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I loathed the BA ones when flying regularly - noisy, poor entertainment systems. I once flew Tokyo to Sapporo on a JAL 747 'shuttle' where they'd rammed as many seats as possible (it was nearly as bad as the A340 'trooper' from Brize to Akrotiri) As I had a business class ticket myself and my colleague were 'upgraded' to a pair of seats in the nose. There was a small 'entertainment' screen with a forward-facing camera. I did laugh when the marshaller on landing gave a bow when we got on the stand. I flew a few time business class to Sydney in the upstairs - that was nice.
Mashr,
The B747 flight deck is ‘upstairs’ to allow for a hinged cargo loading nose. The aircraft was designed for cargo.
Punters don’t need to know that though, it sets it out from the crowd as a result
Kai Tak approach in a 747 was something my Father got to experience. Very jealous.
I did it when I was 9, very surreal watching folk on their balconies going about their day as you pass them looking along the wing.
I remember visiting the flight deck of a 747 as a kid visiting Florida - would have been 1982. Saw the shuttle launch too, so an exciting trip for a 7 year old :).
Since then, been on a few BA 747s, I seem to recall a trip back from Cairo on one which was good. Always tried to get on the top deck of possible.
One of our honeymoon flights was on the top deck of an Air NZ 747 and it was pretty special, I think they retired a few years ago though.
Looks like my last trip on a BA747 was a jaunt down to Lagos in Nigeria in Feb - booked out and back in 64K but got upgraded on the return, so a reasonably fitting end.
I recall doing trips out to Washington DC in the early 90s upstairs on more than one BA 747-200 - when upstairs was (a) smaller, (b) up a spiral staircase and (c) didn't have any emergency exits of its own... Upper deck on the 747-400 always seems a bit common after that 😉
BA was in the process of running its fleet down before Covid-19 anyway - hence the shocking internal state of some of them. Seems the number running long-haul routes across airlines globally has dropped off massively in the past few years but I did trips on Lufthansa and Korean Air 747-8s within the last 12 months - perhaps some of those will survive a bit longer (no guarantees in the current environment).
At the end of the day they're all planes. It's easy enough to have a good flight on a bad plane and vice-versa! Better cabin air quality is a bonus in newer aircraft; quieter cabins a double-edged sword with passenger and crew noise becoming more noticeable. The 787's narrower cabin is actually a pretty big compromse that kind of kills the 'dream' if you're sat in the wrong place.
Nice pics on Guardian and an article too.
-m-, my last was 62A out, 62K back. Upgraded on the way home, after a near death experience just outside DC! Was connecting DCA-PHL-LHR and was all ready to settle in upstairs. A beep at boarding, "we've got a seat issue, sir..." I was ready to rant, when they handed me 2A instead. Did a lot of damage to the Hattingley then slept like a baby!
Ironically I've never really been that bothered about the upper deck seats - more often than not I'd choose the front row bulkhead downstairs because it's quicker to get off. Not much affects my on-board routine and a bottle of water is generally enough to see me through a flight wherever I'm sat.
Mashr,
The B747 flight deck is ‘upstairs’ to allow for a hinged cargo loading nose. The aircraft was designed for cargo.
Not true. The majority of 747 freighters are passenger to freighter conversions so don't have the front door. The dedicated freighters don't have the extended upper deck of the -400 variant. The story of the upper deck was that the original brief for the aircraft was for a double decker aircraft for Pan Am...the biggest player back in the day. The airline CEO was set on a single isle double decker (CEO willly waving), but Boeing felt the best configuration was twin isle wide body single deck (the 747 was also the first twin isle wide body). The compromise was to have a 'token upper deck' for Pan Am marketing purposes and in the early days was used for crew rest rather than passengers. Maybe a bar too.
The dedicated freighter opportunity with the front door was a happy coincidence. Along with other airframe differences over the passenger version the dedicated freighter variant came later as they recognised the benefit of the new market. The freight market is much smaller than the passenger market...you'd be an idiot to compromise the aircraft efficiency for the freighter variant over the passenger variant. the relative size of the market is stark. Airbus deliberated over this for a long time with the 380, but decided eventually to not compromise the passenger aircraft variant for freight. Turned out to be the right decision.
The best freighter today is the 777 freighter...not the 747 dedicated freighter. The dedicated 747 freighter market is a very niche sector of a very niche market.
Mentioned this to Mrs gd who has been able to have the upstairs experience.
I had my first and only flights on one to and from Cape Town a few years ago.
You know what they say about never meeting your heroes...
The interior was knackered, leg room was on a par with worst of any flight I've done over 3 hours, noisy, hot and airless. As a cattle passenger not really got a lot of enthusiasm.
An incredible piece of aviation history and one I always admired and now rightly occupying a place in it. It's time has passed like a CNC'd 135mm quill stem and a pair of Answer Hyperlites.
I've been lucky enough to fly top deck on the 747 in its heyday and also when BA was a proper airline and not a Ryan Air wannabe. Before the top deck of the A380 came along it was the best place to fly. It was always a blessed relief after a foreign business trip to walk upstairs, settle down with something fizzy and heave a contented sigh, almost felt I was home already.
Only flown on a 747 twice which was back and for to Denver, B.A. fight and didn’t leave from Terminal 5. I will say the old girl had seen better days but felt special to be on a “Jumbo”
True story - I met my husband to be, on a BA'jumbo jet' flight from LHR to SF0.
Hopefully Manchester will buy one for the airport museum.
I'm lucky enough to have been on one LHR-JFK, the 787 is a more pleasant ride but there's something about a 747!
I live under the flightpath for Doncaster/Sheffield so lucky enough to see a couple (freight) landing most weeks.
True story – I met my husband to be, on a BA’jumbo jet’ flight from LHR to SF0.
Hopefully Manchester will buy one for the airport museum.
A husband to be?
A husband to be?
This is the one and only husband. I have very fond memories of canoodling on the back row.
I have very fond memories of canoodling on the back row.
I don't
Good riddance, you folk need to stop romanticising tech that is destroying our environment.
We all need to move with the times, at a pace.
Good riddance, you folk need to stop romanticising tech that is destroying our environment.
Pretty much everyone here is in agreement that times have moved past it.
Had a trip back from Canada on Canadian airlines 747 and had the front row window seat upstairs. Loads of room, lockers down the side were a bonus table. Free booze and a fascinating air canada flight engineer guy to chat to sat next to me.
My sister works in business travel and got flown back from somewhere in the Caribbean on a 747 and got to sit in the cockpit with headphones on for the landing into Heathrow. That was before 911!
canoodling on the back row.
The double seats down the back? Wise choice. More space by the window.
Pretty sure it was a 747 I flew on LHR-LAX in 1993, Air New Zealand. Lovely cabin crew, nice plane to be in for twelve hours.
There’s a few on the runway at Cardiff ready to be decommissioned
Worth having a look at Cotswold Airport at Kemble, what was the home of the Red Arrows for a time. There’s always a bunch of aircraft of various types being dismantled, the road runs alongside the runway for a short distance with a lay-by and a snack van.
I believe there’s a number of BA 747’s parked there now, likely to be dismantled soon.
Here’s a panorama photo I took from the lay-by back in 2017, on the far left there’s a 747 parked by the road that’s been there for years, as a sort of gate-guardian...
What's gonna happen to them?
What’s gonna happen to them?
Only flew a handful of times but one of my most exciting childhood moments was seeing the NASA space shuttle piggybacking a 747 from my bedroom window. Bonkers thinking it about it now (Close to Ringway flight path, early eighties). The concords became a bit Meh after that.
you folk need to stop romanticising tech that is destroying our environment.
Did you come on this thread just to posture? Bye.
NASA space shuttle piggybacking a 747
Ahem; that would be a VC-25...
The concords became a bit Meh after that.
I used to love the sight and sound of Concorde coming over; when F1 cars had 3.5ltr V12 engines; Group B rally cars and the Flying Scotsman is no less impressive now for being somewhat out of date.
I won't be browbeaten into denial of this lovely engineering by eco-weenies. The world has moved on; nostalgia is still carbon neutral.
Ahem; that would be a VC-25…
Nope, both shuttle carriers were adapted from commercial 747s
Upstairs 62K is still one of my fav seats ever, even though the BA biz product is outdated that little upstairs cabin, bacon butty and an espresso before landing was a great way to come home 👍
Thought this thread might be the most appropriate place to post this:
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/supersonic-jet-prototype-testing
Boom have been pimping that around for years now! Interesting to see kf it has any future in the post C19 world. Will enough people be travelling again, and will enough of them has sufficient need/budget for that sort of travel?
While it's cool, I'd still rather take my time...thusly
Upstairs 62K...bacon butty and an espresso before landing was a great way to come home 👍
Ahh, the old build-a-scale-model-to-get-some-more-cash-out-of-investors trick 🙂
Well, I do think there is a certain romanticism surrounding the old girl, so farewell. As a child in the sixties, when air travel was still a luxury, the closest I got to a ‘Jumbo’ was the Queens Building at Heathrow. The BOAC and Pan Am ‘planes looked so big and modern.
I got to fly in numerous Pan Am ‘Clippers’ later, with their rows of ‘smoking’ seats and THE feature film projected onto bulkhead and those horrible things that you had to stick in your ears AND the miserable middle-aged air hostesses where anything was too much trouble.
Then Virgin arrived with their Jumbos, wow an in-flight entertainment system and friendly staff to boot. Happy days.
Air New Zealand, they did the LA route too, we got bumped upstairs once due to them overbooking the flight, they were nice.
TWA, Delta and American, we flew on their 747s too - not so happy days.
Anyway, as the op says, farewell old lady.
Did anyone see the last Qantas 747 flight yesterday?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-53509361
They've brought forward retirement of their fleet too. From its heydey there's now only about 30-odd passenger 747's still flying. Lufthansa are still running their fleet, not sure who else.