Peak BA
Jul 27, 2022, 11:10 am
#16
Formerly known as newbie elite
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: YUL
Programs: IHG Diamond Ambassador, Accor Platinum, AC50K
Posts: 2,925
And much like nuclear fusion and flying cars that have been 'just around the corner' since I was born in 1970, I will believe the existence of a non-Concorde supercruise SST when I see it. Its design was unbelievably ahead of its time.
Jul 27, 2022, 11:33 am
#17
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Detroit, MI
Posts: 2,581
It was a lovely experience, but so of it's time...20 years before 767s plied the inner-US to inner-Europe routes. Not sure if the hassle of changing planes/overnighting/etc was worth it when I went in '98...
Jul 27, 2022, 11:34 am
#18
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Programs: BAEC
Posts: 229
Unfortunately it says video unavailable.
But a LHR-JFK trip on Concorde will probably always be my most memorable flight. Fantastic experience, from walking into the lounge at T4 looking down at the aircraft, to the takeoff, the view from the cruise, the service, the wines, the food and then sunbathing in Central Park by lunchtime!
But a LHR-JFK trip on Concorde will probably always be my most memorable flight. Fantastic experience, from walking into the lounge at T4 looking down at the aircraft, to the takeoff, the view from the cruise, the service, the wines, the food and then sunbathing in Central Park by lunchtime!
Jul 27, 2022, 11:55 am
#19
Join Date: Mar 2017
Programs: BA GGL, GfL, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Lifetime Globalist, AllAccor Diamond, Marriott Ambassador Elite
Posts: 1,042
Jul 27, 2022, 12:22 pm
#20
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Krakow
Programs: BAEC Silver, Miles and More(FTL), IHG(Platinum), Accor, HHonors(Diamond), SPG, Hertz Five Star
Posts: 5,917
Concorde was magnificant, i often taxied out behind it on a Friday eveningas i flew to GLA and watched it take off. I have sat in one, alas stationary in Brooklands museum
However for me it.was not peak BA. Peak BA for me was the double decker meal tray we got forva while on long haul. Its been all dowhill since there.
ah for the good old days of cooked breakfast for everyone on the 757 shuttles, i dread to think what the two week in advance APEX ticket would cost now. And having to ensure every trip.(europe and domestic!!) included a Saturday night stay otherwise there was no such thing as cheap.
However for me it.was not peak BA. Peak BA for me was the double decker meal tray we got forva while on long haul. Its been all dowhill since there.
ah for the good old days of cooked breakfast for everyone on the 757 shuttles, i dread to think what the two week in advance APEX ticket would cost now. And having to ensure every trip.(europe and domestic!!) included a Saturday night stay otherwise there was no such thing as cheap.
Jul 27, 2022, 12:53 pm
#21
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: LHR / LAS
Programs: BA GfL, GGL/CCR
Posts: 2,409
I was lucky enough to fly Concorde.
as Orbitmic says above, it hasn't been downhill since then.
Concorde was nowhere near the comfort of seats nowadays. The cabin was small and crowded.
But indeed Concorde was a fantastic experience and as a 19 year old I will always remember it with fond memories.
at the time the service you got on'regular' first class was better and comfort much better.
I shall always remember each day looking up/ listening and waiting for Concorde to fly over the office I worked in. It meant midmorning snack time!!😃
as Orbitmic says above, it hasn't been downhill since then.
Concorde was nowhere near the comfort of seats nowadays. The cabin was small and crowded.
But indeed Concorde was a fantastic experience and as a 19 year old I will always remember it with fond memories.
at the time the service you got on'regular' first class was better and comfort much better.
I shall always remember each day looking up/ listening and waiting for Concorde to fly over the office I worked in. It meant midmorning snack time!!😃
Last edited by crazyarmadillo; Jul 27, 2022 at 1:16 pm
Jul 27, 2022, 1:42 pm
#22
Formerly known as newbie elite
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: YUL
Programs: IHG Diamond Ambassador, Accor Platinum, AC50K
Posts: 2,925
One of my big regrets as an aviation geek is waiting too long to use the points I got from purchasing 21 subscriptions of Inside Flyer magazine back in the day before purchasing my Concorde ticket in the early 00s. Those were the days!
The ‘Concorde’ deal was that Inside Flyer ran a signup promotion offering Starwood Starpoints, and chose not to limit it to first-time subscribers or even ‘one per customer’. Starpoints back then transferred one to two into Qantas (and thus with double the transfer bonus) so 40,000 Starpoints was sufficient for 100,000 Qantas miles.
- Inside Flyer cost $59.95 per year.
- The magazine offered 2500 Starpoints per subscription
- 21 subscriptions yield 52,500 Starpoints, which transferred to 125,000 Qantas points.
- That was enough for a roundtrip ticket on the British Airways Concorde, New York – London, back then (though some folks chose to travel one direction in first class instead).
Jul 27, 2022, 2:16 pm
#23
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Bloomfield, MI, USA
Programs: DL Gold
Posts: 694
It’s not “all downhill from this point” and the “it was so much better before” is to be taken with as many pinches of salt as other “it was so much better before”’s.
Concorde was undoubtedly a great experience I’m sure and many of us would love to halve the time of some of our long haul flights and get fab food but for the rest, planes are infinitely safer than before, (notwithstanding temporary current prices) flying is a lot more affordable, networks better, and J comfort on almost any airline hugely superior to that period.
as is often (or always) the case, the nostalgia talk picks and chooses what to remember and what to forget.
Concorde was undoubtedly a great experience I’m sure and many of us would love to halve the time of some of our long haul flights and get fab food but for the rest, planes are infinitely safer than before, (notwithstanding temporary current prices) flying is a lot more affordable, networks better, and J comfort on almost any airline hugely superior to that period.
as is often (or always) the case, the nostalgia talk picks and chooses what to remember and what to forget.
Jul 27, 2022, 2:31 pm
#24
Join Date: Jul 2017
Programs: Mucci Chevalier des Internautes Amables; BAEC
Posts: 970
I am travelling to the US this autumn with a very good old friend (see 380 F thread!). However this has reminded me why I should reconsider: our last TATL jaunt together - still much remembered by our long suffering other halves - was in 2003…and I suggested we avail ourselves of the Concorde offer for something like £500 OW. “Put it on the credit card” I said - we were young and poor - “you will regret not doing it”. Well, he is, ahem, careful with money, and we didn’t. And I’ve never forgotten the one opportunity to take her.
He now admits it was a mistake. Fool.
He now admits it was a mistake. Fool.
Jul 27, 2022, 2:33 pm
#25
Join Date: Jul 2019
Posts: 168
I hate to sound like Debbie Downer here but it's still very much to be seen whether Overture/Boom will take to the skies or not. United hasn't really ordered the model; they made an agreement to purchase 15 planes once specific criteria (safety above all) are met, and Boom Supersonic is still very light on key aspects such as the engines. They have recently moved from a three- to a four-engine concept and as of now no engine exists to do what they want to do, going supersonic without afterburners and with decent fuel economy. The company has raised about a quarter of a billion USD in capital; to develop the (rather more conventional) A350 Airbus spent about 44x that amount...
Jul 27, 2022, 3:20 pm
#26
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Spitalfields, London
Programs: BA Gold, KFC 'The Colonel's Club' Palladium tier, Mucci des Visions Célestes du Nord-Pas-de-Calais
Posts: 2,321
Slightly OT but I was surprised at the take off; first, you can hear people talking in the cabin, even at take off thrust, so it’s not as loud as I thought and second, the rate of climb on take off is much shallower than I thought it would be.
Jul 27, 2022, 3:27 pm
#27
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: New York, NY
Programs: AA ExPl, DL PM, UA Silver, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Titanium, probably some others
Posts: 4,097
There will be people who will, in five, ten, and 20 years time, long for the way flying is right now. The food, the seats, the service, the lounges, all of it.
I do wish I'd gotten to fly the Concorde. But there are certainly elements of flying any airline TATL in F or even J today that would be far superior. I suppose I would have liked to see what the in-flight experience would be like on Concorde now after 20 years of improvements to the hard products of cabins. My suspicion is a (perhaps much) more expensive plane with fewer seats available.
I do wish I'd gotten to fly the Concorde. But there are certainly elements of flying any airline TATL in F or even J today that would be far superior. I suppose I would have liked to see what the in-flight experience would be like on Concorde now after 20 years of improvements to the hard products of cabins. My suspicion is a (perhaps much) more expensive plane with fewer seats available.