Forgotten BA services, products & routes
Dec 10, 2018, 11:07 am
#151
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Bridport, Dorset
Programs: Mucci, BA Bronze, Hilton Gold
Posts: 2,129
I can remember the days of checking in and selecting seats from the cardboard seat display behind the desk, your chosen seat number then being affixed to one's boarding pass in Terminal 1 ( never a case of double seating in those days!). Anyone remembers the Alcock and Brown statue outside T3?. I also fondly recall the old clapperboard flight displays particularly the one in the old T2 right by the large central staircase. 40 years of working in the industry after starting my career at Heathrow with BEA/BOAC I have a wealth of memories of the good old days.
Dec 10, 2018, 1:38 pm
#152
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Brisbane
Programs: BAEC Blue/Bronze, Krisflyer, Qantas
Posts: 419
I find reading about some of the hopping services from the 80's quite incredible. Wish I was flying at this time in history to experience all the hops on BA9 or BA11, they must have been a real gruelling experience and I can imagine they could have been quite expensive for BA to run if there weren't enough bums on seats.
BA 9 -> Heathrow – Bombay – Perth – Brisbane – Auckland
BA11 -> Heathrow – Abu Dhabi – Singapore – Perth – Sydney – Melbourne
BA 9 -> Heathrow – Bombay – Perth – Brisbane – Auckland
BA11 -> Heathrow – Abu Dhabi – Singapore – Perth – Sydney – Melbourne
Dec 10, 2018, 2:40 pm
#153
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2018
Programs: Mucci, BAEC Silver, IHG Platinum Elite
Posts: 1,038
The BA Travel Shop on Piccadilly also sold Eurostar tickets, which was a little strange I thought, as you'd think they'd promote their own BA flights to Paris and Brussels - they gave you a voucher which you had to exchange at Waterloo for a train ticket. They also did a freebie giveaway for 1998 Anya Hindmarch First Class amenity kits. Back then I took full advantage of that and picked up several. They were the black vanity cases and had a very nice array of products, separated and arranged for take off, inflight and landing.
Dec 10, 2018, 7:08 pm
#154
Join Date: Feb 2005
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 557
What a great thread!
My own list includes:
My own list includes:
- All Day Deli (bags then later the infamous sweet or savory boxes) - how we complained. If only we knew what was in store...
- Telephone check in - remember seeing it advertised but never tried it - curious as to how it worked
- Terminal 1 domestic terraces at LHR - first BA lounge I ever accessed. I'm probably in the minority here but I also miss flights being announced in the lounges.
- LGW - NCL up to four times daily. Wish it would make a return to the network to allow easier connections to LGW routes.
- World Tails - Chelsea Rose was my favorite
Dec 11, 2018, 12:21 am
#156
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2018
Programs: Mucci, BAEC Silver, IHG Platinum Elite
Posts: 1,038
I did not dislike them. But (and I remember the vague argument about it reflecting the global reach of the airline) it did not "mean" BRITISH airways. Maybe we would have a few more then just Chatham Dockyard now if they had only used the UK based ones.
Dec 11, 2018, 12:59 am
#157
FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Somewhere between 0 and 13,000 metres high
Programs: AF/KL Life Plat, BA GGL+GfL, ALL Plat, Hilton Diam, Marriott Gold, blablablah, etc
Posts: 30,520
I actually really liked the World Tails even though I know that they were unpopular with many. I think that at the time, they gave an image of an innovative and creative BA which the current livery doesn't.
Dec 11, 2018, 1:13 am
#158
Moderator: Hyatt Gold Passport & Star Alliance
Join Date: May 1998
Location: London, UK
Programs: UA-1K 3MM/HY- LT Globalist/BA-GGL/GfL
Posts: 12,089
The fifth freedom routes I flew - JFK to YYZ and Montreal to Detroit.
Being accused in Montreal of forging the First Class ticket I had, and having to buy a new one!
(See Customer Service was variable in the old days too)
Being accused in Montreal of forging the First Class ticket I had, and having to buy a new one!
(See Customer Service was variable in the old days too)
Dec 11, 2018, 1:27 am
#159
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: london
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 266
A friend lost her boarding pass in duty free in Florence, this was before security meant that boarding passes and passports were checked together. She had to buy a new ticket. The argument was that she could have given her boarding pass to someone else and was pretending to lose it. After she was able to claim the money back from the second ticket when they could check that her original pass had not been used. Today she would have had her pass online.
I like the benefits of technology including online booking. I don't miss having to walk back and forth between travel agents comparing cost for a flight.
Dec 11, 2018, 1:49 am
#160
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Biot, France
Programs: BA Executive Club Gold, TK Smiles and Miles, Hilton Honors
Posts: 222
Originally they were called British Airways Travel Shops. Then someone had the ''bright'' idea of converting them in to full travel agencies called Four Corners. BA set up a subsidiary company called British Airways Enterprises which allowed them to change the salary structure in the Four Corners shops. Staff had the option to a) sign a new contract, b) redeploy elsewhere in BA or c) take severance.
Once they were all set up and running they were all sold off to Thomas Cook!!!
Cheers
Steve
Once they were all set up and running they were all sold off to Thomas Cook!!!
Cheers
Steve
Dec 11, 2018, 1:58 am
#161
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Biot, France
Programs: BA Executive Club Gold, TK Smiles and Miles, Hilton Honors
Posts: 222
Dec 11, 2018, 2:09 am
#162
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: UK
Programs: IC Hotels Spire, BA Gold
Posts: 8,667
I recall ATC in some countries (cannot remember whether this included LHR and LGW) saying there could be a safety issue as it was proving difficult to accurately identify a BA plane from a distance across a busy airfield.Whether this was valid or not I don't know - or was it a bit of mischief with other folks wading in with potential negatives in an attempt to get BA to abandon the world tail themes?
Dec 11, 2018, 2:21 am
#163
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: London
Programs: Mucci. Nothing else matters.
Posts: 38,644
I recall ATC in some countries (cannot remember whether this included LHR and LGW) saying there could be a safety issue as it was proving difficult to accurately identify a BA plane from a distance across a busy airfield.Whether this was valid or not I don't know - or was it a bit of mischief with other folks wading in with potential negatives in an attempt to get BA to abandon the world tail themes?
After that ?LAX incident, the aircraft's fin was stripped of the Utopia design (but not the part on the fuselage), and VH-NLH was a kind of white tail for the rest of her time at QF:-
[Both images clicky to their source.]
This may simply have been an example of a wider problem, though.
Dec 11, 2018, 3:25 am
#164
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: London
Programs: Mucci (Scirocco Sash), BAEC Gold, IHG Diamond Ambassador
Posts: 863
Belfast - to Aldergrove in those days also had the shuttle/super shuttle. ABZ, NCL and LBA did not but LBA was dropped quite quickly and was picked up by BD who rolled out Diamond Service which was excellent and resulted in super shuttle offering food & drink. IMO Diamond Service and the BD crews had the edge though - and they kept it for many years.
There were also small, grey plastic cards issued by BA for the shuttle (I think), were they a means of payment or something, or an early version of executive club? It's a pretty hazy memory. There were always quite a few of them littered about at some desks near the gates which I would eagerly scoop up and keep at home as some kind of precious collection
