Very interesting and it would be great if the final printed article could be referenced in here.
I recall my first with the airline: October 1986 LGW-EWR. There was a promotional deal on at the time, I had just stasrted work in The City and was in Upper but my wife was in Y ... she did not mind as she got a free round trip, the Limo and we stayed at the Vista Hotel at World Trade!!!
One memorable trip (also LGW-EWR) was when they ontroduced personal Video-8 players in UC. This was their first move away from the single big screen movie. I recall that the CC were rather perplexed by them as it was their first rotation with the units and they could not answer all the pax questions. I was working in technology at the time and explained how they worked!
I have been on their -100, -200 and -400 in Upper and Y, always a delight. When they started HKG (my first there was 1994) it was 343 and the South African service (my first in 1997), was mostly 343s then 600s but recall Upper on a 744 in 2002.