D I SCOVER / A WORLD OF INSPIRATION
MODERN RETRO AIR OF MYSTERY
Adventure-loving Australians once headed to the airport without knowing where they’d end up. DARE looks back at the beloved mystery flight, and discovers that the concept is still circling. Words CAMERON BAYLEY
I n the 1970s, Australians were enjoying dinners prepared in a crockpot, TV drama supplied by The Sullivans , and kooky day trips courtesy of mystery flights, which were taking off across the country’s domestic airlines. And while the flights promised patrons something fun and far-out, their catalyst was more practical. “We have to cast our mind back to a time when reservations systems were very rudimentary for airlines,”
explains Geoffrey Thomas, founder and editor of AirlineRatings.com and aviation historian and commentator. “So airlines would find themselves, a day before a flight, with half a dozen empty seats, and no way really of selling them. There weren’t the mechanisms they have today.” The solution was ridiculously simple. “Somebody came up with the idea: ‘What about if we just say to people to put your name down and we’ll throw you on a
flight from Sydney to Tamworth, or Perth to Paraburdoo, and back?’” Carriers began offering cut-price fares where you only found out your destination on the day, depending on which flights needed filling. It was win-win. Airlines topped up their cabins, and the curious public could hit the skies. “For a lot of people, they wanted to have a little adventure and, of course, flying in those days was quite expensive,” Geoffrey explains.
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DARE SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2023
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