The February 1984 issue guided readers through the complex world of business etiquette in Thailand.
As the slightly fuzzy cover just about depicts, the star of the February 1984 issue was Thailand. “Unlike its neighbours, the kingdom has never experienced the diluting effects of colonisation.” Thus some help was required for unsuspecting business people, who were told that “rigid control of emotions can make life baffling for the visitor” and advised to avoid “loud talk and excessive laughter”.
BT’s travel editor took a trip in a then 50-year-old DC-2 passenger aircraft. First impressions were good, thanks to comfort and spaciousness; his excitement quickly abated after take-off. “Sluggish and noisy… about a couple of hours flying is as much as any passenger could endure.”
Elsewhere, we analysed the impact of the Round the World fare, brought into being by Pan Am’s new-found liberty after quitting IATA six years before. At the other end of the scale was a comparison of inter-city shuttle networks in Britain, the US and Brazil – just “turn up and ride”.
A flight of fantasy came from a feature on syndicating your own aircraft. With costs for commandeering a plane prohibitive once you factored in flying lessons, taxes and fuel (estimated at £10 just to get to the end of the runway – about £30 in today’s money), the writer guided readers on the subject of what you might call air share.
HIGHLIGHTS
Screening procedure
An advert for Skyguide, the Ceefax of flight information. To access, users needed a decoder and, voila, their TV would display the arrival and departure boards.
Read it and weep
Auberon Waugh reviewed books such as The 1984 South American Handbook, “far better than the benighted region deserves”, and Life in Russia: “I have never been and don’t want to go.”
Tomorrow’s world
As aircraft design seemed stagnant, we looked at past advances with a view to the future. “In principle, we have the technology to design a hypersonic transport.” Last year, Boeing revealed its first hypersonic concept for passengers.
Best bar none
“How do you find the best watering hole? You follow the men with the reddest noses,” began a guide to the world’s best bars. At Harry’s New York Bar in Paris, patrons’ dogs were given “drinking bowls filled with water laced with crème de menthe”.
