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Inaugural Flights Draw Airline 'Geeks'
Fran Jelley, a 59-year-old consultant, flew from her home in Australia -- through China -- to be on the Dulles-to-Beijing flight yesterday. Jelley will fly back to Washington on Tuesday, then quickly return to China before heading back to Australia.
She says she took the United flight to be part of history, noting the significance of linking the two capitals with nonstop air service. United battled three other U.S. carriers in a heated competition to win the rights to a daily direct flight to China.
  "My friends don't get it. They think I'm a geek," Andrew Gibbons said of his interest in taking inaugural flights. (By Jahi Chikwendiu -- The Washington Post) |
"I had this tremendous dilemma about which inaugural to take," Jelley said before boarding the flight yesterday. "Washington-Beijing or Beijing-Washington. I figured the true inaugural was the first one, so I chose that. This is very symbolic -- capital to capital."
Robert Cole, a 34-year-old from New Zealand, spent about $6,000 to take a series of flights over several days in 2004, including Singapore Airlines' inaugural nonstop service between Singapore and Newark. He waited a few hours in Newark before boarding the return flight -- the longest scheduled flight in commercial aviation, at 18 1/2 hours, according to the International Air Transport Association.
Inaugural flights are not limited to international routes. Adrian Leung, 30, has taken at least 10, most of them between U.S. cities. Last year, he took Southwest Airlines' first flight from Dulles to Chicago.
He posted photographs -- including a few of the airplane's lavatory -- and a written description of the experience on the Internet. Just last week, he took Horizon Air's inaugural flight from Seattle to Santa Rosa, Calif., because it seemed "like fun." Then he took the continuation of the flight to his home in Los Angeles.
"I'm an aviation freak," said Leung, a sociologist who hopes to write a book about the interaction of people, airlines and airports.
Not everybody understands the enthusiasts' passion.
At Dulles yesterday, some passengers raised their eyebrows when told Gibbons and others were taking the flight for kicks.
"I've flown there before, and [the flight] really is not that much fun," said Rodney Sanders, 46, who was going to China to pick up an adopted child.
Gibbons admits that he has a hard time explaining his unusual pastime. He says he loves United because it has a large presence in San Francisco and he grew up a huge fan of the airline's theme song, George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue." After his inaugural Kuwait trip, he posted video clips of the flight on YouTube with theme music.
After arriving at Dulles early yesterday on the red-eye from San Francisco, Gibbons dashed off to a nearby gym, then showed up early at the United gate. He didn't want to miss the inaugural ceremony and party, which included performers, music and a spread of Chinese food.
Gibbons videotaped the drummers at the ceremony, then hurried over to a podium to take video and snapshots of United's top executive, Glenn F. Tilton, and Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine. Gibbons even got a United spokeswoman to take his picture next to Tilton, which he wants to post on his Web site.
Gibbons said he planned to edit his video, watch movies and listen to music aboard the flight. And sleep, of course.
If all goes as planned, he will return to Dulles at 7:45 p.m. today. An hour later, he will be on another flight home.
"I will probably be tired of airplanes by then," he said.
Maybe not.
Just before boarding, Gibbons told another passenger that he was bummed that he couldn't work another upcoming inaugural flight into his schedule: On Sunday, United kicks off service between Dulles and Rome.
