[StewartK]

Bryan, certainly Concord(e) j had an air about it, but I think we were happy to overlook the narrow fuselage, low headroom and less than spacious seats for the cachet of supersonic.

I’m recently back from DXB on an Emirates A380 in 1A and the cabins and their facilities considerably exceed the shorter journey times. And as for the entertainment in modern aircraft: remember when a one movie from drop-down projector and screen and plastic stethoscopes were a neat idea?

[canucklad]

I know we’ve probably done this before ,but it would be interesting to remember airlines that we’ve used, no longer flying, some missed and some good riddance. ….

Badly missed…..CP Air, BCal and BMI ( sadly devoured by a protected species . And a resemblance to a dinosaur can’t be missed, and I’m not talking about Rex from Toy Story.

Missed…….EAA, Ansett,Wardair,, Air Anglia/Uk, Air 2000, Aloha ,Western and Zoom

Neutral…….Northwest, US Air , PWA., Air Europa,Excalibur and Airtours.

Good Riddance ……Nationair, surely the inspiration behind AC’s contemptuous attitude to its Y passengers/freight

And a special mention for BOAC and BEA, a marriage of convenience created by accounts rather than a true marriage of togetherness.

[MrMichael]

For me Canucklad it is good riddance to the dreadful Braathens SAFE of Norway, an airline that thought it was owed a living if ever there was one. I do rather miss BCal too and I also recall the giant orange jumbos of Braniff, used them for my first ever taste of the USA.

[MartynSinclair]

@StewartK… yes indeed Concord(e) had an air about it like no other aircraft…………… look at the way your post reads…

“certainly Concord(e)” verses “on an Emirates A380 “

I don’t believe any other aircraft is written about without an “article” before it….

[StewartK]

Martin – don’t deny the elegance, style and kudos of ‘Supersonic Class’, but the 380 does it for comfort, luxury, space and facilities. And in the hands of an airline like SIA or Emirates, the catering and service in F far exceeds the tray tables of Concord.

[esselle]

I think the really clever thing about Concorde was how fast it got you across the Atlantic. Yes, it was a huge thrill flying it for the first time, and the food and drink on board were of a very high standard (especially the wines), although they were being dumbed down towards the end, but it was never designed to be a place where you would be happy spending 10 or 12 hours. In longhaul F these days, the bar is set far higher.

[AzookiTravel]

Hello RetiredLawyer,

Yeah.. Those were the days. Now airlines are trying hard to accommodate and squeeze as many passengers as they can in one go. This is when you can see the difference of rich and poor, and what things can they only have.

[Haggis68]

KUL – LHR mid 70’s with BOAC / British via Muscat or Bahrain and an Arabic man cooking his lunch with his small gas cooker!

Visiting the flight deck to get my Junior jet club book signed by the Captain

[transtraxman]

@canucklad – 21/12/2014 10:14 BST

Sorry but I have only just picked up on this “slip`of the pen”.

In your defunct airline list under “Neutral” you list “Air Europa”.
This airline is well and flying, domestically and more so to Latin America.It is also an active member of Skyteam.
I presume you are refering to the defunct “Air Europe”(based in the UK) out of which was born the Spain based similarly named airline.

[HongKongLady]

I still dress to fly. I didn’t take a flight until I was 20, went to the Seychelles via Paris, Rome and Jeddah, maybe another stop off too but my memory is vague. I do however vividly remember the flight back, I had a dreadful hangover after staying up late drinking with fellow guests at a very small hotel which had been devoid of guests virtually the whole time I was there. I was so pleased to see people.

[JasPat1]

I flew BMI from Heathrow to Edinburgh and sat in the jump seat on a 737. Had such fun laughing about other airlines and the queue to take off. Flew Heathrow to Brussels on a Trident on BEA and back on a Sabena 707 same route, same paper ticket for both airlines. Flew back from Cork to Luton with Ryanair in jump seat, pilots were Romanian!

[JasPat1]

I flew BMI from Heathrow to Edinburgh and sat in the jump seat on a 737. Had such fun laughing about other airlines and the queue to take off. Flew Heathrow to Brussels on a Trident on BEA and back on a Sabena 707 same route, same paper ticket for both airlines. Flew back from Cork to Luton with Ryanair in jump seat, pilots were Romanian!

[Ah,Mr.Bond]

…. You could fly Heathrow to New York in 3 hours.

[JeffD]

BMI – almost a distant memory.

I can remember flying to LBA on DC9 and being servied a 3 course meal. The main course was hot beef wellington. What do we get now, a drink if you are lucky.

Going back to my childhood, going on holiday on Northeast from LHR. and Court line from Gatwick. On Court line your sandwiches were in seat back in front of you. I am sure the food police of today would be horrified. The inbound snadwiches were in those backs from Gatwick several hours before, so warm chicken sandwiches, and never an upset tummy.

Flying used to be fun, now its just a way of getting from A-B.

[conshaldow]

Being of the younger generation (25 still counts as young these days?) I love reading and hearing about the experiences people have had in years gone by. Having not experienced any of these I feel I have a slightly different persective of flying these days, as I don’t have these experiences to compare/contrast to.

I actually enjoy a lot of the things about flying that make people moan and gripe on this forum. I agree with your reasoning for the complaints, I just don’t share the same point of view on a lot of them.

I’d have to say my favourite recent experiences are getting new boarding pass at the gate for LHR-ATL in J and flying in the jump seat on BFS-GLA late night (0000 departure) on a chartered Danish Air Transport flight… very surreal!

[Author]

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