Somewhere around 1991 I was on a South African Airways flight from JNB to LHR. In those days, before the end of Apartheid, SAA had to fly around the 'bulge' of Africa due to sanctions from African countries. But Mandela had just been released from prison and the end of Apartheid was in sight.
We were supposed to land around 7am. At 5am we were woken up with the announcement that we should prepare for landing. Appears that during the night, Nigeria and Saharan countries to its North had given SAA overflight permission and I was on the first flight to use this.
I had an onward connection to AMS, but could not get onto the earlier flight because my luggage had been checked through on the later one.