BOAC_BA Long haul long tours
Show us the money!
Hi Glf
You might note that in my first post I referred to hard currency. The main objection of most crew to being left in in Delhi for an unknown amount of time would be that the allowances (as always) are payed in local currency - in this case rupees. At that time these rupees could not be exported and changed into hard currency (except in HKG at a ludicrously poor rate). So if you were left in BAH or HKG or Aussie (or anywhere with hard currency) you were consoled by your prospering wallet whereas in India or Kenya the money was only worth anything if spent in situ.
Anyway Delhi in winter can be cool and foggy so the hotel pool is not so attractive, and not everyone enjoys curry!
IanBB
Oh I see crewmeal got in first - great minds etc.
You might note that in my first post I referred to hard currency. The main objection of most crew to being left in in Delhi for an unknown amount of time would be that the allowances (as always) are payed in local currency - in this case rupees. At that time these rupees could not be exported and changed into hard currency (except in HKG at a ludicrously poor rate). So if you were left in BAH or HKG or Aussie (or anywhere with hard currency) you were consoled by your prospering wallet whereas in India or Kenya the money was only worth anything if spent in situ.
Anyway Delhi in winter can be cool and foggy so the hotel pool is not so attractive, and not everyone enjoys curry!
IanBB
Oh I see crewmeal got in first - great minds etc.
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: UK
Posts: 185
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I was VC10/707 cabin crew and probably needless to say the VC.10 was always the favoured fleet.
I did two 591's back to back on one occasion. The 591 was basically around the world heading West.
Route was London/New York/L.A/Hawaii/Fiji/Sydney/Auckland/and airline back to Sydney or Melbourne before moving on to Brisbane or Darwin (I think?) and. then Singapore/Delhi/Dubai and finally back to LHR.
Normal trips took 3 weeks but I was on one when a flare up of some sort occurred in the Middle East (nothing changes there does it!!) and they reduced the service to a couple of times a week instead of daily-so it took us close on 6 weeks to go all the way round.
I had 7 days off and was then on standby for three weeks and was called out on my first day to do another 591-just a short 3 week one this time though!!
I did two 591's back to back on one occasion. The 591 was basically around the world heading West.
Route was London/New York/L.A/Hawaii/Fiji/Sydney/Auckland/and airline back to Sydney or Melbourne before moving on to Brisbane or Darwin (I think?) and. then Singapore/Delhi/Dubai and finally back to LHR.
Normal trips took 3 weeks but I was on one when a flare up of some sort occurred in the Middle East (nothing changes there does it!!) and they reduced the service to a couple of times a week instead of daily-so it took us close on 6 weeks to go all the way round.
I had 7 days off and was then on standby for three weeks and was called out on my first day to do another 591-just a short 3 week one this time though!!
Last edited by Halcyon Days; 4th Sep 2013 at 08:42.
Here is a link courtesy of British Pathe news showing a 10 minute clip of a BOAC 747 in it's original config with the upstairs lounge.
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/bo...query/BOAC+747
Regarding the upstairs lounge I remember looking after Sir David Frost back in the days when he commuted to New York. All he wanted was a plate of smoked salmon and to curl up and go to sleep. On landing he always had coffee and orange juice.
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/bo...query/BOAC+747
Regarding the upstairs lounge I remember looking after Sir David Frost back in the days when he commuted to New York. All he wanted was a plate of smoked salmon and to curl up and go to sleep. On landing he always had coffee and orange juice.
great early BOAC 747 video
anyone know where that airfield is in the opening landing?
also did anyone here operate the Palma Majorca charter flights on BOAC 747's
i think in 1971 and 1972 and following years for a while.
very short haul rather than long haul...
i went on holiday as a teen with mum and dad (begged them to book the 747
i think it was sovereign or silver wing holidays part of BEA)
it was Saturday afternoons if i recall summer only high season...
we had a terrible delay on the way out...the engines i recall
anyone know where that airfield is in the opening landing?
also did anyone here operate the Palma Majorca charter flights on BOAC 747's
i think in 1971 and 1972 and following years for a while.
very short haul rather than long haul...
i went on holiday as a teen with mum and dad (begged them to book the 747
i think it was sovereign or silver wing holidays part of BEA)
it was Saturday afternoons if i recall summer only high season...
we had a terrible delay on the way out...the engines i recall
Last edited by rog747; 4th Sep 2013 at 14:05.
short flights long nights
The proper days of flying. Aircraft should have never been designed to fly longer than 8 hours. Just finished my last long haul flight, 17 hours in the air....we are too tired for room parties or anything else.
On the subject of off schedule operations. The worst I ever experienced was going out to Tokyo via Moscow in the middle of winter. The dread phone call came in the night to say we had been re scheduled to operate a VC10 service to Hong Kong and then onwards via Colombo and Bahrain to LHR.
The only problem with this is the fact that the crew all had kitted out for mid winter Moscow and Tokyo not Colombo and Bahrain. If you could have seen the faces of the other crew as we disembarked carrying fur coats and heavy overcoats in Colombo!
The only problem with this is the fact that the crew all had kitted out for mid winter Moscow and Tokyo not Colombo and Bahrain. If you could have seen the faces of the other crew as we disembarked carrying fur coats and heavy overcoats in Colombo!
Some of the Australian 747 - 136 routes had BA9xx flight numbers back in the 70's. Some of the routes they took in addition to those mentioned were:
Direct Route
LHR - BAH - SIN - SYD - MEL (Sometimes transiting ZRH on some days)
LHR - MCT - SIN - SYD - MEL
Indirect routes:
LHR - FCO - DEL - BKK - HKG - SYD
LHR - BAH - BOM - HKG - SYD
LHR - BAH - SIN - PER - MEL - AKL
LHR - THR - BOM - HKG - SYD
There were probably other combinations as well and I remember being stuck in Darwin enroute to SYD during the cyclone. One service even went via MNL.
Direct Route
LHR - BAH - SIN - SYD - MEL (Sometimes transiting ZRH on some days)
LHR - MCT - SIN - SYD - MEL
Indirect routes:
LHR - FCO - DEL - BKK - HKG - SYD
LHR - BAH - BOM - HKG - SYD
LHR - BAH - SIN - PER - MEL - AKL
LHR - THR - BOM - HKG - SYD
There were probably other combinations as well and I remember being stuck in Darwin enroute to SYD during the cyclone. One service even went via MNL.
Last edited by crewmeal; 10th Oct 2013 at 10:21.
Crewmeal
That schedule list brings back some memories.
I had to go al the way to Sydney for a important meeting -despite my youth- and planned an arrival the day before. My BA 741 went tech in London and was delayed for hours. It was due late afternoon I think and father and gf had taken me to Heathrow- both in BA Ops and both amused by a PA that said 'further information will be give at 10pm.When I queried their smirks they said that's when the late shift leave and its not our problem anymore-in the end we took off about 5 am for Muscat . At SIN we had a leading edge flap prob that got cured but because it was the pneumatic alternate system meant no a/c during the stop.
Arrive in Sydney twelve hours late and an hour before the meeting due to start at 10 am -very very tired . I always remembered that MCT was the first stop but could not remember the second until your reminder..
I am sure the crew had a lot of fun back then -as well as working hard and having to put up with some ;challenges and I always enjoyed the times I met the crews off duty in places like HK-Bahrain, Doha, Bermuda,Seychelles -happy days
PB
That schedule list brings back some memories.
I had to go al the way to Sydney for a important meeting -despite my youth- and planned an arrival the day before. My BA 741 went tech in London and was delayed for hours. It was due late afternoon I think and father and gf had taken me to Heathrow- both in BA Ops and both amused by a PA that said 'further information will be give at 10pm.When I queried their smirks they said that's when the late shift leave and its not our problem anymore-in the end we took off about 5 am for Muscat . At SIN we had a leading edge flap prob that got cured but because it was the pneumatic alternate system meant no a/c during the stop.
Arrive in Sydney twelve hours late and an hour before the meeting due to start at 10 am -very very tired . I always remembered that MCT was the first stop but could not remember the second until your reminder..
I am sure the crew had a lot of fun back then -as well as working hard and having to put up with some ;challenges and I always enjoyed the times I met the crews off duty in places like HK-Bahrain, Doha, Bermuda,Seychelles -happy days
PB
A Runyonesque Character
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: The South of France ... Not
Age: 74
Posts: 1,209
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like
on
1 Post
Not BA but
I remember from my BA check-in days, Qantas used to have a weekly 707 that flew London – Bermuda – Nassau – Mexico City – Acapulco – Papeete – Nandi – Sydney.
How on earth would that have been crewed? Where would they slip and for how long?
How on earth would that have been crewed? Where would they slip and for how long?
vctenderness:
Now regarding these Moscow nightstops.
There was a story doing the rounds many years ago when the LHR-SVO-TYO crew used to stay in the Metropole in Moscow, that a certain incident took place to do with a chandelier. I checked this with the hotel manager some years ago and he confirmed it. I also checked it with the British Embassy press office in Moscow who also knew of the incident. It has since been attributed to a Canadian hockey team, but the manager denied this. It was said to have been the inspiration for the famous scene in 'Only Fools and Horses.'
Did you or any of your colleagues ever hear of this? Just curious, because it's a very funny story.
Now regarding these Moscow nightstops.
There was a story doing the rounds many years ago when the LHR-SVO-TYO crew used to stay in the Metropole in Moscow, that a certain incident took place to do with a chandelier. I checked this with the hotel manager some years ago and he confirmed it. I also checked it with the British Embassy press office in Moscow who also knew of the incident. It has since been attributed to a Canadian hockey team, but the manager denied this. It was said to have been the inspiration for the famous scene in 'Only Fools and Horses.'Did you or any of your colleagues ever hear of this? Just curious, because it's a very funny story.
Did you or any of your colleagues ever hear of this? Just curious, because it's a very funny story.
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: UK
Posts: 314
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
It's a classic and brilliant story but if you think about the practicalities of it for half a minute, it doesn't stack up.
Remember it came from the age when people had to entertain themselves. There was no TV on much of the route network, BBC World Service only if someone had brought a radio. No Walkmans, let alone i-anything. The prime entertainment among crew members were individuals' party-pieces of various sorts, magic tricks, jokes, long shaggy-dog stories and general hot-gossip. But mainly stories - thousands of them. People made up the most amazing stuff to get a laugh at the next crew party.
I was lucky enough to spent time with a number of the great TV and film comics of the day, either travelling passenger with them (everyone travelled by scheduled airline, no private jets except for plutocrats) or by inviting them on to the flight deck, even to a crew party if they were staying at the same hotel. Without exception, they all wanted to hear the latest crew stories and many of those stories found their way into their own sketches. Naturally, when they had listened to our new stuff they would entertain us with theirs.
But most of the stories were just that - or embellishments of things that really happened - or might have happened if something else hadn't got in the way. It was a way of life to have something entertaining ready to tell at a moment's notice.
It didn't have to be true, only to be plausible ----- and very funny.
Remember it came from the age when people had to entertain themselves. There was no TV on much of the route network, BBC World Service only if someone had brought a radio. No Walkmans, let alone i-anything. The prime entertainment among crew members were individuals' party-pieces of various sorts, magic tricks, jokes, long shaggy-dog stories and general hot-gossip. But mainly stories - thousands of them. People made up the most amazing stuff to get a laugh at the next crew party.
I was lucky enough to spent time with a number of the great TV and film comics of the day, either travelling passenger with them (everyone travelled by scheduled airline, no private jets except for plutocrats) or by inviting them on to the flight deck, even to a crew party if they were staying at the same hotel. Without exception, they all wanted to hear the latest crew stories and many of those stories found their way into their own sketches. Naturally, when they had listened to our new stuff they would entertain us with theirs.
But most of the stories were just that - or embellishments of things that really happened - or might have happened if something else hadn't got in the way. It was a way of life to have something entertaining ready to tell at a moment's notice.
It didn't have to be true, only to be plausible ----- and very funny.
In 1980 BA were still doing a weekly 747 operation Hong Kong to Johannesburg, as Cathay hadn't got into long haul ops by then. How was that crewed ? A triangle LHR-HKG-JNB-LHR ?
Yes, that must have been a challenge because this flight only operated once a week (leaving LHR on Saturdays), and Qantas had no other service to these points apart from Nandi, so slips would need to be one week at a time. Possibly crews were repositioned between Mexico City and San Francisco (in those days Qantas served only SFO in California, not Los Angeles).
This flight also got pretty poor loads (inevitably). It was the days of the £10 "assisted passage" for emigrants to Australia, so was a favourite to put such families onto rather than the more mainstream and heavily loaded routings. These pax must have ended up thinking that Australia was a very long way away.
I remember from my BA check-in days, Qantas used to have a weekly 707 that flew London – Bermuda – Nassau – Mexico City – Acapulco – Papeete – Nandi – Sydney.
How on earth would that have been crewed? Where would they slip and for how long?
How on earth would that have been crewed? Where would they slip and for how long?
This flight also got pretty poor loads (inevitably). It was the days of the £10 "assisted passage" for emigrants to Australia, so was a favourite to put such families onto rather than the more mainstream and heavily loaded routings. These pax must have ended up thinking that Australia was a very long way away.
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Australia
Posts: 469
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
SSK.
The Qantas Bermuda run was 2 a week.I operated on the last one as an FE.
The trip was 18 days out of Sydney, terminating in Bermuda. A London base crew did the last leg.
It wa not all that popular as most QF trips for Tech Crew at that time were about 10 days.
Wunwing
The Qantas Bermuda run was 2 a week.I operated on the last one as an FE.
The trip was 18 days out of Sydney, terminating in Bermuda. A London base crew did the last leg.
It wa not all that popular as most QF trips for Tech Crew at that time were about 10 days.
Wunwing
A Runyonesque Character
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: The South of France ... Not
Age: 74
Posts: 1,209
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like
on
1 Post
This flight also got pretty poor loads (inevitably). It was the days of the £10 "assisted passage" for emigrants to Australia, so was a favourite to put such families onto rather than the more mainstream and heavily loaded routings. These pax must have ended up thinking that Australia was a very long way away.
My recollection (and I checked it in often enough) is that it was just as full as the others. And it was very rare for emigrants to be booked on it.
Death Cruiser Flight Crew
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Vaucluse, France.
Posts: 613
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Speedbird Moscow
For a factual account of the early days of BOAC's Trans-Siberian operations see:
Russia (USSR) Trans Siberian Start-up, by Brian Burgess (1969-1972)
Brian mentions a BOAC station officer being posted to Moscow, to do the flight planning. I was the second one posted, from 24/09/70 to 23/12/70. Note that Brian makes no mention of crashing chandeliers, and nothing of that nature happened in my time. The BOAC representative USSR, the catering officer and I were in the Metropole, but by the time I arrived the crew had for several weeks moved to the International, a more modern hotel a short walk away.
So yes, an amusing story, which always causes a wry smile when I hear it.
It's probable that our telephones were bugged, in which case it was more efficiently done than in Cairo where you used to hear the end of your previous conversation when you picked the phone up!
Russia (USSR) Trans Siberian Start-up, by Brian Burgess (1969-1972)
Brian mentions a BOAC station officer being posted to Moscow, to do the flight planning. I was the second one posted, from 24/09/70 to 23/12/70. Note that Brian makes no mention of crashing chandeliers, and nothing of that nature happened in my time. The BOAC representative USSR, the catering officer and I were in the Metropole, but by the time I arrived the crew had for several weeks moved to the International, a more modern hotel a short walk away.
So yes, an amusing story, which always causes a wry smile when I hear it.
It's probable that our telephones were bugged, in which case it was more efficiently done than in Cairo where you used to hear the end of your previous conversation when you picked the phone up!
Albert your account of those days is so true. It was also noted that if you received a letter from a loved one whilst half way through a long trip it made all the difference. I lost count the number of times crew would check reception to see if there was a letter from home.
Now some of the more interesting trips that were going on the 747 fleet during the 70's. I haven't included 3 or 4 days Atlantic trips or Middle East night stops.
LHR - ANC - HND - ANC - LHR (5 days or 15 depended on the frequency)
LHR - JFK - BDA - JFK (shuttle) - LHR (5 days)
LHR - YYZ - PIK - YYZ - LHR (7 days)
LHR - JFK - MAN - JFK - LHR (7 days)
LHR - BDA - KIN - MEX (minimum rest) - KIN - BDA - LHR (14 days)
LHR - NAS - POS - NAS - LHR (7 days)
There were other Caribbean combinations that were night stops.
My luckiest trip:
LHR - NBO - MRU (1 week) - NBO - LHR (11 days) Qantas also had a similar trip on their SYD - PER - MRU 707 route. It really did make for such a brilliant trip.
LHR - NBO - JNB - NBO - LHR (7 days) - not popular because of SA pax!
There were also lots of pax trips which crews did together some with unsafe carriers, some with light aircraft. There were lots of interesting diversion trips when there were problems. The two I remember were:
LHR - NBO - JNB - CAI (4 days) - LHR - Israelis got their citizens out of Kampala after the Air France hijack.
DEL - THR (Divert KWI) (3 days) - LHR (Ayatollah came back from Paris)
I'm sure there were lots of others and there will always be weather diversions throwing you off your next roster.
Now some of the more interesting trips that were going on the 747 fleet during the 70's. I haven't included 3 or 4 days Atlantic trips or Middle East night stops.
LHR - ANC - HND - ANC - LHR (5 days or 15 depended on the frequency)
LHR - JFK - BDA - JFK (shuttle) - LHR (5 days)
LHR - YYZ - PIK - YYZ - LHR (7 days)
LHR - JFK - MAN - JFK - LHR (7 days)
LHR - BDA - KIN - MEX (minimum rest) - KIN - BDA - LHR (14 days)
LHR - NAS - POS - NAS - LHR (7 days)
There were other Caribbean combinations that were night stops.
My luckiest trip:
LHR - NBO - MRU (1 week) - NBO - LHR (11 days) Qantas also had a similar trip on their SYD - PER - MRU 707 route. It really did make for such a brilliant trip.
LHR - NBO - JNB - NBO - LHR (7 days) - not popular because of SA pax!
There were also lots of pax trips which crews did together some with unsafe carriers, some with light aircraft. There were lots of interesting diversion trips when there were problems. The two I remember were:
LHR - NBO - JNB - CAI (4 days) - LHR - Israelis got their citizens out of Kampala after the Air France hijack.
DEL - THR (Divert KWI) (3 days) - LHR (Ayatollah came back from Paris)
I'm sure there were lots of others and there will always be weather diversions throwing you off your next roster.
Last edited by crewmeal; 12th Oct 2013 at 06:31.