Your very first flight

[Pete]

First flight I remember was a BEA Trident, although I remember the flying bit much better than where we were going (although it was possibly Antwerp, as that would have been the closest airport to where my cousins live, and we were regular visitors when I was a child). I'm guessing it must have been around 1971, and it sparked an excitment in flying for years to come.

Mty first flight was around 10 years ago flying from BHX-BFS on my way home from uni. I can't remeber who, it was either easy jet or BMI.

My first flight was Air France, Birmingham to Paris in 1992

My first VS flight was a New York / San Francisco open jaw in 1997

My first Upper Flight was back from San Francisco in 2004.

Fact fans, I've worked out on a spread sheet (although not as good as Mitchja's I'm sure ) that I've done 44 sectors on Virgin. New York is the most visited destination, July and April tie for most sectors and I've never ever flown in December.

cheers!

Dean

[mitchja]

Originally posted by Wolves27


Fact fans, I've worked out on a spread sheet (although not as good as Mitchja's I'm sure ) that I've done 44 sectors on Virgin.

cheers!

Dean

Beating me by 2 sectors. Only done 42 here.

Regards

Great topic.[y]
How the memeories come flooding back.
I used to board aircraft quite frequently (although not fly) with my father when I was a child. I remember Stansted when it had nissan huts.
My first flight was with Cliff Mitchelmore & the 'Holiday' programme. It advertised flights for those with a fear of flying. I didn't have a fear of flying but I was nervous as I hadn't flown before so rang up & booked a seat for a relative & me. I think it was 1984, I was on TV descending the steps after the flight.
The first paying flight I took was later that year in a Fokker 28 to the South of France (Montpellier I think).
First flight with VA was 18th September 1997. It will never be forgotton by the crew or us because we had to fly our youngest daughter, aged 3, by stretcher which took up 12 seats(or 16, can't remember). I do remember that it had cute little curtains around the stretcher which could be drawn to give some privacy.
The CAA had said that we couldn't fly without a doctor because it was nervous of us. We did manage to liase with them & fly with a nurse instead who was an off duty crew member who got a freebie to Miami.
In 1999 we used the prototype 'Stripey' airchair which is now in production & used by many airlines which assists children who have difficulty sitting up.
First UC was in 1999, it was a much appreciated upgrade as we had had major problems on our way out to Miami as the clubhouse had to be evacuated as the fire alarm went off & we couldn't take our daughter's buggy with us as we evacuated the building etc. I had to scoop her up & run.
I remain loyal to VA overall for all the support their special assistance dept & the crews of the various flights we took, gave to us over numerous years so we were able to fly our daughter to Miami for DHT in the Keys.
We flew just after 9/11 & we decided upon our return that we could no longer allow her to fly due to her increasing frailty & the stress the implimentation of numerous safety/security checks took upon her,us & the security staff.
We are so very happy that we were able to take her to dolphin therapy & enhance the quality of not only her life but our 2 older daughters & ours too. We will have wonderful memories thanks to the assistance of Virgin.[^][^][^]

[honey lamb]

I used to board aircraft quite frequently (although not fly) with my father when I was a child. I remember Stansted when it had nissan huts.

Oh God! I remember flying out of Stansted when it had nissen huts! I can't remember though whether it was a flight I took to Lourdes or Moscow! [:0]

My mother's worked for BA nearly my entire life so I've been no stranger to free long-haul holidays and have rather snobbishly never been to Spain or even France. My sister then joined VS when I was in school so the family got its fair share of tax only!

My first ever flight was to New York on BA - I was very young and apparently, the crew loved me! haha

My first ever VS flight was to MCO

My first ever VS flight as crew was SFO

My favourite trip is HKG/SYD

First flight was in 1967, on UA, SFO-DTW. Back in those days one actually dressed to fly, and there were tables one could stand at in the rear of the plane and talk around as you had a drink. One also heard 'please' and 'thank you' from all onboard, pax and crew - and yes, they were called stewardesses back then - I remember only the men were pilots, and they weren't in the cabin otherwise!

First military flight: 1974, C-5, with rearward-facing net seats. If you've never been on one, be grateful. If you've never been on one for more than two hours, be very grateful.

First longhaul: see above. (Otherwise known as my real reason for starting to fly any other way than the cheap seats.)

First VS: I'm having a brain moment, but I do remember my stuffed bear is from 91, an LAX flight, so must have been before that.

First VX? Depends on how fast I can click and spend on my Amex when the site finally accepts bookings... [}:)]

I might have enviously been watching you honeylamb board you flight.

I used to dream of being a 'stewardess'. When I WAS offered positions with BA & ......Dan Air I declined. What a total twit I was!![n]

I have notes that my father wrote on board one of the first GUlf Air flights when he was asked to fly business class & to say what he thought of it. I guess he enjoyed his job at times[:w][ii]

Hmm, if we're talking about sectors I've had 52 with VS. 48 on the 744 and 2 on the 340-600. (Although a fair amount of them were non-revs on the 744 flightdeck!)

Regards

John

Originally posted by vs_itsallgood

First military flight: 1974, C-5, with rearward-facing net seats. If you've never been on one, be grateful. If you've never been on one for more than two hours, be very grateful.

Military reward seats - what will they think of next! [:w][:I]

My first flight was at 17 (1986); an RAF VC-10 from Gutersloh in Germany to Brize Norton, heading for RAF Swinderby to join up!

First civil aviation was (I think) Stanstead to Inverness some years later.

Worst flight ever was in a C-130; 27 hours of doing a 'round robin' of the UK airbases in Gulf War 1, followed by an eight hour leg to Cyprus and another of similar length to Lyneham!!! I lost count of the takeoffs/landings and crews...

Tony

My very first flight was when I was about 3 or 4, and we went to Corfu with OA via ATH, I had my own suitcase, and felt very grown up! Apparently when we were being baby sat in the Hotel, I sneaked out and ran around the hotel naked!!![:I] I was only young!!;)[:o)][:o)]

Originally posted by sbg
My first flight was at 17 (1986); an RAF VC-10 from Gutersloh in Germany to Brize Norton, heading for RAF Swinderby to join up!

First civil aviation was (I think) Stanstead to Inverness some years later.

Worst flight ever was in a C-130; 27 hours of doing a 'round robin' of the UK airbases in Gulf War 1, followed by an eight hour leg to Cyprus and another of similar length to Lyneham!!! I lost count of the takeoffs/landings and crews...

Tony

What squadrons were you in Tony?

First longhaul flight - BOAC VC10 to Toronto back in 1969 - I even remember the 'junior jet club'

First VS flight 1990 ish 747 LGW to LAX

Jon B

First flight was 3rd October 1974 LHR-GIB on a Trident 3 BA flagged on the way out but I think still in BEA livery on the way home.

First longhaul was LHR-SIN August 87 on a SQ 747 Megatop.

First flight not in Y, MAN-YVR on Canadian Airlines International. August 1991

First flight on Concorde 4th August 1994 LHR-IAD.

First VS flight was LGW-UVF August 99.

Great to read various peoples experiences. My first flight was when I was about 8 or 9, that would have been around 1973 in a Vickers Viscount to Guernsey. First longish flight was to Tenerife in a Dan Air 727 and first long haul on a BIG plane was in 1984, Heathrow to Atlanta on a Delta Airlines Tristar. I was in awe at the size of the wide bodied cabin. First VS flight was to MCO in 2004.

Phil

Originally posted by sbg
My first flight was at 17 (1986); an RAF VC-10 from Gutersloh in Germany to Brize Norton, heading for RAF Swinderby to join up!

Tony

I flew in and out to Gutersloh on a forces family flight. It was a BCAL BAC111, and then got the bus down to Wildenrath. I also want to school in Episkopi and lived on the Akrotiri base. Happy days.

First flight was in 1966 to Northern Ireland to meet my mum's family with BA on a Trident.[:X]

The usual teenage escapades to Spain etc in the late 70's/80's[}:)][:I]

Then hundreds of flights to NY, Boston, Chicago,Berlin(behind the wall, scary) and just about everywhere in Europe. Sometimes up to six flights a day when I worked for the First National Bank of Chicago.[^]

Then 2000, first VS flight....leading up to around 3 a year.

1st Maxjet in August this year

[Decker]

Originally posted by honey lamb
Oh God! I remember flying out of Stansted when it had nissen huts! I can't remember though whether it was a flight I took to Lourdes or Moscow! [:0]

Well as your memory wasn't made perfect I'd guess Moscow...

[Decker]

Originally posted by iforres1

Originally posted by sbg
My first flight was at 17 (1986); an RAF VC-10 from Gutersloh in Germany to Brize Norton, heading for RAF Swinderby to join up!

Tony

I flew in and out to Gutersloh on a forces family flight. It was a BCAL BAC111, and then got the bus down to Wildenrath. I also want to school in Episkopi and lived on the Akrotiri base. Happy days.

Gosh small world. I went out with a girl in about 84/85 who left the UK to do NAAFI at Gutersloh... don't suppose y'all knew her?

My first ever flight was when I was three years old way back in 1980. Flew from HKG to LGW to settle in the UK. Don't even know which airline it was (or even if it was non-stop) and certainly have no memory of it.

First long-haul flight was in 1997 from LHR-HKG via FRA with Lufthansa. I recall doing three stupid things;- first, I left my passport at security in T2. Then I forgot to adjust my watch one hour ahead on arrival in FRA and nearly missed my connection. Lastly, and most stupid of all, I never collected any FF miles on my flights. Despite my handle I'm not such a muppet these days.

First ever VS flight was in 1998 when I took my mum to HKG for a summer holiday. I entered an Evening Standard competition and won two free Y tickets. Didn't even have to pay any tax on them. We flew into Kai Tak and arrived on one of the last few days before it closed down and the airport was MAD! On our return flight we left from the brand new Chek Lap Kok Int'l airport. I miss Kai Tak!

1st ever flight aboard a single engined Cesnna - a pleasure trip from Clacton airfield.

1st commercial flight aboard a BUA/British Caledonian (that shows my advancing years!)BAC 1-11 LGW to Munich for a school trip to Austria in 1972

1st VS flight LGW - MCO on VLAX, June 2000

1st VS PE was LHR - CPT, October 2006 on VYOU (first CPT flight of the season)

1st VS UC was CPT - LHR, Novermber 2006 on VWKD

What I am doing for my lad is keeping a record for him of his flights, aircraft and seat numbers.
His first ever flight was 05/05/2002, just 3 months and 2 days after he was born, to Fla, on G-VROY
VS wise he has flown on
G-VROY
G-VROS (X3)
and some unknown birds (is there anywhere a history, I mean going back to 2003???)

He has now flown 43,440 miles with another 10,860 this year.