The first flight I remember (though not the first one I took) was in December of 1977 (I was 8). Flying Burbank (CA - outside LA) to Seattle on Continental to spend Christmas with my uncle's family.

Evidently, everyone else wanted to fly on that flight, so Continental went for broke in freeing up the five seats our family had by paying for:

1) A taxi to LAX,
2) $400 "cash" compensation (as in they sent us a check, not a flight credit),
3) First Class on United from LAX to SEA (been a United and First Class fan ever since) for all five of us,
4) A taxi from SEA to my uncle's place, which is about 60 minutes away.

And we were travelling on a "cheap" ticket (these were the days before deregulation, so I am sure even "cheap" was expensive)...

I was 6, it was a Caravelle from FRA to Mallorca.

I would have flown from Florida to Chicago with my mother sometime during my first nine months of life... for the life of me, however, I don't know the details.

I think it is in my baby book, however, so I will have to e-mail my dear mother and ask her!

SGN to SEA Dec 17, 1970

Aged 11

Cambrian Airways flight number CS 513 Liverpool to Isle of Man. Vickers Viscount G-AMOO. 30 minute flighttime. Fare �3:18:0 each way.

Later in life came the first plane I skydived out of, the first one I handled myself, and my first solo (which is a bigger moment than getting your licence).

So as you can see, after that first flight I was hooked!

San Francisco to Boston in 1969 on TWA (so I was about 8).

My father was transferred to his company's HQ outside of Boston for a year. This was the first flight for my three brothers and me - our ages ranged from 5 to 10 and my parents still remembered the flight years later.

When we moved back to California after my father's assignment, we spent three weeks driving and camping across the country - I'm not sure why my parents decided not to fly!

Late 1960's on PSA (Pacific Southwest Airways) for a Disneyland/Sealand, etc... trip. I think we flew SFO-SNA on a L-188 Electra. Got me some wings and I think a junior pilot certificate.

I was around 8 years old and flew with my folks ORD-MIA on a late night flight on a 747. The plane was very empty and I ran up and down the aisles a lot.

Up to that time, the only kind of sandwiches I would eat were PB&J. Of course, the didn't have PB&Js on the plane, but they did have ham and cheese. So I tried one and liked it, and allowed my mother to make them for me subsequently.

Perhaps one of the few times airplane food has expanded someone's food preferences.

I remember my first flight; I think I was 5, but I remember my second flight even better because it didn't happen. My mother heard it was raining somewhere nearby, like Mexico, and we had to take the train back from Florida.

I was 6 weeks old, flying from Germany with my mother to the Middle East where my father was managing an extended project at the time. Not even sure this is legal nowadays at that age, but this was in the 70's..
I believe the carriers were Lufthansa and Libyan Arab Airways.

[This message has been edited by JohnG (edited 01-18-2003).]

I was one year old, flying from ARN via CPH to DUS - first leg was SAS and seconf was LH. Not that I possibly can remember - however I still have the ticket - cost was a staggering $ 8.05

Cheers

Thomas

GVA-ATH-BKK-SEL in 1971, with the first leg on a Swissair DC8, I was told (18 months old at the time).

My first flight I can remember was MAD-GVA on an Iberia DC8 in the mid-seventies.

The first I remember was some North Central CV580 flight in or out of Chicago - I would have been about 5 ish, but I was apparently flying prior to that, mostly on Northwest Orient

My first flight was when I was 7, from Sydney to Cairns (CNS) on TAA (Trans-Australian Airlines which subsequently became Australian Airlines and then was swallowed up into Qantas). I remember that we had to stop at Brisbane on the way up and we used the back steps in the 727. Unfortunately our bags didn't complete the journey with us and came the next day. My brother and I got the junior flight bag or whatever. We also got two trips up to the cockpit for the two legs of the trip. I was hooked from that moment.

July, 1958. TWA #804, IDL-ORY (New York, Idlewild -now Kennedy- to Paris, Orly, for those of you too young to remember.)

N7101C; Lockheed Super "G" Constellation.

I was almost eight.

It was also my mothers' first flight. She had talked Dad into going to see the relatives in Italy and booked steamship tickets. He said he didn't have time to go by ship, fly or forget it. We flew.

Dad had to come home before we did. We were still booked on a ship coming home. Three days before we were to leave Italy she cashed in the boat tickets and booked us back on TWA. She never set foot on another ship or train for almost forty years.

Fly or forget it. I agreed with that for a long time.