Reading the Wikipedia article about the Boeing 777 today, I noticed the following:

The design phase for Boeing's new twinjet was different from the company's previous commercial jetliners. For the first time, eight major airlines – All Nippon Airways, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Delta Air Lines, Japan Airlines, Qantas, and United Airlines – had a role in the development of the airliner.[24] This was a departure from industry practice, where manufacturers typically designed aircraft with minimal customer input.[12] The eight airlines that contributed to the design process became known within Boeing as the "Working Together" group.

Seems weird that if they were part of this design group, they werent able to help design and aircraft that fit their needs.....I wonder what was this group's output...

I can see that they can fill A380s to their destinations such as LAX etc, but why not use the 777 just as widely as emirates do, rather then the A330s that they seem to love? Or was it becasue they were waiting for the 787 to fill the gap between A330s and A380s...

Just wondering