Old ex-Flight Steward and Travel Agent --- but Newbie of AFF.

[Favfern]

I have travelled a couple of million miles on airplanes, but not so many I have had to pay for! Have been out of the industry for many years and just love this site to help me brush up on all I have forgotten. Only recent trips were Etihad Business Class to Europe for the Anzac Day Dawn Service at Villers Bretonneaux in April 2008, and a few Trans Tasmans on business. Am booked BA World Traveller Plus to UK and return in Sep/Oct 2011. Decided to drop back from Business Class because my wife never sleeps a wink on the lie flat bed anyway! I may as well let her fly Economy! Maybe when we get back, I can post my thoughts on the differences between to 2008 trip and the 2011 trip. Have upgraded to Gold membership on this site because I think it is worth it, particularly with the $35 introductory offer.

 

[drron]

Welcome to AFF.Never hurts to have different perspectives.Besides you will find several old fellows here that haven't tired of travelling.

 

[Favfern]

Thank you for the welcome, old-timer! I have really struggled with the modern airline travel scene. When I was a Qantas Flight Steward in 1967/1969 the world of airline travel was VERY different! IATA made the rules, and God save the Chief Steward who gave a fresh orange from First Class to one of the Plebs in Economy on the good old 707. It was a sacking offence. I am sure that many of our AFF members who are younger than 50 have absolutely no idea what International Air Travel was like before the Jumbos came in in 1969 and the whole industry became obsessed with Bums on Seats! One day I will write a book about the golden years of jet travel from Australia. I was a Queensland country boy, and the VERY FIRST flight I ever had on an airplane, was when I found myself the Fifth Steward on a Qantas 707 from SYD to HNL. I had been a schoolteacher, but fell out with the Victorian attitudes of the 1960's Queensland Education Department. I saw an advert in the paper for QANTAS Flight Stewards and remember asking my mother, "What is a Qantas Flight Steward?" She, being a country lady who had never travelled more than one hundred miles from her home in her whole life, did not know. She said, "I suppose they fly round the world and mix drinks!" That was enough for me, and I never looked back! Maybe, with the permission of AFF members, I will be able to write some posts or articles about how airline travel really used to be before it became the drama it is today!

 

[docjames]

Welcome, and permission not required - go for it!

 

[munitalP]

Welcome to the flight Favfern I mean site!

 

[Alanslegal]

Maybe, with the permission of AFF members, I will be able to write some posts or articles about how airline travel really used to be before it became the drama it is today!

Just go for it and I'll be looking forward to reading any of your articles

I'd also love to learn any tips that you have for those who are afraid, anxious or just plain nervous about flying (that's me, the biggest chicken onboard despite doing 100,000kms the last 12 months and aiming for more the next 12 months)

 

[JohnK]

Welcome to AFF Favfern!

Would love to hear about your experiences....

 

[Major]

My first international flight was in 1969. It was a 707 flight from SYD to HKG. To my surprise 1 hour later we landed in BNE to pick up more pax. Halfway down the runway the takeoff was aborted, with the pilot explaining that a strong crosswind did not allow sufficient air into the engines. Great start so far on the big OS trip.
Didn't know beforehand but we also had to land in Manila to refuel, making for a long first leg.
Landing into Kai Tak was also something else to behold, flying between high rise buildings to land.

 

[Fifa]

Maybe, with the permission of AFF members, I will be able to write some posts or articles about how airline travel really used to be before it became the drama it is today!

Welcome to AFF Favfern!
I would love to hear about your adventures in "the good old days".

 

[tipsy.skipsy]

Welcome to AFF Favfern ,

This community is something special and fantastic. Why don't you write a blog about the flights in the golden years, would be glad to read it.

Who knows might even translate into a book after while ?

Regards ,
Vaibhav Dattani

 

[ColinP]

Welcome Favfern.

Would love to hear some stories from the 'old days'.

My first flight was as a "ten pound tourist" in 1964 on a BOAC 707.

London, Zurich, Beiruit, Karachi, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Darwin, Sydney.
Pity I didn't know about status runs then

 

[Favfern]

Just go for it and I'll be looking forward to reading any of your articles

I'd also love to learn any tips that you have for those who are afraid, anxious or just plain nervous about flying (that's me, the biggest chicken onboard despite doing 100,000kms the last 12 months and aiming for more the next 12 months)

In quite a number of years of dealing with many thousands of pax, I never ever discovered a foolproof way of calming the fears of the chronic nervous flyer. For some people, there is just a primal fear of not having one's feet firmly on the ground. I am a very scientific, rational person and any examination of the statistics will prove you are much safer at 40,000 feet than driving on the Pacific Highway. Fear of flight, however, is NOT rational and such scientific arguments will not work with the chronically afflicted. There were a few such afflicted people who gave airline staff a hard time by adopting an overly aggressive and demanding demeanour in an effort to hide their fear. As far as we were concerned such people were "fair game"! One good trick was to sidle up to them in the middle of some harsh turbulence between SYD and MNL with the old 707's wingtips waving up and down and say in a conspiratorial tone, "It' absolutely AMAZING how far those wings flex up and down, isn't it? Even more amazing is that there are only three bolts holding those big engines onto the wing"! This usually resulted in a green tinge coming over the face, and not another peep out of them for the rest of the trip!

 

[Favfern]

Welcome Favfern.

Would love to hear some stories from the 'old days'.

My first flight was as a "ten pound tourist" in 1964 on a BOAC 707.

London, Zurich, Beiruit, Karachi, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Darwin, Sydney.
Pity I didn't know about status runs then

Ah, yes. Good old BOAC (Better On A Camel) --- as it was popularly known in the Sixties! BOAC is sadly no more, but I think their old call sign "Speedbird" is still in use by BA.

 

[Favfern]

My first international flight was in 1969. It was a 707 flight from SYD to HKG. To my surprise 1 hour later we landed in BNE to pick up more pax. Halfway down the runway the takeoff was aborted, with the pilot explaining that a strong crosswind did not allow sufficient air into the engines. Great start so far on the big OS trip.
Didn't know beforehand but we also had to land in Manila to refuel, making for a long first leg.
Landing into Kai Tak was also something else to behold, flying between high rise buildings to land.

The Checkerboard on the mountain in HKG was one of the highlights of international flying! On my first ever trip in Kai Tak the skipper let me sit in the Nav's seat on the flight deck for the landing. I had heard about the Checkerboard, but nothing prepares you for the thrill of virtually flying at a mountain then doing a "fighter pilot" roll and seemingly passing close enough to the high rises to be able to pluck the washing from the balconies! Many of the QF Captains in the Sixties were ex-WW2 pilots and I think the Checkerboard gave them the chance to relive old glories.

 

[NM]

Ah, yes. Good old BOAC (Better On A Camel) --- as it was popularly known in the Sixties! BOAC is sadly no more, but I think their old call sign "Speedbird" is still in use by BA.

Yes indeed, Speedbird lives on.

My first international trip was on a BOAC VC-10, taking the milk-run to London (BNE-DRW-CGK-SIN-CCU-DXB-KWI-LHR) and returning on QF 747 LHR-AMS-SIN and QF 707 SIN-BNE. Oh the memories. It was great to walk onboard a BOAC painted VC-10 at Duxford a few years ago.

 

[Sprucegoose]

My first international flight was in 1969. It was a 707 flight from SYD to HKG. To my surprise 1 hour later we landed in BNE to pick up more pax. Halfway down the runway the takeoff was aborted, with the pilot explaining that a strong crosswind did not allow sufficient air into the engines. Great start so far on the big OS trip.
Didn't know beforehand but we also had to land in Manila to refuel, making for a long first leg.
Landing into Kai Tak was also something else to behold, flying between high rise buildings to land.

You didn't actuallyfly between them, but it sure did feel like it!!

 

[Grooba]

Welcome Favfern.http://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/members/favfern.html

I'll also echo the thoughts of the majority and say I'd be super interested to hear any stories of the flying days from way back.

 

[nate89]

I had a good laugh just reading through the story of scaring the agro passengers. I love those quasi-evil (but arguably deserved) stories!

My first flight was in 1991 to the UK. I believe it was SYD-BKK-LHR (straightforward). However, it may have been through the Netherlands - I'm not entirely sure. My memory is a bit vague since I was two years old at the time.

 

[Favfern]

Memory is a terrible thing! Of course, one's memory as a 2 year old is a total non-event because those sorts of memories do not really count in a meaningful way. What worries someone like me about memory is that I am 65 years old and am telling you stories that are my recollections about the airline industry in the late Sixties! These are stories, that to me, reverberate with life and truthfulness, but does my memory betray me? I would never set out to misinform my readers, but our memories (as a psychologist will confirm) are not always the truth! If you read something I have said with the best recollection of many decades, and you feel my memory is faulty, then you should immediately say your piece! I grew up in the airline business of the Sixties! I learnt more about life in two weeks as a Qantas Fifth Steward on a 707 than I had in four years of being a student and teacher. I could tell you many funny things about the "old days" but am I absolutely sure that everything is true? Let's face it! Who gives a ****? Let's do it anyway!

 

[JohnK]

In quite a number of years of dealing with many thousands of pax, I never ever discovered a foolproof way of calming the fears of the chronic nervous flyer. For some people, there is just a primal fear of not having one's feet firmly on the ground.

This is not a recommendation but I find Xanax (or Valium) does the trick. I started having anxiety/panic attacks in aircraft ~4 years after my first ever flight SYD-BNE return followed by a RTW. These days I don't dare enter an aircraft unless I have taken a xanax ~1-3 hours before a flight so I am fully relaxed.