That bought back some memories!! Back then it was a real airline and real people. Passengers came dressed for the journey, and not to go to WalMart/Tesco's. The food was great and the service even better. We were also treated very well, unlike today when everyone is a disposable number.
But, I suddenly got a reminded of age when Jerry Nash appeared as I was senior to him!!
The ex-Saturn aircraft were crewed by dedicated crews at least in the begining due to the differences in the instrumentation.
At the risk of starting something I came from VC10's to 707's and, to me it was a backwards move. The VC10 was quieter, more power, better cockpit etc. But the old 436/336 were still good reliable aircraft for their day.
In my early days I was called out from standby on one occaision and deadheaded to Honolulu, on Qantas, to pick up a service back (Westbound) to LHR. I went round the world in 9days!! The next trip was the full San Fransico service which went Eastbound to SFO and then turned around and came back Westbound with all the ramifications of time change etc. not a pleasant trip and 14 days long. The VC10 was doing a round the world service at the time.
Happy days.
Speedbird 48.