What Are Inaugural Flights Like? Are They Worth Taking?

If you’re an aviation geek, odds are that you’ve either taken an inaugural flight, or at least have been interested in taking one. In this post I wanted to talk about these special flights in a bit more detail. How different are they than your typical flight, and are they worth seeking out?

The truth is that back in the day, I used to go out of my way to fly on inaugural flights, though I don’t anymore. Still, I have a bit of experience with them.

The basics of airline inaugural flights

Airlines sometimes operate inaugural flights. I think the concept is pretty straightforward. “Inaugural” means “first,” so these are the first flights by some metric. The metric can vary, so you’ll find several types of inaugural flights:

• There are inaugural flights for a particular route, whereby the airline is operating a route for the first time (or perhaps resuming a particular route after a long absence); for example, Etihad recently launched Abu Dhabi to Boston flights
• There are inaugural flights for a particular aircraft; it could be that an airline is operating its first passenger flight with a particular aircraft, or it could be that the airline is operating an aircraft to a particular destination for the first time; for example, Emirates often celebrates when it flies an A380 to a new destination for the first time
• There are inaugural flights for a particular passenger experience, whereby the airline has maybe introduced a new first or business class, or something, and is celebrating that for the first time; for example, Lufthansa recently operated its first flights with the new Allegris business class

Airlines will generally try to make inaugural flights special, as an extension of their marketing efforts. Not only is this intended to impress passengers, but often there will be media invited to inaugural flights (either onboard or just at the gate), so the bigger deal an airline makes about an inaugural the more attention it gets.

It goes without saying that not all inaugural flights are created equal. For example, years ago I was on the first-ever commercial Airbus A350 flight on Qatar Airways, which was a massive celebration for both the airline and aircraft manufacturer. That’s going to have a bit more fanfare than a new route launched by Breeze Airways, given that the airline has launched a countless number of those over the years.

How airlines make inaugural flights special

If you book an inaugural flight, what should you expect to be different about this compared to a standard flight? The first thing to keep in mind is that a vast majority of passengers on inaugural flights are just booking those flights coincidentally, and probably don’t even realize they’re on an inaugural. So while there are some hardcore geeks who book these flights, that level of excitement isn’t necessarily shared by all passengers.

Here’s my general experience with what’s different about inaugural flights (let me again emphasize that there’s a huge disparity in terms of the effort that airlines put into this):

• Often inaugural flights have a gate party prior to departure, with drinks, snacks, trinkets, and sometimes entertainment and/or speeches, depending on the destination or culture
• Often inaugural flights will have some sort of souvenirs onboard for each passenger; this could include a goodie bag, a first flight certificate, or something of the sort
• Often airlines will roster special crews on inaugural flights, so you can expect that service will often be especially good
• It’s not uncommon for executives from the airline to be onboard inaugural flights, or depending on the route, for local political leaders to at least be at the gate for a speech
• Inaugural flights may get special water cannon salutes on arrival or departure, to commemorate the special occasion

For what it’s worth, you’ll typically find a celebration in both “directions” for an inaugural, and it’s 50/50 as to which direction gets more fanfare.

I’ve been on inaugural flights with no one “special” onboard, and I’ve also been on flights with a lot of “special” people onboard. For example, when Qatar Airways operated the world’s first A350 flight, both the CEO of Qatar Airways and the CEO of Airbus were onboard.

Generally I’d go into an inaugural flight not expecting a whole lot, and then just be pleasantly surprised if there is something special.

Why I’m conflicted on inaugural flights

Back in the day, I’d consistently seek out inaugural flights, and would get quite a thrill out of taking them. After all, I’m a huge aviation geek, and there’s something really exciting about taking a “historic” flight for that airline, whatever it might be.

However, over the years, I’ve started to mostly avoid these flights. That’s not because I find them any less exciting, but rather because they don’t give you the “real” experience offered by the airline. When I take long haul flights, I always try to review them, and my goal is to get as unbiased of an experience as possible.

With that in mind, I’d much rather take a new flight a few days after it launches, rather than the inaugural. The reality is that the inaugural largely just doesn’t give you the real experience. After all, it’s very much a celebratory occasion, so the service flow can be different than usual.

While you’d think that inaugural flights would typically have impeccable service, that’s often not my experience. When there are airline executives onboard, I often find that the crew simply fawns over them, while providing subpar service to other passengers.

And while some passengers might theoretically like the idea of flying with executives from the airline, that’s not something that I particularly care for. While there’s huge variance, in some cases I’ve found them to be rather standoff-ish, which is a bit surprising, and defeats the point of their presence, in my opinion.

But the reason I mainly avoid inaugural flights nowadays is the same reason I almost never attend travel media events — you’re not getting the “real” experience, and I’d rather visit somewhere on my own terms.

Bottom line

Airlines operate all kinds of inaugural flights, whether it’s the first flight for a particular airport, airplane, or product. If you’re an aviation geek, these flights can be super fun, given the special festivities.

Airlines take vastly different approaches to inaugural flights, as you’d expect, based on the significance of new service. In some cases the inaugural flights can be a huge production, while in other cases there might just be some Costco cupcakes in the gate area.

Have you ever been on an inaugural flight? If not, would you be interested in taking one?