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Fred Finn – most-travelled Concorde passenger
Fred Finn, is the worlds most-travelled man, and with a world record that no one can ever beat – the world’s most-travelled Concorde passenger!
Fred Finn was on the first and last Concorde flights and holds the Guinness World Record for the most Concorde flights as a passenger!
Mr. Finn was asked, what’s your favourite mode of transport? Is answer was, “My favourite mode of transport without any doubt is my beloved Concorde. I made 718 many trips before it was retired in 2003”
In total, he flew 718 times on the Queen of the Skies between 1976 and 2003 – all of them in the same seat, 9A. Mr. Finn lives in Surrey when he’s in the UK. His company deals in the transfer of technology from America and Britain to third-world countries.
He has travelled around the world on business and recently married a Ukrainian lawyer half his age.
At the peak of his travelling, Mr. Finn would make at least two supersonic return trips from London to New York a week and in one 12-hour period he even managed to clock up three return trips between Heathrow and New York.
The average flight time between London and New York was just over three hours, compared to more than eight hours on a normal jumbo jet.
It is estimated that Mr. Finn’s flights on Concorde cost in the region of £2 million, with a return trip to New York costing about £5,000 in the months before the aircraft was taken out of service.
Seated back in 9A on Concorde 216, which hasn’t moved from Filton since its final flight on November 26, 2003, Mr. Finn said: “It’s a great shame that she’s not still in the air, but the plane looks almost brand new – she’s being well looked after.
“I first flew on her on May 26, 1976 – the first flight from Washington to London and was on the last flight from New York to London on October 24, 2003.
Fred W Finn MBA. F.Inst.T.T.
World’s Most Travelled Person
Guinness World Records
15 Million Miles
718 Flights in “Concorde”
Friend of Euro 2012
Ukraine International Airline Preferred Carrier
Fred was born in Exmouth, Devon, and caught the travel bug at 18 when he took his first flight from an airfield in Hampshire to New York.
The retired international license manager now lives with wife Alla, 35, in the Ukrainian city of Komsomolsk.
On his travels Fred has met former Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev, Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney, singer Dolly Parton and had dinner in New York with Johnny Cash.
Fred once made three Concorde trips in one day and always sat in seat 9a. He said: “I soon realised that was the one they started serving food and drink from.”
He reckons he has flown across the Atlantic more than 2,000 times and visited Africa on 600 occasions.
His favorite place is Kenya and he likes Nigeria the least because it’s “lawless”.
His favorite Concorde is 216 G-BOAF, which is currently grounded at Filton and not on display to the public.
FRED’S TRAVEL TIPS:
Set your watch to local time when you step off the plane and eat at that country’s meal times.
Use hard suitcases to avoid breakages.
Drink water to avoid jet lag.
Always take contact numbers for your family.
Use a travel adaptor that fits all plugs
