Aboard the Final Flight of a Space-Age Icon

Oct. 24 -- It was 5 o'clock in the morning in the Concorde departure lounge at New York's Kennedy Airport and you could already feel the excitement. Even before the champagne was served.

Helpful British Airways employees took your overcoat or trench coat or ski jacket and asked for your seat number on board. Your coat would miraculously reappear in London at the end of the flight.

Then you joined a group of mostly men: tycoons and investment bankers and regular Concorde fliers. Many were thumbing through the Wall Street Journal or Financial Times, looking nonchalant. But almost everyone was carrying a camera.

Lord Marshall, the BA chairman, was there smiling and greeting the people who would fill the 100 seats, all invited guests. He would speak before boarding and tell the crowd how sorry he was that Concorde was being retired, but that the decision was necessary.

The celebrities began to arrive. British model Jodie Kidd, blond and tall — very tall — just loves Concorde. So does Christie Brinkley, arriving with her husband and looking like she had just come from a salon. The last to sweep in was Joan Collins.

Then it was time to board.

Desperate For Memories

Despite its $6,000 fare (one way) the Concorde is surprisingly cramped. The cabin is only nine feet across and the seats are about the same size as economy class, but with more leg room, and covered in rich, dark gray leather.

We all made our way slowly to the seats, but a party atmosphere had already developed. Passengers stuffed anything that said Concorde into their carry-on bags — even the safety instruction card.

Pink champagne was handed round by smiling cabin attendants and we all buckled up for takeoff.

The reporters were in the back of the two-cabin aircraft. Jodie Kidd sat behind me. Christie Brinkley and Joan Collins and Sir David Frost were in the front cabin, which was much quieter.

Champagne glasses emptied and Concorde roared into its takeoff roll, a slight G-force pushing us back in our seats as it accelerated down the runway. Kennedy airport workers stopped to wave at BA 002's final departure. It was 7:37 a.m.