The story of the forgotten West London and Imperial Airways Empire air terminals

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• 1958 says:

  17 Nov17 November 07:29

  You mention “sheepskin coat” – but what surprises me when looking at old in-flight photographs is how smartly dressed the passengers are. Men almost always wear ties.
  My observation applies to “real” passengers, as well as models used in promotional photos.
  Perhaps driven by people having a more limited wardrobe.

  • Edward says:

    25 Nov25 November 06:33

    When I joined British Airways (in 1988), staff travel rules were that all male staff on rebate tickets, regardless of class of travel, needed to wear a suit and tie. Which by then meant that you could spot staff travellers a mile away, as nobody else was dressing like this, especially in longhaul economy. Those rules were relaxed sometime in the early 1990s… but we still had to be reasonably smart.

• NB says:

  17 Nov17 November 09:54

  The one in Victoria was also, perhaps subsequently, used by Pan Am as its London check in terminal. I remember going there a couple of times as a child in the 60s

  • Tom says:

    17 Nov17 November 17:06

    I also have a recollection of taking a bus from a Pan Am arrival at Heathrow to the Victoria terminal as well. That was in 1972.

    As an aside to the author, an article on Liverpool’s old Speke airport terminal (now a hotel) might be in a similar vein. I few out of that on a flight to Dublin in 1975.

• Tom R says:

  17 Nov17 November 12:52

  Coincidentally I’ve just been reading “Travels with my Aunt” by Graham Greene, written in 1969. In those days there were strict rules about taking money out of the country, so when on board the “air bus” the aunt asks whether or not the luggage trailer is still attached. When informed that it is, she is satisfied that their bags won’t be searched by customs officials – as by long experience, she knows that the trailer is detached at the customs office when they want to do a random search! In this way she was able to smuggle a small fortune out of the country.

  • Tom says:

    17 Nov17 November 17:08

    Those “strict rules” about taking cash out of the UK were around until Thatcher, as best U recall.

    • Richard says:

      17 Nov17 November 23:48

      I remember as a child my father hiding £5 notes in my shoes as we went on holiday abroad in order to circumvent such rules!

• Bob says:

  17 Nov17 November 14:52

  What a terrific piece. Love this. Perhaps I need to pay attention to your weekend posts!

• Michael says:

  17 Nov17 November 19:41

  I also recall more recently the airline check-in desks at Paddington, allowing you to check in your luggage before jumping on the Heathrow Express to the airport. I remember doing it several hours early for a British Midland flight to avoid having to use left luggage while I went for a wander round London. I think modern security rules prohibit remote check in.

  • David says:

    17 Nov17 November 20:39

    The in-town check in and luggage drop at HKG has always been really usefull

    • Stephen says:

      19 Nov19 November 01:35

      But actually quite restrictive as most of the HK population does not live in Central.

• Linda says:

  23 Nov23 November 11:18

  In 1973 I worked for BA in reservations and my father worked for PanAm in their new check-in facility located in Semley Place, Victoria, opposite the BA terminal where I was. PanAm also did hotel check-ins for American passengers returning home, sometimes groups of 200-300 people. Good times!

  • Laurie Berryman says:

    25 Nov25 November 06:23

    Is that Linda Stamford ? We worked together for BOAC in 1973 at the Victoria Air Terminal.

• Saltrams says:

  23 Nov23 November 18:42

  Lovely nostalgic articles! My father started work for Imperial on the flying boats at Southampton, aged 14. He went on to Croydon Airport (where his father also worked), BOAC and then BA. He finally retired on the Concorde fleet, after 46 years with the airline. I remember how good flying was in some of those great days.

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