Air Travel Memories

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Viewing 13 posts - 106 through 118 (of 118 total)

  • StewartKidd1
    Participant

    Smells can do it too, Lloydah, there is no way that anyone who arrived at Kai Tak blindfolded i(n the days before air jetties) would not have instantly known where the were !


    LuganoPirate
    Participant

    What a story ToH. Brilliant. What we kids used to get up to when we travelled abroad. I thought it was just me that nicked all sorts of souvenirs, but clearly I was not alone. I was never that brave though. “Hats” off to you and LB!


    DavidGordon10
    Participant

    Does anyone remember the days when, if you had a business class ticket to JFK on BA or PanAm (I don’t know about TWA), you could get a free helicopter transfer to the E 34th street heliport? Much more fun than the Virgin limo.


    StewartKidd1
    Participant

    Yes, it was a great way to travel – until May 77 when one crashed and kills five. http://www.airdisaster.com/reports/ntsb/AAR77-09.pdf


    Bullfrog
    Participant

    One of my most memorable flights was the Air New Zealand First Class service from London to Los Angeles, and on to either Sydney or Auckland prior to 9/11.

    Admittedly there were only 3 rows of seats & yes, the old fashioned reclining seats. I vividly remember the wonderful food that was served. One dish was the most tasty rack of lamb I had tasted.

    What amazed me the most was the fact that prior to 9/11, the crew pointed out that there was 100 % coverage of every dish for the 12 passengers in First Class.


    millionsofmiles
    Participant

    I started flying in 1979 regularly, mostly from ZRH.
    The boarding passes just showed the flight number, seat number and smoking YES/NO, green or red color showed class of travel. No date, no name.
    The luggage tags just were handwritten tags, sometimes both airport code and flight number handwritten, sometimes just the flight number.
    My first First Class flight on Swissair (SR) was from MAD-ZRH-CPH, I remember they served three course meals on each sector and offered free cigarettes in small boxes of 5 cigarettes each.

    In the earl 80ies I often took the 7.30 SK flight OSL-CPH in their new EURO-Class (Business Class). I never forget how many people skipped breakfast and had some champagne minis and cognac…at 7.30 in the morning.


    DavidGordon10
    Participant

    I remember the 1977 crash StewartKidd, that was in the days when the transfer was on to the roof of the old PanAm building, the skyscraper built over Grand Central. In my day – late 80s – it flew into E 34th, actually at water level on the East river. It may have been very dramatic landing on the top of a skyscraper, but it was also dramatic descending surrounded by the lights of Manhattan skyscrapers.


    LuganoPirate
    Participant

    “Life” insurance Papillion? I’m looking forward to the headlines 😉

    Seriously, try your home insurance broker, they may be able to add cover. Otherwise call Lloyds of London. I sure they can help. I did this many years ago for cover for a cross desert (Sahara) car ride, which no one would touch but they put me in touch with some underwriters who covered me and a friend for a quite reasonable amount I seem to recall.


    macaulay
    Participant

    I miss a few airlines.British Caledonia, Laker, PanAm, (those wonderful walk up stand by ticket prices) even Australia’s Ansett .
    But of course Concord is the greatest loss.
    I had requested a min cake for my partners birthday, which they did not supply, but perhaps because of the large badge I gave him stating “50 and proud” the steward gifted him two bottles of Champagne as we left.
    On my second and last Concord transatlantic crossing I was in row 2 behind a movie star (well OK, it was Piers Brosnan) as we approached landing it was clear he was not going to “place his seat upright” and that no BA stewardess would dream of making him.
    So I pushed his seat forward and scolded the ladies as I left the plane.
    He in return gave me a withering look over his shoulder as he left the plane before me,with an old tennis racket!


    TiredOldHack
    Participant

    @papillon53: it’s easy to panic insurance companies.

    When going after a life insuranbce quote and they wanted to know if we indulged in anything that might be considered dangerous, I replied that we both flew hot air balloons, I rode motorcycles, we both skied, and my wife worked with radioactive materials.

    I’ve never seen such a fast response for ‘further and better particulars’.


    Gridley
    Participant

    Does anyone remember the “School Special” flights that BOAC ran from , I think, Hong Kong via Singapore, India, Karachi etc. in the early 50s. I used to get on in Cairo and they were great fun. Extra hostesses were on board to organise games and we all managed to win prizes!


    StewartKidd1
    Participant

    Oh yes, Gridley – and how ! Fell in love for the first time on a flight to BAH and had my first kiss on an HGK/LHR – different ladies however!


    canucklad
    Participant

    Macauleys memories of travelling on airlines no longer here got me thinking and listing—- 17 definates mostly from the UK and Canada— most missed CP, East African,Ansett and Air Anglia (always sat next to the window under the wings, was fascinated by the wheels raising and lowering into the wing- almost as fascinated as I was with double decker buses). Make. That a definate 19, almost forgot about B Cal! And Wardair! Beginning to think I’m a jinx- soon to be 20 with the demise of the airline that becane an integral part of my life every Sunday and Friday night!!!

Viewing 13 posts - 106 through 118 (of 118 total)
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