- The world's biggest airline collector. (upbeat music) - Japan airlines came out in 1977. The Hawaiian long dress. (upbeat music) Very traditional KLM blue. It's Northwest Orient,
Regal Imperial Service, the blanket, the pillow, the headset. - The Garuda 1995 timetable here. MV11 and 747200. - My favourite United
airlines meal setup ever. - This sugar is from 1950s. - It is. And this is from Malaysian Airlines and they used this set
up for probably 30 years. Look at the old ticket jackets here. Compared to these days we use iPhone. (sewing machine running) - I wonder if you can guess
what airline this crazy green and orange fabric came from. (upbeat music) I think you've flown this
airline more than anybody. - This is my favourite, look. So guys out on the airline
collection I've shown you, what's your favourite. Today I'm visiting the world's
biggest airline collector. He invited me to his house. He said there's even an
airport terminal at his house. (upbeat music) - Hi Sam. Welcome to my
pretend aviation terminal, here in Los Angeles, California. This looks and feels
just like an airport did probably about 25, 30 years ago. One of the reasons that I
recreated this look and feel is because when I was young, when I walked into an airport terminal and saw every airline's brand and all the different counters, I literally had to run up
to every single counter and get luggage tags and
timetables and ticket jackets. Right now we have seven
different airlines represented from the past, but I love each and every
one of these brands. Sam, since you're previously
a United Airlines flyer, let me invite you back over
behind the check-in desk of this United Airlines ticket counter that you might remember from your past. (upbeat music) Everything back here looks and feels just like a ticket counter
would have back then. And you'll remember, it
was crazy day back then, where we actually had paper
tickets and paper luggage tags depicting the destination
that you were going to fly to. So if you were to have
flown from Hong Kong to San Francisco, for example, you would have got this old luggage tag put on top of your bag, just like this. This bag tag would've got stapled to your United ticket jacket. And you might remember this from the past, this acted as the boarding
pass for United Airlines. - [Sam] Oh wow, the tulip, wow. - Yeah the United tulip. And check-in back then
was done via a computer that looked just like this. In fact this is an
original Apollo computer, which was the United Airlines
reservation system back then. - Wow. I remember in the early nineties, I used to fly my first
United business class. At that time was this tag. It was called a connoisseur class. - I loved how colourful
boarding passes were. So this happens to be
vintage Continental Airlines boarding passes, and you can see the blue and the orange. This was from their 747
Golden Jet services. Recreated all those as well, and old machines like this where they used to stamp your credit card, and charge slips, like
literally everything that might've been at a ticket
counter for the 70s and 80s. Outside of Pan-Am, America's second greatest airline was TWA. And I'm going to show you back how they used to do seat
assignments for a passenger in the 1970s. There was a sticker seat
map, just like this. This is the TWA Lockheed 1011, and you would pull off the
seat you desire just like this and stick it on the
boarding pass like this. - But these days we use an
app and choose ourselves. - I don't like it because I like to save every single boarding pass from every flight I've ever been on. And actually look at the seat map and choose the seat with a sticker. (upbeat music) - [Sam] Anthony, it's really cool. Where did you get all these
vintage airline seats from? - These are actually
generic airline seats, and I buy these in bulk, but actually replace all the seat covers and the way we do that is the next area that
I'm going to show you is with a gentlemen named
Armeck, who works here and works in our upholstery shop and recreates the airline
seat fabric for me of any airline that I
could possibly dream up. And so Continental was
one that I actually loved from my childhood. And these are the finished
product of what it looks like when we complete the whole process. (upbeat music) Here's my favourite KLM seat. Very traditional KLM blue with
the business class head rest and all the meal setup, blankets, pillows and everything that went with it. This is actually one
of my favourite brands. It's Northwest Orient,
Regal Imperial Service. It's a very 80s product. They called these colours,
burgundy and fawn. And you could see, I
had every little detail that went with this product,
the amenity kit, the menus, the blanket, the pillow, the headset. All the dishware from the meal setup. I do this with each
one of the replications that I made the seat replica for. This is our interior seat shop. And so it's actually in
this phase right here where we remake aircraft interiors from seat fabrics to wall coverings. And how to bring an
airline's brand to life, one of the most important
things you have to do is actually replicate what the seat and the wall coverings look like. And so you'll see on this table, I've actually got a lot
of different designs that we're actually working on right now. And this is an Air New Zealand fabric from the first class cabin
- [Sam] Wow. - from the 1980s. You can see here, we're
working on some KLM interiors. Those are some headrest we're making for vintage American Airline seats. (sewing machine running) This is my friend Armeck, who is actually responsible
for creating all of our seats and headrest and interior designs. And right now he's actually working on recreating seat fabric
for the first class cabin from Air India. And so we look at a
guide that we provide him for every airline that
I'm trying to replicate. And what Armeck does is he
recreates specific detail what that seat cover and seat
looked like back in the day. (upbeat music) I wonder if you can guess what airline this crazy green and
orange fabric came from. - This one here. Wow, it's so colourful. It's one of the most
colourful one I've seen. My guess is very tropical country. Like, very, very warm and lots of flowers. but I think it's Biman Bangladesh. Because I remember Biman has
floral seats on the DC10. - That's actually a really good guest. It's not Biman, but Biman does have a
very distinctive pattern. So this is actually Korean
Airlines from the 1970s. - [Sam] Korean Air. - [Anthony] Yeah. - [Sam] Unbelievable. - [Anthony] Can you imagine an entire 747 with this green seat in it? It was crazy. - [Sam] I like this one, this one looks like a shower curtain or something like that. Right? It looks like a curtain.
Which airline's that? - So surprisingly, that
design is Delta Airlines. That was their first class
seats on the Lockheed 1011. Imagine this is the seat back and these would be the head rest that went with this Delta seat. And so you can see how when
you put those on there, the seat starts to come alive. - [Sam] Oh.
- [Anthony] And this would have been the Delta product. They would have been side by
side like this on the aeroplane. - [Sam] Hey, stop playing
in your own airport, man. - Okay. But Sam, I have to point
out these seats right here. These are from TWA Ambassador
class from the 1970s and early 80s. And my favourite part about this is actually this tray set up, look at the tray liner and the dishware. This is actually really fine China. And I want to take you back now to the area behind the stage here, where I keep literally thousands of sets of vintage airline China from the past. (upbeat music) Sam, this is the area that
I refer to as the dish area. And it actually contains meal
setups from many carriers, from many eras, the 50s,
the 60s, the 70s, the 80s, even current day. My favourite United
Airlines meals setup ever was the Royal Hawaiian service look at this fantastic bowl,
- [Sam] Oh my God. - And the little drink straw that went with all the Mai Tais. - [Sam] What is this? Like ordering a Mai Tai
they would put this on. - Yup. - [Sam] Oh my God. I
couldn't believe this one. It looks like a canoe, right? - [Anthony] Yeah - [Sam] Like this is where
they set up the food. The appetiser? - [Anthony] This would have been fruit and like a salad and bread roll. - [Sam] Hawaiian meal. Oh my gosh. - And this is from the
1950s United Airlines. It's with the original embossed,
"The main liner" napkin, even the-- - [Sam] Wow. - [Anthony] Even the original sugar packet and the salt pepper packet. - So you're saying this salt
and pepper and this sugar is from 1950s. - It is. - You want to try it? 70 years old. Look at this, you even have
airline trolley, CA702. What's that code means? - That stands for Cart 702. This was a 747200 wide-body
cart on United Airlines and inside look how many I actually have. Every time I flew United
Airlines to Hawaii, I would take that straw stick. - All right. So you--
- I get a virgin Mai Tai. - You order, you order a virgin
Mai Tai and you get these. - Yeah and I make them give me the stick. - Very cool. - This is another unique one. This was United Airlines bento box for trans Pacific flights. They called this Royal Pacific Service. Had a place for the miso soup, chopsticks and various side dishes. (upbeat music) Coming to the centre of my dishware cage, where I keep all the
dishware from many airlines. - [Sam] This is crazy. Look at this place. - [Anthony] There's a lot here. It's actually pretty
well organised though. And I know we're just
about every single thing is on all the shelves, but this particular piece of furniture is actually really rare. This is the centre console table from a United Airlines 747200. It's an original. I had it shipped here from
Oklahoma city about 20 years ago. And I just love it,
reminds me of the past. So depending on the stage of flight, the centre console has multi-purposes. When you board it's usually
magazines and newspapers. Then at the cocktail and beverage time, it's glassware and alcohol. And then for meal services,
it's usually the tray sets. (upbeat music) This is old Olympic tray set up. And the one thing I love about this, Sam, is the tray liner. Look how detailed-- - [Sam] What is exactly
tray liner? Show us. - So tray liner is the piece of paper that sits on the actual top of the tray. And the reason I love tray liner is it brings the entire
dishware set to life. Like when I'm sitting here eating this, I know I'm on Olympic Airways. This area is a place where
I'm actually collecting things that I know that I'm missing. This particular one, this is a BOAC tray. And you can see that I
have very few pieces. The good news is I just found
all these missing things on eBay this week. So I can't wait until they arrive. - [Sam] Is that where you
bought your collection? A lot of collection were bought on eBay? - Yeah, eBay was actually probably
one of the greatest inventions for people who collect things and aviation memorabilia, there's
no shortage of it on eBay. I shop every single day on
eBay for aviation collectors. One of the most colourful
airlines setups around is actually this one. This is from Malaysian Airlines and they used this set
up for probably 30 years. It's one of my favourite reasons for flying Malaysian Airlines. This here is a centre
counsel from Lufthansa 747, another fantastic piece of aviation furniture.
- [Sam] Wow. Look at that. I like this one, because this one has like
drink holders and like--. - [Anthony] This is for the wine bottles. - [Sam] Where'd this come
from? This is also Lufthansa? - [Anthony] No, this is actually
the United Airlines counsel that was in the 747400, right
at the front of the bulkhead. - [Sam] You're the only
counsel collector I know. - I'm probably the only counsel collector. (upbeat music) Welcome Sam to the airline
uniform section now. And so this area contains uniforms from just about any
airline you could name. And it goes all the way
down to the back hall there. Uniforms are probably
the most difficult part for any serious aviation collector, for two reasons. One, because they're super expensive. And two, because most
stewardesses or flight attendants who actually wore these
at one point in time, rarely ever want to part with it. And so you either have to bid on eBay and it usually costs a lot of money and, or be lucky enough to
know someone who will donate or sell it to you. - You just need to have
a lot of flight attendant girlfriends. - That's very true.
- And then then you can get their uniform,
easily without paying for it. - That's a great idea. This is actually one of my favourites. This is Japan Airlines came out in 1977, has a fantastic hat with it, but this is a really
difficult uniform to find. A Singapore airlines sarong. I have the red, the traditional blue, and of course the green. For the different
positions on the aircraft. You recognise this one. - [Sam] Absolutely. Look at this. The only way in the world, a Thai dress, Thai Airways. - Yeah. My favourite part is
when you board Thai Airways, they're all in this
uniform through takeoff. It's such a fantastic boarding moment. 30 years ago it's just
continental orange one. But I love it because think about how
the logo is represented on all the pieces. On the shirt and on the scarf, just really brings the brand
to life on board the aeroplane. - [Sam] Yeah. - And for those of you who
might know this logo right here is affectionately known as the meatball. - [Sam] Meatball? - One thing you might not know is on almost every single flight to Hawaii, airlines had a special uniform specifically designed
just for that flight. They called it a mumu. And so this is a reflection of just about every
airlines mumu that was worn. This is American. - [Sam] What exactly is a Mumu? - A Mumu is like a Hawaiian long dress, something like this. - [Sam] And it looks floral pattern, but it also looks like a
pyjama kind of very relaxed, a very lazy boy kind of thing. - It was. And I've collected it from
so many different airlines. That's American. Here's Continental, here's a lot of United. - [Sam] Oh my gosh. - And so even the males had a version of-- (indistinct crosstalk) a Hawaiian shirt.
- [Sam] Which airline this is? - This is Continental Airlines. - [Sam] Oh my gosh. It would be pretty cool
to wear Hawaiian shirt to go to work. - How comfortable would that be? - [Sam] Yes. - I think this is actually my oldest one. This is a United Airlines
mumu from the 60s. - [Sam] You still have
the flower from the 60s? - [Anthony] Well I don't think someone-- - [Sam] Whoa, it's dried up. Is it real flower? It
could be pretty impressive. - Sam, besides just the uniforms. I have lots of things like the scarves that went with the uniforms, the ladies silk cravats. Many different belts, including
lots of different shoes. And of course it wouldn't be complete without a flight bag to carry. (upbeat music) Sam, I think you've flown this
airline more than anybody. - [Sam] Oh wow. You have Emirates uniform. - Yeah. - [Sam] That's amazing. Wait, I see even here there's a bag. And bag and shoes are Emirates. Red bag and red shoes. - Yeah. Having all the pieces is
actually a really important. - Well, actually, I'm going
to show you a picture. I was in the Emirates steward uniform. - Sam, probably the most important part of any airline uniform is the hat. And so this is my hat cabinet and this is actually one
of the craziest ones. This is Braniff Airlines. This is from the 60s. And can you just imagine
someone wearing this hat on an aeroplane today? I just got this one a couple of weeks ago. This is British Airways. - [Sam] Oh, very traditional. Oh, I found this one. This is my favourite, look, Emirates. Actually I think this hat is mine. I've done it many times. Do you like it? (upbeat music) - So behind all these uniforms, Sam. - [Sam] You've got
something behind as well. - I do, I actually collect-- - [Sam] Oh my gosh. This is like Alibaba, the door open. - Yeah. Luggage tags from
lots of different airlines. And I have several of these with different logos.
- [Sam] Qantas. Oh yeah. - I love the era of timetables. While technology is great, this is how you used to
actually get airline schedules. - I remember these United timetable, because when I was a kid in Hong Kong, I used to go to the
ticket office in Hong Kong at landmark tower and get these timetable. And I remember... And all the 800 flight
numbers going out to Asia, and 900 flight numbers to Europe and wow, I'm searching here. Look at this. Look at this. Lufthansa. Oh my God. I just found out from the
Garuda 1995 time table here, Garuda flies MD11 from Abu Dhabi. Two stops to Denpasar, Bali. Unbelievable, MD11 747200 in 1995. Probably the thinnest timetable
in those era, 1982 by PIA. Pakistan Airline. And what is so cool about it? It's the last page where
they show the fleet of Pakistani Airlines. At that time 707, A-300, DC10 and 747. And here you can see in 1982, it cost 9,406 Rupee, flying
Karachi-London round trip. - Sam, the next item to look at is airline ticket jackets. And let me just warn you. I like these almost as
much as I like tray liners. - [Sam] Really? - Yeah - [Sam] Show me. - [Anthony] Because all
the branding that exists on these ticket wallets
brings the airlines to life. And let's just look at
some of my favourites here. Look at this fantastic one
from Philippine Airlines. - [Sam] Wow. - [Anthony] And Cathay Pacific. Look how green.
- [Sam] Green Yes. - [Anthony] Here's one from Air India.
- [Sam] Oh my God. Gold.
- [Anthony] The Maharaja. - [Sam] Maharaja. - [Anthony] Qantas Captain's Club. How about this one for Iran Air. - [Sam] Oh, wow. - [Anthony] Great? - Look at the old ticket jackets here. Compared to these days we use iPhone, Look at all these past here on the phone. These were the days before
the technology exists, ticket jackets. So guys out of all the airline
collections I've shown you, what's your favourite? Is it all a uniform behind,
like what I'm wearing or it's the tray, the tray liner, or is it the timetable or is it a ticket jackets or is it because all the aeroplane seats or all of them? Tell me in the comments. He's got such a great collection. I love this United tulip sign. I'm actually going to take this away while he's still busy
sorting out his collection. (suitcase rolling) - Sam, Sam. - Uh
- Hold on for a second. - Yes, sir.
- Can I ask where you're going with that United airlines tulip? - Oh, I don't know. I hope
you can give it to me. - I actually think I need
to inspect her suitcase. - Oh no.
