Rio-NY Aircraft
#4
#5
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: BR & CA
Programs: None no more
Posts: 186
10 across on the 777 versus 7 across on the 767; the actual seat on the former is going to be a narrow slimline with little padding. Would not consider their 777 roomy. Yes, the industry standard now but avoided by frequent flyers. Hope you get your empty row whatever plane you end up on.
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 1,593
10 across on the 777 versus 7 across on the 767; the actual seat on the former is going to be a narrow slimline with little padding. Would not consider their 777 roomy. Yes, the industry standard now but avoided by frequent flyers. Hope you get your empty row whatever plane you end up on.
What are the aircraft preferred by frequent flyers? I assume it's the A380 and the 787.
#7
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Chicago
Posts: 185
My wife just flew back to RJ (via SP) from Chicago on united last night. They downgraded that from 777 to a 767 too. And it was still empty as she and many others had a full row of 3 to themselves. Too bad ticket prices are still north of a thousand...
#8
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 1,593
Thanks! Finding an empty row is always challenging and a relief when the aircraft door chime sounds. I normally book both aisle seats in the back and hope that the middle seats stay unoccupied.
What are the aircraft preferred by frequent flyers? I assume it's the A380 and the 787.
What are the aircraft preferred by frequent flyers? I assume it's the A380 and the 787.
#9
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Virginia and Vitoria, ES Brazil
Programs: UA 1K, Million Miler, *G, JJ, AD, Global Entry, CLEAR, H.O.G. Life Member
Posts: 1,407
#11
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: California
Programs: UR, United MP, AAdvantage
Posts: 30
Unfortunately I'll never lie down again. So far, 2 of my 9 trips across the equator en route to or coming back from Brazil have included bouts of moderate/severe turbulence where you "get air" if you're not strapped in. I wonder if my small sample is unlucky or if this is fairly normal.
#12
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 1,593
We had almost arrived at JFK when my son told us that our flight (AA 973 on 9/7 at 9:40PM) to Rio was delayed by eleven and a half hours, this is after sitting two hours in traffic, there was no alert from AA!
We tried to switch to the AA flight to SP but it was full and we missed the cut-off for the TAM flight to Rio by a mere 5 or 10 minutes. Our only option left was to fly on Delta to SP at 9:20PM on a separate ticket, so I burned a bunch of miles and headed from terminal 8 to terminal 4 with five suitcases - the reason I took the car instead of the train was exactly to avoid carrying the heavy suitcases, especially my wife's, which always weighs a ton.
When we arrived at the Delta check-in counter an ill-willed attendant told me that we had missed the cut-off time and to go to rebook another flight, she said this without even looking at our tickets, so I went to talk to someone who I hoped was a supervisor and he led us back to the same counter where now the original ill-willed atttendant was joined by another attendant, which turned out to be as unpleasant. When my wife's suitcase went on the scale she barked that it would cost $100, as it weighed 64lbs. I told her that our original flight on AA was on business class, hoping for some understanding, but she just barked that this is coach class, not business class, end of story. Then I told her that the limit to Brazil was 70lbs and she barked that it had changed to 50lbs (I don't know if this is true or if she was just being mean, nevertheless, after 3 attemps we finally succeded in bringing it down to 50lbs).
On the way to the gate we stopped at the Sky Club to where we grabbed a quick byte on their paper plates and plastic silverware , my wife tried the coffee, but it was cold.
The seat space in coach on the Delta 767 is horrible, plus the seat hardly reclines at all. It should be against the law to have such limited seat space on a nine and a half hour long flight. My leg kept cramping and it was impossible to sleep. When we were over Bermuda it dawned on me that we still had another 8 hours left to endure on these uncomfortable seats, oh well. But that wasn't the end of our misery, we arrived at 8:30AM in SP we cleared customs and were able to check-in to the 9:40AM flight to Rio, all that remained was to cut the line to clear security (sorry fellow passengers), and to run-walk what seemed to be a mile to gate 233, where I finally was able to use the bathroom in the plane.
All in all, it was a harrowing experience, I'm glad it's over and the last two days in Rio have been marvelous!
Delta, shame on you!
We tried to switch to the AA flight to SP but it was full and we missed the cut-off for the TAM flight to Rio by a mere 5 or 10 minutes. Our only option left was to fly on Delta to SP at 9:20PM on a separate ticket, so I burned a bunch of miles and headed from terminal 8 to terminal 4 with five suitcases - the reason I took the car instead of the train was exactly to avoid carrying the heavy suitcases, especially my wife's, which always weighs a ton.
When we arrived at the Delta check-in counter an ill-willed attendant told me that we had missed the cut-off time and to go to rebook another flight, she said this without even looking at our tickets, so I went to talk to someone who I hoped was a supervisor and he led us back to the same counter where now the original ill-willed atttendant was joined by another attendant, which turned out to be as unpleasant. When my wife's suitcase went on the scale she barked that it would cost $100, as it weighed 64lbs. I told her that our original flight on AA was on business class, hoping for some understanding, but she just barked that this is coach class, not business class, end of story. Then I told her that the limit to Brazil was 70lbs and she barked that it had changed to 50lbs (I don't know if this is true or if she was just being mean, nevertheless, after 3 attemps we finally succeded in bringing it down to 50lbs).
On the way to the gate we stopped at the Sky Club to where we grabbed a quick byte on their paper plates and plastic silverware , my wife tried the coffee, but it was cold.
The seat space in coach on the Delta 767 is horrible, plus the seat hardly reclines at all. It should be against the law to have such limited seat space on a nine and a half hour long flight. My leg kept cramping and it was impossible to sleep. When we were over Bermuda it dawned on me that we still had another 8 hours left to endure on these uncomfortable seats, oh well. But that wasn't the end of our misery, we arrived at 8:30AM in SP we cleared customs and were able to check-in to the 9:40AM flight to Rio, all that remained was to cut the line to clear security (sorry fellow passengers), and to run-walk what seemed to be a mile to gate 233, where I finally was able to use the bathroom in the plane.
All in all, it was a harrowing experience, I'm glad it's over and the last two days in Rio have been marvelous!
Delta, shame on you!
#14
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 1,593
I'm glad AA will be flying the 777 on the NY-Rio route on my next trip in April 2018.