THe Majestic 747 - the original Jumbo of the Sky

[GROUNDHOG]

Just booked LGW/BDS and had the choice of BA or VS, would normally have booked BA but they fly a 777 on the route and VS fly a 747 so VS got the booking!! After April VS switch to an A330 and I would probably have stayed with BA if the price was about the same!! I love the 747 and that is why I booked the way I did no other reason!!

[Hotel Tango]

Tried a DC3 once. Was queasy after five minutes as it floated about the sky, there's a lot to be said for technology. Older aircraft are best appreciated on the ground IMHO.

Ah, you youngsters are not made of the same stuff as us oldies

[Wannabe Flyer]

@ZFT

Correct you are TG still has a lot 747 (though in the inflight magazine they are really lobbying how the 380 will change that and from the Interior wear and tear on the one I traveled on I do not doubt it).

However as stated in my post due to my geographical locations and travel routes 747 seem to have disappeared on these routes and It was after 10 years I got to fly on one

[ZFT]

Wannabe Flyer,

Yes, fully appreciate that. TG have now put the 744 on the Bangkok - Singapore run so even regional opportunities.

[Wannabe Flyer]

Ah, you youngsters are not made of the same stuff as us oldies

Have not flown the VC 10 but the good old Dakota definitely have.


PS: My Daddy was a twinkle in his parents eyes when the dakota was introduced. I have flown in one multiple times!!! I think chances are my daughter might get to fly on one too.....True testament to a great aircraft.

[parabellum]

Ancient Observer wrote;

Then, BA put their customer service in Sin in the hands of Quantas, so real customers who paid real money were always put third to 1. crew who were mates, and then crew who were not mates. Paying customers were not quite actively disliked - it just felt like it.

Quite which scenario are you talking about here? If you are are a fare paying passenger then you will have a boarding priority. Positioning crew may well have a higher priority than you if they are en route to rescue a service that has become unstuck, a very rare circumstance. A fare paying passenger will almost always get priority over positiong crew, unless the commercial pax is 'Standby', once again it comes down to allocated boarding priority.

If you are talking about jump seats well, they are simply not in the public domain so crew will get them under just about any circumstances before a passenger as the airline cannot sell jump seats. With my last employer the jump seats were at captains discretion but, if you didn't have an aviation related ID, you had no hope of getting one.

The only upside was that I did convince my 2 children that "real" planes had upstairs and downstairs. They could wear themselves out running up and down the stairs,

Hope the cabin crew and the rest of the pax in that cabin appreciated this?

[Ancient Observer]

parabellum,

The order ranking customers last was info given to me by a trusted BA staffer who was appalled at the Qantas attitudes when the Qantas staff started throwing their weight about.

As for the children, don't be absurd. All was done in reasonable time, not when folk were sleeping, and as you know, the CC could see what was going on.

Bad day at the Office?

[Cymmon]

Janus Airways Viscount 700, Air Inter Caravelle 12 and Dassault Mercure (would it ever leave the runway!), Air Atlantique DC-3 and my first ever flight, BAe One-Eleven 510 (BA).

Never been much of a Boeing fan but recently my head has been turned by Qatar 777's in business class. Superb.

Only twice on 747, series 100 Northwest Orient, LGW-MSP.

[parabellum]

Bad day at the Office?

No, I simply don't believe that QANTAS, as a matter of course, put crew before confirmed fare paying passengers and I explained how it will sometimes work with crew who are urgently required somewhere. It is done on priorities and captains don't have the authority to bust this.

and I could sleep.

followed by;

not when folk were sleeping

Make your mind up.

The second half of your original post comes across as a disgruntled, anti-crew, passengers whinge, possibly not what you intended?.

[Espada III]

I fly Lufthansa TLV - FRA several times a year. The evening flight FRA - TLV is an A340-600 and the afternoon return is a B747-400. In terms of overall comfort the Boeing is streets ahead of the Airbus. I hope they keep them on that route.

[Ancient Observer]

para,
not anti-crew at all. Completely anti-the Qantas take-over of BA in Asia.

BA had some great staff there. Qantas enjoyed the power of cr***ing on them.

[BadgerBoi]

I booked a flight to Paris next May and was a bit put out that the leg from Sydney to Hong Kong was on such an old plane - until I saw this thread. I've got my seat upstairs booked hope I don't lose it by then, its a long time and anything could happen. Watch out any sprogs who start running up and down the stairs, you won't be doing it for very long whether I'm trying to sleep or not

I did enjoy the little urban myth about Qantas order ranking in Singapore that originated from the miffed (but "trusted") BA staffer. By Jove, those colonial upstarts have a nerve, eh wot old chap?

[Seat 59A]

747 SP

The one I loved was the 747 SP, short and stubby with only about 12 seats upstairs which made it feel like a private jet. Somehow felt very robust and stable. Enjoyed many a trip on QF on the 747 SP when they used to fly it from BNE to Taipei and Japan.

[PAXboy]

On my very first trip to NYC, October 1986, several bonus'.

• LGW~EWR on VS Upper Class.
• This being the original fit as the service was still very new, the seats were nothing like the pods of today, or even the J-seat (which I rather liked) so. Upstairs was still a lounge fit out. So, you went up there for the bar and there was a big semi-circular sofa seat, that had it's back to the bulkhead. Not much space as it was a -100 or -200 (Someone will be along in a minute to tell us!)
• We landed in the late afternoon at EWR on the approach that took us parallel to Manhattan and flew down the length of it on finals. As I was in the 'A' seat, I got a ringside seat of the island and (as I said, my first trip there) it looked just like it did in the movies.

Sweet.

[pwalhx]

Leaving myself open to abuse with this I guess, but I have to disagree about the 747.

I recall being really excited about my first flight on a 747 which was Wardair from Manchester to Toronto back in the 80's. It was the most dissapointing experience. I have since flown the 747 of various series and cannot at all get excited by it. For a Boeing I prefer the 777.

Late 2010 I had my first A380 flight, now that was a superb flight and I have to say very quicky has become my favourte aircraft to fly on.

[PAXboy]

No abuse should come your way pwalhx, any more than when I say that I hate beer and even the smell of it, should generate abuse.

I hear many people speak eloquently of the 727 and the Tri-Star and the DC-10. Whereas, I have never seen anything appealing about tri-motors. Full Stop!! Naturally, no one here will criticise me for saying so.

[Joao da Silva]

Great aircraft in it's day.

Now too noisy/uneconomic for pax.

Future is freight, followed by beer cans.

[SNS3Guppy]

It's still a great aircraft today. Still very profitable, too.

[Joao da Silva]

Like the '57 Caddy, the purchase price was paid long ago, but the running costs are high compared to more efficient new models.

So profitability depends on the mode of usage.

And with the best will in the world, they are noisy compared to more modern jets (noise footprint.)

Still a very nice passenger experience.

[MPN11]

Happy BA upper deck pax on the 744.

Less happy with my first trans-Atlantic in a DC-6 from Germany to NY ... it took half a lifetime!!

Incidentally, you could argue that the old Stratocruiser was the first 'jumbo', having 2 decks.