Let's try not to go too much O/T, 'coz this thread is too interesting.
I'm sure there's already another thread (JetBlast probably) with all those jokes.
Anyway, I always thought BEA stood for "Britain's Excuse for an Airline"....
I'm not biased, because I never had the occasion to fly either BEA or the Trident. I regret the latter....
I did fly on the 1-11, though. The very same one that went and got its feet wet off the end of the Corfu runway, one week after I flew on it...
CJ