Ticket to Ride

Another story from issue 415 of Rolling Stone magazine from Feb 16, 1984.  This one is about Carol Gallagher, who was the flight attendant on the flight from New York to Miami in 1964.  She is the girl who is seen holding a huge box of chocolates in a heart box. 


It was driving my car home from the beach.  I heard on the radio that The Beatles would be coming to Miami on National Airlines Flight 11, and I said, "Oh my God, that's my flight!"

I went bananas because I was madly in love with them.  I say MADLY in love with them.  I was 22 years old, a normal Beatles freak.  The flight was two weeks away at that point.  It was the roughest two weeks of my life.  I was worried sick about my hair -- Is my hair fixed?  Typical fan reactions.   The day before the flight, my supervisor called me and said they would definitely be on the flight and did I think I could handle it?

The day of the flight got very calm, my hair turned out good, my face didn't break out.  At Kennedy, we went down to the gate lounge.  We waited and waited and all of a sudden, there they were.  They floated in with a million reporters.  I was just stunned.  They were just the most gorgeous, fabulous men I'd seen in my life.  They didn't call them the Fab Four for nothing.

The public relations people propped me on the pane steps with a big box of candy and took all these pictures.  Somehow, we managed to get everybody on board.  It was a two hour flight.  They were very, very excited except for John who was very quiet.  Sat in the last row with Cynthia.  The rest of the Beatles spent most of the flight autographing stacks and stacks of photographs.  They weren't impressed with themselves.  I remember Paul asking me, "Do you think anyone will be in Miami to meet us?"

As we approached Miami, Ringo insisted on putting on a life jacket and looking out for sharks.

When the Beatles deplaned, they just popped into a few limos and left.  There were thousands of people there. The poor fans didn't get to see much.  I went home.  It took me about three days to simmer down.  I was very excited about it for a long, long time.