Indeed, I've gone from nothing to way over diamond on NH in the past few years. I suppose they could have been flying 744's when I started but I wouldn't have been on those routes, mostly flying SFO<->NRT exclusively back then. Now much more exhaustive routing.

Thanks for all the replies, folks. Very interesting and appreciate all of the details. I am curious where birds like this go when they are 'retired' - presumably sold to other carriers, governments, etc.

It's interesting to me that UA still flies so many 747's TPAC but carriers like NH have retired the same planes on those routes. I presume the 777 is just that much more fuel efficient or otherwise a higher producer of revenue; but, it begs the question of why UA doesn't follow suit. Or perhaps UA just carries more pax and for them it is more efficient revenue and cost wise.

Despite well overachieving diamond, I have only flown NH domestic once, NRT to FUK several years ago. Looking forward to giving OKA a go here sometime perhaps later this year and experiencing one of the 747's before they are all retired.