On which airliner have most people taken their first flight?

YYZSpotter1991 · Fri Sep 08, 2017 8:32 pm

Air Canada A320 from YYZ-MIA in Oct. 1997.

AC853 · Fri Sep 08, 2017 8:51 pm

BAC1-11 500 Summer 1969 BEA from LHR to AMS

J343 · Fri Sep 08, 2017 10:46 pm

Boeing 777-200 with CX! Oh the memories :cloudnine:

Wednesdayite · Sat Sep 09, 2017 2:22 am

Dan Air 727.

MAN-LGW-ATH

School trip to Greece in 1986.

teachpdx · Sat Sep 09, 2017 2:25 am

MD-80 on AS, PDX-PHX

vhqpa · Sat Sep 09, 2017 4:15 am

AN DRW-(ASP?)-ADL Dec 1989 Not sure about type but my father seemed to think it was a 727. I was only 18 months old.

Earliest I can remember QF 767 DRW-SIN Feb 1994. I always thought it was a -300ER but I recently found a timetable from six months after which says it was scheduled as a -200ER.

Earliest Registration I can remember. AN 727-200LR VH-ANA DRW-ADL AN58 Dec 1994.

KGRB · Sat Sep 09, 2017 6:40 am

My first flight was on this lovely Northwest Airlines DC-10 from MKE to MSP in the fall of 1996. Nobody believes me that NW operated a widebody on an approximately 300-mile flight, but they did. I even have my first flight certificate, autographed by the crew, to prove it!

afterburner · Sat Sep 09, 2017 7:12 am

I'm not remember exactly. However I'm almost sure it was either Fokker F27 or F28.

mooseofspruce · Sat Sep 09, 2017 7:32 am

I believe it was an AA MD-80 of some type between SFO and SEA, but I'm not even sure if AA had a route like this in the late 90s. I just remember it was a trip to Vancouver/Victoria.

blandy62 · Sat Sep 09, 2017 9:12 am

mine was on a BA320-100 BRU-LHR. was going for a job interview and the company booked it for me in C back in 1996. was 21 at the time, most people get their flirt flight much earlier these days!

Wednesdayite · Sat Sep 09, 2017 2:47 pm

blandy62 wrote:
mine was on a BA320-100 BRU-LHR. was going for a job interview and the company booked it for me in C back in 1996. was 21 at the time, most people get their flirt flight much earlier these days!

I was thinking the same. My daughter is only 6 but has flown many times including numerous trans-Atlantic trips. I first flew aged 12, but very rarely until I was an adult.

Even better - the comparison with my late grandfather - his first ever flight was in a Wellington bomber during basic training in 1940. Within weeks he was on bombing missions over nazi occupied Europe.

global2 · Sat Sep 09, 2017 4:41 pm

Mine first was on Pan Am, I believe a 707 from JFK to TYO in 1968 (did they still have DC-8's by then and did they fly to Tokyo?). I was just 2 and a half.

I'm surprised not to see more people say 707's (and DC-8's), because they seemed ubiquitous in the early jet age, but I guess that just shows you how much more common flying has become in later years on later aircraft.

DiegoSS02 · Sat Sep 09, 2017 5:48 pm

Mine was on a TAM F100 in the ASU-EZE route, in October 2002.

AirbusA343 · Sat Sep 09, 2017 7:05 pm

Not really sure... I think an Alitalia narrowbody, not sure whether it's an Airbus or Boeing.

Cunard · Mon Sep 11, 2017 12:06 pm

Mine was on a Trident 3 of BEA British European Airways from London Heathrow Airport to Düsseldorf in July 1972 two weeks short of my 7th birthday and exactly two weeks after the Trident crash at Staines.

I was visiting Germany with my grandparents and older brother and it was the first time we had traveled without our parents and I remember my mother being so worried about us flying considering the same aircraft type was involved in a fatal crash only a fortnight before but as a young kid that didn't worry me.

gtargui · Mon Sep 11, 2017 5:31 pm

I guess it really depends on location and age.

I would imagine for a number of younger Europeans it would be the 737 or A318/19/20/21, especially with the rise of LLC's

As for myself, I'm probably a bit of an outlier. My first time on a plane I was 6 and flew on AA 777 (not sure of the variant) MAN-ORD back in 2003. Lucky me was spoilt and I got to fly business thanks to my dad's company.

jlaforteza · Mon Sep 11, 2017 10:01 pm

I think it was around 1986 or 87. My family went to the Philippines. We flew LAX-MNL with a stop in Honolulu? It was Philippine Airlines. Probably a 747-200?

Bostrom · Mon Sep 11, 2017 10:42 pm

My first flight must have been on a Linjeflyg Fokker F28 as a small child on ARN-KSD. A route that is now flown with Saab 340s.

PPVLC · Mon Sep 11, 2017 10:43 pm

My first flight was on a Varig Electra, registration PP-VLC. Years later my first instruction flight as a FA was on the very same plane, PP-VLC that was still flying. Beat that

CarlosSi · Tue Sep 12, 2017 1:35 am

Actually my very first one was on a little turboprop; a Saab 340b on a relatively short hop from San Antonio to Monterrey, Mexico.

The first "jetliner" was an AM 757 to MEX, same trip. I vaguely remember the flight, and actually received a meal on it for such a short flight (breakfast).

TheFlyingDisk · Tue Sep 12, 2017 3:04 am

My mother took me on an Airbus A300 back when I was a baby, but the first airplane trip I remember taking was on a Boeing 737-400.

Super80Fan · Tue Sep 12, 2017 4:22 am

Mine was on a MetroJet (US Airways LCC) 737-200 back in May 2001 from LGA to RSW. I remember for the first time (and last) being invited into the cockpit mid-flight. Definitely an experience I will never forget.

Woodreau · Tue Sep 12, 2017 4:35 am

Mine was on a Delta L-1011 in 1973.

My son's first flight when he was 1 month old was on a CRJ-700 that I flew as the first officer. I took him on an overnight with me.

I also do find it interesting that 737 and 320 has not come up very often as most first flight aircraft over the two pages thus far.
It's only come up 3 times for the 737 and 3 times for a 320 series aircraft in 73 posts.

Gemuser · Tue Sep 12, 2017 9:22 am

DC-4 of ANA [Australian National Airlines] SYD-MEB-SYD in 1956.

Gemuser

CairnterriAIR · Tue Sep 12, 2017 11:29 am

TWA 707 from BDL to ORD in 1978.

fallap · Tue Sep 12, 2017 1:31 pm

I think it must have been an Olympic Airways B737-200 from CPH-ATH (Old airport)

Airdolomiti · Tue Sep 12, 2017 2:15 pm

I'm told it was on a Lufthansa 737-200 from Venice to Munich when I was eight months old, so some time in early 1987. The first flights I remember were mostly on that route and on that aircraft, with the occasional 727-200 or DLT Fokker 50.

LAXLHR · Tue Sep 12, 2017 5:55 pm

British Airways
747-200
LHR-MIA

jb1087xna · Tue Sep 12, 2017 11:50 pm

Nothing too glamorous for me. A WN 737 (not sure of the variant) from LIT-STL in ~1995 or so.

KLMatSJC · Wed Sep 13, 2017 12:27 am

American Airlines
DC-10-10 N133AA
SFO-HNL 6/2/98

Whywhyjay · Wed Sep 13, 2017 1:17 am

AC Vickers Viscount on a "Christmas Light Flight" over Winnipeg in 1967 or 8. It's hard to believe now but they would actually run sight seeing flights to fly around the city viewing the Christmas lights, the nice big round windows were perfect for that sort of thing. My first "real" point to point flight was on a Pacific Western 737, so I suspect I'm in the majority on that one! Getting back to the original question, I think the 737 will inevitably take the crown. Unfortunately it will probably be the last plane most of us fly on too!

AmbroseRPM · Wed Sep 13, 2017 2:03 pm

I'd assume many would be on a 737.

Mine was on a Virgin Australia 737-800.

evank516 · Wed Sep 20, 2017 7:15 pm

I think mine was on an MD-80. Could have been an F100 too. I don't know, whatever AA used to fly from ISP-RDU back in 1990. I was only 3 months old.

Danny319 · Wed Sep 20, 2017 8:54 pm

According to my BOAC Junior Jet Club, it was British Airways / BOAC B707 G-ARRA Mar 1974, London to Kuala Lumpur. I was only 2 years old and don't remember the trip. The first flight I remember was on Trident in Jul 1975 from London to Gibraltar.

brucetiki · Thu Sep 21, 2017 1:34 am

Qantas 767 in March 1995 - ADL-SYD. It was from the International terminal so the flight originated overseas (I think Bangkok) and was going to SYD via ADL. It was a very light load from memory so most of the passengers must of hopped off in ADL.

vatveng · Thu Sep 21, 2017 2:12 am

Mine was (I think) a Boeing 720 but it may have been a 732. United RIC-ORD.

MANMatthew · Thu Sep 21, 2017 6:27 am

752 to Ibiza (Operated by Britannia)

WNflyer1523 · Thu Sep 21, 2017 2:49 pm

evank516 wrote:
I think mine was on an MD-80. Could have been an F100 too. I don't know, whatever AA used to fly from ISP-RDU back in 1990. I was only 3 months old.

AA did ISP-RDU nonstop?

WNflyer1523 · Thu Sep 21, 2017 2:50 pm

My first flight was a Southwest 737-700, ISP-FLL.

evank516 · Thu Sep 21, 2017 2:58 pm

WNflyer1523 wrote:
evank516 wrote:
I think mine was on an MD-80. Could have been an F100 too. I don't know, whatever AA used to fly from ISP-RDU back in 1990. I was only 3 months old.

AA did ISP-RDU nonstop?

Oh yes. Back in the RDU Hub Era. My family and I were regulars back in those days. ISP-RDU-DAB was my most traveled according to my parents back when JFK and LGA was more avoidable. I was born in 1990 so I go by my parents (now just my father's) recollection.

symphonicpoet · Sun Sep 24, 2017 6:42 am

For me it was TWA L-1011 N11003 from STL to JFK. This should have been TWA 844 on June 9, 1992. And I continued on to FRA, but I believe it was aboard a different plane. (The second aircraft almost has to have been a 762 assigned to TW740.) I wish I'd had the foresight to better record that first trip, but I was eighteen and just excited to be flying for the first time, and on my way to castle country, no less. Fortunately, I have a decent record of at least my first bird:

Trans World TriStar

Flap

Flanker7 · Sun Sep 24, 2017 1:57 pm

Aer Lingus 737-200 Ams-Man-Dub back in the 70s.

kgaiflyer · Sun Sep 24, 2017 3:38 pm

Not sure a Convair 580 qualifies as an airliner, but all my early flights were on Allegheny Airlines Convairs.

My first *jet* flight was on an Allegheny DC-9-30 flying ABE-PIT in 1970.

First transcon was an American Airlines 762 flying IAD-LAX.

My first transatlantic was a KLM 747-300 flying DTW-AMS.

RJNUT · Sun Sep 24, 2017 6:12 pm

Braniff International BAC 111 MKC-ORD Jul. 1968(color was Ochre), hot breakfast served by space-foiled hostesses!

PITingres · Sun Sep 24, 2017 7:42 pm

TWA 707, sometime in the later 60's (don't recall exactly when). I'm glad to see I'm not the only one here with a first flight on a 707.

PennPal · Fri Sep 29, 2017 3:55 pm

Mine was on an Eastern 727-200 FMY-ATL Summer 1977

PennPal · Fri Sep 29, 2017 3:59 pm

Mine was on an Eastern 727-200 FMY-ATL Summer 1977

gunsontheroof · Sun Oct 01, 2017 10:50 am

Mine was an AS 727 (not sure which variant) on SEA-SJC back in 1985 or 86. If I had to guess the current reigning "first flight king," I'd guess it would be the 737, but I wouldn't be surprised if the A32x series took the crown in coming years. Quite a few airlines in developing countries where more people (young AND old) will be taking their first flights in the coming years have substantial fleets. No way to really know for sure.

Good to see some DC-3s and old jets in here--quite a few dinosaurs around here!

Fedric1234 · Sun Oct 01, 2017 2:16 pm

My own was also an F28-4000.

afterburner33 · Tue Oct 03, 2017 10:00 am

An Air New Zealand B767-200, AKL-SYD in 1989. I remember being very disappointed it wasn't a 747!

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