liche90

3-3-3 is pretty much on all the airlines now days

Bitterroot

I think you're right the first time: no possible 2-5-2 config of any kind would work: any group of 5 Y seats, with the associated AVOD equipment, would fail the 16 G test.

Wouldn't matter how many or how few rows of Y there were -- any nest of 5 fails the test.

UA_Flyer

It reminds me the 747-400OA aircraft UA used to operate between LAX-HKG, ORD-NRT, and a handful of transpac routes seasonally. IIRC, there were 36F and 120C in that plane. Unfortunately for UA, it did not make any economic sense when the premium traffic died down after the dotcom crash in 2000.

IIRC, in the early to mid 90's, UA also had 747-200OP configured with large F/C cabins, and they operated almost exclusively on JFK-NRT with continued services to PEK.

For the upgraders with UA status, those aircrafts were great. I once flew LAX-HKG (late 90s), Y was over sold, and they were upgrading people left and right. There was a family of three (parents with one child) upgraded from the middle section of the row in Y. I spoke to the husband during the flight and found out he was a first year 2P traveling out of country for the first time with his family. He was so excited that his newly minted 2P would open up a whole new world of travel experience for him and he was looking forward to enjoy his 2P elite status with more upgrades coming....... how things have changed since then,

ORDnHKG

It was 744OP, not OA.

OA was the one with large Y, small C. Usually use for ORD-HKG.

I remembered as that was my first ever UA flight, UA 883 ORD-NRT.

As it was my first UA flight, I don't have status, but all I ask at checkin was for an aisle seat, I then got a seat assignment for 27C, I didn't even know I got a C seat til I boarded the plane. It was a H class ticket though.

unitedfa

So here's what I know...sorry if it's been posted already.

There are three versions of the reconfigured 777.

Two will feature
8 First Class Suites
40 Business seats 2-4-2
218 (101 Economy Plus Seats) 3-3-3

Total Seat Capacity will be 266

The third version will have
8 First Class Suites
40 Business Seats 2-4-2
221 (104 Economy Plus) 3-3-3

Total Seat Capacity 269

All will have 110 volt, no adapter needed in First and Business
In coach 110 volt, no adapter needed (2 outlets for every 3 seat group, and 1 for every 2 seat group)

United First and Business on demand movies, music..ect.

Coach will have 9 channels of video and 20 audio channels.

ualisthebst

Found this video the other day...start it at the 2:15 mark when they walk through the 747-400. Notice how crammed all the C seats are and how crowded the upper deck looks. Also notice the legroom at 4:16...looks like E+ today.

Rather nostalgic....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWZxrU8ldA4

johdhj

Ah, so rumors of AVOD in economy have proven to be false! How bittersweet. But at least United is consistent across their international fleet.

DenverBrian

Build them as a nest of 3 and a nest of 2 that just happens to be adjacent, without an aisle separating them? I'm back to the budget argument.

sammybk

Wirelessly posted (SAMSUNG-SGH-I617/UCIB1 Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 7.11) UP.Link/6.3.1.20.0)

You can buy a dc-ac cigarette lighter style adapter that also works for empower for $30-$40 at frys electronics. Even if you dont use the empower it still can be of use

Ari

That would make the most sense given fleet utilization and what the competition offers on those. There is a reason that the ORD-FRA routes will be last, IMO, and that is the C seats on LH.

lhrsfo

I would have thought that it would make more sense to put the new seats on routes where the other operator has a weak C. If UA wants to sell C seats for a C price, it will do so to people forced to use UA and people who choose to use UA over the other carrier on the route. It's going to be far easier to persuade people to use UA over a poor C product than it will be over BA, VS or the Asian carriers.

That said, as I understand it, UA and LH share revenues on TATL and therefore there's little point in UA or LH upgrading those routes as they dominate US/Germany travel.

johdhj

This is just a theory, but...

Some observations I have made: There are 6 mounting rails that run the length of the 777. In the 2-5-2 configuration, the Rail-to-Seat Ratios were as such:

Rails:Seat
2:2
2:5
2:2

With the current 3-3-3, the ratio becomes thus:

Rails:Seat
2:3
2:3
2:3

You can see how such a distributed load on the rails becomes an attractive proposition from an engineering and stress POV.

Now, if you say that you want to make the center group of 5 a division of 2 and 3, where it becomes 2-3/2-2, the ratio becomes:

Rails:Seat
2:2
1:3
1:2
2:2

The 1 rail mounted to the 3 seats will not be able to meet the 16g requirement with the video equipment installed. Of course, this is all predicated upon the fact that my observations about the mount points are correct.

flyinbob

No rumors have been proven true or false as of yet. UA is still officially silent.

mahasamatman

Not at all. In the 767 (and apparently the 777), Y at least has PTV. That is not the case for the 747.

johdhj

I stand corrected