Your first airline flight

[Winemaker]

DF was a cleaner/fueler/mechanic for Capital Airlines which combined with United 3 or 4 years old after I was born. Many trips to DC and FL on DC-3s and Viscounts. Flew first class and always had to wear "church clothes" even as a crumb snatcher, but was too young to remember flying Capital; I do remember flying United as a older toddler/gradeschooler.

 

[pb4uski]

Do you remember your first flight? What age ? Is the airline still in business ? ...

No. I think I was 6... in any event, really young and no longer in business. Yellowbird from Montpelier, VT to Boston. I do remember frequently going to the airport to watch the planes landing and taking off... my Dad like such things and it was cheap entertainment for his young son.

 

[gamboolman]

Age 18, I think American Airlines? Flew to San Diego I think? To go Camp Pendleton to see my best friend graduate from the Marines.
I still remember being shocked at his salty language.
The graduation ceremony and seeing the Marine Base - made a big impression on me.

 

[ABQ2015]

January 6, 1970 at the ripe old age of 23. It was in a DC-9 operated by Texas International Airlines (TI), formerly Trans Texas Airlines (TTA), commonly known as "Tree Top Airlines", which merged with Continental and again with United Airlines. So is it still in business? Depends on your perspective.

Not only was this my first airline flight, this was the first time I'd ever set foot in an aircraft of any type.

My first flight was also on TI around the same time. I must have been 15 years old and flew from El Paso to Baton Rouge. It was a rather small plane at a very inexpensive fare - I have no idea of the model. My next flight was more than 10 years later in the early 80's on a much larger plane from Albuquerque to Washington, DC. Probably TWA.

 

[I was misinformed]

Age 21, with a flight from Ottawa to JFK (via Montreal) on Air Canada. Undertaken to attend grad school in exotic New Jersey.

"Air Canada" is still in business, but the government owned national flag carrier I flew on was privatized in the 1980's and went through a bankruptcy in the 2000's.

 

[jabbahop]

I remember the first time flying without a parent. I was 13 and flew with my younger brother and sister from montreal to Hamburg Germany on a 747 to spend the summer with my father who was on sabbatical there.

Two "interesting" incidents. My brother was 8 needed to go to the bathroom so I pointed the way. After over an hour I noticed (very attentive older brother!) that he hadn't returned . I walked all over and couldn't find him. Finally I started knocking on all the bathroom doors calling his name. Finally I hear a soft cry saying the door was stuck. Sure enough he had pushed the door and knocked it of the track. One of the pilots had to come get him out.

We then get to london for our connection and are escorted by a very pleasant English attendant. She was talking with me and I didn't understand her accent so just nodded politely and said yes. We are finally walked to the baggage claim and I reluctantly asked her where our next plane is going to be? She had a panicked look on her face and read the itinerary tags around our neck realizing three little americans were now going to miss their connection.

We had no way of reaching my dad @ the airport so landed in Hamburg and had to talk with more people with strange accents and figure out how to call him and have him drive the two hours back to the airport to pick us up. A great introduction to international unaccompanied travel.

After a rough start, it was a fantastic summer in Germany tooling around in a VW camper van.

 

[pb4uski]

My high school girlfriend's little brother's first flight was very eventful. He was flying to basic training and his flight was hijacked.

 

[REWahoo]

Not only was this my first airline flight, this was the first time I'd ever set foot in an aircraft of any type.

One more fact: this flight was to San Antonio to enter training to become a pilot in the Air Force. An example of leap before you look.

 

[HFWR]

1972, age 17, flight from Louisville to Baltimore, with a stop in Cincinnati. Think it was Piedmont.

 

[Bamaman]

World Airlines charter in 1970 from Memphis to Munich non-stop. It cost $205 round trip, and was part of our going to the University of Innsbruck for the Summer. school.

World Airlines was one of the big charter outfits hauling soldiers to Vietnam.

 

[kcowan]

First flight was in 1959 from Toronto to Winnipeg and back. The plane was an Expeditor and we were randomly selected to fly a plane we had just worked on to assess our thoroughness. It was duty because the timing was early March. Winter clothes in Toronto are inadequate for winter in Winnipeg.

Second flight was a Comet from Vancouver to Calgary in 1963. It was the final flight before the plane was retired (Its wings would fall off from structural fatigue!). I was returning to Toronto from an assignment in northern Vancouver Island working on the Pinetree Line radar station.

The following year, I flew from Toronto to Gander and Gatwick on the way to Paris in a turboprop passenger plane for a work assignment in Metz. First commercial flight was Toronto to San Fran (San Jose) in 1967 on Air Canada. It was for a 2-week course and I changed the return go to LAX for the weekend (which was cheaper than returning from SF).

Those were the days my friends...

 

[W2R]

I remember the first time flying without a parent. I was 13 and flew with my younger brother and sister from montreal to Hamburg Germany on a 747 to spend the summer with my father who was on sabbatical there.

Two "interesting" incidents. My brother was 8 needed to go to the bathroom so I pointed the way. After over an hour I noticed (very attentive older brother!) that he hadn't returned . I walked all over and couldn't find him. Finally I started knocking on all the bathroom doors calling his name. Finally I hear a soft cry saying the door was stuck. Sure enough he had pushed the door and knocked it of the track. One of the pilots had to come get him out.

We then get to london for our connection and are escorted by a very pleasant English attendant. She was talking with me and I didn't understand her accent so just nodded politely and said yes. We are finally walked to the baggage claim and I reluctantly asked her where our next plane is going to be? She had a panicked look on her face and read the itinerary tags around our neck realizing three little americans were now going to miss their connection.

We had no way of reaching my dad @ the airport so landed in Hamburg and had to talk with more people with strange accents and figure out how to call him and have him drive the two hours back to the airport to pick us up. A great introduction to international unaccompanied travel.

After a rough start, it was a fantastic summer in Germany tooling around in a VW camper van.

What a great story!!!
I remember the first time I flew unaccompanied, also with my brother, when I was 9 and he was 13. We missed our connecting flight and my brother decided by gosh, he was a man and would handle it like that. So he demanded to speak with someone in charge, higher up than the girl at the counter. When his wish was granted, he got in the face of that supervisor or whatever, pounded his fist on the counter and insisted that we could NOT be late (to summer camp in Vermont, for pete's sake!!! Who cared? ). I was so impressed by his 13-year-old manliness that I remember it to this day. We got there on another flight, on time but probably by coincidence rather than due to his actions.

 

[Souschef]

First Airline Flight

I was 20, and in 1958 flew a TWA Constellation from Los Angeles to New York. It took 8 hours going East, and 12 hours flying back to the West Coast

 

[Walt34]

PSA had mostly 727 and all ex navy pilots. You differently know you landed, they flew them like they were landing on a carrier

Someone will correct me if I'm mistaken but I think the expression "Any landing you can walk away from is a good one" originated with Navy carrier pilots.

That was later supplemented with one along the lines of "A great landing happens when they can use the airplane again".

 

[REWahoo]

Someone will correct me if I'm mistaken but I think the expression "Any landing you can walk away from is a good one" originated with Navy carrier pilots.

That was later supplemented with one along the lines of "A great landing happens when they can use the airplane again".

+1

The same people came up with the three telltale signs you landed gear up:

1. Loud alarm-like sound in the cockpit
2. Horizon appears higher than normal in your windscreen
3. Abnormally high power level required to taxi

 

[Lakewood90712]

Someone will correct me if I'm mistaken but I think the expression "Any landing you can walk away from is a good one" originated with Navy carrier pilots.

That was later supplemented with one along the lines of "A great landing happens when they can use the airplane again".

It's my understanding all carrier landings are video recorded and " Graded ".

That's got to be even more pressure in addition to to being one of the most difficult landings, especially at night. Tiny field, pitching up and down, on the black water

 

[Sarah in SC]

My first was accompanying my father on a business trip to San Antonio from Charleston when I was 10. I think it was Eastern, and we flew first class. Plus I got to eat lunch at a swanky executive dining room where there were multiples of every piece of silverware! I carefully observed the suits to my left and right to figure out which one to use, and made dad proud of his tomboy daughter.

My travel style declined precipitously from that point onward, but at least I started off right!

 

[Koogie]

First would have been in about 1979 from Toronto to Gatwick and I was about 6 or 7. It was on a lamented Canadian airline called WardAir which was founded by a real character, Max Ward. I remember I loved it because they gave me a little toy tin 747 airplane (same model we were flying) and my mum loved it because they served the meals on real Royal Doulton china (she has collected it all her life. Not the Wardair pattern though, lol)

First by myself was just 4 years later on Canadian Airlines (also over to London) Also long gone now and very, very missed when compared to its successor. I once flew on Canadian many years later as cargo (long story).

 

[2soon2tell]

1961- Age 14 New Orleans to St. Louis Delta DC-7 prop. Returned on Delta Convair 880 jet. Wow what a thrill.

I had a friend who said he made 3 or 4 flights before he actually landed in the plane. He was Army Airborne and had never flown before.

 

[sengsational]

I'm not sure of the first, but sure of the first "solo" flight. Northwest 'Orient', the fan jet airline!

 

[Ian S]

I remember I loved it because they gave me a little toy tin 747 airplane (same model we were flying)

When I flew BOAC from Monteal to Prestwick in Scotland in 1959, they enrolled me in the "BOAC JunIor Jet Club" for which I received a gold colored winged pin and a little hard cover log book which you could give to the pilot and he'd fill in the flight data and sign it. I still have both to this day!

 

[chilkoot]

In 1974 I was 18. Some friends and I took a short hop from L.A. to San Diego on United (my friend's dad was a pilot for United so my friend flew for free).

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

My parents took me to YVR to LAX to visit relatives and take me to Disneyland. I can't remember if I was in elementary school yet in the mid 70's.
We flew Canadian Pacific Airlines, aka CP Air. It was absorbed by Pacific Western Airlines, which was then absorbed by Canadian Airlines, which was then bought out by Air Canada.

I don't think I flew again until grade 12 when my high school team went to Calgary for a basketball tourney.

 

[Sarah S]

When I flew BOAC from Monteal to Prestwick in Scotland in 1959, they enrolled me in the "BOAC JunIor Jet Club" for which I received a gold colored winged pin and a little hard cover log book which you could give to the pilot and he'd fill in the flight data and sign it. I still have both to this day!

Oh me too!

 

[scrabbler1]

In 1974 I was 18. Some friends and I took a short hop from L.A. to San Diego on United (my friend's dad was a pilot for United so my friend flew for free).

I once flew from San Diego to LA on an American Eagle flight. It was one of those small prop planes which hold about 20 people. It flew at a low altitude and hugged the scenic Pacific coastline for the 45-minute morning flight. It was the most beautiful airplane trip I ever had.