There was a Revolution in Portugal in April 1974. But we had our trip to Rome, Italy, booked some time before...
Due to the fuel range limitations of the time, and possibly other reasons, TWA had this very interesting flight in Europe: New York/JFK to Lisbon, to Madrid, to Rome, to Athens, to Tel Aviv and finally to Cairo!
There were some variations on this route, and also, sometimes they'd change airplanes in Rome or so to a B-727. There were also a few terrorist attacks...
Anyway, I was very interestead to try flying TWA! Could I be more disappointed?
1st, Lisbon to Madrid, a short 1 hour hop was horrendous: We arrived, and were made to hold for 45', making the flight last the double! And either because of the lack of proper autos. on the 707, or bad Pilot, when we were circling, and every time we felt in the same air pocket... Not nice!
Short stop in Madrid, not even leaving the plane, and on to Rome! I believe we got a new crew, but the Pilots were even worst! The Captain decided to land in Rome (I still cannot figure out why, as the airport in close to the sea) with the so called 'corkscrew' manoeuvre, an authentic nightmare... Fortunately, never did it since... It was apparently used by military Pilots, and dangerous zones, for obvious reasons...
Needless to say, the plane was old, dirty and the service... Total flight time to Rome over 5 hours, food zero!...