747 experience

[k1xv]

My first 747 flight was around 1978, United Airlines San Francisco to Newark. My seat was back in steerage, but someone I knew was flying business on the same flight, and somehow was able to give me a tour of the entire aircraft while inflight, including upstairs.
I flew TWA three times in the late 1980s, 747-100, both ways between Paris and JFK. The aircraft seemed pretty old, and I wonder if the aircraft I was on was the one that blew up.
My final 747 flight was with Lufthansa in 2000, Newark to Frankfurt.

Of all the wide body aircraft I have ever flown on, the most interesting was a Continental DC-10 around 1984, Denver to Newark. They had removed the entire business class, and replaced it with a stand up tavern that everyone, including coach passengers, could go for a drink.

And I remember, around 1984, flying an American DC-10 from LaGuardia to Dallas. LaGuardia has short runways, so the take off must have been full throttle up.

 

[CKN]

The only way to be any where near comfortable on an airplane is first class..........

 

[RedSpider]

Does this count as a 747 experience? Air Force One landing at CVG yesterday on a stormy afternoon. I hope the Wright-Patterson museum gets this bird when the new AF1's are ready, any day now or sometime in the next thirty-one years, whichever comes first.....

 

[4wd]

Well, sure nuff - booked a trip on LH and it’s a B744 - I had noticed new livery on some recently - parked alongside their B748i’s …
So, long live The Queen!

 

[2005jettatdi]

I have been on a 747 twice. Pan Am from Seattle to London and Pan Am from London to Seattle in September 1978. An absolutely amazing experience. We enjoyed being able to see the polar ice and I think Iceland. Only bad thing was the heads filled up by the end of the flights, or at least the trash bins in there.

I could never feel truly comfortable those times I had to fly on a DC-10. I think that was twice too.

 

[QwikKota]

I flew coach from Houston to Amsterdam in a KLM 747 around 2011. The seats were very crammed together but I recall the ride being extremely smooth.

 

[4wd]

Just rode upper deck - old B744

 

[4wd]

Typically, the best seats on a 747 are not the upper deck. The best seats are the very front of the main level. I only flew on the upper deck once, and with a bad back, I found I could not get in a position to reduce the pain.

No better looking widebody passenger aircraft that the 747. Something just about it looks awesome. Can't say the same for the A380.

Good subject thread caused me to try and recall the 747s I have flown on: United, Fiji, Cathay Pacific, and Qantas.

A bit off azimuth for this thread, I found the L1011 to be a very comfortable wide body. Maybe it was just the way cabins were configured in the 1970s.

One reason I liked the upper deck was you had two restrooms and a better ratio for passengers. Well, on what I just flew - Lufthansa decided the pilots needed one for themselves - and we had an endless traffic jam for that single restroom …