Flying

[Sits]

Flying

You want obscure old charters, has anyone mentioned this lot:


Not that I ever flew on them. The first flight I ever took,was our honeymoon in 1985, a flight to the other Paris airport which isn't Orly or CdG. It was in a Vickers Viscount operated by Euroair.

[nmrfox]

Flying

Flew to Majorca in the 70's on Laker Airways.

[Janik]

Flying

My list. Pretty short, but does contain two first mentions.

American
BA
Balkan Bulgarian*
CSA
Easyjet
KLM
LAN
Lufthansa
SAS
Swiss

There are also two trips that are likely to have been UK charter carriers (a package holiday to Greece and a school ski trip that flew into Lyon) but I can't remember the airlines involved. Monarch rings a vague bell on the ski-trip one, but no more than vague.

Slightly surprised that SAS haven't had a mention earlier on the thread.
Balkan Bulgarian was on a Tupolev, no less. Opinion between me and my mates was mixed about whether flying on a Soviet-built aircraft was interesting or scary.

[WOM]

Flying

nmrrenard wrote: Flew to Majorca in the 70's on Laker Airways.

"I'm Freddie Laker...and flying with me is fun..."

[Janik]

Flying

Forgot one. Sort of. I flew with Crossair before it became Swiss (London City to Basel). And I also flew with Swissair before the original airline went bankrupt and Crossair was renamed as Swiss.

[Disco Child Ballads]

Flying

The first time I ever flew was from Cork to London when I was 14. I've no memory of what airline it was.

Since then, I've been on:
Northwest
Virgin
Air Canada
American
BA
Aer Lingus
Ryanair
Easyjet
BMI Baby

[WOM]

Flying

We've done the gamut of North America brands:

Canada 3000
Air Transat
Air Canada
Canadian (WardAir + CP)
American
Delta
Continental
Jet Blue
Allegiant
BA
Air France
Northwest

[ursus arctos]

Flying

the other Paris airport which isn't Orly or CdG

Le Bourget, I assume (unless we are using Ryanair standards, in which case Beauvais counts).

[Gangster Octopus]

Flying

ursus arctos wrote: unless we are using Ryanair standards, in which case Beauvais counts

I've flown to Beauvais having been sold a ticket to Paris...

[caja-dglh]

Flying

I think the worst airline I have flown was Kingfisher in India. When a beer manufacturer has an airline you probably ought to know you are in trouble.

We got seats in row 1 and thought we were on to a good deal. Turned out the plane loaded at the rear and row 1 was rear-facing jump seats.

[caja-dglh]

Flying

Ursus or Amor must have flown PanAm. I am surprised we have got this far without someone having flown with them (my friend's mother was a flight attendant for them and has loads of great swag).

[ursus arctos]

Flying

Defunct North American
Northeast
Eastern
Mohawk
Piedmont
Allegheny
PSA
Western
AirCal
America West
TWA
Northwest Orient
Continental
Midway
Midwest Express
World
People's Express
US Air
Tower Air
Suntrips

Active North American
Air Canada
Alaska
American*
Cape Air
Delta*
JetBlue
Porter
United*
US Airways
* plus regional affiliates

European
Aer Lingus
Air France
British Airways
Virgin Atlantic
Lufthansa/Condor
Air Berlin
KLM
SwissAir
CrossAir
Swiss
PrivatAir (Swiss)
Luxair
Sabena
Brussels Airways
Alitalia
Air One
Meridiana
BMI (British Midland)
Iberia
TAP
Austrian
Turkish
Ukrainian
LOT
Aeroflot
CSA
SAS
Ryanair
EasyJet
Laker

Other
Singapore
ANA (All Nippon)
JAL
Air India
Jet Airways (India)
Servivensa (Venezuela)

dglh, I was too young for Pan Am. Never flew with them, though I did spend half an hour wandering around one of their then-new 747s when my father was going to London and it was de rigueur for families to see passengers off on long-haul flights and for airlines to show off their equipment.

[Giggler]

Flying

First flight was with Manx, from Manchester to Shannon. Literally a twelve-seater, four rows of two, an aisle, and a single seat. A terrifying introduction to flying.

The break to the old country coincided with the 1994 Lancashire Cup. Bury played a Manchester United side that included the Nevilles, Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes and, according to the commentator on Bury's highlights video, David Beckenham.

Bury won 4-0 with all four gals coming in the first half from Mark Carter. This was his hat-trick goal. Just look at it. Seriously, just look at it:

https://vine.co/v/OIuUXVm26T5

[Giggler]

Flying

WOM wrote: We've done the gamut of North America brands:

Canada 3000
Air Transat
Air Canada
Canadian (WardAir + CP)
American
Delta
Continental
Jet Blue
Allegiant
BA
Air France
Northwest

Jet Blue were ace going from San Francisco to Las Vegas. Swift, who we went from Chicago to Denver with, were awful because they lost my bag for the duration of the three days we were there.

[Ginger Yellow]

Flying

caja-dglh wrote: I think the worst airline I have flown was Kingfisher in India. When a beer manufacturer has an airline you probably ought to know you are in trouble.

Not the only reason to be worried.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Flying

caja-dglh wrote: Ursus or Amor must have flown PanAm. I am surprised we have got this far without someone having flown with them (my friend's mother was a flight attendant for them and has loads of great swag).

I never flew with PanAm either. Probably because I never made any long-haul flights to/from the US.

I'm a bit surprised neither WOM nor Ursus list Pacific Western Airlines/Canadian Airlines International (the latter name after Wardair was eaten and digested.) They were Canada's second largest carrier for some years.

[ursus arctos]

Flying

I think that that's down to my not having spent much time in Western Canada. I'm sure Gramsci (who must have a long list) would have used them.

[WOM]

Flying

They're on my list, Amor. I flew them back from Edmonton once. I only remember that because I was bumped from AC and rescheduled on Canadian. I was like "how does that work?"

[Amor de Cosmos]

Flying

Ah, missed it. Probably because I never got used to calling them anything but PWA.

Not done Westjet yet? They're the latest occupant of the Wardair PWA/Canadian niche. Taking a lot of flak at the mo for only providing sandwiches on their new Vancouver-Gatwick flight, I heard someone the other day claiming it was a "health issue." I've usually had good experiences with them to TO, but never done anything longer.

[WOM]

Flying

Done neither WestJet nor Southwest. Which, given my cheapitude, is a surprise.

[Wouter D]

Flying

Janik wrote: Slightly surprised that SAS haven't had a mention earlier on the thread.

Ah yeah, I flew with them too. Totally forgot to include my Stockholm trip...

[via vicaria]

Flying

ANA (All Nippon Airlines) is the best I've flown with, closely followed by Etihad. Of the ones I can remember:

ANA
Japan Airlines
BA
Air France
Luxair
Manx
Aer Arann
Aer Lingus
Iberia
easyJet
Turkish
Austrian
Swiss (new version, not old), also Edelweiss Air
Virgin Atlantic
QANTAS
Royal Brunei
Etihad
Emirates
LOT Polish
MALEV Hungarian
SAS
Delta
American
United
Continental
Tunisair
Aeroflot
Pegasus

A lot longer a list than I thought, but I'm a cheap flyer so end up on some random deals. The worst of that list by a considerable distance was Delta. Royal Brunei (to Melbourne, via Dubai & Bandar Seri Begawan) was quite a bargain (at least in Jan 2014), although you have to spend a few hours in Brunei Airport, which was possibly the worst layover I've ever had

[Taylor]

Flying

Had a couple of flights with Norwegian, who were very good - budget prices but nice seats, drinks etc. Hawaiian were OK too, sort of like British Midland used to be: short haul, no frills, old jets, but pleasant and efficient and not scary. Probably the best flight I ever had was with Virgin Atlantic in 1994, when they were working their arses off to impress. Playing Super Nintendo games and guzzling complimentary vodka and oranges while flying over the Canadian tundra, on a half empty jumbo where if you wanted a kip you could find an unoccupied three-seat row and stretch out across it with the armrests down.

Last time I flew SAS it was fine, but I had a flight with them in the 90s which was truly awful, sat next to a door which rattled the whole way. My worst ever (not counting Ryanair, which goes without saying) was probably a 7- hour internal US flight on American, in the middle seat with no in-flight entertainment, sat next to a screaming toddler (my girlfriend had been seated seven rows away, despite the fact that it was done as one booking) with the temperature control broken so it was about 90 degrees on there. The pilot seemed to think he was driving a clown car. That was not a lot of fun.

[trimster]

Flying

I can remember flying Sabre Airlines from Singapore to Gatwick in the 'seventies. The pilots looked about 20 years old.

[garcia]

Flying

new ones for the list - avianca, and TAAG (angola)

i flew pan am in 1989, don't remember much about it, but i knew they were the lockerbie crowd.