This travel bag is an example of the promotional items that were given away by Australian airlines to encourage customer loyalty in the 1950s. There was fierce competition between the two major airlines in Australia at the time.

It appears to have been a gift to a passenger travelling on a Trans-Australia Airlines (TAA) flight and may have been a promotional attraction. At the time of their use Australian commercial aviation was governed by the Civil Aviation Agreement Act - 1952, otherwise known as the Two Airline Policy which ensured that only two airlines, Australian National Airways Pty Ltd (ANA) and Trans-Australia Airlines (TAA), operated the major trunk routes within Australia. ANA was a privately owned airline while TAA was owned by the Federal Government. Prior to the 1952 Act ANA had criticised the operation of TAA as unfair competition because the latter was the favoured airline to carry public servants and the mails. Although the Civil Aviation Agreement Act - 1952 ensured that the competition between the two airlines became a 'level playing field' with both sharing the mails and government business there was still an element of competition to entice customers to one or other of the airlines.

As ANA had its travel bag as an apparent incentive so TAA also had a similar product; exactly the same size as the ANA bag and made by the same company, Apec, in Fitzroy in Melbourne, but in blue vinyl with the TAA logo in the bottom right hand corner of the bag. It appears that the 'level playing field' extended even to the airline's promotions and enticements.


Sources
C. Arthur Butler, Flying Start: the history of the first five decades of civil aviation in Australia, (Edwards & Shaw, Sydney, 1971), p.98.

Ian Debenham
Curator, Transport
2009

The travel bag was manufactured by Apec of 110 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy in Melbourne. This company no longer exists.

This TAA travel bag belonged to the donor's aunt.

Little information has been found about the purpose and use of these travel bags. They are considered by former airline cabin crew to be too small for use as overnight bags and too large for a cosmetics case. They did not contain in-flight information such as route maps or other ephemeral souvenirs as these were usually contained in the aircraft seat pockets. It is possible that they were given only to passengers who purchased tickets from the major Trans-Australia Airlines (TAA) capital city offices. Like Australian National Airways (ANA) TAA may have offered only one class on their services during the 1950s so they were not a gift to premium passengers. They may have been available only to inter-capital passengers.

Perhaps the size of the bags was significant in their lack of use by passengers as 'walk-on' baggage and hence generally unfamiliar to airline cabin staff. Being too small as overnight baggage and too large for cosmetics the bags may have remained at the homes of the travellers and put to other uses, even as containers for sewing material. Businessmen would have carried their papers in their briefcases rather than transfer them to the ANA travel bag and there probably would have been a resistance to the thought of a business professional carrying his business papers in a vinyl bag bearing an airline logo rather than a fine leather brief or attaché case.

Later, the production of larger vinyl carry bags bearing airline logos became common during the 1960s and 70s but these bags were bigger and more utilitarian than the TAA travel bags and these decades saw a wider cross section of the Australian public travelling by air such that there was less stigma to using bag bearing an airline logo as 'walk-on' baggage.

Ian Debenham
Curator, Transport
2009

Travel bag, Trans-Australia Airlines, vinyl / metal, made by Apec, Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia, 1950-1957

Small dark blue vinyl carry bag with white plastic piping on upper edges and sides. Metal zipper opening with the zipper extending from the sides across the top adjacent to the blue vinyl handle. The handle is attached to the bag by metal fittings and metal rivets. There are five circular metal studs on the bottom to protect the bag from abarasion. The interior of the case has an alclad sheet metal former to maintain the shape of the case.

Made: 1950 - 1957

On the lower right exterior corner the TAA logo with 'Trans-Australia Airlines' beneath in red and white. In white on the interior of the side is the brand "AN/ Apec/ PRODUCT/ 110 GERTRUDE ST/ FITZROY/ PHONE JA 4882 / AUSTRALIA". On the zipper tag 'AERO'.

2012/20/1

1950 - 1957

300 mm

463 mm

113 mm