WHBM. Great reading your story. Interfug was not a member of IATA, so started to attract
West Berlin travel agents by offering very low fares to Western destinations in the Med.
The fares had to be paid in Western currencies. The SED set up a shuttle bus in 1980
from Central West Berlin to SXF via the Waltersdorfer Chaussee border crossing. The
shuttle bus was allowed to carry West Berliners, West Germans, and Foreign nationals.The fare had to be paid in DMK, bringing more hard currency to the SED.
From 1985 SXF opened a passport control in the transit hall and it was possible to pay
the tkt for the shuttle bus, show your airline tkt, and drive directly to SXF Transit hall
without having to stop at the Walterdorfer chaussee border. The situation with Interflug
offering such cheap flights caused Pan Am financial problems operating from TXL to
the Med. It was said that Pan Am pilots were offering to fly to the Med without being
paid.
I also used a Dan Air Flight LGW/TXL B737. I think it was a regular scheduled charter
through Benz Travel in Kensington. I used DA flights quite often LHR/MAN when they
were competing with BA on the route. I could use a BA tkt endorsed over to DA, if I had
missed my connection at LHR with BA. On one late night LHR/MAN DA flt. There was
no pilot announcement, and after take off the girls started with the complimentary drinks
trolley. after a few minutes all the cabin lights went out. The stewardess went into the
cockpit, and the lights came on again. As they got to me, behind the wing, lights out
again. The stewardess said in a low voice "Bloody Flight crew" I asked what was going
on, was there a technical problem ? She replied, "No, the captain keeps hitting the cabin
lights switch in the cockpit, The problem is the Captain and F/O are Romanian, and have
very little English. On a flt LHR/MAN last week we were making our descent into MAN
when the captain realised he was descending into Liverpool". " "It's a mess" she said.
The aircraft was a ROMBAC 1-11 leased with flight deck crew.