787 - most uncomfortable long-haul aircraft ever?
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I'm not surprised the bathrooms were unavailable. I've heard of showers, but never a bath at 37k feet. Perhaps the crew were using it as a jacuzzi?
Last edited by ExXB; 17th Sep 2014 at 18:20.
did Amelia take sandwiches as well like as CAL?
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As has been stated before,the RESPONSIBILITY for the seats is the airline. I recently travelled on an airline whose name may not be spoken aloud here. The economy seats were narrow,hard and very uncomfortable. Pony up for business you say........well I did that on the return leg. Full bed...narrow hard and unpleasant. Never again.
Later that month Business class transatlantic on United 757 (the ONLY upgrade I have ever received) It was night and day. Stretched out COMFORTABLE and able to relax. Returned Y and that was tolerable.
As I am not wealthy and do not have a company to pick up the tab I will always try to at least find a Premium Economy product. Seat Guru is excellent as is Airline Quality dot com.
Some research will pay dividends......
Later that month Business class transatlantic on United 757 (the ONLY upgrade I have ever received) It was night and day. Stretched out COMFORTABLE and able to relax. Returned Y and that was tolerable.
As I am not wealthy and do not have a company to pick up the tab I will always try to at least find a Premium Economy product. Seat Guru is excellent as is Airline Quality dot com.
Some research will pay dividends......
on a trip from new york to paris, all that was available to eat were cold sandwiches, lukewarm coffee, a little water. bathroom unavailable. no in flight entertainment except my own imagination. poor visibility meant nothing worthwhile to see except an odd iceberg.
seat was uncomfortable, would not recline. felt like a cheap whicker basket.
cost to transport my luggage was too high, didn't even take a toothbrush.
noise from engine was deafening, had to put cotton in my ears for the whole flight.
heater didn't work
was lucky enough not to have aisle seat.
WE did arrive ahead of schedule, though massive traffic jam at airport. Cleared customs with no problem.
Decided to take ship back to the USA. Treated like a king aboard ship!
C.A.L.
seat was uncomfortable, would not recline. felt like a cheap whicker basket.
cost to transport my luggage was too high, didn't even take a toothbrush.
noise from engine was deafening, had to put cotton in my ears for the whole flight.
heater didn't work
was lucky enough not to have aisle seat.
WE did arrive ahead of schedule, though massive traffic jam at airport. Cleared customs with no problem.
Decided to take ship back to the USA. Treated like a king aboard ship!
C.A.L.
Was that a military flight? Transatlantic without a working toilet?
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I guessed you were referring to flying in earlier times, but had failed to notice that you were referring to this specific flight! Good one, subtle!
Can't help thinking of Alcock and Brown's earlier Trans-Atlantic flight in an open-cockpit bi-plane, that would give a huge bit of perspective to contemporary passengers, it is always so easy to complain and forget what progress has done for us!
Can't help thinking of Alcock and Brown's earlier Trans-Atlantic flight in an open-cockpit bi-plane, that would give a huge bit of perspective to contemporary passengers, it is always so easy to complain and forget what progress has done for us!
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I am always mildly entertained by the complaints about comfort and particularly, noise.
Anything, repeat anything presently in commercial service is just so much better than even 30 years ago particularly with regard to noise. The advent of high-bypass turbines has reset the scale from the early turbine jets.
And if you want noise, try a Canadair Argonaut Singapore to London - a three day journey and you're sitting in between two pairs of V12 Rolls Royce Merlins - without silencers! The Pratt and Whitney radials on the Constellation on the way out were silent by comparison!
Anything, repeat anything presently in commercial service is just so much better than even 30 years ago particularly with regard to noise. The advent of high-bypass turbines has reset the scale from the early turbine jets.
And if you want noise, try a Canadair Argonaut Singapore to London - a three day journey and you're sitting in between two pairs of V12 Rolls Royce Merlins - without silencers! The Pratt and Whitney radials on the Constellation on the way out were silent by comparison!
Noise on airliners is an interesting topic.
I only ever ehard the big props from the outside and the comment about the Argonaught was spot on-what that must have been like (even for Merlin lovers) for hours on end I cannot imagine.
But have things improved in the jet age??
Well I went on my honeymoon on a 707 436 and sitting behind those four conways was like the world ending. And the same engines ona DC8 40 seemed noisier yet despite the huge retractable 'silencer' thingy hung on the back
On the other hands sitting in front of four Conways on a VC10 was the complete opposite with the engines really only audible at all on take off.
Same thing with all rear engine craft- the MD80s were for me the best shorthaul plane ever in that respect.
Now along come the really big fans and things do get better at first but s the fans get bigger and mask the actual jet efflux noise the frequency of the fan noise gets lower and lower and more intrusive until you to get to the in my view horrid triple & with its weird collection of groans and whines as the fans
seem to struggle to keep a consistent power setting and set up what to me are very unpleasant low frequency noises all through a long night.
And then along comes the A380 and that beast may not be pretty but it is fantastic to fly on and seems like it is powered by fan engines of the electrical office fan type with very little cruise noise at all.
And a final comment on comfort-airline travel is a reflection of the world we live in -first class gets better and better and the lot of the great majority gets worse and worse. For me personally premium economy works very well but not many airlines do it and those who do limit the number of seats.
I am not really sure I buy the 'we are forced to do it ' line since in many many industries there is a sophisticated analysis of price versus value . In Europe Easy jet which cut out some frills has prospered while Ryanair which cut out some of the basics as well struggles in a the real bottom end of the market and especially now people have wised up to their various 'scams'.
It gets back to the fact that today too few influential people fly the airlines- if the corporate jet folks ahd to fly through hub airports service would improve on the ground overnight- if they had to travel the way they force many of their employees to so would onboard service.
I only ever ehard the big props from the outside and the comment about the Argonaught was spot on-what that must have been like (even for Merlin lovers) for hours on end I cannot imagine.
But have things improved in the jet age??
Well I went on my honeymoon on a 707 436 and sitting behind those four conways was like the world ending. And the same engines ona DC8 40 seemed noisier yet despite the huge retractable 'silencer' thingy hung on the back
On the other hands sitting in front of four Conways on a VC10 was the complete opposite with the engines really only audible at all on take off.
Same thing with all rear engine craft- the MD80s were for me the best shorthaul plane ever in that respect.
Now along come the really big fans and things do get better at first but s the fans get bigger and mask the actual jet efflux noise the frequency of the fan noise gets lower and lower and more intrusive until you to get to the in my view horrid triple & with its weird collection of groans and whines as the fans
seem to struggle to keep a consistent power setting and set up what to me are very unpleasant low frequency noises all through a long night.
And then along comes the A380 and that beast may not be pretty but it is fantastic to fly on and seems like it is powered by fan engines of the electrical office fan type with very little cruise noise at all.
And a final comment on comfort-airline travel is a reflection of the world we live in -first class gets better and better and the lot of the great majority gets worse and worse. For me personally premium economy works very well but not many airlines do it and those who do limit the number of seats.
I am not really sure I buy the 'we are forced to do it ' line since in many many industries there is a sophisticated analysis of price versus value . In Europe Easy jet which cut out some frills has prospered while Ryanair which cut out some of the basics as well struggles in a the real bottom end of the market and especially now people have wised up to their various 'scams'.
It gets back to the fact that today too few influential people fly the airlines- if the corporate jet folks ahd to fly through hub airports service would improve on the ground overnight- if they had to travel the way they force many of their employees to so would onboard service.
Paxing All Over The World
... if the corporate jet folks had to fly through hub airports service would improve on the ground overnight ...
- access to the airport
- parking
- check in
- blöõdy shops
- so called security (not their fault but the people who do it - are)
- walking for miles because they were too cheapskate to put in travelators
- travelators not working
- loading a 744 ONE-person-at-a-time through ONE-dæmm door
- <feel free to continue the list>
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And then along comes the A380 and that beast may not be pretty but it is fantastic to fly on and seems like it is powered by fan engines of the electrical office fan type with very little cruise noise at all.
cabin/seat comfort is airline dependant - we all know that - if BA just improved their Y leg room to 33/34 inches on all long haul a/c iso a measly 31 and served a decent meal then that would definitely make them winners
not many Y cabins left on long haul airlines where comfort, decent meal and service is a priority whether 787 or not
pals went on air India 787 recently on holiday to Oz in Y and was very impressed - very good leg room, lovely meals and nice crew
also the airline gave them a night free in a good hotel as the India stopover was more than 12 hours
not many Y cabins left on long haul airlines where comfort, decent meal and service is a priority whether 787 or not
pals went on air India 787 recently on holiday to Oz in Y and was very impressed - very good leg room, lovely meals and nice crew
also the airline gave them a night free in a good hotel as the India stopover was more than 12 hours
Come the new designs of the 1990s and the A330/340 were indeed pleasantly quiet inside. Not so the equivalent 777. I've had different reasons given for why the 777 is so noisy inside, some that it's an air-con noise, others that the engines are set close in, or Boeing doesn't put enough soundproofing in. The A380 appears to be continuing the Airbus lead in this area
And if you want noise, try a Canadair Argonaut Singapore to London - a three day journey and you're sitting in between two pairs of V12 Rolls Royce Merlins - without silencers!
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Many Argonaut crews suffered hearing loss in later life.
Paxing All Over The World
One can imagine that, with the 380, the top deck is simply further away from the engines. Which is why the upper deck of the 747 has always been the best place to be on that machine - all variants.
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One can imagine that, with the 380, the top deck is simply further away from the engines.
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By about 8 years old I had flown on a Comet 4, several 707s and DC8s, then my older brother and I (unaccompanied) had our first flight on a VC10 in the last row of seats and able to see 2 of the engines outside our window. I remember us being knocked out by the acceleration and steep climb and an impressive roar from the engines, but once cruising the engine noise was well masked by wind noise and we reckoned it was noticeably quieter than previous flights. We both still love the VC10.
Having been on the 787 quite a few times, by experiences as as thus:
* It's just another tube with wings. Does have rather tall windows
* Boeing has finally made an aircraft that's almost as quiet as an Airbus
* Felt no different walking off the aircraft than any other aircraft (i.e. didn't fell any effects of lower cabin altitude and higher humidity
From a passenger perspective, nothing to write home about then. But I'm sure the bean counters love it, when it's actually flying that is; some friends of mine have just suffered a 24-hour tech delay on QR. Of the 6 legs I've done, only 2 were on time and 1 was 4+ hours delayed on technical grounds. All with the same operator (QR).
* It's just another tube with wings. Does have rather tall windows
* Boeing has finally made an aircraft that's almost as quiet as an Airbus
* Felt no different walking off the aircraft than any other aircraft (i.e. didn't fell any effects of lower cabin altitude and higher humidity
From a passenger perspective, nothing to write home about then. But I'm sure the bean counters love it, when it's actually flying that is; some friends of mine have just suffered a 24-hour tech delay on QR. Of the 6 legs I've done, only 2 were on time and 1 was 4+ hours delayed on technical grounds. All with the same operator (QR).