Was it really like this in the 70's?!?

[flash8]

http://www.bamuseum.com/images/large/70-80/70-80s_3.jpg

Coach passengers in Suits and Ties... and what (shock, horror) looks like a steward dressed up in a white dinner jacket and dark dicky bow tie and matching hankerchief... he could however be a passenger.. anythings possible! (although he must have a matching mate in the far right hand corner!)

Have things really taken a turn for the worse? :))))

PS. I'm too young to remember those days :)))

[effortless]

Only on transport command.

[Mr Ree]

Yeah, it was!!!
From the age of 7 (in the 1970's) I had to fly as a U.M. (unaccompanied minor badge, tin tuck-box and log book thrown in) on BOAC to and fro between home in the Far East and boarding school in the UK. And in those days of VC 10's there were numerous fuel stops. Took about a couple of days.
And to make the trip really comfortable for this 7year old boy I had to travel in my best suit and tie and shiny black shoes. Nice thick chequered material, huge tie and the stiffest hardest black shoes only worn once every Sunday morning for pre Church inspection. Ah, those were the days.
On one flight my feet had swelled up so much I barely managed to get my shoes on in time before being ushered into first class for the landing and subsequent ushering into the ground staff hands. At the top of the steps I breathed in the lovely smell of the tropics and took my first step, only to trip on my untied shoelace and tumble the rest of the way down the steps, all the way to the bottom, narrowly missing taking out a few real 1st class passengers. A VC 10 sits quite high and I remember hurting a bit when the tarmac apron broke my fall. Embarrassing then, funny now.:8

[keel beam]

They are staff passengers, in the days when you COULD get a seat to your favourite destination:{

[Heli-Ice]

flash8, don't worry about captainbritboy.

I think he is the guy in the white jacket on the picture and now feeling sorry over his long lost handkerchief. :E

If you think about it, the guy on the picture looks like Mr. Bean.


I just had to........!

[Thunderball 2]

In case newcomers to this promising thread wonder what Heli-Ice is talking about, a disgraceful post by a certain "captainbritboy" has been removed either by the Mods or the offender himself. In either case quite right too.

There were huge differences in flying in those days, especially long haul. Like today no airline really made any money, but the difference in the 70s was that they didn't even have to try - this being the tail-end of the era of the nationalised flag carriers(apart from rarities such as Laker, British Caledonian, and UTA).

Don't exactly remember all male passengers wearing Homburgs and morning suits, but routings were extraordinary. Never forgotten my first flight Sydney-London in 1972;

Sydney-Perth-Singapore-Bangkok-Tehran-Tel Aviv-Frankfurt-London.

I think we arrived early in 1973.

[woodpecker]

1963, Comet, London Heathrow(northside), Rome, Istanbul, Tehran, Bangkok, Rangoon and finally Hong Kong

[handgun fellashio]

If it was a Comet you were very lucky to reach HKG without an explosive incident.

[antilla]

Can someone please identify the plane type involved?

I'm concerned that the window seats nearest the camera are 3 abreast, the centre ones are at least 3 and possibly 4-abreast, and the far side must surely be 3-abreast to balance the 'craft.

I am also concerned at the mis-match between the seat fabric on the seats nearest the camera and on those in the centre rows.

So we end up with a discussion that includes wide-bodied jets but also multiple short stages - isn't there a paradox here? Is everything really as it seems, or has someone perhaps been playing around with the photograph?

[handgun fellashio]

You will probably find that this is a training mock up and not a real aircraft at all.These mock ups are/were used by most Airlines for training purposes.Staff and various community groups are invited in to be the pax/victims.

[capt.cynical]

Antilla,
The original 747's were configured 3-4-2 in y/c as this was considered civilised in those days.
It did not take long for airlines to add the extra seat on the RHS making a 3-4-3 config.
By the late 70's early 80's all 747's were 3-4-3 in y/c.
I remember SAA still had the old config. in 1981
Those were the days indeed.
BBC (before bean counters):mad: :{ :yuk: :*

[fourplay]

Aircraft is a 747-100, it is a promo poster shot for BA from the early 70's.
The pax and possibly cabin crew were agency paid, many pax did not dress like that for Y class.
It was also not a real flight.

Those were the days! :} :} :}

[PAXboy]

Mr Ree reminds me ... 1965 and my first flight ever was a VC-10 LHR to JNB via Rome and Nairobi (CIO + NBO).

Our parents made sure that we were dressed properly, which meant collar and tie for my brother and I and a smart frock for my sister. I'm not sure how smart we looked 18 hours later ... But our parents told us, "You must behave in the aeroplane, as if you were in the sitting room of our friends. Best behaviour or else!" We did NOT: [list=a]
Run up and down the aisle
Bing the bell to see how quickly the staff would arrive
Push and pull the seat in front
Kick the seat in front
Scream/whine/disturbe other pax
[/list=a]
So, yes, those were the days. :(

--------------------
"I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you any different." Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

[ATNotts]

I rmember watching car loads of Jamaican ex-pats arriving to check-in at BHX for a short series of charters to Kingston flown by British Midland in, I believe, the late 1970. Families all dressed in Sunday best, dad in smart suite with trilby, mum in smart dress, and the kids dressed up to the nines.

How they must have felt stepping out into the heat in Kingston heaven only knows - but at least in those days people treated flying, and presumably their fellow passengers and cabin staff with some respect.