The Luck of the Draw: Sometime, around 1998, after working hard and saving our incomes, my wife and I decided we would like to take a tour of Europe. My wife and I had both visited...

Robert J Samples Loc: Round Rock, Texas

Sometime, around 1998, after working hard and saving our incomes, my wife and I decided we would like to take a tour of Europe. My wife and I had both visited Great Britain but not on the continent, we decided it was time. I had enough travel points on my American Express Card to upgrade to first class airfare so I called and arranged for tickets to London where we would meet our tour group.

1998 was the year of the soccer world cup to be played in Paris. As the time appoarched, I began to worry about hearing of any confirmation from Delta, then on the Friday before the departure I got a call explaining that the Air France pilots had gone on strike! If we could get to New York by around 11:00 AM Saturday morning, they would give us two seats on the French Concorde! It was the only aircraft still being flown by Air France pilots! I told them my wife was shopping and I could not get ahold of her in time for us to possibly make it. They came back and said if we could make it on Sunday, the same offering was made.

So, we hustled around, got on a Delta flight and made it to N.Y.C. on Saturday, spend the night in a motel near the J.F. Kennedy Air Port. Then as early as around 6:00, we took a cab to the terminal for the French Airlines Concorde. Now if you aren’t familiar with this aircraft, it is a very advanced bomber converted for passenger travel.

To the best of my memory, we flew all the way over the Atlantic at slightly over Mach 2, or twice the speed of sound. We were treated with almost constant food service. There were all sorts of cheese, champagne, and other luxuries. The body of this plane was rather small, or narrow with only two rows of two seats on either side of the aisle.

All who were interested were allowed to go forward and stand just behind the pilot and crew as they flew on automatic pilot. You could see the curvature of the Earth! Since I had been in the U.S. Air Force, this was fascinating to me. We land in Paris, but then back to being normal. Our cab driver who was to ferry us to the train station from Charles DE Gaulle Airport was a real grouch. He must have been North Vietnamese and would not answer any questions. We had to wait for hours to get a ride on the “Chunnel” train to London, wasting all the time we had saved on the Concorde. In my opinion there was an over kill of churches we visited. And visitors can spend a week per floor of the Louve in Paris and not do justice to the art exhibited there. Nor for that matter, in Amsterdam, Holland.

In many ways, the rest of our European trip was an anticlimax after the Concorde, at least for me! Just Sayin…RJS

Slimshady Loc: Central Pennsylvania

Good story RJ and something that not a lot of people got to do

Jim Kay Loc: Franklin, Virginia

That must have been some flight!

BCKliche Loc: Suffolk, VA

Nice! It's too bad they discontinued the service.

bknecht Loc: Northeast pa

Wow RJS, must have been quite an experience on the Concord, I too believe that may have been my favorite part of the excursion.

MuskyHunter Loc: Torrington, CT

Robert J Samples wrote:

Sometime, around 1998, after working hard and saving our incomes, my wife and I decided we would like to take a tour of Europe. My wife and I had both visited Great Britain but not on the continent, we decided it was time. I had enough travel points on my American Express Card to upgrade to first class airfare so I called and arranged for tickets to London where we would meet our tour group.

1998 was the year of the soccer world cup to be played in Paris. As the time appoarched, I began to worry about hearing of any confirmation from Delta, then on the Friday before the departure I got a call explaining that the Air France pilots had gone on strike! If we could get to New York by around 11:00 AM Saturday morning, they would give us two seats on the French Concorde! It was the only aircraft still being flown by Air France pilots! I told them my wife was shopping and I could not get ahold of her in time for us to possibly make it. They came back and said if we could make it on Sunday, the same offering was made.

So, we hustled around, got on a Delta flight and made it to N.Y.C. on Saturday, spend the night in a motel near the J.F. Kennedy Air Port. Then as early as around 6:00, we took a cab to the terminal for the French Airlines Concorde. Now if you aren’t familiar with this aircraft, it is a very advanced bomber converted for passenger travel.

To the best of my memory, we flew all the way over the Atlantic at slightly over Mach 2, or twice the speed of sound. We were treated with almost constant food service. There were all sorts of cheese, champagne, and other luxuries. The body of this plane was rather small, or narrow with only two rows of two seats on either side of the aisle.

All who were interested were allowed to go forward and stand just behind the pilot and crew as they flew on automatic pilot. You could see the curvature of the Earth! Since I had been in the U.S. Air Force, this was fascinating to me. We land in Paris, but then back to being normal. Our cab driver who was to ferry us to the train station from Charles DE Gaulle Airport was a real grouch. He must have been North Vietnamese and would not answer any questions. We had to wait for hours to get a ride on the “Chunnel” train to London, wasting all the time we had saved on the Concorde. In my opinion there was an over kill of churches we visited. And visitors can spend a week per floor of the Louve in Paris and not do justice to the art exhibited there. Nor for that matter, in Amsterdam, Holland.

In many ways, the rest of our European trip was an anticlimax after the Concorde, at least for me! Just Sayin…RJS

Sometime, around 1998, after working hard and savi... (show quote)

Nice story. You were quite lucky. Just so you know the Concorde is not a converted bomber. It is an all scratch design for passenger service.

I had a friend who did a lot of business with France and the government brought them over on the Concorde and took them on a tour of the production facilities. The fuselage sections were milled out of solid aluminum blocks and there are very few rivets in the entire plane. It had to be this way to maintain the pressure differential required for the high altitudes. Until the 787, no other commercial airplane had a rivetless structure.

As I recall, tickets for the Concorde cost more than $10K/person.

EZ Fishing Loc: College Ward, Utah

Robert J Samples wrote:

Sometime, around 1998, after working hard and saving our incomes, my wife and I decided we would like to take a tour of Europe. My wife and I had both visited Great Britain but not on the continent, we decided it was time. I had enough travel points on my American Express Card to upgrade to first class airfare so I called and arranged for tickets to London where we would meet our tour group.

1998 was the year of the soccer world cup to be played in Paris. As the time appoarched, I began to worry about hearing of any confirmation from Delta, then on the Friday before the departure I got a call explaining that the Air France pilots had gone on strike! If we could get to New York by around 11:00 AM Saturday morning, they would give us two seats on the French Concorde! It was the only aircraft still being flown by Air France pilots! I told them my wife was shopping and I could not get ahold of her in time for us to possibly make it. They came back and said if we could make it on Sunday, the same offering was made.

So, we hustled around, got on a Delta flight and made it to N.Y.C. on Saturday, spend the night in a motel near the J.F. Kennedy Air Port. Then as early as around 6:00, we took a cab to the terminal for the French Airlines Concorde. Now if you aren’t familiar with this aircraft, it is a very advanced bomber converted for passenger travel.

To the best of my memory, we flew all the way over the Atlantic at slightly over Mach 2, or twice the speed of sound. We were treated with almost constant food service. There were all sorts of cheese, champagne, and other luxuries. The body of this plane was rather small, or narrow with only two rows of two seats on either side of the aisle.

All who were interested were allowed to go forward and stand just behind the pilot and crew as they flew on automatic pilot. You could see the curvature of the Earth! Since I had been in the U.S. Air Force, this was fascinating to me. We land in Paris, but then back to being normal. Our cab driver who was to ferry us to the train station from Charles DE Gaulle Airport was a real grouch. He must have been North Vietnamese and would not answer any questions. We had to wait for hours to get a ride on the “Chunnel” train to London, wasting all the time we had saved on the Concorde. In my opinion there was an over kill of churches we visited. And visitors can spend a week per floor of the Louve in Paris and not do justice to the art exhibited there. Nor for that matter, in Amsterdam, Holland.

In many ways, the rest of our European trip was an anticlimax after the Concorde, at least for me! Just Sayin…RJS

Sometime, around 1998, after working hard and savi... (show quote)

Thanks RJS I appreciate all the stories you post. You had a wonderful life that most of us wish we could of had and done half of what you did. Thanks again.

Blackdog Loc: Round Rock, TX

Robert J Samples wrote:

Sometime, around 1998, after working hard and saving our incomes, my wife and I decided we would like to take a tour of Europe. My wife and I had both visited Great Britain but not on the continent, we decided it was time. I had enough travel points on my American Express Card to upgrade to first class airfare so I called and arranged for tickets to London where we would meet our tour group.

1998 was the year of the soccer world cup to be played in Paris. As the time appoarched, I began to worry about hearing of any confirmation from Delta, then on the Friday before the departure I got a call explaining that the Air France pilots had gone on strike! If we could get to New York by around 11:00 AM Saturday morning, they would give us two seats on the French Concorde! It was the only aircraft still being flown by Air France pilots! I told them my wife was shopping and I could not get ahold of her in time for us to possibly make it. They came back and said if we could make it on Sunday, the same offering was made.

So, we hustled around, got on a Delta flight and made it to N.Y.C. on Saturday, spend the night in a motel near the J.F. Kennedy Air Port. Then as early as around 6:00, we took a cab to the terminal for the French Airlines Concorde. Now if you aren’t familiar with this aircraft, it is a very advanced bomber converted for passenger travel.

To the best of my memory, we flew all the way over the Atlantic at slightly over Mach 2, or twice the speed of sound. We were treated with almost constant food service. There were all sorts of cheese, champagne, and other luxuries. The body of this plane was rather small, or narrow with only two rows of two seats on either side of the aisle.

All who were interested were allowed to go forward and stand just behind the pilot and crew as they flew on automatic pilot. You could see the curvature of the Earth! Since I had been in the U.S. Air Force, this was fascinating to me. We land in Paris, but then back to being normal. Our cab driver who was to ferry us to the train station from Charles DE Gaulle Airport was a real grouch. He must have been North Vietnamese and would not answer any questions. We had to wait for hours to get a ride on the “Chunnel” train to London, wasting all the time we had saved on the Concorde. In my opinion there was an over kill of churches we visited. And visitors can spend a week per floor of the Louve in Paris and not do justice to the art exhibited there. Nor for that matter, in Amsterdam, Holland.

In many ways, the rest of our European trip was an anticlimax after the Concorde, at least for me! Just Sayin…RJS

Sometime, around 1998, after working hard and savi... (show quote)

Well I have never flown on the Concorde but I did watch it land in Las Vegas from the Roof of the Tropicana! What an awesome experience to watch that beautiful plane land with its nose down.

It would be difficult to top flying on the Concorde no matter what you were doing afterwards.

Great Story RJS!

Thanks,

BD

fishyaker Loc: NW Michigan (Lower Peninsula)

Very cool story! I remember when that plane was introduced and it was a really big deal. Not sure, but for some reason I think they took them out of service a while back. Guess I'd have to Google that to be sure. Anyways...nice that you were able to be a passenger and also enjoy the travel abroad!

Robert J Samples Loc: Round Rock, Texas

MuskyHunter wrote:

Nice story. You were quite lucky. Just so you know... (show quote)

Well, as an example of how very rich people live, there was another passenger boarding that Sunday morning. She was young, well turned out, and was with her giant poodle, who was also going on the Concorde! The dog didn't seem to be particularly bothered by flying, just as if he did it all the time. Just Sayin...RJS

Mauwehu Loc: Norwalk Ct

As always Great story RJ!
Picture of the Concorde and the piece of metal on the runway that caused the crash and deaths of 112 people.
Lucky you didn’t go two years later!
Just sayin.