[Anonymous]

[Bullfrog]

Whilst there has been a thread on ‘former air routes’, how about general
memories.

‘Business class’ has been around for some 30 to 35 years. Prior to the introduction of business class on British Airways, I remember BA having Elizabethan Class which I think was for full economy fare passengers.

There also used to be the Apex & Super Apex fares, and in the days of SkyTrain by Laker, there were the ‘stand by’ fares offered by the legacy carriers.

[PatJordan]

I remember the stipulation that the cheapest fares had to include a saturday night stay.

Not forgetting the paper tickets which usually were inside a card wallet.

[ImissConcorde]

Don’t forget the sexist “Spouse Fares”.

The husband paid the full fare and accompanying wife paid half!!

[lloydah]

I’ve got a small bundle of “Unaccompanied child” wallets that I had to wear round my neck – SAS, BOAC, and some others, also a round the world BOAC ticket that unfolds a bit like a rectangular toilet roll with all the carbons in red. The luggage labels are old memories too with the 3 letter codes on them. I used to like looking at others’ cases to see where they were going/had been. Almost impossible now.

[AMcWhirter]

Perhaps the most generous air travel deal in the late 70s, early 80s was the US unlimited standby travel Airpass offered by Northwest.

I know it seems difficult to believe today, but Northwest sold an unlimited Airpass for either 30 or 60 days validity which covered its domestic route network.

Although standby only this wasn’t overly inconvenient on busy routes as travellers simply took their chances for the next flight an hour or so later.

Passengers were provided with a booklet of blank coupons and simply filled in the route or routing they required at the time of travel.

When the booklet ran out, Northwest provided another.

Sadly I believe this deal was axed sometime in the 1980s.

[Cedric_Statherby]

@LondonCity

I remember a not dissimilar offer to the Northwest “where shall we go today” ticket when LCY was brand new and trying hard to get people to use it. It was the “Mystery Tour” ticket.

You bought this ticket for a certain day and turned up at the airport at – from memory – about 7.30 am. The airline then looked at where they had spare seats and gave you a day return to one of their continental Europe destinations (there weren’t very many when LCY started). You were guaranteed a day trip to somewhere, and at least 6 hours in the city of their choice. Bring passport plus sense of adventure!

I believe the tickets were almost given away, no more than £30 return, and as I helped run a sports and social club at the time I bought quite a few for prizes in raffles. They were always very popular.

I don’t suppose it would be possible now with API, names on tickets and so much more bureaucracy

[craigwatson]

PatJordan – the saturday night rule is still alive and well, at least on travel from europe to north america, you will pay 2-3 times the cost of a return with a saturday night.

[LuganoPirate]

I remember being on the first flight from Rotterdam to LCY sitting in the front, doors open, with a headset chatting to the pilots who were friends of mine. The plane was either a Dornier or Fokker, can’t remember, nor can I remember the airlines name which was started by my friends who both got their twin ratings on my Piper Seneca.

Can anyone fill in the gaps here?

Then I flew the first service from Lugano to LCY via Zurich with the BAE 146 as a guest of Crossair. It must have been around 1992/1993.

[AMcWhirter]

Hello LP

I feel it must have been VLM who operated LCY-RTM using F50s.

Crossair and Swiss have always been fans of LCY. One reason was because LCY immigration clearance was speedy for Swiss nationals. Not only was LCY, at that time, uncrowded but Swiss nationals used the same immigration channel as did the other passengers.

By contrast in those days at LHR, Swiss nationals could not use the EU immigration lanes. They had to queue with all the others nationals and this could take time.

It was Crossair who first brought jets (BAe146s) to LCY in the early 1990s. (For a short time before that, Crossair operated between ZRH and STN with BAe146s. The STN route ceased when LCY came on line.)

Until then the only planes able to use LCY were DH 7 four-engined turbo-props. These accommodated around 50 pax and didn’t have much passenger appeal. They were the first plane allowed to use LCY on account of having STOL (short take off and landing) capability.

So, at a stoke, Crossair doubled the the capacity per flight, offered a faster and more attractive product and opened up LCY’s horizons. (The DH-7s of that era tended to serve nearby destinations such as AMS, BRU and CDG.)

[esselle]

Hello LondonCity/LP

It was VLM who ran the route from Rotterdam into City, and they originally flew in from Antwerp, in or around 1992.

Nice little airline.

[LuganoPirate]

Hi LondonCity, Esselle,

Thanks and I also thought it was VLM, but they started in 1992 and I made the flight in 1988 or 1989. I’ve tried looking in google but no luck there.

I remember one of the pilots so well, but not his name, as well as the flight.

Now it’s bugging me!!!

[AMcWhirter]

LCY opened in October 1987 with the first two users being independent airline Brymon and British Midland-owned London City Airways.

I don’t think either of these two carriers served RTM.

Maybe soon after there was a short lived service to RTM operated by a commuter Dutch airline (no longer in business) which operated with a smaller plane than the DH-7 ?

[OddvarJohansen]

I remember being allowed to stand (!) from Bangkok to New Delhi on Aeroflot because of a full flight.

[RobertMitchell]

I remember being invited by the chief pilot for BA to ride the jump seat from LHR to PRG in a 767. Got some great pictures for takeoff and landing.

[Author]

Posts