First memory of BA?
Jun 11, 2018, 4:39 pm
#61
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Manila, Philippines (MNL)
Programs: BAEC Gold [>20k Lifetime TPs] | Hilton Honors Lifetime Diamond [as is Mrs PtF] | Various Others
Posts: 6,156
15 September 1969 LHR JFK NAS BOAC Super VC10 G-ASGN (blown-up in the Jordanian desert one year later almost to the day).
Jun 11, 2018, 4:43 pm
#62
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: London UK
Programs: BAEC Silver,, Oman Air Gold
Posts: 747
My first BA flight was also my first ever flight. It was in 1976 and I was 18 and was flew from BFS (only one Belfast airport in those days) to BHX and on to University by train.
I have no idea about the aircraft but I remember sitting on the left hand side of the plane looking out the window entranced by seeing fluffy clouds in what must have been a 40 minute flight.
I have no idea about the aircraft but I remember sitting on the left hand side of the plane looking out the window entranced by seeing fluffy clouds in what must have been a 40 minute flight.
Jun 11, 2018, 7:02 pm
#63
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Olde Dominion
Programs: DL Silver - uh huh!
Posts: 948
My first BA flight was LHR-BSL in November 2011, and the only thing I remember about it was that it was a bit of a disappointment!
I didn’t fly BA again until last month. Was supposed to fly them LHR-NBO but my flight from the US was late and I missed the connection. As a result I was put on Kenya Airways and got upgraded to business class.
I did fly BA NBO-LHR (in Y) but it was not the greatest experience (and certainly a letdown from J on KQ). The flight was late (and the gate agents insisted it would leave on time, even though check-in was explicit that it would not), I missed my connection at LHR again, the gate area at NBO was hot and uncomfortable, cabin crew were nice but food was meh. The 747 seemed old and tired as well.
So BA is definitely not at the top of my list of airlines!
I didn’t fly BA again until last month. Was supposed to fly them LHR-NBO but my flight from the US was late and I missed the connection. As a result I was put on Kenya Airways and got upgraded to business class.
I did fly BA NBO-LHR (in Y) but it was not the greatest experience (and certainly a letdown from J on KQ). The flight was late (and the gate agents insisted it would leave on time, even though check-in was explicit that it would not), I missed my connection at LHR again, the gate area at NBO was hot and uncomfortable, cabin crew were nice but food was meh. The 747 seemed old and tired as well.
So BA is definitely not at the top of my list of airlines!
Jun 12, 2018, 1:37 am
#64
Join Date: Oct 2015
Programs: BA Gold for Life
Posts: 1,388
My first flight on BA was May 1975 from Jo'burg to London. I had flown out on South African Airways with a refuelling stop in the Cape Verde islands. After 3 months visiting family in SA during my gap year the very English accent of the captain is the thing I remember most along with how green England was.
Jun 12, 2018, 3:06 am
#65
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: London
Programs: BA Silver Seigneur des Horaires des Mucci.
Posts: 2,047
I remember my first BA flight being a disapointment too
early nineties ; Johannesburg on a 747 in Y ; thought BA would be the height of luxury after eyptair , aeroflot etc as a student bucket traveller
but BA was extrordinarily ordinary!
I remember being denied a trip to the cockpit!
early nineties ; Johannesburg on a 747 in Y ; thought BA would be the height of luxury after eyptair , aeroflot etc as a student bucket traveller
but BA was extrordinarily ordinary!
I remember being denied a trip to the cockpit!
Jun 12, 2018, 3:48 am
#66
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Brussels
Programs: BA Executive Club, Flying Blue, Miles & More, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
Posts: 121
For me it must be somewhere late '80s, flying LHR-BFS to visit my grandmother. This was in the Bad Old Days so Belfast flights had a separate area at LHR, where hold luggage was checked in at the gate having been screened along with passengers as for hand luggage. Being the first time that I was aware of what was going around me when flying, I assumed this was the norm until several years later!
I distinctly recall at some point receiving a Dilbert Flies the Atlantic book which became one of my favourite possessions, and thinking that there was something about the BA identity at the time (Landor livery, dark cabin interiors, the prevalence of stars and orbital imagery in the kids' materials and the Worldwide Timetables which I assiduously collected) which made the whole BA experience authoritative and enticingly space-age for a young 'un..
I distinctly recall at some point receiving a Dilbert Flies the Atlantic book which became one of my favourite possessions, and thinking that there was something about the BA identity at the time (Landor livery, dark cabin interiors, the prevalence of stars and orbital imagery in the kids' materials and the Worldwide Timetables which I assiduously collected) which made the whole BA experience authoritative and enticingly space-age for a young 'un..
Jun 12, 2018, 4:49 am
#67
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: London
Programs: BAEC Gold (thanks to BOB), UA, Flying Blue, Miles & Smiles, Amex BAPP & Platinum
Posts: 392
Well, it looks like I have the earliest: summer 1959 (when I was five) I was taken by my grandmother LHR to Belfast Aldegrove on what would probably have been a Viscount. I do remember having to be smartly dressed to travel on an aeroplane! The following year I was taken to BRU, I know, but do not remember. My first non-BEA flight was with Iberia in 1965 to Valencia - no Alicante airport then - followed by a long a and precarious coach ride down the coast to a tiny fishing village called Torrevieja.
Jun 12, 2018, 4:58 am
#68
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Manila, Philippines (MNL)
Programs: BAEC Gold [>20k Lifetime TPs] | Hilton Honors Lifetime Diamond [as is Mrs PtF] | Various Others
Posts: 6,156
Jun 12, 2018, 5:42 am
#70
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Lausanne Switzerland
Programs: BA Gold; Swiss Blue
Posts: 1,244
12th July 1987 BFS - GLA
I was 18 at the time and had just been to visit a friend from uni who lived in Newtonards...
Perhaps one of you can suggest what aircraft I was flight on, I remember it was a twin prop...
I was 18 at the time and had just been to visit a friend from uni who lived in Newtonards...
Perhaps one of you can suggest what aircraft I was flight on, I remember it was a twin prop...
Jun 12, 2018, 7:32 am
#71
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: BHD
Posts: 133
Sometime around the mid 80’s, (when I was in single figures) I was at an airshow at Aldergrove (BFS) and the Super Shuttle service to Heathrow was replaced by Concorde. A very nice treat for the passengers.
And given it was the 80’s, it was a nice treat for the spectators as we were allowed to stand a bit close to the runway (compared to today’s standards). Even though I was a young boy, that will be an experience I’ll never forget...
And given it was the 80’s, it was a nice treat for the spectators as we were allowed to stand a bit close to the runway (compared to today’s standards). Even though I was a young boy, that will be an experience I’ll never forget...
Jun 12, 2018, 8:22 am
#72
Join Date: Jul 2017
Programs: BA Gold for Life, EK, AC, VS, Accor Platinum, Hyatt, Marriott, Jumeirah
Posts: 53
1962, BOAC Britannia (G-ANBI), from Heathrow to Rome, with my parents and brother on our first trip overseas. I remember the central staircase leading from check-in to passport control in the Oceanic Building (T3), and the excitement of walking across the tarmac towards the "Whispering Giant". I still treasure the black and white photo of the aircraft taken with my box brownie .....and the Junior Jetclub logbook, signed and presented on board. The return from Rome, two weeks later, was by BOAC Comet 4, leased to Central African Airways........ the glory days!
Jun 12, 2018, 8:47 am
#73
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: London, UK
Programs: BA, VS
Posts: 327
Growing up in the sleepy Suffolk town of Lowestoft we would normally pick holiday destinations with direct charter flights from Norwich or, once the budget airline revolution started, the delights of Stansted.
My first memory of BA was when for some reason I was joining a family holiday later than my parents so was flying out with my auntie and uncle. I remember the drive down to London Gatwick in my uncle nice Mercedes and the excitement of flying British Airways (although it was actually a GB Airways franchise flight to Faro, at the time I wouldn't of known the difference).
My first memory of BA was when for some reason I was joining a family holiday later than my parents so was flying out with my auntie and uncle. I remember the drive down to London Gatwick in my uncle nice Mercedes and the excitement of flying British Airways (although it was actually a GB Airways franchise flight to Faro, at the time I wouldn't of known the difference).
Jun 12, 2018, 9:30 am
#74
Join Date: Feb 2012
Programs: TK M&S, BAEC, EK
Posts: 257
September 1965 on a BOAC 707 from HKG to LHR as a very young unaccompanied minor. Our first stop was in Rangoon and we then left for Delhi, the next stop. However, after an hour we had to return to Rangoon, where we spent the night. Some dispute between India and Pakistan at the time, which made it dangerous to fly that night.
I still have a picture in my mind of the amazing temple we passed on the way back to the airport. It was a long daytime journey back to Heathrow via Delhi, Bahrain, Cairo and Frankfurt: a late evening arrival and an overnight stay at a BA hotel called something like Dormy House. And finally, the next day I flew Heathrow to Exeter on a DC 3 operated by Westpoint Airlines. After the nice meals on the 707, a cup of tea on the flight down to Exeter was something of a disappointment.
I still have a picture in my mind of the amazing temple we passed on the way back to the airport. It was a long daytime journey back to Heathrow via Delhi, Bahrain, Cairo and Frankfurt: a late evening arrival and an overnight stay at a BA hotel called something like Dormy House. And finally, the next day I flew Heathrow to Exeter on a DC 3 operated by Westpoint Airlines. After the nice meals on the 707, a cup of tea on the flight down to Exeter was something of a disappointment.
Jun 12, 2018, 9:50 am
#75
Join Date: Mar 2018
Posts: 123
2010. 747 to JFK to celebrate St. Patrick's Day during my last year of university. I felt so fancy to fly BA from NCL to LHR to NYC, even in Y. I couldn't even comprehend J or F. I was shocked by how much some passengers were drinking early in the flight at 9 - how naive I was!
I guess it left a lasting impresssion and fondness for BA as my partner is a long haul pilot with BA. Can't stay away.
I guess it left a lasting impresssion and fondness for BA as my partner is a long haul pilot with BA. Can't stay away.
