I always wanted to fly on Concorde. Being a child of the 70s and interested in aviation, it was hard not to notice Concorde. It is sleek, unique, and goes really fast. It was a symbol of things to come. Who wouldn't want to fly on that?

I saw my first Concorde in person in January 1987. It was a very exciting moment for me. A local travel agency had chartered an Air France Concorde for two hour flights-to-nowhere out of Oakland, California (OAK). The flight took passengers on supersonic flights over the Pacific halfway to Hawaii and back. It only cost a mere $900! I begged my mom to buy me a ticket for that ride. There just wouldn't be such splurging on such a frivolous thing! We would be relegated to watch the sleek bird arrive and depart through the terminal window.

Time would pass and I would no longer be dependent on mom for financial support. Though my interest in flying Concorde never waned. Still, spending between $8,000 to $10,000 for a plane ride did seem quite excessive. I knew I had plenty of time to wait, however. "Experts" were predicting Concorde would remain flying through the foreseeable future. Maybe I would hit the jackpot on the Lotto!

Fast forward to April 2003. The announcement by Air France (AF) and British Airways (BA) to stop flying Concorde happens and I told myself I had to fly on Concorde...it was now or never. I had set an arbitrary budget to pay whatever was "reasonable" for the flight. I knew I wanted to fly on BA, as they would fly Concorde longer (through October) and they had a newly upgraded interior.

Air France Concorde F-BVFF at OAK in January 1987. Note PSA BAe-146 in the background. Photo taken from the Tower Lounge

I planned my flight in conjunction with the Paris Air Show in June (another event I always wanted to go to) and my family vacation in Italy. In early May, I called the special BA Concorde reservation number and booked the special one-way World Traveller economy, one-way Concorde fare for July 1st. I wanted to fly westbound, not only because of the prestigious flight number of BA 1, but also because the fact that I would arrive in New York before I left London! I also decided I wanted to sit near the center of the plane, where my view would not be obstructed too much by the wing, yet close enough to see the speed displays on the bulkhead. I didn't want to be too far away from the back, either, because I wanted to be able to hear the engines as well. I settled on seat 12D.

I read up on everything I could about Concorde. Re-reading books I had and scouring the web for trip reports. I soaked up everyone's experiences while readying for my own.

Right before Air France retired their Concordes in May, I made a pilgrimage to JFK to photograph it. With help of fellow photographer Art Brett, I was able to get my first ever "real photos" of Concorde. Within one hour, we saw three Concordes: AF 1 taking off, AF 2 arriving, and BA 2 departing (coincidentally, I would later fly on the same aircraft!). I was very happy to get photos of the Air France Concordes in flight before they became museum pieces.

 
My e-ticket receipt for the flight. Believe it or not, it was not easy to get this receipt!

Le Bourget's newest museum piece: Air France Concorde F-BTSD. It had arrived there only days earlier. Taken on June 19, 2003 at the Paris Air Show.