Indeed, but the issue is how they are evacuated in an emergency. So what do Emirates and Lufthansa do with any A380 F or J pax that show up at the gate in a wheelchair? Downgrade them to Y? Air France, Singapore Airlines and Qatas could upgrade UD J pax to F, but what if there is no availabilty?

Having been down all sorts of evacuation slides and shutes of the maritime variety, all longer and higher than the 774 UD kind, I can appreciate the point. I stand to be corrected, but I believe the UD slides are only supposed be used as a last resort. If at all possible, pax will be directed down the stairs to a main deck exit.

Fair enough, but I wonder whether a frail little old lady in an aisle seat halfway down a ten-abreast Y cabin would not hold up far more people than somebody seated directly at the top of a single flight of stairs leading straight down to two full-size exit doors.

If the alternative is spending weeks alone in an isolated rural dwelling with heaps of snow all around and only a few hours of daylight every day, you might just find yourself having a change of mind.

I understand they do now, but the interesting thing is that application seems to very haphazard and inconsistent, if my experience is anything to go by. Having learned the lesson, I shall henceforth plan accordingly.

Johan