-Am) would, if asked by us, carry staff discount or free passengers if we didn't have availability on our QF flights. It was definitely a 'help each other' atmosphere in those days. Sadly, within my working life, this co-operation gradually became less and less.