On that "thrust reduction" note, BA used to really, really emphasise it on the Concorde because it was so marked - not just the noise drop, which approached silence, but because all the acceleration would suddenly disappear pretty much leaving passenger's "tummies" behind. In their case it was both a noise abatement and speed control issue once the aircraft got airborne and cleaned up.
You really start to wonder whether there ought to be an IQ test for the SLF. After takeoff from 34R at YSSY I've often heard pax muttering religious and other sometimes obscene references when they peer down the wingtip at some Mascot family crowded round their 26 inch telly. They seem to think the aircraft out to be flying S&L the whole way home. I've never been able to quite tell what's on anyone's dinner plates from 600 feet up, but the window seat occupiers often make that claim.
Look forward to the official view on what this one was all about, but it sounds like one big media windup.