What was your first flight?

[Mattg]

What was the first flight you ever took? And what do you remember of the experience?

I'll start - it was SYD-AKL on Qantas when I was about 3 months old. I don't remember it, but my grandmother who was taking me said I was a pain and annoyed all the other passengers around me.

The first flight that I actually remember was also on Qantas, from SYD-AKL when I would have been 4 or 5 years old. We boarded a Boeing 747 and I remember seeing the staircase to the upper deck and wanting to see what was upstairs. One of my parents informed me that I would never sit there and we made our way to the back of economy. (I'm pleased to say that they were wrong about that and I finally got to fly on the upper deck from SCL-SYD in 2019 - an experience that was made all the more sweet due to that memory.)

 

[Forg]

I can’t actually recall whether we flew from Sydney to Cairns or Perth, but I was about 12 so 1983-ish … I do recall that it was Ansett and a 727. I remember almost nothing about it, except for being excited about being taken up to the coughpit.

 

[ZigZagWanderer]

My first flight was in 1970 or 71, from London to Munich (iirc - I remember seeing many police with machine guns at the airport, increased security because of some attack?) There were hardly any passengers, I remember that. No video or music entertainment at all, either.

I remember that the in-flight snacks were actually just stored in a little compartment in each seat-back. I filched a couple of extra ones. I also remember falling asleep, and woke up upon landing with an horrendous pain in my ears because I hadn't equalised pressure.

I'm pretty sure that I didn't fly again until 1980, and that was from London to New York.

 

[serfty]

My first RPT jet flight was in 1977, a TAA B727 from CBR to MEL.

My biggest impression was being pushed back into seat by the acceleration during the takeoff roll.

I was in my first year of tertiary studies and had been on holidays with my family but had to get back early for start of term.

2000+ flights later, here I am.

 

[Human]

Sydney to Nadi, 1976, on a Qantas 707. I was 6.

 

[luxury-lizard]

1969 Montreal to Boston on AC to visit some relatives - I was still at Uni and was able to travel on a student fare (can't remember how much but must have been really cheap as I had little money).

 

[flyingfan]

Overseas for family when I was 2. I didn’t take any domestic flights for the first 20 years of my life.

 

[group-of-5]

Qantas 707 BNE-SIN in 1976 then onward to LHR (via Bahrain and Amsterdam) on Qantas 747-200B as a 14YO.

 

[ellen10]

My first flight was in 1977, flying solo for my first trip to Europe. I remember my friends and family all coming to the airport to see me off, (flying to London was a big thing for us all back then). My airfare cost me $1300 in economy (I had saved long and hard for that trip, even doing a pamphlet drop for a few months prior for extra spending money)!

I wore a nice dress and jacket (so stylish)! I chose the window seat as I wanted to look out as much as I could (I still choose window seats).
There was a very drunk older man sitting in the middle seat of 3 next to me. He was flying home to the UK . I remember at meal time he was trying to eat his dessert with a metal spoon, but the plastic lid was still on, I leaned over and took the lid off , he took one bite and promptly fell asleep. I was looking forward to watching the movie "The Taking of Pelham 123 (the original) and fell asleep and only woke up when the final credits were playing. That was the only sleep I got.

The plane stopped in Kuala Lumpa, but they said we couldn't get off because the terminal was too busy. Our next stop was Bahrain, we could get off and my memory was of a lot of fully clothed sheiks walking around, men standing around with machine guns and the only duty free items were cigarettes. Next stop Amsterdam, but we weren't allowed off as it was a shot stop and then on to London.

That began my life long love of flying.

 

[JohnK]

My first flight was SYD-BNE in August 1990 for work and returned the next night after a day at the chemical factory.

I don't remember the carrier but vaguely recall that it may have been T2 in Sydney but I think a lot has changed since then.

A round the world was next in September 1990 and I still remember some of the flights.

ATH-JFK on TWA was chockers. Those were the days of more flexibility and quite a lot of people had turned up at ATH that morning hoping to travel that day. When we were over Rome they announced we were diverting to LHR due to engine issues. We were at LHR for ~3 hours but I think it was to load more food and beverages.

Arrived JFK late evening and missed my connection to CVG on Delta. My bag was also torn/ripped and presents from Greece were visible but luckily nothing missing.

They rebooked me on first flight next morning, provided accommodation at Best Western nearby, limousine to/from airport and USD25 for damaged bag. I really didn't see any of New York as limo driver got on freeway, drove some distance and turning off the freeway Best Western was 200m away.

In Cincinatti I attended IBM "Common" conference for 1 week. For some reason my accommodation was not confirmed and check-in for conference was not until Monday morning. I stayed 2 nights at the conference hotel and Monday morning found out I was allocated to stay at Holiday Inn out in the burbs. Had a high floor room and I remember being terrified of the views from the balcony. I remember taking quite a few photos and on some evenings remember the traffic on the freeway coming to a standstill then a crawl for lengthy time. I went shopping and found luggage but USD25 wasn't anywhere near enough. I had a carry bag at the time and also bought a 2nd carry bag.

Saturday morning flew Delta to LAX to connect evening QF flight to SYD. I remember walking from the domestic terminal to the international terminal with 2 shoulder bags (not kidding they were ~15kgs each with all the materials from conference) and luggage but not sure if that had wheels or not.

One of the highlights of that trip was a young US flight attendant on the TWA ATH-JFK fixated on my "aussie" accent and spending a lot of time talking to me as I was seated in exit row. I was tired and went to sleep and didn't see much more of her.

One thing that was very noticeable in the US was my "aussie" accent. Listening to everyone around you speaking in that slow drawl they use, I could clearly hear my "aussie" accent everyone I spoke. Lots of people wanted to hear me talk. For someone that was born in Greece and didn't arrive in Australia until 8 years old I was proud, and still proud, of my "aussie" accent. It sounds just like it does in the movies.

Don't remember too much more but it's good to still have these memories after 32 years. Wish I'd taken plane travel more seriously but I spent most of my spare time on golf trips up and down the NSW coast and Melbourne.

P.S. the other thing that comes to mind is the treatment we used to receive on irrops/misconnects as opposed to today.

 

[OZDUCK]

My first flight was in 1976 as a 21 year old Per - Sin. It was on a chartered QF B707 flight to replace the ship part of a 'Shipjet' trip to the UK as the ship had broken down. The QF crew seemed to be very unimpressed by having to deal with the cheapskates who had originally booked the cheapest possible fare to the UK and then been foisted on them. We got some very offhand and slack 'service' on the plane.

The second part of the trip was on a British Caledonian DC8 with the FA's in their tartan mini skirts. They were a very friendly and happy crew. We flew through a monsoon storm across the Bay of Bengal and had the worse turbulence that I have ever experienced. The stopover between Singapore and Gatwick was Karachi and that is still the dirtiest and most shambolic airport that I have seen. The Captain actually apologised to us that they were stopping there and warned us not to leave anything on the plane as it would be stolen. On the return trip we refuelled at Bahrain.

 

[luxury-lizard]

Not a first trip but a very memorable one in the early 80's - Flew from Sydney to meet up with Mr LL who was on business trip - we went skiing in Colorado. For the return I was also flying on my own as Mr LL had to say on - at Denver airport I found out the QF flight attendants were on strike and my DEN-SFO (on AA) was useless as the SFO-SYD flight was cancelled but the LAX-SYD flight was being handled by office staff (not FA's) - so AA gave me a boarding pass for DEN-LAX-SYD (even though my ticket was for DEN-SFO-SYD) and told me to run to the gate as the LAX flight was departing any minute. On arrival in LAX I really had no idea if the QF flight was actually operating - eventually I found it was and went to the gate. I was very relieved as I had no credit card and almost no USD - being stranded would have been a disaster.

Flight left with the office staff having fun in their temporary role as FAs - meals were boxed sandwiches but the wine was flowing very freely - my luggage also arrived.

 

[group-of-5]

I remember my friends and family all coming to the airport to see me off, (flying to London was a big thing for us all back then).

I think we forget how exciting and unusual flying was back then, or at least it was for us of more modest means. I still remember extended family coming to the airport to see us off to the USA in the mid 90's.

Your post reminded me of some of my own memories (although some are a bit hazy now) of that 70's trip. I seem to remember there were scissor lift buses that got you off/on the plane in Singapore. Also, the Singapore departure lounge had a vendor with hundreds of battery operated toys (robots etc.) that ran in all directions and there was a guy who would run around and turn them in the opposite direction when they went too far.

In Bahrain, the air conditioning was not working and you couldn't sit down as the various locals were sprawled across the seats sleeping.

Like you, we were not allowed off in Amsterdam, but we were allowed down the back of the plane where the rear door was open and could stand on the service gantry used to load in the food and bev. The leg from Amsterdam to London was almost empty for us.

Watching a movie, on a plane!! Who would have thought that was possible? And these were real film projectors, not the later electronic Barco projectors. And the pneumatic headphones that went with it!!

I also remember getting a little Qantas kangaroo lapel pin.....

 

[OATEK]

My first flight was Sydney to Hobart in 1955, when dad took up a new job at the EZ Company. My first 'solo" flight was Hobart to Sydney and later on to Port Macquarie in 1958 as an 8 yo and unaccompanied. Hostesses (as they were known back then) looked after me. I don't recall all the details, but the 1958 flights involved Vickers Viscounts and DC3s, and at some time toing and froing Hobart-Sydney I also had some Lockheed Electra flights. Most Sydney - Hobart flights I took back in mid-fifties had a stop and often change of aircraft in Melbourne (MEB).

 

[exceladdict]

PER-MEL, when our DJ flights to OOL ended up with stopovers. Inbound flight was late, so my first experience at MEL was running to the gate (via the bathrooms) for the onward flight while our entire family's names were being called out over the PA. Not stressful at all

 

[daft009]

Domestic flights within India in the mid -late 80s. All I remember is the hostie used to take me to the coughpit to meet the pilots. Was just something that was done back then.

First flight I actually remember vividly was in 1991, migrating to Australia and flying SQ from Calcutta to Sydney via Singapore.

It was the 747 from Singapore to Sydney. And the plane taxied over the road tunnel in Sydney and I was looking out the window at the time and was blown away... Wow where have I arrived!

 

[tgh]

Pretty sure my first flight was circa 1958 in an Auster J5 , it was especially memorable as it had no side windows .
Already of an enquiring mind I stuck out my hand and it was immediately plastered against the fuselage ; my dad and the pilot up front did not notice so I bit my lip at the pain and shaddup.
Many adventures in light aircraft and gliders followed but I was already an adult before taking a commercial flight from MEL/CBR for a job interview

 

[rginoz]

I was born in Brisbane and my first flight was the trip to Darwin as a babe in arms with my mother, to rejoin my father who was working there. It was 1951 and I guess the aircraft was a DC-3. The flight landed at a series of small towns along the way to refuel and take on or set down passengers. At Longreach, all the passengers and crew were taken by taxi into town for lunch at a hotel. I think the flight took all day to reach Darwin.

Flying then was a rarity, so many of my relatives - grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins - came to the old Brisbane Aerodrome, to see our very early morning departure. We arrived safely in Darwin.

I flew only occasionally until my first trip to Europe in 1979, via Singapore and Bahrain to LHR, in a Qantas B747. Such excitement! And my love of flying and travel has continued ever since.

 

[LadyC]

First flight was in 1977 or 1978. No memory of it as I was 3 at the time. We were flying from Melbourne to London via India

First real memory of a flight was flying to Germany with Lufthansa in 1989 back when smoking was still allowed on planes. Pretty yuck travelling in a lot of smoke!

 

[group-of-5]

First real memory of a flight was flying to Germany with Lufthansa in 1989 back when smoking was still allowed on planes. Pretty yuck travelling in a lot of smoke!

I remember being on narrow body flights where the left hand side seats were non-smoking and smoking seats were on the right hand side. How that was ever going to work, I don't know. I think Lufthansa were one of those with this system, at least at some point. And that was in the enlightened days when you were given a 'choice'. From what I remember, the airlines were relatively early movers. What we put up with in workplaces and food service not that long ago was crazy.