TopBanana

What a great trip down memory lane (or runway!)

First 747 flight was May 1973 from SFO IAD on TWA flight 63 leaving at 845am. Flew first class with parents. Did not want the flight to end (oh my, how have times changed!)

I remember the big red-orange fabric seats, the upstairs lounge with the swivel-seats that pivoted around and locked into position. A continental breakfast was served shortly after take-off followed by a full luncheon service a couple of hours later. Also remember the large coach lounge, right behind first class, which I used as a play area since the overall load on this flight was probably at 35-40%. The purser was named Joan and could not have been nicer to this impressionable little boy.

Returning a week later on flight 64 IAD SFO in the evening, and was overjoyed to see Joan again as our purser. This flight had a full dinner service with a fresh salad that was created and tossed at your seat and served in dark brown bamboo-like bowls and of course, Chateaubriand carved at your seat as well. All topped off with ice cream sundaes (oh my, how have times not changed!) The captain on this flight invited me up to the cockpit, as we flew over Iowa, and autographed the first class menu for me (I still have that somewhere with my AvGeek collection).

Fast forward decades later and I live a blessed life where I get to travel the world for work and play and choose my airlines and airplanes…always on the look-out for a 747. Just disembarked 892 this past weekend, ICN SFO, from seat 2K (my favorite along with row 15 in UD). This UA crew could not have exemplified the friendly-skies spirit any better. We discussed the history of the “Queen of the Skies” during our time over the Pacific as 2 of the crew were former PA and their first flight as FAs were on a 747. While this would be a fitting conclusion to my UA 747 chapter, I may look for 1 more itinerary to serve as an appendix before the end of October.

Although I do not post a lot, I appreciate the many insights, opinions and knowledge that is shared via this forum. Thank you all and see you in our friendly skies!

PSPAirliner

I took 893 to SFO-ICN in February, Polaris First, seat 1K by choice. I thought that would be my last UA ride but pulled miles together and off to Bangkok next week and again on 893 to Seoul , 1A this time

N1120A

I'm booked on SFO-LHR on September 1. I may be crying.

UA_Flyer

Sitting in 13A on N178UA at the moment. Already feeling sad.

13A is my favorite seat since IPTEs were installed. Back faceing seats and less noise from drink carts parked behind 15A. Quick turn to the bathroom without the bathroom light and noise of row 12 KJ.

15A was my favorite seat prior to IPTE. Huge amount of real estate of leg room!

I am flying on my very last 747 next week and have selected 15A for old time sake and also it is my second favorite seat on the upper deck after 13A.

grapegrower

My first contact with a 747 was when Pan Am 002 pulled into a Frankfurt gate for our LONG multi stop flight to Hong Kong in 1973. That big 'ugly' nose stared at me through the window.
It was love at first sight.
But it wasn't until the late 90s that I experienced United's when I flew multiple times between Sydney and LAX or SFO.
Was really sad when the old girls were pulled off the route and replaced by 777s
No matter how many times I experienced hearing those 4 engines spool up for take off and she began to lumber down the runway, the hairs always stood up on the back of my neck.

uastarflyer

did you feel the "bang" followed by 3-4 seconds of (seemingly rear) airframe jitter just as the wheels came off the runway on takeoff?

UA_Flyer

Unfortunately no. I paid extra attention but could not feel it. Hope next week will be different.

eng3

I just completed my final 747 rides. EWR-SFO-FRA,LHR-SFO-EWR. EWR-SFO was on a 77W so it was really interesting comparing new with old. On the return, I attempted to visit the cockpit to take a photo, but they were busy trying to fix something. The pilot welcomed me to visit on arrival, but we were late and my connection time quickly dwindled. I stayed up for the whole flight on the return since it was a day flight. I asked about CH9 on both flights. First got no response. Second flight, was told it was inop.

As with the sound, I was in 13K and 14A and did not real feel anything other than maybe a little bump from the landing gear.
I did some searching online about the noise and found this:

"On the 744 when the gear is selected up the gear doors open. When the gear doors are open a hydraulic sequence valve positioned by the right hand doors ports hydraulics to an actuator (de-spin actuator) which actuates the alternate brake metering valve in the r/h wheel well which is meant to stop the wheels spinning before the gear is swung into the wheel bay. The braking pressure on retraction is sufficient to stop the wheels turning within a revolution. I have seen this when trouble shooting the defect, white stripes were painted on the tyres and high speed film on take off.

Either the sequence valve or de-spin actuator is worn ( I can’t remember which) and insufficient pressure is supplied to stop the wheels turning before retraction which results in some fairly violent vibration being felt in the cabin. It has been happing since the first aircraft arrived and a “mod” program fixed the issue in early days but the aircraft are getting older and thing must be getting worn again."

Don't know how true this is but comments that it also occurs on the A380. I suppose if the wheels are out of balance, it can cause this. From the number of mechanical delays I've noticed from a 744, I wouldn't be surprised. This would also explain why it is felt more downstairs in Y.

Some photos:





Videos from my last flight:

zoegksf

I have felt it everywhere, 1A, upstairs, in the back. Still don't know what it is. Maybe some pilot can tell us.

RandomNobody

Off balance wheels spinning without the ground to damp them.

martusd

From Sept 2016 at SFO - five 747's in view at once

uastarflyer

Eng3, thanks for your post and excerpt. Interesting read. I figured it wasn't a safety/structural issue since it happened every single time

that bang and jitter following the long takeoff rollout just adds to the mystique of the oh so awesome queen of the skies taking flight. nothing beats the thrill of boarding the UNITED 747 at a far flung destination heading back home (via SFO).

The LH 742s and SQ Megatop 744's I have flown just didn't have that same vibe. And don't get me started on that one time I flew AI...

SF1K

So when United announced the retirement my husband I decided we would try and book one last trip in 1A and 1K, seats in which we've been lucky to have taken journeys to many parts of the world.

My first 747 flight was actually on Lufthansa - back in 1981 when my family immigrated to the US. I remember my parents, my sister, myself (9 years old at the time) and my dwarf rabbit being the only passengers in the upper deck First Class cabin of Lufthansa - I remember that my parents and sister actually had to go sit downstairs to watch movies as the Upper Deck didn't have any entertainment, I think it was kind of a sleeper section.

Anyway - my first United 747 flight was SFO-HNL, our first time to Hawaii sometime in the mid-80s, back when roast beef was still carved table side. It was amazing! And for years my family would only fly on United. They moved us down to Australia and back again. I remember moving to Melbourne and we flew SFO-HNL-AKL-SYD-MEL. This was in the early 90s so corporate cost cutting had already occurred and my family was in Business class, however it was oversold and I got bumped to First. On the AKL-SYD flight I was the only passenger.

Over the following decades many many trips on the UA747 were taken, I remember fondly the Red Carnation concierges, the printed wine lists, Connoisseur Class, the Grey and Blue Ticket Jackets for F, and the Burgundy and Grey for Business. I still have some old "International First Class Cabin Baggage Tags" that I love. One time I remember being the only passenger on a "city size" bus shuttled out to a 747 at NRT, and a bus-load of people waiting as they wouldn't let them on until First had boarded. I walked up the front stair case and they closed the door behind me - to this day I feel I should have turned around and waived.

We've celebrated birthdays, anniversaries and other special occasions in those seats.

So when we saw a date that had two seats to London we grabbed them. Only after booking the trip did we realize it was actually over our anniversary. HAHA! On Thursday morning I was actually a bit teary eyed heading to the airport as I reminisced in my mind of all the memories. We headed to the GFL at SFO and took pictures in our "Regular Seats", it's fun because we've done the same pose in the same seats and have some from a our first time in there together and now our last.

The flight of course ended up being delayed by about 2 hours, not really a big deal as we had no connecting flight in London. They switched the plane two times, when it was finally time to board we actually had an escort from the GFL to the plane that made sure we didn't have to stand in line, a welcome throw-back experience of the good old days of United.

From there the experience of taxi and take-off was everythig that I always love about 1A and 1K. And that's pretty much the end of the "Grand Memory".

Soon after take-off we received mediocre service and in chatting with another passenger seated behind me in 2A, I was quickly admonished by 1 of the 7 non-rev passengers that "they hoped we wouldn't be talking the entire flight" - it was literally an hour into the flight and fully day-time. It was quite ironic considering the number of times that I've had less than stellar flights on United because of non-rev passengers. I did tell him in no uncertain terms that he just reminded me of the reason that United is getting rid of First Class - since it unfortunately has turned into "Employee Class" over the last few years.

The food and service were even more identical to Business class than from the last time we flew. No more salads being prepared on presentation carts, no more tables set, but instead appetizer, with soup and rolls all brought out on one tray, followed by salad and an inedible main-course. Soon after dinner beds were made up and we slept the rest of the way.

We did get some nice photos of our last 747 flight - I'm glad we did it, because it made me realize that I won't miss it that much. The experience just isn't what it used to be (probably having done Cathay First just last month didn't help).

On the return we were initially booked on BA but last minute the 787 flight LHR-SFO opened up so we decided to switch (saved about $500 on surcharges and I wanted those Alaska miles for our Japan trip next year). I must say I almost enjoyed our 787 flight home more than the 747 flight over. The seats were fine, especially if traveling together - wouldn't be so much if you were a single traveler but of course that will change when they eventually get the actual Polaris hardware. The food was identical to the F food on the way over (minus the soup), presentation etc. all the same. It was so far my longest 787 flight and I must say I finally get the "hype" about the cabin pressure, for the first time I got of the plane feeling somewhat refreshed as opposed to wanting to immediately get into a shower.

The crew on the way home were much more attentive. It was interesting as we were sitting in row 5 and apparently on the 787-9 they split responsibility of the FA at row 4, so row 5-8 (with 5 being the only one in the forward section of Business) is served by the mid-galley and row 1-4 is served by the front galley. They even told us so we wouldn't think we were being ignored when the FA stopped serving at row 4.

They actually switched that a bit as we were being served by the Purser and there were a number of issues on the flight. Two bathrooms went in-opp (of the 3 in Business) because soon after take-off a passenger decided to use the sink as the place to get sick in both of them! I don't know what is wrong with people.

Also another passenger in coach decided to try and smoke on the flight, not once, not twice, but three times. Again what the hell is wrong with people????

We tend to always be friendly with the crew and had a good time with them, even with these issues they were facing. They switched us to being part of the 1-4 service crowd and since we were the last row when dessert came around they gave us the remainder, we we ended up with 3 full plates, one full of chocolate, one full of Macaroons and one full of cheese cake. The food was actually better as well; ate everything. The FA brought me a glass of port that the Purser thought was red wine because of how much she filled it up. No complaints from me on that. HAHA!!

So I'm glad we switched onto the 787 and back onto UA on the way home, because it really made me realize that the future of UA is business class and if traveling on them you need to go in with the expectation of the level of service that one gets in business - Global First is dead and this trip proved that 100%.

BThumme

small sidenote to this; Say united announces a flight or set of flights (without anything odd like a sweepstakes to fly or anything) - like last weeks ORD-SFO flight.

How do you actually get to sit in the First class cabin if you buy a business ticket - I think I read in the past some people bought Y and payed to upgrade to J, and they got to select first class seats. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if I buy business class, I only get to pick I believe the UD or the Biz section.

Just want to be prepared

eng3

You can use a GPU or Miles to upgraded from J to F. Or you can get an OpUp. This usually occurs of J and F are full with a long standby list