Mach-ingbird : Concorde Riders Pay $1,000 for Fast Flight to Nowhere

They are the thrill-seekers, the curious and the wealthy--each willing to shell out almost $1,000 for a two-hour ride to nowhere on the Concorde SST.

The world’s fastest passenger aircraft made its Southern California debut Thursday at the Air/Space America 88 show at Brown Field.

The aircraft’s seven demonstration flights--two each Thursday through Saturday, and one on Sunday--will take about 700 passengers halfway to Hawaii and back for $985, said Randy Parihar, president of Concorde International Travel Agency, which leases the plane from Air France.

“This is the E-ride,” said Joan Berliner, 44, referring to the old Disneyland ticketing system where the best thrill rides required an E ticket.

Berliner, a Los Angeles insurance broker, was waiting to board the second Thursday flight with her father, Bernard, a 77-year-old retired veterinarian.

“It’s the excitement of it, the exclusivity of it,” she said. “I lived in France and this is an opportunity I’ve wanted to take advantage of for a long time.”

The elder Berliner said his wife made the decision that he should go on the flight.

“She decided that it’s one of these once-in-a-lifetime things and I should take advantage of it,” he said. “I hesitated for about a day because of the price, but eventually it was the idea, the idea of going up and flying 1,400 miles an hour, that made me decide to do it.”

During the approximately 1,500-mile trip out, the plane reaches Mach 1, the speed of sound. On the return trip, it hits Mach 2--or 1,401 m.p.h.--twice the speed of sound, according to Parihar.

‘Dream of a Lifetime’

The aircraft travels at an altitude of 10 to 12 miles, from which the Earth’s curvature is visible, he said.

For Barbara Hayes, 57, of La Mesa, price was not a factor--she won the trip she took on Thursday’s first Concorde flight in a radio station contest.

“For me it was a dream of a lifetime to get a chance and go up and do that sort of thing,” Hayes said. “It was especially wonderful to see how much darker outer space looks when you’re at 70,000 feet.

“When I was little, my folks would take my sister and I to the airport in Chicago and we used to sit and watch the planes take off every Sunday,” she said. “It’s in my blood.”

Shirley Swett, from Westminster, was waiting for her husband, Donald, to return from the Concorde’s first trip on Thursday. She said she was too afraid of flying to accompany him.

“I figure for 900-and-some dollars I would be too scared to enjoy it,” she said. “I’d rather have $900 to spend in a jewelry store.”

Donald Swett came off the bus that ferried the passengers from the plane to the air show’s registration center, his face flushed and his eyes sparkling.

“I thought it was great. I wouldn’t miss it for anything,” he said. “It was wonderful looking out. You could see out and see how dark the sky was. Everybody was just having a ball, everybody laughing and joking.”

Satisfaction Guaranteed

Flight organizers believe customer satisfaction is virtually guaranteed.

“Talk to them after a flight and I think you’ll find 100 out of 100 satisfied customers,” Parihar said. “There are people who went on the flight today who have come down and are trying to make a booking for (today) to fly the Concorde again.”

There were cynics in the crowd, people who couldn’t understand spending that much money for two hours of frivolity at twice the speed of sound.

“A thousand dollars for a trip to nowhere,” said air show security guard Larry Morris, shaking his head. “Amazing.”

Lee Boggs, 70, a retired commercial and military pilot from Newport Beach, said some of his friends were less than understanding of his desire to ride the Concorde:

Just Going for a Ride

“When I told one of my friends back in South Carolina about it, he asked how much this was going to cost. I told him and he says: ‘I think you’re losing it.’ ”

When George L. Sauer, 68, of Shadow Hills in Los Angeles County, was asked why he was going on the Concorde, he said: “Just to go for a ride.”

“I admire the airplane, it’s a fabulous airplane, and I’ll never go that fast again in my life,” Sauer said. “I can tell all my friends there ain’t none of them that have gone as fast as I have.”

Ron Zappardino, 39, owner of the Top O’ the Cove in La Jolla, said it was the speed that attracted him to the flight.

“I own one of the best restaurants in the world--I don’t need caviar and champagne. What I want is speed,” he said. “This is strictly an impulse item.”

Each passenger will receive in the mail a gift package, including a signed certificate saying they traveled at Mach 2, Parihar said.

As of Thursday afternoon, there were a few seats not sold on flights scheduled for today and Saturday, Parihar said. Sunday’s flight is sold out.