call me wild and crazy: bring back the 380 and 747s?
May 10, 2020, 11:32 am
#48
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Los Angeles / Basel
Programs: UA 1K MM, AA EXP, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 26,922
Glad you asked this question as I was really excited to respond to the RTW post that I forgot a few details:
it started with JFK, then as I remembered UA discontinued JFK-LHR, so the flight 1/2 assignment went to EWR, but RTW actually ended with IAD being the East Coast airport (simply it was the only PMUA East Coast hub). East Coast was considered a weak link due to PMUA lack of feeder traffic into NY metro.
RTW started with JFK-LAX-HKF-DEL-LHR-JFK,
then became EWR-LAX-HKF-DEL-LHR-EWR, then ended up with IAD-LAX-HKG-DEL-LHR-IAD
it started with JFK, then as I remembered UA discontinued JFK-LHR, so the flight 1/2 assignment went to EWR, but RTW actually ended with IAD being the East Coast airport (simply it was the only PMUA East Coast hub). East Coast was considered a weak link due to PMUA lack of feeder traffic into NY metro.
RTW started with JFK-LAX-HKF-DEL-LHR-JFK,
then became EWR-LAX-HKF-DEL-LHR-EWR, then ended up with IAD-LAX-HKG-DEL-LHR-IAD
May 10, 2020, 12:26 pm
#49
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2003
Programs: UA*Lifetime GS, Hyatt* Lifetime Globalist
Posts: 12,331
There was also the daily EWR-NRT flight during parts of the 90s in addition to the JFK-NRT flight as well.
Last edited by UA_Flyer; May 10, 2020 at 12:37 pm
May 10, 2020, 3:46 pm
#51
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Washington DC
Posts: 1,357
(bolding mine)
Define 'longest"!
"The Double Sunrise flights remain the longest (in terms of airtime) commercial flights in history."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Double_Sunrise
"One of these flights remains the record holder for longest time airborne (for a commercial flight) at 32 hours, 9 minutes"
And as a bonus:
"Due to the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic and the impossibility of transit in the USA through Los Angeles International Airport, Air Tahiti Nui set up in March, 2020, a few direct flights between Papeete and Paris, using a Boeing 787-9 and covering 15,715 km (8,485 nmi; 9,765 mi), a record for the longest domestic flight in the world."
(although, did this one really happen?)
Define 'longest"!
"The Double Sunrise flights remain the longest (in terms of airtime) commercial flights in history."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Double_Sunrise
"One of these flights remains the record holder for longest time airborne (for a commercial flight) at 32 hours, 9 minutes"
And as a bonus:
"Due to the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic and the impossibility of transit in the USA through Los Angeles International Airport, Air Tahiti Nui set up in March, 2020, a few direct flights between Papeete and Paris, using a Boeing 787-9 and covering 15,715 km (8,485 nmi; 9,765 mi), a record for the longest domestic flight in the world."
(although, did this one really happen?)
After all, there were no islands in the middle of that route that could be used for refuelling.
May 10, 2020, 11:30 pm
#52
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: USA
Programs: UA Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,194
I would love it if UA bought and used 747-8s but the reasons they won't have been listed above. As far as the A380 goes, I had no desire to fly on that aircraft before the pandemic, I definitely don't want to be on a plane with that many people onboard after the pandemic.