[TominScotland]

Cybertraveller, getting the language wrong can upset folk as well. On a KLM flight to Tehran many years ago, the announcement came of the safety briefing “for our Arabic speaking passengers” – Iranians close to me did not look impressed!

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cybertravller

[Inquisitive]

Cybertraveller asked prospects of Air India under Tata – yes I believe they will improve under Tata and could be one of the best Airlines.

Air India (or for that matter any Asian airlines) service is excellent. Air India crew interact with passengers well, if they can maintain their upgrade of hard products and ground services, they can compete with SQ and Emirates.

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cybertravller

[FDOS]

The one thing that has always stuck in my head was the announcement that the crew spoke Spanish which I thought was very odd when we were travelling to France.

Ils parlent Francais comme un vache Espagnol 😉

[DannyBoy]

Probably a lager. Don’t ask me to where or with which airline as I simply can’t remember.

[SenatorGold]

My first flight in business class would have been March 1988 flying Lufthansa from LHR to Frankfurt for a connecting flight with LH in economy to Delhi. In those days I recall that all Lufthansa European flights were sold as business class.

In longhaul, my first business class flight was on 2 September 1989 from LGW to Harare on an Air Zimbabwe B707. My return from Harare was two weeks later on a BA 747-200 in Club World which was relatively new then. The plane had started in Lilongwe, stopping in Harare before heading to LHR. I sat on the upper deck; the seats were the old Super Club seats which were three seats converted into two.

I can’t remember what I drank but it would have been champagne and white wine. However, I do remember the BA Club World amenity packs from those days – they were mini-duffle bags filled with Body Shop cosmetics.

My next Club World experience was on 30 December 1990 from LHR to Cape Town. In those days BA flew to Cape Town only twice a week and stopped in Johannesburg.

[Harbord1]

Sitting at the front of the plane as a teenager on BCal travelling transatlantic with my dad. During the afternoon tea service a trolly came out and amongst other things included an top quality whole Dundee cake. The crew member asked how big a slice we wanted. There was something extremely warm and hospitable about it.

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cybertravller

[AndrewinHK]

My first business class flight alone was at about aged 10 with Air Transat, I used to fly from London to Toronto and back each summer to spend the school holidays in Ontario with my cousins. As an adult, my first business-class flight was with again Canada-related, flying Air Canada from Toronto to Tokyo Narita on a 77W, where champagne was my drink of choice, I recall it quite clearly as we were diverted to Anchorage due to a medical emergency onboard, and we got to stay for 24 hours, my only visit so far to Alaska.

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cybertravller

[SwissExPat]

Mine was BA flying LGW to BDA in Club around 1999/2000.

Believe it was Kir Royale.. Those days BA Club was a “Cradle Seat”.

[cybertravller]

AndrewinHK, that certainly was quite the long layover.

TominScotland, you are correct, there was the old rumour at LGW that crew flying to Pristina played the safety demo audio in Serbian, you can imagine the rest…

[superchris]

Mine was BA Bham to New York mid 90s. Likely a pre takeoff champagne or knowing BA probably cava but as a 20 year old it tasted special.

The 767 used had first on board so all of business class (there wasnt many of us) were upgraded to f class seating. I recall pre take off my colleague being asked if she would like a newspaper. Her request of ‘the Sun please’ was met with a curt response of ‘Ill check in economy madam’!

[ASK1945]

My own memory is much less exciting than those described above.

In the early 1990s I was regularly flying long-haul but my organisation would only pay for Economy (although for my frequent train journeys, always First Class). In July 1994 I flew to Trinidad (again Economy) together with a senior government official. He, of course, turned left on boarding the plane, me right.

Two months later, I flew a leisure trip with my wife to Seattle, returning from Vancouver, on BA. Economy, of course. The return from Vancouver was a 747 and on checking in we were upgraded to Business because of my status.

Whilst we sitting at the gate, ready to board, we were called to the desk. “Sorry, we will have to downgrade you both back to Economy as you have special meals booked and they are already on-board”. I asked what difference that made and was told it was because they couldn’t be carried through to the Business cabin.

We were both disappointed but were given replacement seats in the upstairs Economy cabin (that was the old days when some planes were configured as such). Whilst we were waiting again, the (much) older couple sitting next to us were called to the desk – and were given our previously upgraded seats. We knew this as she gave her husband a really hard time about accepting replacement seats amongst a bunch of business people 😂.

In fact, the upper cabin was really good and infinitely better than the standard Economy one. And, the stupid thing: they had to carry our meals from the back of the plane, through the Economy cabin, then the Business one (after all) and up the stairs, to us. Go figure.

Our first Business Class flights after that were to and from Sydney, outward stopping at Singapore (for a couple of days) and return via Bangkok (again for a couple of days) in late 2003. I used Avios to upgrade and the very first 241 voucher issued by BA on January 2nd, just hours after they were announced. I don’t drink alcohol and have no idea what I drank. It would not be champagne.

As I have described in another thread some time ago, I have used 241 vouchers for Business Class long-haul every year since then, except during Covid of course, when I doubled up after.

[EruditeSheep]

My first business class flight was on a BA 747 in September 1981, travelling from LHR to MEL, returning to the UK from SYD. I remember that the outbound routing was LHR-KUL-SIN-MEL, but I don’t have any record of the flight number. My seat was on the upper deck and in comparison with the current BA offering was more like premium economy. As for the drinks, I’m sure that I would have had many glasses of wine, but as for the specifics, those are lost in the mists of time…..

[Huit-Six]

My first recollection of Business Class was in Singapore Airlines B747 “when they were the Emirates at the time” as I’ve read by a fellow poster.

This was in the late 80s through to the mid-90s and I was travelling once a year between Melbourne and Paris (via Singapore, obviously).

I fondly remember the drop down screen and MADATORY film viewing – but I cannot recall the drink I ordered. Given my age at the time, most likely a coca-cola.

Skip forward 30 years of flying economy and low-cost, I recently flew business once more to São Paulo with AF on the outbound flight and had an orange juice if I recall correctly. I declined the champagne because I simply don’t enjoy it and also because it was before lunchtime.

On the return leg I flew KLM and that felt like a downgrade vs. Air France in many ways, but still very enjoyable.

Both were B777 but KLM seats felt outdated. Food was better on AF which is consistent with my experience in economy as well.

[superchris]

Not exactly my first drink, but I will give an honourable mention to the date smoothies on Saudia – simply exquisite!

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cybertravller

[Nicholas Bacon]

My first premium flight experience was travelling SQ in First around 1974 from Singapore (Paya Lebar) to LHR. I was a ‘UM’ (unaccompanied minor) seated in Economy. I suffered chronic airsickness on the flight. The kindly cabin crew took pity and I was placed on a sofa in the First Class lounge upstairs in the ‘hump’. There were First passengers in sight. I started to make a swift recovery but was careful not to show too much of this in order to prolong the heavenly experience! No champagne or fine wines of course – just water!

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ASK1945

[Author]

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