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Concorde Crash...The Nerdy Details

James said:
The first time I laid eyes on a Concorde at Heathrow, the first thing that struck me was how small it was. The second thing that struck me was how loud it was on take off. I remember British Airways had a different lounge for Concorde passengers that was even flashier than the First Class lounge. Not surprising given the fare was typically double First Class, as I recall. Never flown Concorde, unfortunately.
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They still have the lounge, called the Concorde lounge available to to highest category of travellers with the lesser known and not really advertised GGL (Gold Guest List) card. You can also get access by travelling on a full 1st class ticket but rarely upgrades.
 
Living less than 20 miles from Liverpool, I recall the times when there were Concorde flights delivering punters to Liverpool for the Grand National. Rarely saw it.. but always heard it. Only time I saw it, was whilst driving through Windsor and stopping because the noise had me thinking there was something wrong with the car.
Incidentally, we also used to see a Good Year 'blimp' floating about on Grand National days. That disappeared too...years ago. All drones now?

A colleague had a Concorde wallet/billfold, which his Mum acquired when upgraded to Concorde once. Told him to maybe keep it safe and unused..as a future collectable.. but he ignored me.
 
cutting42 said:
They still have the lounge, called the Concorde lounge available to to highest category of travellers with the lesser known and not really advertised GGL (Gold Guest List) card. You can also get access by travelling on a full 1st class ticket but rarely upgrades.
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That's sadly out of my league, Gareth. I don't have an Amex Centurion Black Card either.
 
I always wondered what happens in those 'lounges'. Can it be more than building up the usual pre flight drunkednes?
 
Airline lounges now offer services such as massages, suit-ironing etc as well as pre-flight dining, drinks & a relatively quiet, uncrowded space.
I think a lot of people flying Club or 1st are going straight into work upon arrival, so these services are more useful than just loads of free champagne.
Whether the business-class model of travel has changed due to the advent of ever-more people working from home, remains to be seen & maybe airlines that rely heavily on their premium cabins to make a profit may have to rethink a bit?
 
James said:
That's sadly out of my league, Gareth. I don't have an Amex Centurion Black Card either.
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Out of mine as well. Managed the gold card but the leap to GGL requires lots and lots of premium class travelling or very clever flight choices.
 
manicatel said:
Airline lounges now offer services such as massages, suit-ironing etc as well as pre-flight dining, drinks & a relatively quiet, uncrowded space.
I think a lot of people flying Club or 1st are going straight into work upon arrival, so these services are more useful than just loads of free champagne.
Whether the business-class model of travel has changed due to the advent of ever-more people working from home, remains to be seen & maybe airlines that rely heavily on their premium cabins to make a profit may have to rethink a bit?
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I used to travel internationally and extensively for about six years in the late 90s early noughties. Aside from all the free food and drink, the thing I most look forward to is a hot shower, especially on a layover destination when travelling long-haul. Some of the better lounges (like Cathay First in Hong Kong) have private cabanas where you can have a long soak and freshen up before the second leg. Just make sure you don't fall asleep and miss the boarding call.
 
cutting42 said:
Out of mine as well. Managed the gold card but the leap to GGL requires lots and lots of premium class travelling or very clever flight choices.
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One of the cleverer flight choices I often made was to book a round-the-world ticket when travelling to more than two destinations, and so arranged my business schedule accordingly. It's cheaper than separate point-to-point flights and you get more air-miles to boot. One of my longest trips went something like this:

WLG > AKL > LAX > LHR > DME > LHR > FRA > SIN > SYD > WLG - all for a single one direction RTW ticket in business class. Not sure if One World alliance still offers these fares. I don't travel much these days.
 
My only burst of repeated long-haul flights were to/from Hawai'i. We used to claim for the regular full fare, but book discount seats. Hence uncomfortable and not really enjoyable in flight, but it gave us more money to spend when there.... and weren't on top of a volcano. :)

I was tempted once by an 'all the way round' ticket in the hope of seeing Australia/NZ but never did it.

Alas, all now mumble decades ago. Not been in a plane for decades. Fun whilst it lasted, though.
 
I lived in Windsor for a while, right under the flight path. Amazing just how much noise something so small can make! There was one flight a day, in the afternoon sometime. You really couldn’t miss it!
 
Tony L said:
I lived in Windsor for a while, right under the flight path. Amazing just how much noise something so small can make! There was one flight a day, in the afternoon sometime. You really couldn’t miss it!
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Just as amazing is the amount of noise light aircraft are allowed to make; they don't sound as if any effort has been made to silence the exhaust.
 
I worked many years at Heathrow and saw a few 'near miss' including a cargo plane that was 'tail-heavy' and dragged its rear end along the ground as it was landing.
Didn't see anything as bad as the Concorde crash though.
 
RJohan said:
I always wondered what happens in those 'lounges'. Can it be more than building up the usual pre flight drunkednes?
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I often use the business lounges. It's a more relaxed place where you can sit in a comfy chair and get a free snack and some drinks without having to deal with the mayhem of the main terminal area.
 
mansr said:
I often use the business lounges. It's a more relaxed place where you can sit in a comfy chair and get a free snack and some drinks without having to deal with the mayhem of the main terminal area.
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If nothing else, this is the main reason to have a BA Amex card. Shmooze the Avios points and use them for Club class upgrades. We just flew to and from Zurich for next to nothing in points and got to use the lounges both ends.
 
RJohan said:
Concorde was an old 1960's plane. These things won't happen with modern planes, like the fancy Boeing MAX ones...
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737 and 747 are '60s planes too, and there's still plenty of them in the fleet, and still being made.
 
Yank said:
737 and 747 are '60s planes too, and there's still plenty of them in the fleet, and still being made.
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They don't call the elegant 747 queen of the skies for no reason. The 400 variant is my all-time favourite commercial aircraft. It's a shame most of the leading airlines have decommissioned their 747s.
 
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