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Were The Early 80's Really That Much Better On UA Than Now?

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Were The Early 80's Really That Much Better On UA Than Now?

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Old Dec 2, 2019, 10:57 am
  #136  
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Originally Posted by EWR764
Great stuff... note the ex-PA 3-4-3 configuration in the L15!
I thought 10 across was a charter config. I had no idea that PanAm was stuffing people into their L1011's when airlines like Delta only had 9 across. I mean even on the DC10's of the US carriers only had 9 across. I guess so much for the "Good ole days when PanAm was around" cliche.
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Old Dec 2, 2019, 11:29 am
  #137  
 
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Originally Posted by seat38a
I thought 10 across was a charter config. I had no idea that PanAm was stuffing people into their L1011's when airlines like Delta only had 9 across. I mean even on the DC10's of the US carriers only had 9 across. I guess so much for the "Good ole days when PanAm was around" cliche.
I never flew on one, but as far as I could tell, all PA L-1011-500s were 3-4-3 in Y (2-4-2 in Clipper) to match the 747 fleet. Worth noting that the L-1011 cabin was about a foot narrower than the 747, and about 6" narrower than the DC-10. Must have been a tight squeeze.
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Old Dec 2, 2019, 11:34 am
  #138  
 
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No question. F on the best airlines now is way, way better than F on the best airlines in the 80s. Better seats, better food and drink, comparable service, fewer connections, easier to book, better lounges, better IFE, etc. etc.

As for United, that's a harder question. Seats and IFE are better now but everything else is worse.
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Old Dec 2, 2019, 12:10 pm
  #139  
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Originally Posted by jsloan
Nobody’s saying that. The A380 and 747 both run 10-abreast even today. However, they were both designed to do so. The L1011, like the B777, was not.

747 cabin width: 20 feet, 1 inch
A380 cabin width: 21 feet, 6 inches
777 cabin width: 19 feet, 3 inches
L1011 cabin width: 18 feet, 11 inches

That sounds... dreadful.
Wasn't the original design layout of the L1011 in Y 2-4-2 with a small table in the center? Or was that the DC-10? Similar to the 747 lounges, the airlines filled them with seats pretty quickly.
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Old Dec 2, 2019, 12:34 pm
  #140  
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Originally Posted by findark
Wasn't the original design layout of the L1011 in Y 2-4-2 with a small table in the center? Or was that the DC-10? Similar to the 747 lounges, the airlines filled them with seats pretty quickly.
I maybe wrong, but I think the 747, DC10's and L1011's all had extra abreast added after being inservice. I've flown in a 10 - abreast DC10-30 and that was brutal. EWR764 said above that the L1011 had a narrower fuselage than a DC10. I can only imagine what hell it must have been to fly trans pac on those.
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Old Dec 2, 2019, 12:37 pm
  #141  
 
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Originally Posted by jsloan
Nobody’s saying that. The A380 and 747 both run 10-abreast even today. However, they were both designed to do so. The L1011, like the B777, was not.

747 cabin width: 20 feet, 1 inch
A380 cabin width: 21 feet, 6 inches
777 cabin width: 19 feet, 3 inches
L1011 cabin width: 18 feet, 11 inches

That sounds... dreadful.
And apparently as early as 1981 airlines were doing that - this article is a gem. You could print it today, reduce the inches by one or two, change the model names and it's entirely accurate.

https://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/24/t...-reshaped.html

"When the Lockheed L-1011 first went into service in the early 1970's, most airlines started using it with eight economy-class passengers in each row. But as time passed, James W. Ragsdale, chief spokesman for Lockheed California, the Lockheed division that builds the L-1011, says, ''airlines decided they needed higher-density seating, so what you see today typically on L-1011's - or DC 10's, which are similar - is nine abreast in the economy cabin. And some airlines use 10 abreast; there is room for that, though the seats are a little narrower.''"

And the slim lines were a thing back then
"
A McDonnell Douglas executive notes that ''with the newer, less bulky seats, you might get as much legroom with 32-inch pitch as you would with 34-inch pitch.''

"

I don't know where it is but came across an article post Delta's purchase of the PanAm routes that it reconfigured one type of widebody because PanAm had an overly dense layout.
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Old Dec 2, 2019, 12:41 pm
  #142  
 
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Every L-1011 I remember (DL, TWA, maybe Eastern) had 2-5-2 Y configuration Granted, that’s a long time ago so I could be wrong.
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Old Dec 2, 2019, 1:16 pm
  #143  
 
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Originally Posted by JimInOhio
Every L-1011 I remember (DL, TWA, maybe Eastern) had 2-5-2 Y configuration Granted, that’s a long time ago so I could be wrong.
Worst middle seat ever?
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Old Dec 2, 2019, 1:31 pm
  #144  
 
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Originally Posted by 5khours
No question. F on the best airlines now is way, way better than F on the best airlines in the 80s. Better seats, better food and drink, comparable service, fewer connections, easier to book, better lounges, better IFE, etc. etc.

As for United, that's a harder question. Seats and IFE are better now but everything else is worse.
Did you happen to catch the discussion above regarding the incredible meal selections and service in the 1980s in F?
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Old Dec 2, 2019, 2:23 pm
  #145  
 
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Am I recalling correctly that in late 80s early 90s there was something called "torquing", where you could just show up at any airline counter in the airport with a ticket on a different airline and if space was available standby on the same route same day they'd take the ticket and put you on their plane?
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Old Dec 2, 2019, 2:32 pm
  #146  
 
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Originally Posted by JimInOhio
Every L-1011 I remember (DL, TWA, maybe Eastern) had 2-5-2 Y configuration Granted, that’s a long time ago so I could be wrong.
At 1:21 in the video above of the PanAm to UA L-1011 you can see 3 seats by the window in economy (which would be a 3-4-3 layout) - and how that small framed woman takes up the entire width

At least loads weren't as consistently high then

Originally Posted by physioprof
Am I recalling correctly that in late 80s early 90s there was something called "torquing", where you could just show up at any airline counter in the airport with a ticket on a different airline and if space was available standby on the same route same day they'd take the ticket and put you on their plane?

Even until Delta bought Northwest in the late 2000s you could go to NW counters with another airline ticket and ask to sign it over - part of their internally documented 'BUMP' (bring us more passengers) program
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Old Dec 2, 2019, 3:15 pm
  #147  
 
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Originally Posted by physioprof
Am I recalling correctly that in late 80s early 90s there was something called "torquing", where you could just show up at any airline counter in the airport with a ticket on a different airline and if space was available standby on the same route same day they'd take the ticket and put you on their plane?
Once upon a time, an airline ticket was as good as cash and they had no problems exchanging them -- but that was also why you were in serious trouble if you lost your ticket. The book and movie "Catch Me If You Can" show how exploitable that situation was.
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Old Dec 2, 2019, 3:18 pm
  #148  
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Originally Posted by physioprof
Am I recalling correctly that in late 80s early 90s there was something called "torquing", where you could just show up at any airline counter in the airport with a ticket on a different airline and if space was available standby on the same route same day they'd take the ticket and put you on their plane?
Think it was mostly earlier than that, but yes. They would sometimes true up the exchange of passengers by weighing stacks of tickets instead of counting.
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Old Dec 2, 2019, 3:28 pm
  #149  
 
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Originally Posted by cerealmarketer
At 1:21 in the video above of the PanAm to UA L-1011 you can see 3 seats by the window in economy (which would be a 3-4-3 layout) - and how that small framed woman takes up the entire width

....
I saw that, too, and did a double-take. If you look, that section of the cabin doesn’t have a center section... probably a galley or bank of lavs so it’s hard to say if it represents the the rest of Y.
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Old Dec 2, 2019, 3:34 pm
  #150  
 
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I definitely remember showing up early at ORD with a Continental ticket to EWR and just finding whatever was the next flight on any airline and routinely getting put on.
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