jlemon

14. Yep, it was Allegheny and the third stop was Pittsburgh. However, you already guessed the DC9-30 in post # 22583 and I subsequently ruled out the D9S. Plus the flight in question did not stop in Binghamton or Elmira.

jlemon

22. British Airways is correct! Here's the sched....

BA 81: Glasgow Prestwick (PIK) 1:00p - 3:05p Toronto (YYZ)
Freq: Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays only
Service classes: F/Y
Meal service: Lunch
Equip: VC-10 (OAG code "VCX")

jrl767

14- dang, meant DC-9-50 ... we're looking for non-major stops, and we've also eliminated ALB and ROC ... Providence/PVD and Hartford/BDL

Seat 2A

Hmm... this brings back memories. It was in late May of 1979 that I logged my first flight aboard an Alaska 727-200 - ship 291, factory delivered just two months prior. I was booked on a joint fare from Dallas to Anchorage DFW - AA - SFO - AS - ANC, First Class all the way through. Alaska had just commenced its "Gold Coast Service" and to promote it was giving out complimentary 1 gram gold ingots to each passenger - or at least to those of us in First Class. The service was quite nice as well. SFO-SEA rates about 1 hour 45 min flying time, during which we were served a three course meal featuring a separate salad course, a choice of two entrees (prime rib for me, thanks) and dessert. One thing that stood out for me from that flight was how brightly colored Alaska's First Class seats were. They were upholstered in this tiny checkerboard orange and yellow pattern - ghastly by today's serious businesslike standards but quite acceptable by 1970s Peter Max sensibilities) and compared with today's lightweight plastic and Naugahyde recliners were considerably more comfortable.

Following a backpacking trip through Washington's Cascades (During which we discovered that combining the orange flavored powdery drink Tang with vodka was a really bad idea), my journey continued up to Ketchikan and beyond aboard a trio of ex-Pan Am 727-21s aboard which the great service continued.

I miss the days of flying aboard Alaska's 727s. The service was top notch and the aircraft - regardless of variant or heritage - were supremely comfortable.

WHBM

I don't believe Swissair put in at Recife, though they may have overflown it. I would agree that Dakar to Rio is probably the longest that a Coronado did; the Europe to Far East 990 flights of both Swissair and Garuda hip-hopped along through intermediate points.

WHBM

Sounds just like what London Transport used in the 1970s-80s on all their new buses and Underground trains. They've all gone now but it was indeed bright.

Interior view of a D78 District Line carriage - Unknown — Google Arts & Culture

Track

When I was a student in West Berlin 1967-1968, the student travel agency advertised Berlin-Tokyo travel (by train/ferry/train) for, if I remember correctly, 100 (West German) marks. I was tempted to take advantage of this offer for my return to New York, but the Tokyo-New York airfare was too much for a poor student.

WHBM

An interesting charter to chase the eclipse.

We had one in Britain in 1999, it just touched the southernmost points and then went out across the Atlantic (or the other way round). There were of course a whole range of chasing flights booked, at considerable prices.

By this date, quite a number were on One-Elevens from peripheral operators. The One-Eleven had a service ceiling of 35,000 feet. Now cloud at that height is pretty uncommon, though I suspect we've all been in it occasionally in the cruise (I recall several hours on LHR-LAX once), but on that morning it was there. Out over the Atlantic, beyond radar coverage, it was all procedural, different flights had been assigned different altitudes, and they were all of course following a fairly close track. ATC were apparently swamped by constant requests for a bit more altitude, which was not always possible, and those who had paid substantial sums just saw a grey mass.

The one flight, completely in the clear above it all, and which tracked easily the eclipse progress, was of course on Concorde !

Nagasaki Joe

Nice find. Nevertheless, it only proves that a schedule existed that the train followed under normal conditions in the mid-70s (which I discovered was already operating to and from Nakhodka in the mid-70s (1973) based on Paul Theroux's book), but we don't know whether select trains shut down completely when there may have been no foreign visitors due to temporary entry restrictions such after the shootdown of Korean Airlines Flight 007 (there were many Japanese on that flight, so it is quite possible that Japan may have unilaterally banned the Soviet's Yokohama to Nakhodka ships for a period of time) by the Soviets in 1983 or some other reason to temporarily restrict foreigner's entry. As a command economy and national security state, the Soviet Union could shut down and re-open foreign tourist entry whenever it wished. That said, my limited online research reveals that the Soviets prohibited foreigner (and Soviet citizens, without the proper papers) entry into Vladivostok from sometime in the 1950s to 1992, so my recollection of the timing of the Nakhodka diversion appears to be well off-target. Still, I found another article on David Bowie's trip from Japan where it again claims (with a Russian source) that Bowie did in fact spend time in Vladivostok in 1973 and boarded the train there (after arriving in Nakhodka) and rode it to Moscow. But the story seems shrouded in mystery and probably an obscure urban myth.
https://www.rbth.com/travel/2013/10/...r_of_the_world

With that, I will return this thread to its original topic and thank everyone for their indulgence.

JoeDTW

I have a few Swissair annual reports.

SR's 1957 annual report shows a stop at Recife between GIG and DKR. It's unclear whether SR's South American routes were served in 1957 by DC-6Bs or DC-7Cs.

By 1962, once the 990s were in service, SR was flying nonstop from GIG to DKR.

YVR Cockroach

It could be that the KGB or whoever thought that the chances of Bowie being a spy (or anything useful to western intelligence) was much lower than the benefit of a goodwill visit and may have permitted him a (very well escorted) visit not permissible or possible for others.

Gardyloo

Mine was in late 1970 or 1971 on board a chartered 727 with the old "golden nugget" livery. I had been to Alaska a couple of times before but always on Western planes (usually 720Bs) that served Metlakatla/Annette Island (ANN) as Ketchikan still couldn't handle jets, and to Juneau and Anchorage.



The charter was part of AS' contract with the Atomic Energy Commission in support of the Cannikin nuclear test out on the Chain at Amchitka Island. The AEC ran a weekly SEA-ANC-AHT support run and allowed any federal employee (upon clearing the most stringent security procedures I've ever experienced) to ride the SEA-ANC (or v.v.) sectors on a space-available basis. I was working for the federal government at the time and any savings that could be achieved on airfare was certainly something to be grabbed. If our trips were shorter than a week (which they usually were) than we'd buy one-way tickets for the opposite direction.

As I recall the on-board service was relaxed and quite friendly, but no booze and no chatting with the AEC personnel or contractors. A lot of us "civilians" were not happy about the purpose of the charters, but of course nobody could say anything. We were certain there were FBI people on the flights as well as ordinary folks like us.

jlemon

14. Yep, it was Allegheny operating a DC9-50 on the service in question....however, stops were not made at PVD or BDL.

And with that, I'm off on a road trip out of town for the rest of the day. I'll be back home this evening.

jrl767

14- all that’s left would appear to be Syracuse/SYR and Buffalo/BUF

jlemon

14. Nope and nope.