Originally Posted by
jlemon
24. Now you are in London in 1986. You're planning to head back to Los Angeles. Now you could easily take a nonstop flight. However, you've been made aware of a very nicely priced "premium class" service for $775 one way with this flight making one intermediate stop en route and operating daily. You have also read an ad for this service which promises "Spacious leather seats, two abreast. Service beyond compare. Fine china, crystal and linen. Fresh flowers." The ad goes on to say "....you can sit in the lap of luxury while enjoying an elegant gourmet meal or sipping a fine wine." There's even a bottle of Dom Perignon champagne pictured in the ad. Well, it all sounds great and the price is right so you book a window seat in "premium class". Identify the air carrier and the equipment you'll be traveling on as well as the intermediate stop.
Doesn't sound like a mainstream carrier for those items at that price, and there weren't many upstarts who could do a daily one-stop though to LA. But there may have been one. What about People Express from London Gatwick ? With an old 747-200 they picked up from Alitalia or Qantas. Intermediate stop would be Newark.
I think it was one of their flights, in the first week or so, that had a number of snags on arrival, Gatwick Handling (or whoever), doing their turnround, supplied plenty of labour and spares, came to about USD 20,000, well beyond their agreed credit. So no departure until the money was wired through. Which PE seemed to have no procedure for. An early lesson in the logistics of international flights.