Do you have a particularly memorable flight?
 

Whenever interest in Pax&SLF seems to be flagging, I start a thread. They seem to attract responses, so I assume people are interested, but if you think otherwise I'll stop.

My most memorable flight was LHR to South Pole (there were a few stops on the way) carrying scientific experiments which cost the taxpayers of several countries a few pence on their tax bills but amounted to tens of millions. To bundle in a physicist who could talk to the captain about a load which broke just about every rule of air cargo (radioactive, explosive components) and the loadmaster (fragile as a butterfly's wing) was a trivial cost compared with the cargo I was responsible for.

The runway at South Pole is compacted snow, the captain has to be specially trained to land with only reverse thrust, no brakes. Quite a lot of Canadian and Alaskan pilots are. As a passenger, it seemed pretty hairy to me. I'm used to LHR or DUB being closed by a sprinkling of snow.

South Pole is 2km vertically of ice from earth, ground, deck, call it what you like. Many scientific experiments have been ruined because a solar event has changed the potential to earth, by sometimes hundreds of volts, in seconds. It's only because of total attention to safety that there hasn't been a spark between a re-fuelling aircraft and the bowser.

Any special flights, people?

Sounds cool! What plane was it?

Very cool, about -15 IIRC. A300. It's a while back, when Airbus was only an upstart.

Justapax1
I think I would need to break it down as to type of memory.

So view out of the window would be a spectacular Northern Light display on a NW Orient 747 Minneapolis to Gatwick in I think 1990. I watched it for nearly 3 hrs , stunning. Flight deck trips pre 9/11. One into HK 1990 with Cathy with oncoming Typhoon and another where I had hired stretched DC 8 freighters and flew Houston to UK on jump seat all the way, great chatty crew.

Scariest AF 707 in 1973 by along way as I have mentioned before, so will not re hash tale. Never flown AF since.

Best food would be offerings from JAL /SQ/EK but comparatively recent as earlier flying career was in the back pre 1990,s and more Chicken or Beef and indeed very early on I believe sandwiches on Ambassadors/ Vikings I can’t really remember.

Upgrades have been relatively few with one on NW Orient Gatwick to Minneapolis as was supportive of ground staff with a gentleman in front of me when he became a little threatening. One with TWA St Louis to Little Rock after not being American about a missed connection. Another was one leaving Havana for Gatwick on BA777 in 1999, as stayed in crew hotel the Golden Tulip and bumped into them at the bar. They had a long layover as only 2 flights per week, a memorable few days. One BA Delhi to LHR as wife nearly keeled over at check in and went upstairs.
There is one other which I have filed below.

Famous or interesting people you have sat next to. Two celebrities one Joe Lumley on a shuttle down from Scotland post new Avengers and pre Adfab in 1987. I did not recognise her at first but she is delightful and very funny as you see on TV. Lastly I got an upgrade on Swiss Air and flew with Peter Ustinov from Geneva to New York he was a UN Children’s Ambassador , suffice to say I wished the flight was going to the Moon. A tremendous and very funny man who was as much interested in you as you were him. The crew did say it was always a joy to have him onboard.

Those are mine so far though with more thought there maybe a few others but breakfast calls and tide and time wait for no man and of course I am still flying so hopefully more in the future.

Cheers
Mr Mac

'Scariest AF 707 in 1973 by along way as I have mentioned before, so will not re hash tale. Never flown AF since.'

I must have missed that one. Can you put up a link to your original post?

AF has a fairly good safety record, and is one of my favourite airlines along with EK. It helps to speak French: you can speak English, they can speak English, but only if they have to, the aircrew both in front of and behind the locked door greatly prefer their own language, you start the flight as Monsieur le Docteur and end it as 'tu'. I especially like the way that if you are travelling La Premiere the captain comes and greets you personally. I'm always surprised at how many airline pilots also fly hang-gliders, the most complex form of flying and the simplest. One AF captain got so enthusiastic about hang-gliding that her First Officer had to come back and remind her that she had a plane to catch.

Justapax 1
I mentioned it in a previous post sometime ago but it was within another thread, and I can’t remember exactly what the discussion was about.

However the incident was severe CAT over US in a 707 May 13th 1974 LAX-Orly with flying people and drinks etc so not recent, but I have not experienced anything as bad ever since, and I was 14 and had been taken out of school to go to LA with Dad as a treat, and for a few minutes making 15 was looking like a slim possibility.

There was damaged internal fittings and people at back of the A/C with some serious injuries 15 from memory and two were quite serious my Dad said, luckily a Doctor on board, however the Captain elected to continue to Paris where we were met by a fleet of ambulances. There was a severe storm line over Nebraska where the incident occurred, and you could see lightening outside but the flight appeared to continue and hit CAT not unsurprisingly. There are echoes of what subsequently occurred in the South Atlantic in more recent times I think. Tellingly they did not report the incident at the time, and it was I think reported independently. There was no cockpit voice recording as flight continued for over 7 hrs. My late Father had more information about it but our family never flew with them again.

At the time they had got the nickname Air Chance as they had 10 loses in the 1960,s , including 5 707,s.

I am glad you have had a good experience with them, and I share your like of EK but AF still not for me thank you.

Cheers
Mr Mac

Some years ago I was holidaying with a FWB,first week were in uk but away from home,2nd week we were booked on Alitalia to fly down to visit her sister in Sicily.
Anyway we get home the night before the flight (LGW) to 3 messages on my home ansafone (pre mobile days eh :) ) - all from our village travel agent (pre internet days eh :) )
(1) Alitalia will be on strike - I can get you booked with BA for an extra £400 (I think)
(2) Alitalia on strike - I can get you booked with somebody else for (say) £300.
(3) msg left the day before - report to the Alitalia Station Manager and he will get you out there :)
So we turned up at Gatwick - finds the station manager and he puts us on a Lauda Cessna Citation out to Bologna (nice flight,nice food real crockery :) )
Overnight in hotel in Bologna (free) and then flew down to sicily next morning on Aermediterranea.

Memorable flights for various reasons...

December 2005, Iberia A340 from MAD to SCL. Beautiful flight, no problems at all until we were crossing the Andes and then it was sitting on a demented trampoline all the way.
January 2006, Iberia A320 from MAD to LHR. Suitcase never made it from previous flight (Iberia A340 from EZE to MAD) to the A320. BMI delivered it 4 days later and it looked like a B747 had run it over (unsure why BMI delivered it via taxi and not Iberia who lost it)

June 2008, Air France A340 from CDG to HKG. Flight started off fine but as we got to around the halfway point we were notified that we might be diverted due to the tail end of a typhoon causing issues in Hong Kong. The flight carried on as expected, an announcement that we would be landing in Hong Kong but that it would be a rough landing due to the weather, the airport apparently would allow us to land then would be closing the airport. As we descended the sound of the rain was extremely loud, massive amount of lightning and very loud thunder. Aircraft was rocking and rolling like crazy (a few other pax did scream a bit). After what seemed an eternity of rocking, rolling and bouncing we landed safely, the standing water bow wave washed through the engines beside my window seat and soaked the entire plane. The noise from the wind and rain drowned out the sound of the engines completely. We taxied to the gate and got off the plane...a few did require assistance due to not being belted up.

October 2008, B737 & KLM B747 Combi (both directions) MAN-AMS-IAH / IAH-AMS-MAN. Flights brilliant. IAH was an eye opener, granted it was shortly after Hurricane Ike had visited the region, however....no security checks, no baggage checks, no passport checks in either direction. I was in Houston for 4 days for a freind's wedding and thus only had hand baggage and there wasn't anyone to check bags, boarding passes, passports or anything. Having a plane load of people look at each other mumbling "do we just get on?" and the CC's coming up the airbridge to find us was not exactly expected.

My most memorable flight was 20 minutes in a B17 Flying Fortress.
Airliner wise, was when I was 15, it was the first flight that I spent the whole flight on the jump seat on a Court Line to Genoa and back from Luton, except we had to divert to Gerona due fog.

I've had a few memorable working flights, but, the most memorable was my first ever flight.

" in my younger days" frequented MAN.observing the flying. One day, got a very unexpected offer of a flight to / from Farnborough. As I'd never flown before, a dream come true you might think...alas. I recall it was a nice sunny day with lots of pretty fluffy clouds which I now know to be a perfect gliding day.... with thermals.

The aircraft was a Tri-Pacer..."compact in the back seat "...and it was just after Congleton my breakfast, helped by nerves / excitement and...thermals decided to recycle itself. After several deposits in the bag, the pilot, wisely, decided to divert to Sleap where I think the aircraft was based as his car was there. We returned to MAN by road.

This experience did concern me next time I flew, in a Chipmunk, but, no repeat performance and, having subsequently flown in a variety of types, including back seat FJ's, I've never been airsick since.

For bad reason: 1970. Air Rhodesia Viscount Salisbury (as was) to JNB. Left about 9am had breakfast just in time for going through a thunderstorm. The Viscount ceiling was (I think) about Fl160. so could not go over it and possibly too wide to go around. I'm also guessing that the flight crew were well used to it and customer comfort may not have been a priority. I kept my breakfast but many did not.

For good reason: 6th August 2003. Concorde G-BOAC LHR to JFK. No more needs to be said.

Bonnie Lass
Your experience re Hong Kong mimics my own in Typhoon weather though I was in 747. May I ask which airport it was, as my own was into Kai Tak and I got the cockpit ride as I was at school with one of the pilots. We also were put on possible divert, but landed, and then all quickly went to Aero Club bar to watch the show as others tried to get in before airport closed.

Cheers
Mr Mac

In all of the 90s I was working in Milan. Did LAX-ORD-FRA-LIN on LH and UA most of the time.

On a trip home from LIN I don’t know if the baggage handlers had a pre-announced strike or it was impromptu but the Captain came on the PA and asked for volunteers to load baggage. No containers. Just loose in the hold.

On another trip I had checked in at FRA for my flight to ORD and was in the waiting area. I normally flew Business. Heard my name called. Went back to desk. Counter lady exchanged my Business seat for a FC seat. I asked if I should thank her or the computer. She said her. 😊

On a UA flight from ORD to FRA I had a seat next to the galley. It was a single seat with a shelf to my right instead of another seat. Before takeoff a FA was walking down the aisle with a bottle Veuve Clicqout. I commented that it was my brand. She said Here and handed the bottle to me. As we got closer to take off another FA came by and asked if I wanted it put on ice. I had plenty of bubbly on that flight.

IBMJunkman, if you like your wine to have bubbles in it, can I suggest an English wine, Nyetimber? It consistently out-performs big-name French bubblies at blind tastings, and is something of a steal at £ 32 a bottle for the NV. I don't think much gets exported, but you can order it from thewinesociety.com, sadly you don't get free shipping if you are outside the UK. The iffy English weather means that single-vintage wines are rarely available and if they are you are looking at north of £ 80, which is still good value compared with expensive French fizz.

English wines don't have an Appellation Controlee system, so the wine is simply labelled 'Product of England', don't be fooled, this is a rare wine for special occasions.

Most memorable flight
 

I had booked Hervey Bay-Sydney-Newcastle-Auckland, all on Virgin. a few days prior the flights, advised by Virgin that Newcastle-Auckland flight cancelled so they offered me a Brisbane-Auckland flight. No way I could get from Hervey Bay to Brisbane (without an overnight in Brisbane) in time for the offered Brisbane-Auckland flight. After much to and fro talks as to why I would have to pay extra for their suggested Brisbane-Auckland flight instead of what I had paid for the original, they then offered a Sydney-Auckland direct flight for no extra cost.

So I traveled Hervey Bay-Sydney and needed to go from Domestic to International Terminal in Sydney. Not too much of a problem as I knew Virgin in Domestic Terminal had a 'departure' gate specifically for transfers Domestic to International by a minibus airside . Get to the gate and due severe weather at Sydney (which it indeed it was), ground transport airside was cancelled so had to use the normal transfer bus from outside the terminal. OK slightly annoying but not a problem (baggage had been checked right through to Auckland). Went to departure gate for for flight to Auckland to find out delayed awaiting arrival of aircraft due weather. This got later and later mid evening with 'our' aircraft having to divert as couldn't land at Sydney, so flight was cancelled and we'd be overnighting with a 6am departure booked the following morning BUT we'd have to collect our baggage after Customs OK'd it.

Waited whilst baggage came round on the conveyor system but mine and around 15 other peoples baggage was nowhere to be seen. Off to Hotel for the night without baggage after being told to 'report missing bag' in the morning. Following morning was told by Virgin staff to go to office (of their contracted baggage handlers) to report missing bag. Office closed and locked till 8am, so back to Check-in area where details were noted and they'd pass it on when that office opened.

6am flight delayed (due late incoming aircraft) and got later and later finally to depart so much later that my (already rearranged twice) flight from Auckland to New Plymouth, the last one for the night had already departed. Waited for my bag to arrive in Auckland but mine and the other 15 or so passengers also waited in vain as they never arrived. Finally found someone to report it to and someone else who offered to arrange overnight hotel in Auckland and rebook flight to New Plymouth. Decided that for the 4 hours before the New Plymouth flight would depart I'd be better off just waiting at Auckland Airport.

Finally arrived New Plymouth without bag but after two 'overnights.' Had things gone to plan I'd have been in New Plymouth the same day that I left Hervey Bay instead of two days later. That was a disastrous trip from start to finish (bags finally arrived in New Plymouth another 3 days I had). What I would say is that the actual Virgin staff in Sydney were superb, under great stress for not only my flight disruptions but for all their other flights. The limited number of Virgin staff politely and apparently stress free did whatever they could but were overwhelmed by basically the weather.

The real let down was by whoever did their baggage handling as the bags had arrived as far as Sydney but then went missing. All that because I chose to book via Newcastle, having never flown to/from there. Oh well that was the only time I've ever had two unplanned overnights since I started traveling air back in 1968.

Just a few glimpses:

Flying myself, with wife, daughter and a pilot-friend in a P28 CPH to Tempelhof, only 3 months before it closed. Landing there was an experience.

Landing on a BA 747 at Kai Tak and seeing another one in the water with tail fin blown off (Crashed jumbo jet has tail blown off - UPI Archives).

EasyJet Airbus CPH to LGW, severely delayed, couldn't depart, so they shut the plane down and opened the cockpit for everyone to visit. Sat in the captains seat for 5 minutes and chatted with the crew about gliding and private flying.

Back when QANTAS only flew 747's - wet Saturday night out of Christchurch for Sydney - 12 adult pax and 6 kids. Everyone moved to the front, the only first Class passenger came along and the party started. They left slave class with only emergency lighting and let the kids play there......................

Wow - what a fantastic story Asturias56.

Asturias 56
A good memory. Only been on one flight like that and it was EK out of Saigon to DXB on 777, it was one of the first flights on that route, so not many passengers inbound to DXB. We had 4 in Business and around 40 in the back. However they didn’t open up Business to Economy passengers like your crew did but obviously let them move around. We spent sometime talking with them as a quite long boring flight for them.

Cheers
Mr Mac

Many years ago I was working in Jeddah, KSA. I was on a 2-week multi entry visa, so every fortnight I flew to Dubai (where I had been previously living and had friends there) on Friday morning, returning Saturday evening – well it had to be done!

Anyway, one week-end I decided to visit Cairo instead for a change. It was a full Saudia 747, just after the Haj, and I was the only non-pilgrim/ non-muslim passenger on board. Every other passenger was wearing the unstitched white cloth wrap of the pilgrimage. I was somewhat conspicuous in my jeans and sports shirt, but all was good!

Returning from Cairo, security was not everything it might have been. The hand luggage scanner after check-in was unsupervised, although everyone was dutifully putting their bags into it, as if performing an expected ritual whose actual reason was lost in the mists of time. To speed things up, bags were being jammed through several deep as much as the height of the machine would allow…..

Well, I think that will have to wait until my next trip to England. £32 is not a bad price. But £40 for a lifetime membership and the shipping makes it a bit pricey. Will stick with my Veuve. It is already here. 😊

Wasn't Kai Tak it was Chek Lap Kok

I had always wanted to experience Kai Tak but sadly it closed long before I managed to get to the city (my flight there was to meet a cruise ship)

A few that stick in my mind

Bahrein to Amsterdam in mid 70s on KLM DC8 -30 three pax , me 23 and two very elderly gentlemen . A very attentive cabin crew who also invited me to a birthday party for one of them during the overnight stay in AMS
Seychelles to Mauritus 1980 ish . BA 747 ex BAh arrives in Seychelles but cannot leave becuase en route bird strike knackered on engine , no spares, thunderstorm, apartheid routings delay flight for 72 hours
LHR-Abu Dhabi Gulf air 1011 , Three hours in cabin crew member comes and asks my name -on confirming she says please come to the flight deck as you have a 'phone' call , Amused flight crew explain it is my wife who is duty Speedbird London radio operator havign her little joke
Stockholm ARN to Berlin Templehoff in 1992 F27 this time only 2 pax , one sat at back and me right at front peering through open cockpit door. Cheery LH FO says why not come and sit up here if you are so interested so jump seated the whole rest of way
LHR-MIA seated next to heavy crew FO who very chatty, when his turn up front asks Captain if I can join so many hours up front in the bizarrely tiny flight deck of the mighty 74 . v interesting seeing other a/c in midst of now where including several headed east under the westbound tracks
LGW-BDA depart LGW on time at 1420 never leave UK airspace inumberable orbits over Lands End and return to Gatwick at 2015 date Sept 11 2001 .

Nothing v exceptional since those days altho I was immensely impressed with QR business class on A380 earlier this year

Most of my flights through the 80's and 90's were totally forgettable. The one that stood out was just after I revitalised my PPL after a 20 year hiatus and it gave me more confidence to ask to visit the flight deck. My first visit was a BA767 flight from Nice to London and the captain was a lady and the FO was a very nice chap who looked a bit older than your average FO in BA. From the chat we had I imagine that he had a lot of experience in GA before becoming an airline pilot. What made it particularly memorable for me was the quality of the CRM. There wasn't a moment on that flight when I didn't know exactly what was going on just from listening. And to cap that, the FO carried out a raw data approach into LHR.

The dear lady wife still reckons it beats any other flight we ever took............................

In the late 1970s I was a travel agent and it was always a problem getting seats on Indian Airlines (IC, not AI). I arrived in Calcutta with requested seats on an A300 flight to Delhi. Headed to the ticket counter, pushed ny way to the desk and (a feat in itself). explained. Man dissappeared and came back with a LARGE sheetof paper with lots of boxes on it and a name in each box. "What name did you say?". Happily we were both there. From Delhi to Jaipur on a 748 then Udairpur, Bombay, Goa, Bombay all in 737-200s standby on all of them and at least one where wew were told we were 16 and 17 on the waitlist (still got on), one with ceiling panels missing and one where we didn't rotate until we'd gone past the "1" distance to go marker.

Stopping at Indian airports on flights to and from points further east could be interesting. Open the doors and clouds started drifting down the cabin (no jetways then) and the food loaded nearly all had some curry taste but not always described on menus.
I've always been impressed by the climb performance of 757s but I think an Air France 727-200 on the firat flight LON-PAR with a very light load caught me by surprise.
As a child (10 yrs old?) I had a cockpit ride in a Silver City Bristol Freighter Lydd Le Touquet and it was fitted with a Decca Navigatot with a pen over a paper map rolling across the paper map. Almost more interesting than the flying!

Praise several hundred Hindu gods that Indian Airlines no longer exists. Terrible safety record, appalling customer service both in the terminal and in the air, and the same food on every trip - chicken and some rice wrapped up in a banana leaf. They hold my personal record for the most delayed flight, nine hours late BOM-MAA in 1966. Nine hours is a long time if you're a nine-year-old unaccompanied minor.

One that springs to mind was landing at Sumburgh on the short 33 (north-south-ish) runway, and looking out the window and UP at a sheep!

Lovely story..

Reminds of a time when I was flying London to Sydney on a Qantas 747. At that time, Qantas slipped in Bangkok.

So far so good, but the crew who got on in Bangkok were in worse condition than the ones who left the plane. They were wrecked. I was the only passenger on the top deck. The purser came and said "We're supposed to serve you breakfast after takeoff, so I'll do that. But then I need a snooze. Let me know what you'd like to drink after your breakfast, and I'll bring you a case of it. Once I've had my snooze, you can have anything you like,"

I was into Drambuie at the time, so sure enough, he served breakfast, then turned up with about a dozen miniatures of Drambuie, then went for his snooze. Once he'd had his snooze, I had 1:1 passenger cabin crew ratio.

Since the age of 13 I have kept a passenger log of all my flights. I was looking through it to try and select my most memorable flight. I gave up as there were just too many and I would have inundated this thread. I have forced myself to select only one. That was a Reeve Aleutian Airlines flight on an Lockheed L-188PF Electra (N9744C) from Anchorage to St Paul, Pribilof Islands, Alaska (and return) on 15/JUN/89. It was crewed by two captains, Gary Lintner and Wayne Russel. Gary was the F/O on the company's L-188 Electra N1968R involved in a major, and well documented, emergency in Jun 83. You can find it on YouTube. As a bonus I was invited up front for the landing at St Paul. The flight time was 2hours and 14 minutes.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....a77b78c5d9.jpg
On the ramp at St Paul
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....d11e9525ab.jpg
Short final for the gravel strip at St Paul

The above was closely followed as memorable with 3 sectors on the J/S of an Air Manitoba Curtiss C-46 (1990) and 4 J/S sectors on a Millardair DC-4 (1983). There were more but I think those would be the top three.

My father and I were Atlanta-bound out of Idlewild. We were going to visit family over Thanksgiving. It was 30 September, 1959. I was ten years of age. We boarded an Eastern Air Lines Lockheed L-188 Electra. My father, a Marine Architect, was deeply into aviation; his enthusiasm infected me. I saw the glimmer in his eyes when the Allison turboprop engines spooled up and began to whine. I saw the square-tipped Hamilton Standard propellers become a blur. We taxied to the runway threshold and, having been granted takeoff clearance, commenced a very spirited takeoff! It was a cavu (now cavok) day all the way to Hotlanner. From our First Class seats, my father led me to the rear of the aircraft, where there was a windowed bar that accommodated 10 passengers. Dad had a bourbon; I had a "Co-Cola". I noticed that Dad spent what seemed to me to be an inordinate period of time observing the starboard wing of our conveyance. What I did not know was that the day before, an Electra had disintegrated over Texas, its left wing failing due to destructive whirl mode.

Our trip was silky smooth and pretty damn fast at 375 m.p.h. I remember witnessing my father hugging my grandfather when we arrived. I remember my grandfather hugging me. I remember my father looking down at me, glint in his eyes, knowing that, as usual, we were walkin' around lucky!

- Ed


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....681f8a1e50.jpg

August 2004, BA A320 G-EUUR, London to St Petersburg, with a ring in my pocket which was going to be a surprise for the recipient.

I still give attention to G-EUUR whenever I see it at Heathrow, or go out into the garden to watch as I see it's about to turn Long Finals.overhead. It's right now on its way back from Dublin so I might see it again shortly - ah, not now, Heathrow's on Easterlies.

PS - Mrs W, currently downstairs here, sends regards :)

Well, a few weeks ago I found a bottle of Nyetimber from a place on the east coast. Cost and shipping put it at over $100. Figured what the heck. Just this one time. Cracked it open today. I am not a connoisseur and don’t have the jargon. All I can say is earthy. If I could get it locally and the price was close to the UK price I might switch. But since Veuve Clicquot is cheaper locally I will stick with the orange label. 😊

Was that the NV or one of the fancier cuvees? Nyetimber doesn't declare a vintage that often (unpredictable English weather) but vintage Nyetimber tends to get snapped up quickly and appears on the secondary market at prices not far off your USD 100.

The primary characteristic of Nyetimber (and indeed of all English fizz) is the floral notes. English sparkling wines tend to spend longer on the lees than Champagne, so tend to be quite yeasty. Like Champagnes, they're almost all Chardonnay grapes on chalk soils.

I'd raise a glass with you seeing as it's New Year's day, but I've already got a Cremant de Bourgogne on ice! (£ 9 a bottle in the UK when it's on special offer, as it was a few weeks ago when I bought a case.) It's not Nyetimber but it's eminently drinkable, and probably a lot more available in the US. I like the Louis Bouillot.

IBMJunkmen
They keep trying to push it as a Champagne replacement but I have tried it twice now and I don’t get it, as to me it falls short, for me anyway. I think BA may even push it onboard as I am sure I have seen it in Business with them but not tried in flight .

Cheers
Mr Mac

Your tastebuds work differently at 30,000+ feet than they do at sea level. I've never tried it in the air, maybe it just doesn't work at altitude.

For me, British Airways doesn't work at any altitude, Their First Class (which I've never flown) is reported by the Luxury Travel Expert as little better than business class with other airlines, and their business class is just premium economy with lie-flat beds. It doesn't matter to me which fizz they serve: BA, are SABENA for me (Such A Bloody Experience, Never Again).

My luggage is currently having the trip of a life time.
It was supposed to follow me from Anguilla to Miami and then onto LHR. (I don't normally check my crew bag but the Anguilla flight was on an Embraer).
The MIA to LHR leg was cancelled by BA. Why? No idea (29th Dec 24. Tech issue or crewing). I was rerouted with TAP to Lisbon to LHR.
No bag.

After a few days in Miam in the sunshinei it was loaded onto a flight to Philadelphia where it spent a few hours before flying to Lisbon. It's there now (AirTags). Hopefully popping up to LHR soon.

I might add, I have had no communications from AA or BA (I'm BA FF silver ) so I only know what's going on from my AirTag and phoning Miami...

I have to admit that I absolutely hate BA and avoid flying with them as much as I possibly can.

In 2012 I had no alternative but to fly BA from the south of France to MAN via LGW.

The first flight was aboard a very pleasant Embraer, lovely crew...no issues at all. I actually thought that maybe BA had finally improved. That was until I connected with the BA flight from LGW to MAN.

Sitting there at the gate was a B737 that looked like it had been dragged kicking and screaming out of retirement. The outside of the aircraft was tatty...lots of that special sticky tape (nose, around the door, all over the wings etc), some hanging by a thread. Boarded and the carpet had a hefty dose of gaffer tape, the seats likewise. Found my seat...a window as always...but looking out of the window was going to be an issue, tween the layers of window hung quite a lot of insulation material (2 or 3 windows infront and behind mine also had insulation hanging within them). Eventually we moved off the gate, started the engines (engine noise plus other unrecogniseable noises comparitive to a sawmill at full chat). Off we trundled to the runway, every pothole causing the entire interior to bang, creak and rattle doing the perfect impersonation of an overloaded milk float. Take off roll and the overheads were bouncing and various bangs and crashes from under the seat, a gradual struggle into the air...and creaking and banging all the way to MAN where we arrived with a thump or three and most of the pax started clapping.

I have no idea what the reg was on that B737...it did have a distinguishing mark though, a black circle around the nose. It was the BA that I remembered why I avoided the airline. Not a nervous pax by any means but that old crate seemed ready for the knackers yard.

That black ring meant it was fitted for MLS approaches.