Those were the days

[Dod101]

I think my attitude to air travel (see the thread on travelling to WA) has for ever been set by the first time I flew, in 1968. With a young wife and 20 months old child we boarded a Boeing 707 bound for Hong Kong and a new life. 707s were not exactly spacious and the flight, looking back on it, was horrendous but we were young and adventurous. After leaving London the first stop was Frankfurt, then I think Beirut, Teheran, New Delhi, Bangkok and finally HK. I may have missed one or two stops. It was I think about 20+ hours all told. Air travel for the masses was still some way off and long haul holidays were simply not happening. In fact most of my new expat colleagues were still on contracts which gave them a sea voyage back to the UK every 3 years, although in the private sector at least that was quickly changed. Expat civil servants retained the right for as long as P & O were still providing regular passenger services back to the UK.

Breakdowns were a regular feature, and so sadly were air crashes and later, hijackings.

When I get aboard a large aircraft at Heathrow today I marvel at its size and reliability, and certainly in Premium Economy I have as much space as I need. I would not want to travel in Economy, certainly not long haul.

I did a lot of travelling over many years in all classes and it taught me just to go with the flow, and even now in what I must call old age, I just do the same.

Dod

[88V8]

When I get aboard a large aircraft at Heathrow today I marvel at its size and reliability, and certainly in Premium Economy I have as much space as I need.

I did a lot of travelling over many years in all classes and it taught me just to go with the flow,

As comfort has improved, so the airport experience has gone the other way, and nowadays the degree of aggravation and the delays seem almost designed to deter people from flying. I dare say private charter is another matter.

Go with the flow... yes, one needs to be a stoic...

V8

[Lootman]

the first time I flew, in 1968. With a young wife and 20 months old child we boarded a Boeing 707 bound for Hong Kong and a new life. 707s were not exactly spacious and the flight, looking back on it, was horrendous but we were young and adventurous. After leaving London the first stop was Frankfurt, then I think Beirut, Teheran, New Delhi, Bangkok and finally HK. I may have missed one or two stops. It was I think about 20+ hours all told. Air travel for the masses was still some way off and long haul holidays were simply not happening.

My first flight was also on a 707, from Heathrow to New York City in 1972. That was at about the range limit for that aircraft, or the similar DC-8, so refueling stops were routine at least westbound - typically in Gander, Newfoundland or Bangor, Maine.

Arriving at JFK our American airline pilot (it was Pan Am) pointed out one of the new-fangled 747s on the tarmac, which was about to revolutionise long distance air travel. He quipped that the bulge on the top was so that the 747 pilot could sit on his wallet. Presumably an in joke about the higher pay scales for flying that beast.

My preferred planes these days are the 787 and the A380. Although I have my first flights on an A350 and an A220 coming up in a few weeks, and am excited. In my view lie-flat seats have changed flying long-haul. BA was actually a pioneer with those in the late 1990s, although it has long since been overtaken by other and better airlines.

As comfort has improved, so the airport experience has gone the other way, and nowadays the degree of aggravation and the delays seem almost designed to deter people from flying. I dare say private charter is another matter.

Heathrow T5 First Wing check-in and security, then the Concorde Room, is the way to do Heathrow with style. But of course you have to pay up for that.

I had recently been thinking of flying private. There are plans that make it less exorbitant than you might think.

[tjh290633]

My first flight in 1948 was as an ATC cadet, in an RAF Dominie, a Dragon Rapide in civil use. This was from RAF Hooton Park in the Wirral. They were in regular use as airliners in the postwar period by Cambian Airways and others, and I had to go round again on my first solo at Cardiff in a Tiger Moth, because one of theirs was landing on the concrete runway at an angle to my grass runway.

My first commercial flight was in a BEA Viscount from Manchester to Belfast, followed later by a 707 of BA-Cunard to Kennedy, then a trip on an Allegheny 404 to Parkersburg WVa from Pittsburg. I forget how I got to Pittsburgh, but probably an United DC6 from La Guardia.

There was some adventure to flying in those days. I recall one trip by Lake Central in a DC3 from Toledo to Columbus, where the stewardess made her announcements without benefit of amplification.

TJH

[bungeejumper]

My first flight wasn't until the winter of 1971, but it was certainly memorable. Flying into cold-war West Berlin in a de Havilland Comet, a plane which had already chalked up 26 fatal crashes! But heck, the airline said that the metal fatigue had definitely been fixed now , and by the time I found out what my plane would be I was already in the departure lounge at Heathrow, so there was no going back.

For those too young to be aware of such things, West Berlin was a tiny island of capitalism in a 500-mile stretch of Russian-controlled, Mig-patrolled air space, and the air corridor for getting there was (ahem) interesting. Pilots were required to stay above 10,000 feet until they crossed the Berlin Wall, on pain of getting shot down - after which they had six or eight miles in which to drop to ground level. We knew we were getting there when the captain told us to fasten our seat belts and not to worry about the nasty noise coming from the engines.

At which point he threw the Comet's engines into reverse - the Comet was one of only a few planes that could actually do that while in mid-air - and we lurched downward like a hot air balloon with a hole in the top. People were panicking, people were being sick, people were praying.

All quite normal for the crew. We landed at Tegel on seven inches of fresh snow, with barely a bump as the Comet planted itself firmly on the runway. No drama at all, in fact. Not that I ever felt the need to see the sequel.....

BJ

[DiamondEcho]

My first flight wasn't until the winter of 1971, but it was certainly memorable. Flying into cold-war West Berlin in a de Havilland Comet,... For those too young to be aware of such things, West Berlin was a tiny island of capitalism in a 500-mile stretch of Russian-controlled, Mig-patrolled air space, and the air corridor for getting there was (ahem) interesting. Pilots were required to stay above 10,000 feet until they crossed the Berlin Wall, on pain of getting shot down BJ

My mother used to be air-crew for a BA pre-cursor (BOAC?) in the mid/late 1960s, and routinely flew to Berlin. Comets or DC-8's I believe. I last discussed this with her several years ago - when my wife and I happened to living in Berlin c12-14yrs ago. Apparently they always had Allied air-force fighter escort in over the then enemy air-space on approach/departure. The passengers were almost all military or government. The airline turned the flights around immediately. Her visiting us in Berlin say 40-odd years after flying there was the first time she'd been into the city.