The View from 1A (747)
 

One of the big items on my bucket list is a flight in a 747, seat 1A. I figure this would be the closest I was ever going to get to seeing out the cockpit windows of a real airliner. For those of you who have had this seat (or 1K, I supposed it would be very similar) - what is it like? Is it all I am imagining it would be, or is it just like looking out any other windows? Especially at night.

While I can't answer your question about the 747 I can say riding jump seat is an awesome thing. I wish everyone could experience it at least once.

We had both 1A & 1K on DFW SYD DFW.

It was different just with the curvature of the bird

Didn't really notice the windows due to a closet right at the center in front of us

1A? You see nothing. The airplane tapers down severely at that point. Your side window won't show hardly anything. And it's more cramped than any other FC seat on a 747.

Ah. My thought was that with the extreme taper, the windows are more in front of you and looking, well not forward but more forward than the regular side windows.

Do It before they are gone - it's a great ride on a classic bird - you can slightly see out of the windows but it's obscured .... Just hope for a crosswind on landing so it crabs and you see more.

There are no forward facing windows in the passenger cabin of the 747, so the view from seats 1A and its equivalent on the other side of the airplane is nothing like that seen from the cockpit.

The View from 1A (747)
 

In first class on Thai I had a great view from 3 or 4 windows from 1A.

Edit - reading OP more closely. You do not see forward, there is some curve but not a great deal.

You don't see too much from BA's new first seats. Still a great place to fly.

The View from 1A (747)
 

Because of the curve, its difficult to see out your window. I found it easier to look across the aisle and look out the opposite window.

Sit in 2A instead ;) ;)

1A and 1K Are the Worst Seats in the World
 

Stay out of them. ;)

In all seriousness, they are the best seats in the UA inventory. The amount of personal space is enormous.

I am really P-ed that someone has my 1A on my next international flight, and I have to go to 2K to be near my wife in 1K. Whomever you are in 1A, please cancel!

Just arrived NRT on UA 837 from SFO. 747, seat 1A. Daylight flight.
I liked the privacy. The space was OK but the KLM 747 seat 1A seemed to be more spacious.
Neither provided the views you are looking for.

Old First on BA those front seats did give you a better view, especially whilst taxiing going round corners and I got a much better half forward view on take off. In the air it makes no difference. I would say though that those two seats are the best in F - depending on the airline. If anyone gets cramped there they want to lose weight if it's sideways - probably can't do much about your length. ;)
New First the windows don't allow much of anything.

Y'know, if you want to see the cockpit, book seat 60K (last seat, last row) and politely ask the cabin crew to see out the cockpit after landing and disembarking.

1A in the old United First Suite config (ca. 2002) gave me an awesome view of sunrise and later the Australian coast on approach to SYD. Same on approach to SFO on the return, minus the sunrise I think.

I thought you were serious. They are, in fact, cramped for first class. Can't stand either one of them.

4A window is my preference on a 747.

1A on a 747 is indeed not a bad place to be (I personally prefer 2A which doesn't have the locker next to it) and the slight forward view is nice. The new BA First arrangement means looking out at an angle is actually difficult but there are still a few out there that can give you that experience (on LH actually quite cheaply as the 747-400 fleet has business class there).

I've logged over 140 flights aboard 747s on twenty different airlines, most of them in First Class and often while sat in 1A for the same reasons that you're excited about doing so. Pay no heed to anyone yammering on about the seat not being spacious - at least in a universal sense. It obviously depends upon the airline and its individual cabin. I can tell you on good authority that the windows clearly have a more forward angle and the fact is that you can indeed get a bit more forward view than you'll get sitting back in 4A. The operative words here are "a bit". You will not get an unobstructed forward view.

Here are some pictures from a flight I did aboard British Airways while sat in 1A.

http://images30.fotki.com/v473/photo...RIL2008-vi.jpg

http://images35.fotki.com/v1167/phot...RIL2008-vi.jpg

http://images16.fotki.com/v382/photo...ANDMENU-vi.jpg

http://images36.fotki.com/v1155/phot...RIL2008-vi.jpg

I am aware that the view is not straight forward. While I very much would love to see an airliner offer that, I know it is not possible right now. My question was, as compared to say the middle of the plane, do you still have to crane your neck around ot the side to even see anything, and is there any sense of seeing what is a little bit ahead of you without trying to look through the window three rows in front of you.

I know there are not many airlines left flying 747s - who do you think offers the best 1a seats in regards to the view (I usually fly PE these days, even Business is better than what I am used to).

http://images12.fotki.com/v197/photo...CKTAILS-vi.jpg
Cathay Pacific Suite 1A view

http://images20.fotki.com/v1589/phot...CHANNEL-vi.jpg
Slightly forward view out over the Indian Ocean just east of Madagascar

http://images46.fotki.com/v285/photo...ANDMENU-vi.jpg
My favorite View!

I'm curious. Other than take off and landing what are you expecting to see?

1A in F is never a bad place to be on a 747 on most airlines, but the slightly forward window view isn't really a big part of that reason.

Um - clouds? The passing terrain below? What else would one look out the window at when in the sky? That's why i like flying. I figured my username would say it all.

I have perused some of the seat maps. It looks like most airlines have decided to use inward facing seats in first on the 747s. That of course plays a big part in how you can look out the window. Have all of BAs 747s been converted to the new first class product with the black framed windows?

No. A handful have 'Old First', though you get a bonus of 50,000 Avios if you get stuck on one of them. From the autumn, the OF birds are relegated to (I think) YVR, SEA, LAS, CPT (someone will come along and correct me) where that cabin is sold as business. Status pax get the OF option but business service.

Why do they put windows on airplanes, anyway? It must be for safety reasons so people can see outside if ever an unsafe situation should develop.

Whaaaat? Are you suggesting that some people actually enjoy the unique perspective of seeing this beautiful blue/green orb we inhabit from 30 some odd thousand feet above it? In this day and age of electronic entertainment via laptops and seat-back screens, I see more and more people slam their window shades down immediately after takeoff. Alas - a pretty evening sky, a beautiful descent through towering cumulonimbus clouds, the warm midday blue yonder out over the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean - for many of us these no longer hold the same level of appeal as the electronically generated visage that appears on the screen in front of us...

Here are a few reasons why I actually enjoy looking out my window... After all, it's not everyday I get to see views like this. As for that movie on the seat back IFE or my laptop, I can watch that anytime back home on a much nicer screen.


http://images55.fotki.com/v1604/phot...MG_1609-vi.jpg
As seen on a flight from Kodiak to Anchorage at 11:15pm

http://images60.fotki.com/v778/photo...MG_1644-vi.jpg
Fire In The Sky

http://images43.fotki.com/v61/photos...0LASSEA-vi.jpg
Death Valley National Park from on high

http://images58.fotki.com/v85/photos...I2SEP03-vi.jpg
20,320' Denali as seen on a flight between Fairbanks and Anchorage


http://images20.fotki.com/v503/photo...LCANOES-vi.jpg
Volcanoes as seen on a flight between Puerto Montt and Santiago

So another words, if you are not elite on BA, there is no way to get into the old first class seats on those routes?

This.

Don't get me started on the window seat...The person on the window seat 28A on EK238 (B777-200LR) from Boston to Dubai was a "window nazi" who kept the window closed the whole 14hrs, while I was in 28C to get the best opportunity to look out the window. Our family held seats 27D, 28C-E.

Here is a sunrise shot I got out of window seat 27K on EK569 (B777-300) from Bangalore to Dubai.
http://i1287.photobucket.com/albums/...pscf1f8c98.jpg

Descent into DXB:
http://i1287.photobucket.com/albums/...ps2811c8ad.jpg

Lots of EK tails:
http://i1287.photobucket.com/albums/...psdd4247cf.jpg

That's what I did instead of using this abomination of an IFE:
http://i1287.photobucket.com/albums/...psc7b9f46f.jpg

From this thread it would appear not (going by policy).

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...-old-747s.html

Thanks. I know - I started that thread. : )

Still, I wish that at least one airline recognized that some people really do like to look out the windows.

OOPS! Sorry! Duh...I would go with what the BA 'insider' suggested. Open to status/CIV pax.

Which means - not me!

That does bring up a question - There has been a bit of back and forth about the angle of the seat in relationship to the sides of the aircraft. First we had the herringbone design where sets faced inwards. Then for a while the airlines started reversing the trend - outward facing seats like the old first class on BA. But now we seem to be swinging back to either directly forward facing seats or inward facing seats again. How do other people feel about the seat - does it matter which way it faces? Do you prefer to have the window at your side or back, or ahead of you for easier viewing?

I hate the AC/NZ/VS/old CX inwards-facing J seat. I like the seats angled away from other people, preferably out to the window.

true, this, indeed! I logged 140+ hours (approx 50 flights) as Test Director on the #4 767-200, and more 707/727/727/747 test flights than I can count as an analysis engineer where I had to stand in the cockpit for anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours to copy gauge readings

there were also two commercial trips where I chatted with the flight crew during boarding (of course mentioning that I worked for Boeing Flight Test at the time) and was invited to join them (MEX-ACA on a Mexicana 727-200 -- I was actually able to stumble through most of the conversation in what I remembered of my four years of high-school Spanish! -- and MEX-IAH on a Pan Am L-1011-500)

The only problem I've seen with airlines not wanting you to look out the window is if it's light outside and people want to sleep in the plane. Open your shade and you might as well flash a spotlight around the cabin.

Well, that does tend to be a large percentage of the time one would be able to look out the window on a long distance trans-oceanic flight. I wish they would offer a window and cave option in first class.

Like the OP, I had always wanted to fly in the front row of a 747. I did get my chance recently on a KLM 747 and found the view to be great - a little forward looking and lots of space. It's not like the cockpit but I think it was the best seat in the house.

Typically it would be in the morning on an eastbound trans-Atlantic or trans-Pacific flight where people are sleeping. During those times it is considered rude to open one's shade.

On the other hand, I've often flown westbound between Europe and the States or the States and Asia where the flights usually depart midday and on those flights most people are awake anyway. If they want their window shades down, it's usually so they can see their laptop or seatback screens better. I'm a lot more likely to leave my window shade up during those times. After all, the windows are there so you can look outside and what better and less obtrusive time to do so than the middle of the day when most people are awake?

The one thing that irks me the most when I'm in an aisle seat or middle seat in Y is a window nazi (person who won't ever open the windows).

But on EK237 DXB-BOS which departed at 8:50 AM and landed at 2:15 PM (always in daylight), not a single shade was open. Quite a pity when a 77L's wing is so beautiful. :(

Ryanair will try to charge people for OPENING the window seat when people are already paying extra for a window which is otherwise cramped...

Shh. Don't want to give them any more ideas.