My greatest travel “regret” is, and perhaps always will be, that I never flew Concorde.
There are all sorts of documentaries on Concorde: the program’s history, the political fights, and the Air France crash that eventually led to retirement. I enjoy watching all of those: I am an av-geek after all.
But what I like most are reading and watching trip reports, much like I try to provide when I sample a new product. I stumbled upon the video below and appreciated it for essentially capturing the trip how I would.
I also appreciate the captain’s commentary.
There’s something about seeing 57,000 feet and Mach 2.0 that makes me thing we have taken a step back. I was speaking to my business partner about Concorde yesterday and he said he would never give up his lie-flat beds to save a few hours, especially with wi-fi and telephone service now onboard.
That’s a fair point, but there is nothing like flying from London to New York in under three hours.
CONCLUSION
The good news is a second generation of supersonic aircraft are coming. Hopefully we will see a return to quick oceanic crossings again in the next decade, potentially even faster than Concorde.
Are you looking forward to that day or happy to remain on a conventional aircraft where you can stretch out and sleep longer?
image: Clemens Vasters / Wikimedia Commons
Would you trade lie-flat seats for an economy supersonic seat if the prices were the same?
In a heartbeat. At least once or twice!
“I was speaking to my business partner about Concorde yesterday and he said he would never give up his lie-flat beds to save a few hours, especially with wi-fi and telephone service now onboard.”
That comparison doesn’t really work. If the Concorde were still around today, it probably would have wi-fi and telephone service on board. And if you and your friend were able to fly the Concorde back in the day, well, you wouldn’t worry about lack of wi-fi because nobody else had it.
Also, if you need a lie-flat seat for a 3 hour flight, especially when it’s a much shorter flight than the usual scheduled service…
Thank you for posting this video! Truly spectacular and, like you, I lament the fact that a trans-oceanic SST is an option that is no longer available to us.
Back in the day I was a regular on LHR-JFK in business and always on a 747 almost always with BA though I loved PanAm too. I turned up at JFK one afternoon rather early for my flight and was asked if I would like to travel earlier and not thinking about it said yes. My bag was checked and a boarding pass issued and only then did I see BA004 as the flight number.
I could never have paid for it but then at one time what was the ‘World’s favourite airline’ did know how to look after their regular customers unlike today.
Oh and mach 2 at 55000 ft was truly amazing.
On occasion, I have pretended that my CRJ700 seat is a Concorde seat. Pathetic.
I share your regret Matthew- never getting to fly on Concorde is one of my biggest travel regrets (the second is never seeing Hong Kong when it was a British colony).
I did get to scratch some of the itch last month when I was in NYC and boarded G-BOAD at Intrepid, and got to sit in the cabin.
My thoughts on it are similar to some of the above, if it was still flying today, how would people feel about the lack of lie-flat seats, personal IFE, direct aisle access and privacy? As the above seem so important in F and J to most bloggers and reviewers, I wonder if people would give up the above to save three hours? I assume Wi-Fi could easily be fitted though…
I have a video of my flight on Concorde operated by Air France during its last week of service in the spring of 2003; and I have been thinking about posting it at The Gate.
I also have photographs. The problem is that I still have to digitize them…
…but I must admit that traveling from New York to Paris in slightly greater than three hours was incredible.
I would trade a lie-flat seat for the ability to fly halfway across the globe in a few hours any day, without hesitation. A few more hours at the destination (or the ability to get home that much sooner) carries far more value to me than a flat bed.
That being said, I’m guessing you’ll be able to have your cake and eat it too when the next generation of supersonic aircraft enters commercial service. I don’t see anyone downgrading the J/F product, even if, say, the time needed to fly from DFW to LHR drops from 9 hours to 5.
I’d pick supersonic in Economy: in half the time and at twice the price is fine with me!
I flew Concorde many times both as a passenger and as a flight attendant on Braniff’s interchange flight from DFW to IAD with Air France and British Airways. While we flew subsonic overland, what I remember most is the power on takeoff. When I flew as a passenger transatlantic, watching the sky turn dark blue and looking at the Machmeter as we approached supersonic was something that no one would forget. Yes, the seats were small and the meal service was “express” but I would give up my lie flat in a second to have Concorde back for just one more flight. Amazing aircraft ….