Horror Stories
 

I've started a lot of threads since I re-joined, some of them have run and run. I'm concerned that I might be dominating the forum. Would someone else like to have a go? I'm thinking of the aero-nostalgic stuff, not the topical issues about luggage and compensation for delayed flights.

If no-one else wants to have a go, I'll start one about the worst flight assistance in the Soviet days, when after take-off the hosties retreated to the back of the plane for a smoke and a chat, totally ignoring the passengers, apart from the ones in front of the divide where they were served caviar, lots and lots and lots of vodka and shampanskoye, and had to be helped off the plane. The proletariat were ignored.

I only flew Aeroflot twice, when the BEA Comet was in for repairs or otherwise unavailable on the Moscow London flight. Us kids were not only proletariat, we were foreigners and suspicious at that. While on the BEA flights we got flight deck visits and our Junior Jet Club books signed by the Captain, and BEA miniature cards so we could play patience on the fold-down tables, on Aeroflot we were strapped down and ignored.

The problem for me is that BA have moved further towards Aeroflot than Aeroflot have moved towards BA

My experience Aeroflot 1977 in Il 62 mirrors yours. Also remember the cabin temp got v hot as you walked forward, and v cold as you went back to seat at rear of the aircraft.

With Aeroflot? Too many to list immediately. (Great source of merry stories though.)

"My experience Aeroflot 1977 in Il 62 mirrors yours. Also remember the cabin temp got v hot as you walked forward, and v cold as you went back to seat at rear of the aircraft."

But it was the opposite way round in the YAK-42 ;)

It wasn't just Aeroflot - there was also Air India ... and Northwest..................... horrible airlines in slave. And Alitalia

If I could turn back time, I'd rename this thread 'Aeroflot reminiscences', because that's what it has turned into. But in its defence I must say that the Il-62 was, for its time, one of the safer aircraft flying, and at least at the front a quiet one. It was popular as a cheap way to the Caribbean from Shannon with Irish holidaymakers who probably didn't care too much about the in-flight service as they were more than capable of making their own entertainment. These were the days when Ireland, as a neutral nation, not as yet a member of the EU, was regarded favourably by the non-aligned states in the Cold War, and sort-of tolerated by the Eastern Bloc as a fellow traveller (pun intended). I think Aeroflot even had its own bonded store of aviation fuel at Shannon so they could refuel their Soviet aircraft with subsidised Soviet JET-A1 at a fraction of the cost it was at Shannon.

Well for the brave there was always the Bouraq or Merpati experience. Garuda weren't all bad but oddly I never had a really good flight on Cathay.

I only flew Cathay Pacific of those four, and they were great when I flew them, before the Hong Kong handover, although I understand they had problems later. Apart from Aeroflot my worst were now-defunct Indian Airlines when they did everything by phone and ledgers, and you had to reconfirm every flight, which would be delayed, crashed, or diverted, flying with them was a lottery. Iran Air gave you a foretaste of the hysterical paranoia that was 1980s Iran, being stared at in silence as the only non-Muslim on the upper deck of a 747. Never again!

Justapax1
You were brave Iran Air and Indian Airlines I have not had the pleasure of Iran Air but have had the misfortune of Air India and the chitty / reconfirmation, but only while in India luckily but it was enough. I have done a little with Cathay but quite a while ago now, with my last being an A340 down to Saigon back in I think 2009 in Business which was ok, but not a patch on the EK inbound which was topped off with a Peninsular Hotel arrival ie Rolls Royce and met from gate with Golf Buggy etc.
Asturias56
Bouraq and Merpati again I passed on but they looked er, intresting :rolleyes: I will trade you Premium Air Shuttle and Space World International both from Nigeria. The Premium Air Shuttle once made an over booked flight have their passengers run around the 737 with winners getting a seat, this occurred on the ramp in Lagos in late 90,s ;) Some of the Mama Benzes are not built for speed !
Cheers
Mac

Indian Airways not Air India. Air India is still going, and although I haven't flown with them that recently I understand they're not that bad. Indian Airways were a legend in their own lifetime for bad service, cancellations, crashes, and their famous 'if you don't reconfirm 24 hours in advance, your seat will be cancelled'. In a book which I mentioned several months ago, 'Beyond the Blue Horizon' by the late Alexander Frater, the only part of his journey tracking the Imperial Airways flight from London to Brisbane he couldn't make was due to Indian Airways bureaucracy and incompetence, he had to go by train.

Indian Airways truly were the pits.

Among the worst Aeroflot (Aeroflop) flights was a five-hour one to Moscow from Heathrow in the 1970s. Walking down the aisle to find my economy seat I discovered that kneeroom gradually but perceptibly got smaller and smaller towards the back of the cabin. It must be designed like this for overall weighting, I mused. Plonking down too suddenly on the tired foam-rubber seat I hit my bumbone on a rounded crossbar directly underneath it. The whole flight required constant body adjustment to avoid placing weight on that pesky bar.

The leg to Tokyo was somewhat better, but in those days no-frills meant exactly that. The stewardess would balance for you a plate of peas swimming in thin gravy, with one huge sausage rolling around on it. In-flight sale of a nesting doll for my daughter involved the bulkily-dressed stewardess reaching under her apron and opening a large leather sporran-type purse in which she had large quantities of coins from the world. Unable to find the correct change, with a large sigh and faint smile she gave us a handful of sweets instead. The aluminium fittings such as the seatback trays all seemed to have been hammered and trimmed by hand as they all differed slightly in outline. My only amusement was the seat-pocket pamphlet, written in both Russian and English. Since we had many hours ahead, on one flight I first taught myself the Russian Cyrillic alphabet, and then for further practice walked around the cabin decyphering the various signs.

Did that same trip. My memory was appalling wine served in plastic glasses, opaque from frequent reuse. Like you down the back and not exactly comfortable

I can remember flying in a Bouraq HS748 that had less flying/nav instruments than my trusty air club C-150...................

Georgian Airways about 15 years ago. Flying Tblisi-Batumi. The alternatives at the time were at least eight hours on a train or seven hours in a minibus. The flight takes an hour. Checked-in, and we are bussed to a remote stand where a Yak-42 awaits. Pax board via the rear stairs, and everything seems OK until there's an argument at the back. Captain (I assume he was the captain - white shirt, black trousers, no epaulettes, but with a lit cigarette dangling from his mouth), wanders down the cabin, and the argument continues for several more minutes until I hear the doors close. All the seats are occupied. The captain returns to the flight deck, followed by one of the pax, while three others remain standing in the cabin. We take off with the standing pax holding onto the nearest flimsy seats. A gentle landing at Batumi ensures that the standing pax are in pole position to leave the aircraft. The return flight was presumably not overbooked: there were no standing pax.

I heard a story of an obscure Soviet airline at a refuelling stop in Siberia. There was a considerable delay and eventually an engineer in greasy overalls passed through the cabin carrying an equally greasy and heavy-looking aircraft part. Shortly afterwards an announcement was made that the part the pax had just seen was vital for the onward journey and if they would care to contribute to its purchase, they’d soon be on their way.

A very nasty experience on Iberia once in the '80's - the pilot gave us a guided tour of Valencia immediately after takeoff with some horrible bank angles - you could feel the plane nibbling at the stall for the whole of the experience.

Odd because otherwise they've been totally vanilla

Justapax 1
My bad re Indian carrier names you are of course correct. Ironically I am also a fan of Beyond the Blue Horizon (note my location on left of screen) and on an Indian theme would also recommend Chasing the Monsoon.

Cheers
Mr Mac

On occasion we used PIA (Perhaps I Arrive), which also provided some off-the-wall stories; in retrospect, such occurrences were probably normal for the regular passengers.

Reminds that there used to be many such, I particularly remember:
BOAC = Better On A Camel.
SABENA = Such a Bloody Experience Never Again