I agree, getting award tickets is not that difficult.

I was the other FT'er on that Concorde flight, travelling with my daughter. Tix were booked about 3 months in advance, with no difficulty, but 7 days before departure ba.com was still showing award availability in both directions.

Incidentally, on the outbound leg, the Concorde was oversold by 8, yet it still had at least 4 award pax on board.

Flew back in F and have to agree with Richard. The service is absolutely superb in all respects. It could be made more superb by the addition of shoe shine, hairdresser, spa at JFK (??)etc.

We counted the number of opportunities BA presents you to eat: (1) in the lounge - full service, 5-course meal (starter, salad, entree, cheese, desert); (2) dinner on the plane - again, as much as you want from an extensive menu; (3) breakfast on the plane - if you want it, a full cooked breakfast; (4) in the Arrivals lounge - again, a full cooked breakfast, if you so choose. If we took advantage of every opportunity, we would have put on several kilos each! (Now, WHY did I not come across opportunities like that in my student days, when (a) I had little money and a free meal was always welcome and (b) I had the appetite to eat, eat, eat!)

My wife hates flying, and declined to come on this particular trip with us, but having heard form our daughter what a great time we had, she is now determined to come on the next one. She has imposed one condition, however: that we fly on Concorde, not because she particularly wants to fly it, but so that she spends as little time as possible in the air!