United Offers A Rare Audience With “The Queen”
Joe Cortez May 15, 2018
Chicago, IL, USA - March 17, 2016: A United Airlines 747-400 landing on 28C at the Chicago O'hare Airport.
Ahead of the royal wedding, United Airlines is giving flyers the opportunity to have one last dance with their “queen” – the recently retired Boeing 747. Two bidders with the most United MileagePlus miles will get to visit the Universal Asset Management facility in Mississippi, where they will get to experience the iconic aircraft like never before.
Flyers devoted to the “Queen of the Skies” will have one last chance to toast the beloved aircraft before it gets disassembled for parts. United Airlines is holding a “once of a lifetime” auction to see and experience the Boeing 747 at its final resting place in Tupelo, Mississippi.
United retired their fleet of Boeing 747 aircraft last year, after a celebratory final flight to Hawaii. Afterwards, they were sent to aircraft disassembly yards to be used for parts. Three of those ended up at the Universal Aircraft Management (UAM) center, where two flyers will get the chance to spend a little extra time with the airframe.
The winner of the auction will be flown on United to Memphis, where they will be bused to Tupelo for an exclusive tour of the UAM facility. Once there, they will enjoy a champagne toast to the 747 in the first class cabin, before enjoying dinner underneath the aircraft. The experience is expected to take place over the weekend of June 1, 2018.
Bids will be accepted on the United MileagePlus Exclusives website through May 24, 2018. If you plan on bidding on the experience, prepare to use a lot of MileagePlus miles. As of press time, the highest bid was 103,000 miles, with a minimum bid increase of 1,000 miles.
If you don’t have the miles for this exclusive, United will provide other opportunities for flyers to honor the jumbo jet. Select pieces of their Boeing 747 aircraft will be available for purchase using MileagePlus miles, including instruments, single windows, tail numbers and a cut-out of the American flag painted on the side.
[Photo: Shutterstock]
Not sure how many MP folks would burn miles to go to this bittersweet experience. Sweet in that the 747 is a beautiful iconic aircraft, and bitter in that UA doesn't have the smarts to preserve one of these. Look at what DL has done in ATL to show the pride and legacy of that great company with their wonderful display. C'mon UA, you can do the same. Pedro.