When you leave Paris-CDG, you pass a Concorde on your right. There are often plane buffs standing near the fence photographing it. It's a beautiful plane-- I've watched it take off a few times. It looks normal at takeoff.
I got to ride the Concorde three times, even though I usually fly cattle class. It was an amazing experience, not because of the plane itself-- which was decorated in that boring beige that was so popular in the 1990s, and was surprisingly tiny, like a commuter jet, on the inside-- but because of how you were treated. 
From the moment you arrived at the airport you were treated like Kate Moss, or at least Woody Allen (who used to bring Mia Farrow and all her kids over to Paris for Christmas on the Concorde). No hint of an ordinary queue. Your bags disappeared into the hold almost as you were walking into the terminal, and on the other side of the Atlantic, they were waiting for you under guard as you walked out of the plane. You were hustled past security and immigration and out onto the sidewalk and the waiting taxis within a few minutes. If you were flying from Paris to New York, you arrived earlier than you left! The three-hour trip in either direction left you with an entire day in front of you, instead of wasting one on the plane.
On the plane, I looked all around for the famous passengers I was expecting. But the other passengers were all looking around at me. That was disappointing.
A lit-up display in the front of the cabin, showing the speed of the plane, was the only sign that you were going as fast as a bullet. That and the champagne.
The Concorde was great while it lasted, and the people who could afford the $12,000 fare must miss it. I was left with the favors that Concorde passengers received on each trip. I kept this apple, which reminds me of the years I lived in New York and dreamed of living in Paris.
You know, I was just saying to a friend today that one of things on my "list of things to do before I die" used to be "flying the Concorde" and how I had to obviously scratch that one off the list. So it was nice to live a bit vicariously through your post - thanks!
Posted by: The Bold Soul | 08 September 2006 at 02:19
Very interesting details about the Concorde. It would be nice if that's the way most plane travel worked.
Posted by: Michelle | 08 September 2006 at 03:21
I think I could really get used to the Concorde given just one chance ;) We travel to France, usually Lyon, at least one time per year and I would love to do it sipping Champagne!
Posted by: Brenda | 08 September 2006 at 05:52
Oh that sounded wonderful. Thanks for the little voyage.
Posted by: misschrisc | 08 September 2006 at 10:12
Ah, the Concorde...
This plane provided my very first lesson in the economics of projects fueled by government funds as opposed to private money. Even at the age of 15 and before a single commercial passenger stepped on board I was able to figure out from the newspaper reports that the terms on which the aircraft were being supplied to BA and Air France meant that:
(a) The entire £2,000millon invested by the British taxpayers (a lot of money in those days), plus a similar amount from the French taxpayers, had been irretrievably lost, and
(b) Government officials on both sides of the Channel were proposing to in addition provide ongoing subsidies plus regulatory indulgences to the two airlines to get them to fly the planes, solely to make it appear that the project had not been the hideous commercial failure it really was.
After this memorable initiation I've never really been shocked by any subsequent governmental maneuver, or by any fresh instance of the gullibility of the media, which swallowed the story whole.
Posted by: ZF | 10 September 2006 at 05:02