Originally Posted by
pax britanica
Did BOAC/BA allow cabin crews to interchange between 707/VC10 back in the day . I always thought that if I was crew of either kind I would want to be on the fleet that did the amazing Tokyo-Hong Kong-Colombo-Seychelles-Jo'burg trip which i think only operated 2-3 times a weekend has to be one of the worlds most exotic duties. I never got to try it myself but did get to Sez in the year it opened and also to Hong Kong but never had to go from one to the other. I assume there was some kind of interchange along the way to get the aircraft and crew back to LHR and replace them with a fresh crew. Any ex BOAC foks on here do that trip?
We discussed this one a while ago, it was actually more straightforward than it sounds, London-Hong Kong-Jo'burg-London being just a variation of a Hong Kong return. The Tokyo leg was actually part of the daily BOAC transpacific flight San Francisco-Honolulu-Tokyo-Hong Kong, and the same aircraft didn't necessarily work through at Hong Kong, whatever the timetable said. BA Hong Kong to Jo'burg lasted well into 747 days.
BOAC had the main long distance licences out of Hong Kong, and Cathay was a regional bit player in comparison, something which only slowly changed. BOAC did he routes to USA, Australia and South Africa, as well as all stops to London. I think they had a cabin crew base at Hong Kong, though not a pilot base, although as others have again fondly described there were also BOAC bases at places like Honolulu with short term basing.