ISTFlyer

Dear folks,

As most of us are home, we sometimes don't have something to do instead of looking at the walls/ceilings, go for a non-essential walk in your own hallway or look at your TV/computer screen for the whole day. Some other members have implemented taskmasters to make this time pass fast, and now I'm honored to present, the first "Memories" thread in the Stay-at-Home series that we could all share something about our BA flights in the past. Any experiences about previous BA flights and inputs such as a photo of an old High-Life magazine, boarding passes, old menus, old BA merchandise, etc... could be shared here.

The idea of this thread came when I was looking for something non-essential at home and when I found something much more interesting. It was the boarding pass for my first British Airways and my first oneworld flight ( I've flown QR before this flight but they were not a member of OW at that time ).

So I will start with this thread with the photo of the boarding pass of the flight I specified. I also remember that this flight was on a 767-300 and the load was %30-35. At that time free meals were served at ET and there were free music and overhead movies available. Also, I remember arriving 54 minutes before the scheduled departure time for this flight at the check-in counter to drop my bags which is impossible these days for ex-IST flights.

KIDLI

First BA (and LHR) experience for me was to Jersey (JER) in late March 1999, (I think it must have been the earliest flight on the first Sunday of the school holidays). I remember the domestic gate area at Terminal 1 (about ten years later I'd be boarding BMI flights to Edinburgh (EDI) from the same spot) and our aircraft had one of the ethnic liveries. (At that point in my life, I wasn't interested in whether it was a 737 or an A32x - anyone know which it would have been?)

I say our aircraft, but in fact, the first plane we tried had a problem with its thrust reversers, so after waiting about an hour on board (whilst much head scratching took place under the wing), we were moved to the one on the adjacent stand. I think we were maybe ninety minutes late into JER, which suited my family fine as we couldn't check into the hotel until the afternoon. Of course, at that age, an engineering delay was all part of the fun!

Incidentally, before our trip to Jersey, I had only taken eight flights in total (i.e. four round trips):
- LGW <-> Rhodes (RHO) - Dan Air
- LGW <-> Crete (CHQ) - Dan Air
- LGW <-> Tenerife (TFS) - Airtours
- STN <-> Gran Canaria (LPA) - Monarch
So if BA go belly up now...

wilsnunn

My first flight on BA was in 2015 (really not that long ago!) and was BA124 DOH-BAH in WT, This was when BA did not operate DOH-LHR non-stop (I believe there was a restriction from the authorities in Qatar) and thus they did the exceptionally short hop from DOH-BAH before continuing onto LHR and they did the DOH-BAH flight as a fifth freedom flight.

The flight was under 20 minutes in a 777 and its total distance (according to gcmap.com) was 92 miles. I had not joined BAEC at the time and was so excited to be on BA for the first time. I never got around to collecting my 125 Avios and 5 TPs for that flight!

BAECAddict

8 January 1994 was my first BA flight - the BA904 to FRA taking me back to my second term as an ERASMUS student in northern Bavaria. It was a 757 from Terminal 1 and I don’t remember much about the flight! I do remember arriving at Terminal 1 at FRA and only having a short walk to the old airport station (this was in the days when long distance trains also went from that station). Terminal 2 and the new long distance station is a serious step backwards... Thinking about it, I might actually have got the ticket for free (notwithstanding what the ticket actually says) by collecting coupons of cereal packets - ringing a bell anyone? Took me another 13 years before getting round to joining BAEC and my first flight credited coincidentally was also a 757 to FRA!

stevebintley

My first BA flight was on the 5th February 2015, from Heathrow to Budapest. My only flights prior to that had been with Easyjet and Ryanair - I remember being in awe at having a row of three seats to ourselves and the fact that I got a free sandwich and drink! Thanks to Tesco Clubcard it'd cost me 21,000 Avios + Ł150 which I thought was a bargain. It was a Heathrow Terminal 3 departure - I'd never have comprehended my travel progressing to the point of sipping champagne in the CX lounges there today!

Mixbury

London to Lusaka May 19th, 1971

AlanA

BHX-JER In 1967, BEA Vickers Viscount

BAECAddict

I know what you mean... when I was a student in 1994, I didn’t even know that these havens of champagne consumption even existed!! The first time I ventured into a lounge was funnily enough on the trip I mentioned in 2007 when my gold card holding client that I was travelling with guested me in... I think it was that experience which prompted me to join BAEC!

NWIFlyer

I think mine was 1998, flying with some friends to Paris for the football World Cup. We were doing it on the cheap so left Norfolk in the early hours and got to T4 far too early having left ample time, then slept in chairs for a while before check-in opened.

As we were going out close to the start of the tournament, not watching England games, and Scotland had also qualified with matches in the capital there were a large number of Scottish fans on board - I think their opening match was later that day.

Of course there was no BoB, and even at that time of the morning the atmosphere was boisterous with the alcohol flowing extremely freely in ET. If the flight was return catered there certainly wouldn’t have been many single malt miniatures left for the trip back ...! One guy certainly consumed at least three during the flight and was given more to take away with him, so things have certainly changed.

What struck me most was just how attentive, skilled and empathetic the cabin crew members were - so it’s long been a trait.

My next BA flight? 2012, following the BD takeover. It took me a while to be converted ...

OddJobMan

LHR-GVA in 1978 in an old Trident for a school trip to Annecy.
I'll never forget the view of the Alps from my window seat.

JAXBA

My first British Airways ticket, age 6 months, LHR-(NBO)-JNB-NBO-LHR. Standby on Staff Travel of course - GBP7.50!

drvannostren

I've only flown BA a handful of times, but I've now flown long & short haul Y, long haul PY and long haul F...just missing that J experience. But my first BA flight was only a few years ago on a mistake fare. It was like YVR-YYZ-PHL-DUB-LHR-YYC-YVR, LHR-YYC being the BA flight of course. 788 IIRC (787 for sure). Seat was fine, service was fine, no complaints, always helps to have the middle seat open next to me. My biggest complaint was that the armrest goes up, but not all the way up, couldn't make a Y bed. Just seemed kinda stupid to have that armrest literally go 70% of the way, but not all the way.

Light Travellers

My first real flight with BA was a trident flying to Alicante on 18th April 1974, just 18 days after they officially formed as British Airways.
If BEA counts in the BA count, then my first flight was to Edinburgh on a vanguard. A full meal service all economy, I recall how rushed the crew were to serve and clear before the flight landed. I think I even have a photo of the meal somewhere in my massive collection of pics.
This past week at home applying for refunds I've been reminiscing about my past trips. I've been longing to go back to Scotland so we've booked a trip in August to Edinburgh and Aberdeen. It's in true FT style flying around the houses with lots of TP's. Just hoping we don't have to cancel.

ankasi

Not sure if it counts, the first flight was with Deutsche BA from STR to TXL in December 1997, my first flight ever and I was so nervous.

The first "real" BA flight was in May 2004 from STR to LHR, little did I know that I would eventually move to London and do this route several times a year.

T8191

4 Nov 1988, BA009, B744, BKK-SYD, Club World.

It was just one leg of a convoluted routing imposed by the Services Booking Agency, as I was on an RAF Duty trip to Australia [oh, how one suffered] and due to my rank long-haul travel was in Business Class [i bet that's been trimmed back since I retired! Due to the travel policies at the time, money rather than efficiency set the agenda, so I spent 14 days out of office to achieve about 6 days of productive activity! The Trip Report would have been:

RAFAIR VC-10, BZZ-HKG, Economy. The regular trooping flight had to be used to save MoD money!
Gulf Air A340, GF151, HKG-BKK, Business
Night spent sleeping on bench in Departures hall, until the BA Lounge opened at 06-something!
BA B744, BA009, BKK-SYD
Nightstop in Sydney hotel [in Woolloomooloo?], exhausted!
Ansett ATR72 [?], SYD-CBR, Economy

.... then work-stuff in Canberra, East Sale and Melbourne

Cathay Pacific B744, MEL-HKG, Business (Upper Deck and jump-seat for landing at Kai Tak - the RW 13 approach through the high-rise apartments!!]
Stay in Army Camp for 2 days waiting for Trooper, do shopping and sightseeing
RAFAIR VC10, HKG-BZZ, Economy