[Guesswho100]

Almost 12 months to the day I stepped out of the front lavatory of the Club World cabin on a BA flight to Antigua and accidentally bumped into Roger Daltry. I was most apologetic and he was very understanding. Years ago I was in BA F from JFK to LHR, in the F lounge at JFK I went to select a newspaper and got talking to the chap next to me – it was John Major. On the flight he was in 1A and some lady Tory ‘grandee’ (all twin set and pearls) who accompanied him was in 1K – he worked, she drank champagne (as I did). In the same cabin was David Walliams. Many years ago the actor Simon Callow was in the seat in front of me, it was the old Club World cradle seats, so that illustrates how long ago it was.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Sami

[Johnnyg]

About 6 or 7 years ago I was visiting my cousin who was a patient in a very exclusive private London hospital, as I got into the lift Ronnie Corbett got in with me. ( He had had a knee operation a few days before).

Another one about Sting, in the mid eighties I was in a Thames riverside pub one lunchtime with my then partner , there were few people in, when a passing customer knocked our table and the drinks went flying. It was Sting. He was gracious, bought replacement drinks, apologised again and chatted with us for about 10 minutes saying he was waiting for a mate. A few minutes later his mate walked in, bought us all a drink and they went off. His mate was Paul McCartney.

When I worked for local radio and a stint on 2 year for ITV sport, I met more celebs than you could shake a stick at , some nice some horrible.

Went to AMS to cover a sports event and Joe Pasquale sat next to me on the flight. Charming man.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Sami

[Bullfrog]

I’m usually ‘in my own world’ when travelling, and have a terrible eye for recognising well known people.

On board a Virgin flight I started chatting to the man sitting next to me. He was very pleasant and down to earth, and only after about 30 minutes, he introduced himself as David Jason.

Last year, on a BA flight from City Airport, I was already in my seat when a guy boarded and sat next to me. I hadn’t seen him ‘face on’ when he boarded. We chatted a little & after take off, seeing his face from the side, I asked him ‘are you well known ?’ because I could not put a name to his visage. He laughed in a nice way, and confirmed that he was well known. It was Benedict Cumberbatch .. turns out we live near each other in London, so we had lots to talk about. A charming chap.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Sami

[stevescoots]

A hand-full of minor celebs. funniest was in the QF lounge in HKG and Robson Green was sat 2 seats away being constantly asked for autographs, he was out there filming extreme fishing. I went to take a leak, and he came in stood next to me looked over, nodded said “alright” i said yep back and then we just carried on taking a leak. pain in the rear was sophie ellis bextor and her entourage of about 6 taking over the skyteam lounge in T4, while she was quite and polite her people were loud,rude and obnoxious

[Sami]

Oh how could I have forgotten? Not on a plane but at LHR quite a while back, I saw one of my all time favorites, Kate Bush. Unfortunately, I was so star-struck I just remember her huge brown eyes and a smile as she made her way to a Cairo bound flight.

[WillW]

When I was very young; I flew on JAL Garden-747 Jets with my family, from HKG to Honolulu, via Tokyo. (Sleeping on a couch, in the beautiful upper-deck ‘Garden’ lounge.)
During the Tokyo airport transit; I shall ALWAYS remember being kept captivated by a really unusual and funny man. He performed a remarkable, impromptu Magic-Show, just for me and my sister.

It was Mohamed Ali !!

Of course I really had no idea who Ali was…But his magic was so good, he was so charismatic; which made it so memorable.

He autographed two JAL napkins ,when he left us. I wished I had been more aware of who he was.
Can’t remember what I did with the said napkins. Most probably, blew my nose with it.. and then trashed it!

1 user thanked author for this post.

Sami

[WillW]

[postquote quote=986776][/postquote]
w
Yes.,.I also saw her, about 6 years ago; walking-up those marble stairs, by herself….towards the lounge (Didn’t know why she hadn’t used the lift; or why she had no help, nor had her husband, nor any PAs; by her side)
But seeing this slightly stooped, frail woman; take literally a minute, with every step-up..Just reminded of how old she actually was!
This also shows, how well she presents herself in all those press-photos and TV appearances.
I was actually quite shocked to see the reality, compared to my previous perceived ‘show-biz’ idea of her!!

1 user thanked author for this post.

Sami

[capetonianm]

We saw Shirley Bassey on a BA flight about 2 years ago. Elderly and frail, but beautifully dressed, with a big hat, and so elegant. When we boarded she was seated in row 1, and returned my smile as we passed her. We were a few rows behind her, she made no fuss or demands whatsoever.

My son was a great Harry Potter fan when he was younger, and we boarded a BMI flight and he spotted Emma Watson up front. He asked the cabin attendant if it was indeed Emma Watson, and said : “Of course it’s not, and I couldn’t possibly tell you if it was.” Then she laughed and said : “But it might be!” Of course it was.

Reading through other replies, I’ve never heard of some of the people mentioned!

1 user thanked author for this post.

Sami

[FaroFlyer]

Sat next to Alan Davies in the old Club cradles on a flight back from SIN. No idea who he was but the staff did. Next evening he was on TV in some programme and I said to the family: Sat next to him last night. No idea who he was

Princess Anne going to HKG. She was in 1A and I was 5F

Lord & Lady Howe in F on the way back from HKG after handover in 97.

With 2 detectives who were going to LAX to arrest Anthony Parnes for his part in the Guinness scandal.

Coming back Kool and his Gang were also in Club, and quite rowdy until one of his Gang told them all to “Kool” it.

Followed Dolly Parton off a BA flight from LAX. She was in F and I was in C. She has the slenderest ankles that I have ever seen.

John Sessions was in 1A and I was in 1K from LAX. He asked what I did, so I asked what he did. Told me he was an actor and had been in LA “chewing the breeze” with Robbie Coltraine and Ken Branagh. I had heard of them, but not Sessions.

Cliff Richard was front row economy to FAO and I was back row Club.

Sat next to Jackie Chan in back row of Biz upstairs on CX 747. I had no idea who he was but the stewardess clearly did and was trying to atract his attention. She succeeded when she slipped on my Sunday Times and dropped his meal tray on his lap.

Various others over the years, but they are the ones that spring to mind

1 user thanked author for this post.

Sami

[cwoodward]

One of my fondest airline memories was sitting with Sir Edmund Hillary on an 11 hour flight from Auckland to Hong Kong about 20 years ago. He was talkative and of course very interesting.
One of my interests at the time was a large farm in the South Island of NZ where we ran sheep,beef cattle and deer. He was interested in farming and I of course in his adventures and charities . He was one the way to Kathmandu for an event with one of his charities there…… it seemed a very short flight.
On the same route in about 1993 a sat with the ex NZ prime minister David Lange who was on the way to London who was both interesting and enlightening.
Rick Stein on the way to AU a few years back. We discovered that we had a mutual friend….as I remember we drank rather too much.
Several times among the All Blacks out of Auckland. Great chaps and very generous with test match tickets.
Once with Rod Stewart in F on the way to London….perfectly pleasant to everyone……he is a very small fellow.

One way or another we spend a lot of time in the Cathay F lounges in HK and the family is always pointing out ‘celebrities’ that I have never heard of.

[BA789]

I saw Michael Johnson (200m and 400m runner) in business class on a flight from Johannesburg to New York on SAA back in the early 2000s. I was on the way to the back and I asked him if he is Michael Johnson and he said “no”, so I carried on to the economy cabin. I asked one of the cabin crew and they said it was him.

I can imagine many people ask for his autograph, so I just left him alone.

[RaveAroundTheWorld]

I flew BCN to FRA once sitting next to Ronaldhino. I assume he missed the team flight or something due to a heavy night of parting. He was passed out from before takeoff until after we landed. As soon as we were ready to de-plane, all the passengers started to rush up to our row and demand autographs.

I offered to sign a few; Ronaldhino declined.

🙂
– Rave

[capetonianm]

I heard a lovely story from a friend about Robbie Williams (Robbie the singer, not Robin the actor). Someone spotted him in the business class section of a European flight, and asked a cabin attendant if she might ask for an autograph.
Apparently he not only complied with the request but then walked through the aircraft chatting to people, signing autographs, and just generally making the flight a lot of fun for everybody.

[WillW]

Not really a celebrity account; but being the celebrity (abet a fake one) onboard!
On a SQ flight from HKG to SFO, I seemed to have been singled-out for special attention by the FAs. Finally asked why; apparently I looked like a popular film star; with the same surname. Decided to play along with it and said that I was definitely NOT this ‘star’; BUT we ‘could’ be related. Wink! The great service continued (this continuous attention got really over-bearing sometimes). On leaving the aircraft, one FA insisted on shaking hands! She had slipped me her phone number! Thought this was highly unprofessional of SQ employees! But rather amusing. (This happened a long time ago..before Suites; when the planes had single throne-seats; so I can recount this now, with no detriment to any SQ employees!)

1 user thanked author for this post.

Sami

[FaroFlyer]

One that I forgot was on a flight from HKG to AMM which went via SIN. The front cabin was business as they have no first, and I was in 1A. From HKG to SIN I was almost the only person in the cabin, apart from 2 armed civilians.

At SIN 4 ladies boarded and sat in the back 2 rows on the right hand side of the aircraft then a guy got on, with another armed escort, and he sat in 1K. The captain came out and greeted him warmly, then we took off.

Shortly before landing I went forward to the toilet where the guy in 1 K was waiting while they cleaned the toilet, a few minutes later I went in and soon after we landed. The guy and the ladies, and the armed escorts went off first and I was right behind. At the end of the they were escorted off to the left and I went on to the lounge to wait for my connecting flight.

As I signed in to the lounge I noticed a big family photo and this mystery guy was centre of it. I said to the lad behind the counter “That guy was on the flight from Singapore with me” “I know” he said, “he is our King Abdullah”

Imagine the security checks that I must have been through. Also, for a short while, I was next in line for the throne:-)

3 users thanked author for this post.

BugAdvisor, tomwjsimpson, Sami

[Author]

Posts