On the Cyprus evac I seem to recall that some Brit women refused to fly home on 'Albert' and insisted on a VC 10 ! If it was up to me they would still be there now.
We all quickly cottoned on that when contacting French ATC it was useful to tell them we had French Nationals on board, whether we had or not. This resulted in VIP ATC treatment instead of the usual slide down the pecking order.