[TominScotland]

MK430AL, a very good friend of mine was on that BA149 flight. A group of Asian women were held in separate custody from the other passengers by the Iraqis, managed to escape and made their way overland to Saudi Arabia. Quite an adventure for an 18 year old!!

[dutchyankee]

@ STORMIN’ – 21/08/2013 07:33 GMT

How lucky you are to have flown on the Comet. As an airline `nut` it was the one major jet that I wanted to fly on but have never had the opportunity or pleasure to. Must of been fascinating at the time. Incredible looking at the routes of the 60`s to 80`s compared to those of the 90`s to today! All the exotic stops have gone!

[canucklad]

I do re-call Air UK flying between GLA – EDI and vice versa en-route to LGW…….

Returning from a romantic holiday in Kenyay our connecting Air UK flight was LGW-GLA -EDI-LGW !!

I did notice a few passengers board in GLA and get off with me and my lass at EDI…

20 minutes cruise above the hordes crawling along the M8 during rush hour…….Ahhhh bliss

[TominScotland]

Canuklad

British Midland (as they were then) also did this on some of their GLA-EDI-CPH flights but I am not sure whether you could book GLA-EDI as a free-standing ticket.

[canucklad]

Tom…….It probably worked the same way as the old ex EDI –YYZ CP flights that landed at PIK before continuing across the Atlantic…

As a CP family member, I had no idea CP flew to EDI until my pal convinced me otherwise….

“Best service ever and bright orange planes…”…

Finally had to concede he flew on a CP plane ! …still missed

[AMcWhirter]

Hello dutchyankee

The Comet was also used on routes closer to home. The Comet 4B (a short-haul version) was used by BEA for its European services.

It was even deployed on domestic routes. To compete against BUA (who introduced BAC 1-11 jets ex-LGW) BEA used to operate Comet 4Bs on the LHR-EDI route at peak times.

The idea was to appeal to business people who complained about the slow and noisy Vanguard turbo-props used by BEA in the 1960s.

I remember clearly taking a BEA stand-by flight (in the late 60s you paid a lot less if you went stand-by) for an evening LHR-EDI flight. It was a wonderful experience but the Comet was, by today’s standards, really noisy. You have to remember that all four engines were contained inside the wings so the noise was that much greater.

Hello TominScotland

Yes British Midland did have traffic rights for EDI-GLA. I did that very same flight which, based on a standby price, probably wasn’t much more than a couple of pounds as there were no taxes/fees/charges in those days. The service was operated by a Viscount turbo-prop.

[dutchyankee]

Hi AMcWhirter, thanks for that info. I am very envious, and while it was noisy as you say, I would have loved the opportunity. What was the cabin like, comfortable, 4 or 5 across? I knew DanAir used the Comet, but didnt realise BEA used them domstically.

[hamlan123]

They did Binman62. In the late 70’s I flew to HGK via Rome on 747. somedays it stopped in Frankfurt. Then onto India again various cities on various days then Bangkok and into HKG. It also on certain days extended into Manila. Those were the days!!!

Hamlan

[Travellator]

British Airways ( Post BOAC ) VC10 – Rawalpindi – Amman – LHR !

Also BA Tristars – BFS – LHR !

[AMcWhirter]

Hello dutchyankee

I was a student in those days so it just seemed like normal economy class to my inexperienced eyes. But probably was five-across.

At that time there was also a BEA charter subsidiary (using planes phased out by BEA itself) and I also flew a Comet 4B on a student charter flight from AMS to LGW.

There was a sense of power when flying a Comet 4B as the plane was overpowered for the duties it had to perform. But it was noisy, especially on take off.

In the late 60s, BEA faced competition on its Anglo-Scottish routes for the first time. British Eagle flew BAC 1-11 jets between LHR and GLA while BUA operated the same aircraft out of LGW to EDI and GLA.

To a teenager, both carriers were like a breath of fresh air compared with BEA.

At that time BEA was using Vanguard turbo-props which lacked passenger appeal. So to compete with British Eagle ( an airline which lasted only a few years) and BUA (which became B.Cal and then BA), the Comet 4Bs were deployed on the LHR-EDI route for a short period. They only operated a couple of flights a day and only at peak times to win over business people. Not sure whether or not they covered LHR-GLA.

Eventually the Comet 4Bs were phased out in favour of the more modern Trident jet. But the Vanguards soldiered on until the mid-70s until BEA introduced its Shuttle concept.

Not sure whether or not you follow my archive Snapshot page in the magazine ? But in the May issue I wrote about the heyday of domestic flying when BEA launched its domestic Shuttle flights.

It seems amazing today, but the LHR T1 check-in deadline (for pax without checked bags) for Shuttle was only 10 mins and you were guaranteed a seat even at busy times. (No reservations were possible).

When flights were full, BEA rolled out extra planes. Even B747s were employed on domestic routes to meet demand.

But the highlight was in the 1980s was when BA used Concorde as a promotional tool on its Super Shuttles from time to time.

You probably think I’m making the story up
but there is a historical photo of three Concordes together at GLA on Super Shuttle duty.

http://www.fotothing.com/fotothinger/photo/68482e75ccbff4c1506a28706064c3b5/

I wonder if any of you sampled Concorde on a BA Super Shuttle flight ?

[Luxembourger]

Yes it was 5-across, in economy at least (2-3 on BOAC and 3-2 on BEA). 4-across in first.There being no airbridges in those days, all passengers entered via the rear door.

[FormerlyDoS]

The Comet was my first aircraft (Dan Air) I remember it being 5 across, quite clearly.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/96/Museum_of_Flight_DH_Comet_interior.jpg/150px-Museum_of_Flight_DH_Comet_interior.jpg

[MontanaKen]

Greetings! Very interesting thread! I especially recall the airbridge from Frankfurt to Berlin in the good old days (bad old days?). Pan Am, Air France and BEA serviced the route. The planes would land at Templehof under the great cantilevered roof and never turn off their engines. The Berlin passengers would board quickly, and the plane would turn around and take off. It was an exciting sort of flight bringing the geopolitical tensions right into your face. Another interesting route was IAD to DFW on the Concorde. The BA Concorde would land at IAD and a truck would be dispatched to put a new “glue on” registration number on the tail, showing Braniff “ownership” with an “N” series registration number. The plane would fly to Dallas (sub-sonically). I recall the price (mid 70’s), was First Class ($150) plus a ten percent surcharge, making the total $165. It was the only time I ever flew on Concorde. Quite a novelty!

[SenatorGold]

Another route I recall from the early to mid 70s was Air France flying Lima – Papeete – Tokyo.

In the early 70s I was an avid student of airline timetables. I wish I had kept them all now. The only one I kept is BA one from winter 1976. However I still recall the SAS time table from the 70s when they had quite a intercontinental network. In those days they served Abidjan, Bridgetown, Dar es Salaam, Entebbe, Nairobi and Johannesburg. They also served Tashkent en route to Bangkok I think.

[AMcWhirter]

Correct. In 1967 SAS secured a shorter route between CPH and BKK with overflew part of the then Soviet Union.

But I believe Tashkent was purely a refuelling stop. I don’t think SAS held traffic rights in or out of Tashkent.

http://www.flysas.com/en/uk/About-SAS/The-SAS-story/1967/?vst=true

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