Originally Posted by
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!
Southwest used to have some rearward facing seats in some classic 737s. I flew facing backwards and it was quite disconcerting on take off.
Indeed. The BA Tridents I mentioned earlier had the forward half of the cabin facing backwards and the rear half laid out normally. Where they met in the middle, like in the Southwest 737s, the seats faced each other in a nice little group of 6 each side of the aisle. However unlike Southwest the BA seating allocation plan would try and put any groups of 6 in here.
Now a nickname for the Trident was the "Gripper" on account of its tendency to Grip The Ground, but that was quite an exaggeration, and when the most powerful Trident 3s came to the very short Manchester-London shuttle, with minimum fuel and cargo, they could go up at a very substantial angle. And so six of us boarded at Manchester one evening (must have been about 1984). Top Banana from client took the window, facing forward. Our Sales Director took the middle seat next to him, the rest of us filled in, and I got the window facing backwards. Down the runway, rotate, and I find I am restrained solely by my seat belt. T.B. looks at me, surprised but then amused. Sales Director looks at me with a definite "Don't fall into him whatever you do" type expression. And so I grip the armrests, possibly an alternative source of the nickname. I still recall it !