British Caledonian

[justapax]

I didn't fly with them that often, but they always seemed friendlier than BA. What was your experience?

They played 'Skylarking' by XTC and 'Back in the High Life' by Stevie Winwood on the flight back from LAX to LGW, which helped make up for them losing my luggage, fortunately only temporarily. These have been two of my favourite albums ever since. Some of us may be old enough to remember when the music was piped into your ears on 747s via acoustic tubes, and there was one screen at the front of business class which showed a film that no-one watched, but was projected by three CRT tubes, red green and blue, a marvel of technology in the day.

[artee]

Originally Posted by justapax

I didn't fly with them that often, but they always seemed friendlier than BA. What was your experience?

They played 'Skylarking' by XTC and 'Back in the High Life' by Stevie Winwood on the flight back from LAX to LGW, which helped make up for them losing my luggage, fortunately only temporarily. These have been two of my favourite albums ever since. Some of us may be old enough to remember when the music was piped into your ears on 747s via acoustic tubes, and there was one screen at the front of business class which showed a film that no-one watched, but was projected by three CRT tubes, red green and blue, a marvel of technology in the day.

Not BCal, but I do remember the single screen at the front of the cabin, with the projector and the hideous acoustic earbuds.

I was on a flight like that, not watching the movie, but reading or (less likely) working, when half the cabin started laughing. I looked up and Mr. Bean was on. Truly International humour (or humor...).

[Asturias56]

"I didn't fly with them that often, but they always seemed friendlier than BA. What was your experience?"

Agree - much friendlier - in those days BA short haul was awful , Aeroflot-standard, long haul was ex BOAC and better but not not personal

[Mr Mac]

Justapax
I did quite a bit back in my youth, all on 707 and 1-11 and yes they were more friendly than BA back then.

I also remember the piped music headphones and indeed the TV which were introduced down the centre of the airframe on 707 for the inflight movie. I should emphasise that there was only one movie unlike today and a good book was also required if over ocean or cloud cover meant little to look at outside.
Cheers
Mr Mac

[Kiltrash]

Only time(s) on Bcal was communicating EDI - LGW Mon and return on the Fri for about 12 weeks.... I could have been in a Hotel near Croydon instead of travelling but I declined the Firms offer...( I wonder why )....
However it was usually the same times and crew I encountered and after a couple of return trips they knew and remembered my preference for food and drink...hmm hot bacon rolls after take off...
Anyhow didn't fly their opponents so can't compare but I remember they were always good....

[Mr Mac]

Kiltrash
At the risk of thread drift I would say BMI and their Diamond Service was far better in the 1980,s than BA as well.
Cheers
Mr Mac

[barry lloyd]

In Ipanema there is a pub called Lord Jim. It's probably as close as you'll ever get to a real English pub anywhere in South America, not least because many of the fixtures and fittings, including a red telephone box, came from the UK in the holds of BCal's 707s.and VC-10s. The story was that a member of BCal's cabin crew had met an oilman on their Houston flights and later they were married . He loved English pubs and they both loved Rio, so they decided to open an English pub there. It was an immediate success, (not least with aircrew!), and is still going strong today. The original couple are no longer involved with it, but on my last visit some years ago, nothing had changed. Why that name? Well because his name was Jim!

[SpringHeeledJack]

At the risk of thread drift I would say BMI and their Diamond Service was far better in the 1980,s than BA as well.

​​​​​​​Amen to that!

[DaveReidUK]

Originally Posted by Mr Mac

At the risk of thread drift I would say BMI and their Diamond Service was far better in the 1980,s than BA as well.

Great breakfasts on the morning DC-9 to Belfast on numerous occasions.

And, getting back on track, flew BCal just the once, LGW-SJU. Got off the DC-10 and onto a DC-3.

[justapax]

Originally Posted by Mr Mac

Kiltrash
At the risk of thread drift I would say BMI and their Diamond Service was far better in the 1980,s than BA as well.
Cheers
Mr Mac

At the risk of further thread drift, it was a BMI flight BRU-LHR that I was seated at the back and as the aircraft bumped along the runway I saw that every male head in front of me had hair loss. I decided there and then not to cut my hair again. It's sometimes useful to be instantly recognisable, e.g., at the last Pprune Bash when I walked out of Maidenhead station and was just about to text Helol to say I'd arrived when she pulled up in the pick-up/drop-off area and recognised me. Saved her the cost of parking.

To get back to your point, in the 1980s I think only Aeroflot internal flights were worse than BA for customer service. I'd do anything to avoid them, I flew Swissair.

[ZFT]

You obviously never flew around China in the 80s then.

[justapax]

Originally Posted by ZFT

You obviously never flew around China in the 80s then.

I managed to avoid China, though I did do a fair amount around the industrial bits of India in the 80s. I understand CAAC was the pits. I can only judge the abysm by what I experienced. If there was worse, I shudder to think about it. Aeroflot had bits falling off the plane, seats that collapsed at inopportune moments, and drunk pilots.

[ZFT]

The irony is that in the mid 70s my employers preferred (cheap) route from London to Tokyo was by Aeroflot via Moscow both legs on IL62s.
Whilst somewhat basic service, the seat width and pitch wasnt that bad.