Swiss Tony

It was a flight to DTW (nonstop, not via YUL) that I recall quite distinctly as having Club upstairs, so perhaps that was a -100? It was Autumn '97 or '98.

Betteronacamel

Certainly in the mid-late 1980's they often had Super Club on the Upper Deck. The Club seat in those days was metamorphic - ie a bench seat with 3 seats that converted into 2 seats with a table between. It was the widest seat out there in the Club set-up as it was 2x2x2 on the main deck and 2x2 on the UD. Therefore there UD seats could be either Club or Y.

As a bench seat, it also made a comfy bed if you got a set to yourself as you just lifted the arm rests and pushed the table back up.

Oddly enough, the UD wasn't as popular as now as it was quite small on the -200 and you weren't supposed to go downstairs if you wanted to stretch your legs as the spiral stairs went into the FC cabin and they didn't like that very much. 1 cabin crew upstairs with the galley at the back - stairs at the front behind the cockpit. Funny pull-down screen for the 'exciting' film

I imagine that they put Y on the U/D as the Mark I Club World seat was much heavier.

BApilotinsider

BA also has more passenger 747's than all the US carriers combined.

BOH

But only 2 carriers have them in the US

dunk

I assume BApilotinsider was remarking on the irony of the statistic. An iconic US aircraft and so few operated by US carriers.

And only true for pax variants.

chucko

Correct. I believe they've delivered 2 of the 3 on order from BA.

BOH

But conversely, the largest single operator of Airbus 320 series aircraft is a US carrier. Now that IS ironic, given that pretty much the whole product family has a Boeing equivalent.

BA had no other real choice back in the late 60s then late 80s when they committed to the 741/2 and then 744 respectively. Not the case with the largest Airbus NB operator being a US based airline.

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

IIRC BA didn't operate -300s... only 747 classics then straight to the 744.

WHBM

Correct. In fact there weren't a lot of -300s made, it had certain limitations and many airlines (like BA) could see the proper job of the -400 coming along and waited for that. Even rarer was the -200SUD, which looked the same as a -300 but was an older -200 with the roof taken off and replaced with the extended cabin. Boeing did just a handful of these conversions, they were very expensive for what benefit they delivered, as a lot of the 747 control runs go back from the upper deck flight deck thrugh the main cabin roof and had to be rerouted.

amaroo

Now that is an unbelievable stat....I know it to be true but it's still hard to fathom

LHR-HUB

Ah, I must be confusing this with trips with CX. (I think I am right in saying CX definitely had some 200s and 300s) I certainly remember a time when I could look at the size of the bubble, check if there were winglets, and then confirm I was right by looking at the safety card. Used to fly into Kai Tak then too. Now that was a proper way to arrive into HKG! In fact, I flew in during the final week of Kai Tak operations and CX gave me a video "The Final Approach" to remember it by. Unfortunately, it was on VHS.

henkybaby

And for the bonus question: which airline has the highest percentage of 747s as part of their entire (long haul) fleet?

amaroo

Air Force 1

DWFI

Kalitta at 100%

henkybaby

Ok, passenger fleet and regular airlines only.

(any plane the US president is on is assigned Air Force 1 I believe)