Business Traveller Asia-Pacific Edition — January 2018

businesstraveller.com

M

y first trip in first class

wasonaBOAC(British

Overseas Airways

Corporation) flight in

1973, just before the long-

haulairlinemergedwithitsshorter-haul

stablemate BEA (British European Airways)

to form British Airways. It was pure chance,

andpossiblyaspotofoverbookingby

the airline, that saw me, in those days a

young reporter, upgraded from the depths

of economy to the heady heights of the

premium cabin (no Club World or business

class existed at that time).

As now, there were separate check-in

desks for first class passengers at Heathrow

Airport. “Where would you like to sit, sir,”

I was asked, “an aisle or window seat?”, and

“Would you like to be in the smoking or

non-smoking section?”

Security in those pre-terrorist-threat days

wasabreezeandjustmomentslaterIwas

in the first class lounge in Terminal 3 (long

before T4 was built), sipping my first gin

and tonic of the day and studying my fellow

passengers while we waited for the call to

board our Boeing 747 to New York.

I was wearing a jacket and tie, as was the

norm in those days, or I very much doubt

I would have been blessed with an upgrade

(I never found out why and wouldn’t have

dared to ask). But formality was the order of

thedayfortravellersinfirstclassbackthen.

Suits for the men and smart dresses for the

women – this was an occasion, after all.

Once on board we turned left towards the

front of the aircraft to be greeted by crew

ILLUSTRATION: BENJAMIN SOUTHAN

First class

has changed...

butsohavewe

Jeff Mills looks back to the days when flying in the

premium cabin was an event in itself

JEFF MILLS

TRAVEL EDITOR AND WRITER FOR A RANGE

OF LEADING BRITISH NEWSPAPERS

in uniforms that could easily have passed

muster on board one of the cruise liners of

the time, theQueen Elizabethor theQueen

Maryperhaps. The 747 was, after all, the

airborne equivalent of a great ship.

There was a glass of champagne and some

tasty canapés before take-off, and perhaps

a free cigarette or two. And the seats? Well,

they weren’t fully reclining like those of

today, but what they lacked in recline they

made up for in width,

andtheywerevery

comfortable.

Lunchtime was an in-

flight performance in its

ownright.First,oneofthe

crew came along to take

orders from the impressive

in-flightmenuasmy

dining table was set on the

pull-down tray, complete with bone china,

crystal glasses and proper cutlery. The

stewards were now wearing

starched white jackets with

gold-braided epaulettes,

while the stewardesses were

in smart pinafores.

There were pre-lunch

drinks, starters and aperitifs were served, and

then thepièce de resistanceasthetrolley,not

unlike those once used in the Savoy Grill in

London, came through the cabin bearing

the main course. It was wheeled with great

ceremony to your seat, where the chief

steward or stewardess would carve the joint

of meat – having first discussed how you

would prefer it, rare or medium.

There were magnificent desserts and

exotic fruits, fine wines flowed, there was

vintage port or barrel-aged brandy with the

cheese trolley and then, of course, you could

settle back in your seat with a post-lunch

cigarette, though I seem to remember cigar-

smoking was discouraged in case the aroma

was a bit too invasive for some passengers.

These days we pay for first class in return

for space, privacy and a good sleep, but in

those days we paid for... what

exactly? The event, perhaps.

So instead of a nap we went

upthespiralstaircaseto

the lounge area, fitted with

sofa-like seats and its own

bar, and got to know our

fellow premium class f lyers

and some of the crew, who in

those days actually had time

tochat.Weweremoresocial

in the days before social media.

Of course in real terms,

the price of travel has dropped

for the majority of passengers,

and that’s a good thing. First class

is still very expensive, unless you are

very flexible with your dates, or clever at

redeeming miles. But even today when I’m

lucky enough to fly first, I can’t help looking

back to those early days with nostalgia,

when each time was an event to be shared

with those around you, rather than via a

mobile phone, and the experience was more

than just the seat and whether the plane

has wifi. I only wish I’d taken a photo. Not

something anyone today ever regrets.

OPINION

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018

Instead of a nap we

went upstairs to the

lounge area... we were

more social in the days

before social media

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