Celebrating New Year In Flight

[Ryan N]

Do airlines do anything special to celebrate the new year on overnight flights departing 31/12 (or in the case of flights from USA and Canada, 30/12 and 31/12)?

[Kim F]

Back in 68/69, I flew with my parents Bangkok / Sydney (may have been a transit stop in Manilla) , First class KLM, B 707. As I was a young tacker, I wasn't getting into the booze but I remember the Captain saying over the PA that we were flying into the New Year at 600 mph. I can remember the curtain was drawn so we couldn't see Economy but could certainly hear the party going on back there. My family were the only 1st class passengers.

[Radi K]

Originally Posted by Kim F

As I was a young tacker, I wasn't getting into the booze

Soft

[Rhys Xanthis]

I was wondering this myself...perhaps its as usual on trans pacific flights, as they are long and tedious & waking up people to celebrate new years may not be appreciated?

[Anthony T]

I flew with my parents Bangkok / Sydney (may have been a transit stop in Manilla) , First class KLM, B 707

The stop was Singapore and the aircraft was a DC8.

[Kim F]

Originally Posted by Anthony T

The stop was Singapore and the aircraft was a DC8.

May have been a DC8 - yes it was - but Manilla was the transit!

[Anthony T]

Maybe KLM had different SE asia stops on certain days of the week

When i was on KLM in 1969 we went BKK-SIN-SYD, still have the certificate they gave me for crossing the equator.

[James Black]

Kim,
About this time KLM had the management rights for Phillipine Airlines; I remember flying Heathrow - Amsterdam - ?Vienna/Zurich - Karachi - Bangkok - Manilla - Sydney in the early seventies in a PAL DC8 with various KLM/PAL crew to Manilla then PAL cabin crew to Sydney on a KLM ticket. I do not think that KLM aircraft flew from Manilla to Sydney. The bucket shop ticket/s themselves were made up from IATA BEA from Heathrow to Amsterdam then IATA KLM from AMS to Manilla and then a PAL ticket to Sydney. I have a feeling that KLM aircraft flew to Singapore then Djakarta at this time due to the Dutch/Indonesian relationship on some days of the week. I believe that the restrictive traffic rights from Europe into Australia at this time were the main reason for these long routings but it was cheap! Boy I miss those big DC8 windows. I believe it worked like this - Qantas had traffic rights directly to Amsterdam for 3 flights a week so KLM had the reciprocal but also KLM had traditional traffic rights to Australia from Djakarta so they effectively could increase the traffic to more flights surreptitiously by multi ticketing from different Asian locations not under British influence. This was the time when the local media and government vigorously supported Qantas' almost monopoly on the Kangaroo route. The route was booming for travellers to and from Europe then any way into Australia was used by non Commonwealth airlines to get bums on seats.
Cheers Jim

[Kim F]

You realise now I am going to have to disappear under the house and try to find my Qantas junior V-Jet Flier's log .

My parents were returning from a posting in London and my 8 year's old memory certainly remembers we flew Athens to Bangkok on KLM with a transit stop somewhere, probably in India. I can remember the Blue plane. The flight from Bangkok was I certainly think a KLM crew cos my little 8 your heart fell in love with one of the hosties. I don't think there were aero tunnels at Sydney back then and I still think it was a blue plane that brought me there.

However, all the above is subject to my imagination and you are probably right !