Ridiculous BA A380 economy seats

[PAXboy]

Mr Angry from Purley

Nothing better than 3 seats in the underfloor galley of a DC10 from JFK-LGW.

Care to elaborate ...?

[Phileas Fogg]

It was a private joke PAXboy.

Mr Angry and I used to work together for the same operator more than 33 years ago and on our 5 quid staff tickets we would find ourselves occupying some unusual seating arrangements.

One flight, MIA/LGW, I was occupying a (boring) flight deck jumpseat when the senior stewardess came in to explain that the girl downstairs in the galley wasn't well and could I go downstairs to help.

Well I'm not stupid, downstairs was where all the beer was stashed, for the remainder of the flight I was cooking passenger meals, throwing cases of whatever canned drinks in to the elevator upon request, catering for the cabin crew as they came below deck for their meal breaks etc. whilst drinking as much beer as I cared to drink ... It was a brilliant flight

[El Bunto]

Slightly off topic again but can anyone offer reasonable explanation, and I've only flown on AF/KL B777's, why their -200 series are 9 across in economy but their -300 series 10 across in economy?

A quirk of timing really. On the first-generation 777s ten-abreast was an exceptional configuration for short-range domestic use like intra-Japan. The aircraft was designed for nine-abreast.

But by the time most airlines came to order the second-gen, Emirates and Thai had proven that Economy passengers could be stuffed ten-abreast on long routes too. SO it is the dominant layout on the 300ER.

Both AF and KLM are retrofitting their -200s to ten-abreast, I think they're nearly there or have recently finished doing so.

That makes them one of very few airlines to operate the first-generation 777 ten-abreast. Austrian is another, huge difference in comfort between their 767s and 777s as a result. BA briefly tried ten-abreast -200 back in 2001 on the Gatwick holiday routes.

Ironically Thai rolled-back to nine-abreast!

[Phileas Fogg]

Thanks for the explanation El Bunto, that does make accountants sense if not common sense.

If ever I fly B777's again I'll be checking seating configs online before I book.

[Cymmon]

Qatar still have 9 abreast.