I spent 25-years as a paying passenger on about 200 flights per year. I've flown in almost every commercial aircraft built in the last 60-years on every continent except the big white one. First Class in a 747 was always my favorite for both comfort and service. I was flying out of SEA in late 1969 when I saw my first 747 and was truly overwhelmed with the size and it's takeoff performance.
My first direct 747 experience was in the early 1970s on a Continental flight. My father was a Flying Colonel and upgraded me to first class from, I believe, BWI to SEA. That luxury service set the tone for the rest of my career as a professional airline passenger. I worked very hard to ensure I always flew on a 747, if available, and often found a way to fly First Class.
In the latter '70s I worked for a major oil company who flew us around the country in First Class comfort with many of those flights on United 747s. There is little good to be said about a bunch of over paid youngish oil guys flying First from Chicago to Los Angles with free drinks. But, there was usually enough room to keep us away from the more sedate passengers. I'll never forget the hot fudge ice cream sundies served after dinner. They rolled out a beautiful service cart covered in real linen with a huge tub of ice cream sitting on dry ice and made each sundae at your seat side - real hot fudge, fresh strawberries or bananas, and whipped cream out of a silver bowl.
In the late '80s I flew as the only passenger in the front of a 747 repositioning from ORD to MSP. There were only about 50-passengers in the rest of the cabin. As others have said, you could not convince me the Saturn rockets could climb faster than a mostly empty 747.
On another NWA 747 flight, MSP-SEA, I found myself to be the only passenger in First on the upper deck and since it was Friday evening after a difficult week I quickly fell asleep in the aft most window seat. A commotion woke me just before pushback and I opened my eyes to see Prince and his truly bizzare entourage appear on the top of the spiral staircase and take their places in the front of the upper cabin. Apparently the upper deck flight attendant forgot I was up there.
I spent way too much time on 747s and they began to all look the same. I once found myself on a 747 headed for LHR from MSP when I wanted to fly to SEA. I was late arriving at the gate, but due to my NWA status and the lax security at the time, the agent at the top of the ramp/jetway just glanced at my credentials and said "the doors are shut but I'll have them opened by the time you get to the plane." The door was opening as I ran down the jetway so I quickly boarded only to find someone in 1A, my preferred seat. I showed the flight attendant my boarding pass and she laughed saying "this is the London flight - we were delayed." The SEA flight was waiting to be moved up to the jetway but, because the LHR flight was 45-minutes late - my plane was not where I thought it was. So, the jetway door was opened for me a 2nd time and I did fly to Seattle later that evening.
The culmination of my 747 experience was a 'round the world' flight I in did in the early '90s - SEA - JFK - JNB - SYD - LAX - SEA with every leg, except the last, in 747 First Class luxury. South African Air at that time seemed intent on putting on a more luxurious show than the other carriers. Their meal services were superb and I still have on my desk the beautiful little crystal hippomontamus they gave me as a gift. We had to stop at Cape Verde to refuel on the JFK - JNB leg. It was the middle of the night, local, and the cabin doors were opened to allow the wonderful warm tropical breeze to blow thru. It did surprise me that refueling was allowed with passengers on board.
Just to show how things have changed with flying and technology - I was doing one week seminars about state of the art giant computing technology in cities all over the world. My reference and speaking material was carried in two old traditional foot lockers, weighing about 75-pounds each. I also had two large roll on suitcases because the trip was almost four months long. There was no extra charge for any of that baggage. Today I carry more reference and teaching material on my laptop and also on a single USB memory stick backup.
I repeated that around the world trip a couple years later but the newer 747 was able to do JFK - JNB non-stop. I would never want to fly 18-hours non-stop in anything except the front of First in a 747. I felt the same way on both my SYD-LAX flights.
For me - flying in the front of a 747 was the only way to see the world!