GeorgeAmbler89

Hi,

I found and old (?) set of BA playing cards. Called British airways The History of Passenger Flight Playing Cards.

I have no idea where they come from. Assuming they’re from the 1970’s based on the Negus design but not sure.

It would have been something I picked up whilst I was younger as I was born in 1989!

There is actually an order form in there in the shape of a playing card with an address in Kent ...

Photographs attached.

Greenpen

£3 a pack, will order at least a dozen!

HIDDY

I remember the days cabin crew used to give them out for nothing.Wish I'd kept them.

Starship73

We definitely had a few packs of these at home - I would guess it was the early 80s. I can still vividly remember the images shown in your photos as we used to use them quite a lot...

orbitmic

At £3/pack, I'd guess 80s as well. In the 1970s, it would seem like quite an extortionate amount I would have guessed...

Jonathan2712

According to the Bank of England, £3 in 1970 is the equivalent of £46.76 today, in 1980 would be £12.96, 1985 would be £9.16 and 1990 would be £6.87. They all seem a bit steep to me, but it would suggest at the earliest late 80's.

corporate-wage-slave

I would say early 1980s, since this particular pack, focusing on BA's aircrafts in the 1930s and 1940s was reformatted into the Landor design around 1985 or so, and I have that version. I don't know the entire BA story in terms of playing cards (and gambling is yet another vice disapproved of by CWS) but there was a time when promotional marketing material was popular with airlines and many other areas of hospitality. So cabin crew would give them out to travelling teenagers or families, BA marketing folk would have a few packs in their briefcases. The logic being that people wouldn't throw away something like that, so a visual manifestation of the airline would hang around, giving constant unspoken prompts whenever travel was considered. Historically I think this was the practice of shipping and cruise companies, for similar motives, and of course a practical gift in the days before decent IFE. BA had a range of these cards, including one for Skyflyers, one co-sponsored with Disney, so that Disney characters were on the playing side. The card series above - with historic aircraft - I think stopped in the late 1980s with Landor, and I think there was a version pre-Negus too. However BA did issue packs with the Utopia (ethnic) tail fins on the back, so they were handed out this century, since Utopia was from 1997. These had conventional designs on the playing side.

rjhcambs

I still treasure a leather bound set of Concorde playing cards from the 1980’s and two not too smart cardboard boxes of coasters printed with photos of the plane

Ancient Observer

Other than pyjamas, I seldom kept anything from BA flights. Packs of Rothmans and bottles of bubbly were soon consumed.

However, my one Concorde flight (JKK-LHR) yielded two leather look A4 document cases, a Concorde Colibri ballpoint pen, a tiny silver container, (now lost), and stationery.

I have just celebrated getting the pen working again. Colibri don't do refills for this model any more, but fortunately one Parker refill fits it.

Whilst I understand the marketing/branding logic that CWS suggests, why give out freebies on Concorde? I always wanted to fly on it, and freebies would not help me/my employer, pay for the next flight.

You never got a Dulux dog just because you wanted one, you got one for buying more paint!!

golfmad

Am I the only person that immediately saw the thread title and read the OP's name as "Mr. G Ambler"?

SKT-DK

I have such a pack too, which I completely forgot about! Albeit, it is of a later date, but no less nostalgic - wonder where it is now, amidst my boxed up stuff from when I moved

PETER01

I saw that too but hadn't yet posted. Nice to see old memorabilia being posted and wished I had started collecting some from many years ago.

PETER01

I used to play for fun when travelling with my son on my many trips with him from a few years ago but not for money I may add.

OT but as you mention a vice I don't really think gambling is overall a bad thing if done in moderation which it mostly is plus it is a huge employer.

My old Dad who in his mid 80's widowed and still relatively fit enjoys a wee flutter as many of the population do.Talking £5-6 here, a few times a week and is a regular at his local bookmakers. He enjoys it but not only from watching the races but from the walking there and the social interaction he has with a few buddy's there which fills his day as I suspect it does for many others. Plus, his carbon footprint is so much better than us BA flyers which is arguably a lot worse than gambling but appreciate a necessity for folks flying for work.

ppp909

I have a pack of those which I got as a child. It was the 80s.

GeorgeAmbler89

Thanks everyone!

and yes ... my name is G Ambler ... 😅 but I don’t gamble much if at all.