It is generally accepted that flying on Concorde was for the 1%. You know, royalty, wealthy people, top flight politicians, A-list actresses, models, corporate high flyers, rock stars and so on. What is not known is that you could fly the supersonic aircraft relatively inexpensively.
You could of course use frequent flyer miles, which meant a big saving on the standard fare. At the same time, if you were in the know, you could also buy tickets for a pretty low cash price too. Here are some examples of how cheap a trip on British Airways Concorde could cost.
BA Concorde Flights With Miles
The final year of service for Concorde was 2003 and that year a member of the Executive Club redeemed 80,000 miles and paid £61.50 in taxes for a flight between London and New York. Not bad at all! Anther person did it the other way, 80,000 miles and just £4.10 in tax. Of course, that means a return trip would have set you back 160,000 miles, which is a lot.
How Cheap Was It With Cash?
It is reported that before 2003, LHR-JFK-LHR was as low as £1,600 return all in with eBookers. You could also pay US$2,140 for one way on Concorde and one way in Club World business class. People on a First Class around the world ticket could upgrade the transatlantic leg to Concorde for an extra £650.
Another way was to start in other cities. You could fly First Class from Cairo to New York and back (via London, of course) and it would be £1,200 return including a flight one way on Concorde. Someone else paid €1,600 return for similar, starting in Lisbon with one leg on Concorde.
Staff might have had the best deal though. This set people back £500 for a one way ticket, which someone reportedly did on their 21st birthday. I’m not jealous at all!
Overall Thoughts
It seems Concorde was quite accessible to the masses if you knew what you were doing. I imagine most people wouldn’t even consider looking for flights on the supersonic aircraft as they would automatically think it was out of their price range.
You still see this today, with people paying through the nose for economy class tickets, when it may only be a small difference to go in a higher class. Often people don’t even consider checking the higher class, which can sometimes be better value.
Did you ever fly on British Airways (or indeed Air France) Concorde? Do you remember how much the flight cost you? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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With thanks to FlyerTalk.
Featured image by Aero Icarus via Wikimedia Commons.
Seattle Concorde Cabin by FaceMePLS via Wikimedia Commons.
In 2003, as the Concorde was being phased out, Wife and I had coach return tickets SEA LHR. Received an E-Mail offering an upgrade either way JFK LHR Concorde for $500 each. We would have to find our own way from JFK to SEA on the leg we chose. Still kick myself for not taking the offer.
Oh wow, what a shame you didn’t take that offer!! Interesting they were still offering things like that then too. Thanks for sharing – the bad news 🙂
In 1984 I was fortunate enough to travel on Concorde from London to New York return for the princely sum of…..£15O
As an ordinary working man back then (still am) I was advised that it was possible to travel to New York as a courier on “conventional” flights at a cheaper price (ie) £100
I applied to TNT SKYPAK who advised me that this was possible…..but at a price of £150…..I didn´t complain as this was still cheaper than the “conventional” air carriers.
Little did I know that until I arrived at Heathrow airport that Flight BA192 was actually Concorde!!
The flight was fantastic as were the crew who realised that I was just an ordinary “Joe Bloggs” travelling to New York to visit my family who had just recently emigrated and I had not seen for 2 years…..I was even requested to visit the captain and his crew in the cockpit!
At the end of the flight, they asked that I disembark last….
On disembarking, they presented me with Concorde paraphernalia, Champagne for my mum, cigars for my dad, lot´s of candy and souvenirs for brothers and sisters…all of whom I had not seen for 2 years…..and the captain was kind enough to sign my Concorde “certificate of travel”
A travel experience which I still hold dear to this day…..and only for £150? Memorable!
Wow, that’s an amazing story. What a bargain and what an experience. That’s really lovely and great that the crew made a fuss of you as well. British Airways have always had some of the finest crew in the sky. Thanks for sharing that, sounds like you had a very memorable experience all round!
Flew JFK-CDG-JFK on the Concorde in the 90’s do not remember the price.But I do remember AF Nice to CDG was delayed so when we go to CDG..they too us off the plane on a side door and delivered us to the Concorde lounge in time for breakfast and Champagne…
Very nice that you got that additional service as you were delayed and heading for Concorde. Pretty cool – I imagine that extra service was everywhere for connecting Concorde passengers. Thanks for that, sounds like it was certainly fun!!
Back in the day I had Gold status on BA’s FFP and was able to book SSC from LHR to JFK for 80K miles. Amazing flight complete with an aborted takeoff immediately after #2 afterburner kicked in. After a fairly short delay we were good to go and this time I felt all 4 afterburners kick in and the climb out was the closest I will ever come to a fast jet takeoff. Yes you could see the curvature of the earth and in the more lightly insulated cabin section between the main cabins you could feel the heat radiating of the fuselage. The cockpit was tiny and the 3 crew were very cramped. Of course the irony was ending the trip on an AA SAAB 340 from JFK to YUL!
Nice that you got to experience a rejected take-off – that makes your flight pretty unique as that certainly isn’t common, as you know yourself. I’ve heard that you could feel the heat generated by the friction of the air, something you definitely don’t get on a subsonic. Sounds wonderful all round… well except the SAAB 340 at the end! Talk about a contrast… haha! Thanks for sharing that!
When I was a travel agent in the 1980s, the chance came to try both British Airways and Air France Concorde services. The cost for each trip was 25% of the current one way airfare ($550.00).
Expensive for the time, but certainly a huge discount over the usual fare. Thanks for that, great information there!
Looking at my flight log, the Concorde flight on British Airways was not $550, but free, as was part of a travel agent “fam” (familiarization) trip. Lucky me! Also boarding from the lounge at Terminal 4 at LHR was an added bonus.
Even better! I doubt many people got on it for nothing 🙂
Did it out of London to NYC. Fantastic that you could board directly from the lounge, and that you landed in NYC (9am) before you had taken off (10am). We were in row 5 and had Donny Osmond on our flight, who was so taken with it even he had his picture taken next to the speed display! All that said, a one time deal for us as, despite the food, drink, speed and seats, it was very small – overhead bin space could never fit a carry on, and the bathrooms were even smaller than normal airline bathrooms. All that said, an experience I’m so glad I had the opportunity to experience!
Oh, and it was 80k miles
Nice!!
Yes, I think that would have blown my mind to arrive before you departed. I’ve been inside some Concorde’s in museums and they are tiny inside. Donny Osmond! I imagine lots of celebrities flew on the aircraft. Sounds like you had a great experience all round. Thanks for sharing that!
I have yet to write an article about it; but I flew on Air France Concorde during its last week of service in 2003 for 80,000 Delta SkyMiles plus taxes one way.
Brilliant! It’s an exclusive club, the people who have flown supersonic. Hopefully you’ll put together an article on it someday!
I flew LHR-JFK, Concorde out, Biz class back for £1000 and 1000 air miles on a promo. Can’t remember the exact year but i think it was 2000/1
Wow, that’s a great deal! Must have been a great experience!
Not as great as it should have been, dept was delayed nearly 3 hours on the concorde leg, we didn’t get to 60k feet, only 58k, didn’t break Mach 2, only about 1.7, and I was in an aisle seat which I hate. But hey… I flew it right 🙂
Oh no!!! Well, apparently it didn’t always get to 60,000 feet, but shame you didn’t get to Mach 2. Still, you were supersonic, which only a miniscule percentage of people on the planet can say. Still jealous 🙂 haha!
I did the InsideFlyer deal, and paid a little less than $1200 to fly the Concorde. That was round-trip! Thanks Randy Petersen!
That’s an utter, utter bargain, isn’t it? If only I’d known about THAT back then 🙂
I feel exchanging information back then before 2003 was harder for the masses especially without blogs like yours. I was a kid back then and I think the only way to find out about these ‘deals’ is whether you’re in the know or if you scour through flyertalk and understood some of their lingo. In addition, amassing those 80k points probably involved the old school way of butt-in-seat miles versus going for a cc signup bonus nowadays. Very different world back then. With inflation and how easy it is to accrue miles, I wonder what that Concorde price would be nowadays.
Quite true, the Internet and flow of information has increased quite a lot since the turn of the century. I also agree, most of the miles would have been earned through flying – the credit card thing was happening but not to the extent it is today, especially in the USA. Good points all round there.
I checked the inflation calculator online, and it says £650 in 2002 would be £950 today, £1,200 would be £1,750 today, and US$1,200 would be US$1,824 today. Still not stupid money considering what Concorde could cost. Thanks for the comment!
I used my qantas staff travel benefits in 1999 and flew LHR to JFK. From memory, I paid AUD$800 one way on an ID90 fare when a normal one way for staff on a standard 747 was AUD$80 upgradable.
I had to apply for the sector and place a few flights in order of preference. BA approved a sector and I received a confirmed space ticket (no standby allowed for Concorde)
Also, staff were never allowed to access lounges on staff travel but with Concorde, you could as we boarded through the Concorde lounge.
Dress code was higher than normal staff travel too. They were very strict not to draw attention to my staff status. It was potentially sackable!
I flew to New York and went to the top of the world trade centre when you could stand on the outdoor deck. Unbelievably, both opportunities lost within a couple of years
I think it would have been worth it for the A$800 though, even if it was 10 times more than the usual. That was very cheap really, actually cheaper than the £500 that the BA person mentioned when I was researching this. Back then wasn’t it like 33p to the dollar or something awful like that?
I know with BA that staff can’t access the lounges unless they separately hold Gold or Silver status, so that is still the same I guess. Not at all surprised you had to dress well either and keep quiet about being staff. It was so expensive for the most part that I doubt people would be happy to know you were on it for peanuts.
Thanks for all of that, interesting to hear another perspective on it! A shame it’s gone and it’s something I wish I did.