British Airways

Once upon a time air travel was exciting and only for the rich. Now it is just another form of transport and a bit like being packaged fruit. That said, I still look back not so long ago, to when air travel had just a little of its golden age left. British Airways in the early 1990's was a friendly world airline of choice for me. I was designing and putting together a world wide recruitment company and had to hit every continent running. I spent an awful long time on long haul jets in the three years I worked for this company, but British Airlines just about made it worthwhile. I had many times stopped in BA route stop hotels when the RAF planes I once flew in landed in foreign shores and our crews mixed with the BA ones easily enough. One super 4th of July was spent in Barbados at which we put up the flag pole a pair of BA knickers thus upsetting - quiet rightly - the resident Americans. Also, in Cyprus my wife and I adopted a BA Stewardess who would pop over and see us when she was on the Cairo, Karachi and back run of those days.

However, I think my most memorable BA flight was from  Heathrow, Manchester to Islamabad. We took off with a few from Heathrow and picked up a plane full at Manchester. Once airborne the entire cabin of mainly Asian men took off their shoes and by the time we were over the Alps I was nearly on oxygen. I had a young lad next to me who threw up over my brand new blazer and silk tie and it was all going a bit tits up, when the Mother of the cabin crew took one very experienced look at the situation and simply whisked me away.  She put me in the crew sleeping compartment and took away my now disgusting clothes and gave me a T shirt to put on. She then washed out my clothes and cleaned up my blazer while I sat downstairs in a t shirt with the other girls resting their poor aching feet. It was a long long flight and we nattered about this and than. I learnt the cabin crew called the passengers "talking Baggage" and a few other stories I will not relate here. Lets just say, by the time I got to Islamabad I was rested and clean.

I said good bye to BA for a month or more as I roamed around India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and ended up in Bangladesh. I had experienced Afghan Air and their very novel pre flight safety brief which was given in the form of a prayer on the public address system. I had flow with the Taliban and some goats back to Peshawar from Kabul and by the look on one or two of them would have been thrown out the plane if they could have worked out how to open the door. Id had a wonderful curry with local tribesman and been driven around the foot hills to the Himalayas in a very tired Morris Minor by a dear old Indian Army Corporal who still wore his army shirt. I had played cricket with the Khyber Rifles and met the Foreign Minster of Pakistan who tried to sell me carpets. In short, I had learnt much on that trip around the sub continent and mighty tired I was when I ended up in Dhaka airport waiting for a BA 747 to take me home and the arms of the gal I loved.

I remember walking up the steps and seeing Mum (the eldest Stewardess) look me over as I walked in the door. She just took a step forward and said "go in there honey" and pushed me into first class. I sank into the lovely blue leather seats and as I did so a large Gin and tonic was stuck into my hand. " Soon be home drink that - night night sweatie" was all she said. You know your safe when Mums got you!  I love BA and I love you Mum!! xxx