If so, what was it like? How much different was it than an jet? Did you like it?
It **was **a jet!
Service was superb, takeoff was loud as hell, and flying was smooth as silk.
It was much smaller inside than any current jumbo jet.
I flew 2 round trips, courtesy of British Air, and they were awesome!
My Dad and his wife did a while back. He said it was great- the flight attendant asked what he would like to drink and he said a Johnny Walker would be fine, did they have any Black Label? She apologized and said all they had was Blue Label, and would he like to try that instead?
I just saw a bottle of Blue Label for sale for $211, if that puts it in context! I hope your dad said yes.
I heard they stretch in flight, someone put a book in a shelf in the wall, and when it landed, the shelf was gone. Is that true?
A bulkhead in the cockpit did indeed stretch and retract. The flight engineers used to put their hat in the space. I have a great book on the shelf called Flying Concorde by Brian Calvert that discusses this and lots more. I especially liked his description of the typical captain’s announcement to the passengers before takeoff. It was something like, “Ladies and gentleman, welcome to Concorde, supersonic service to New York. For those of you who haven’t flown with us before I’d like to tell you a bit about what’s about to happen. Our departure will be a bit more of sporting affair than you may be accustomed to…”
A sporting affair - that is wonderful British idiom, and it always makes me laugh in this context!
Unfortunately, I’ve not flown on Concorde, but did once get to sit in the captain’s seat of one on the ground.
Never flew on one, but I’ve seen five of them since they were retired. Saw three of them when they were still in service. I can’t swear that they were eight distinct aircraft, but I like to think I’ve seen about half the fleet.
I had planed on taking one of the rides they were giving at Oshkosh but never got around to it. $400 for a trip to Candian airspace and back. Sigh…
One of the most memorable events at Oshkosh though was a night time meeting of most of the Apollo Astronauts. It was in an open air theater. The event itself was really great with lots of cool stories from the astronauts. During the show there was a blimp (Family channel) that was lit from the inside like a giant light bulb. The pilot was diving around near the theater which was a show unto itself. What interrupted the show was a late arrival of the Concorde. Of course it wasn’t possible to continue with that plane landing given an audience composed mostly of pilots. In unison everybody watched the plane approach and land including the astronauts who are all pilots in the deepest part of their soul. The MC said something to the effect he wasn’t going to even try to compete with it.
Refresh my memory on how the Concorde came to be retired?
High operating costs vs. a traditional jet liner. It couldn’t carry many passengers and sucked down tons of fuel just to get there quicker.
Plus it was 1960s technology, which the manufacturers weren’t going to support for much longer.
if that was the case, the DC-9 wouldn’t still be in service.
Plus the unfortunate incident in France with loss of life coupled with high cost made the Concorde lose a bit of its appeal.
I saw one on the tarmac at heathrow- closest I got.
From the History Channel I understand that it was difficult to operate in some lucrative areas due to American resistance. However, that was years before it finally departed.
As has been mentioned above, it was aging technology and an aging fleet although obviously there was a market. Concorde was limited in range and I would guess it would cost a fortune to develop a similar aircraft to service the ultra rich.
Once British Airways discarded them BAe announced that they wouldn’t support the Concorde even if someone else bought them.
On the last day of BA Concorde flights they did a tour of the UK as a farewell, all the planes converging on Heathrow at the end of the day. The flights were full of journalists and BA staff, with no luggage, and the planes weren’t carrying anything like a full fuel load, so much lighter at take-off than usual. The pilot taking off from Edinburgh to head back to London took the opportunity to take off more in the manner of a jet-fighter at an airshow, with a very very steep climb. Quite a sight, and arse-quackingly loud. 
I used to work cabin service for Delta. BA had some sort of leasing deal with Delta here in Dallas. So, I got to go in one but never flew in it.
I have to say, at 10k a pop* there was not a whole lot of elbow room in those things. Even for an airplane.
10k is just the rumor that was floated around at the time. (non stop flight from across the pond.) I have no idea if that is an accurate number.
I flew back on Concorde from New York to London for my 40th birthday on one of the last flights.
The take off was bumpy as there was a fair bit of turbulence that day, but very smooth otherwise.
What I noticed most was the very small cabin. One really got the impression of being inside a small cylinder. Also impressive was the feeling of height; the sky turned a deep deep almost black indigo above, and I’m sure I could see the curvature of the earth. The acceleration was massive; real push in the back stuff.
Service was excellent. The crew were mature and experienced rather than young and pretty. I guess the crew were given the Concorde gig only after many years of outstanding service.
Can’t remember what I had to eat or drink, I was too busy staring in slack-jawed wonderment out of the window, or watching the mach counter mounted on one of the bulkheads creeping up.
Pretty damn unforgettable.
I have to say, the retirement of the Concorde felt like a big giant step backwards to me. Kind of sad really.
I understand why they did it, but still…
It first flew in 1969 along with the 747. Between those 2 aircraft and the moon landing that was a good year for technological achievement. Add me to the list of people who found the retirement of the Concorde a bit sad and a step backwards.