Farewell to the BA Jumbo 747

[Gazcw]

There are 6 or 7 maybe more sat at Kemble Airport for stripping I guess.

 

[Hurricane52]

A lot of love for these on here. My first flight in one was a 747-SP (the stubby two seat Strad version) to Nice to see the Monaco GP in 1979. I was so excited I wee’d in my seat on touch down. Bet my Dad was delighted.

 

[PaulCambio]

Loved the jumbo was fortunate to have travelled many times on business. Always an event walking up stairs ..... 62k (backwards facing) on BA was my favourite seat.

63K was my go to seat too. Sadly BA Club was very dated and no way comparable to Emirates. The 787 that took the new route from LHR - SJC was a very nice plane.

 

[rs48635]

Crab Air from Brize Norton. No movies or catering! Been there, done that!

This was later , as a civvy. We DID get a movie, portable battery powered player. the battery died 3/4 through the film. "Sorry no more spares". typical

 

[CatmanV2]

Loved the jumbo was fortunate to have travelled many times on business. Always an event walking up stairs ..... 62k (backwards facing) on BA was my favourite seat.

Only ever flew Virgin Upper on 747s. 19K from memory was right by the bar and at SFO you could sit at the end of the runway and see the incoming planes heading straight for you.

Memory tells me that back in 2015ish managed to score Upper for our trip to Cancun and got Mrs C and I front and second left. The flight was so clear as we flew down the Eastern Seaboard I could point out our office buildings.

C

 

[bigbob]

Only ever flew Virgin Upper on 747s. 19K from memory

. Bloody **** strange that he nearly went bust charging those prices.

 

[CatmanV2]

. Bloody **** strange that he nearly went bust charging those prices.

Like I said, Walmart were paying

C

 

[Ebenezer]

I remember when you had to cough up £3 or so to get the crappy tube ear phones for the movie. The movie was projected on to a screen in each section and it seemed to me that the film itself must have had to travel along the length of the aeroplane passing through each project in turn as each section was a bit behind the next.

Can you imagine 60-70 unaccompanied kids crammed into one section for 24 hours :0. As soon as I was "old" enough we used to congregate at rear for a party with duty free cigs and all the booze we'd managed to extract from the cabin crew...
Eb

 

[Zep]

I had one opportunity to fly upper class on a Virgin 747. It was bloody excellent, steak for dinner, a massage before landing. All very pleasant! All of the other planes I have flown transatlantic pale in comparison.

 

[dem maser]

Never flown 747, but my goal is to go to Australia (have family i have never met there) on A380.....they are stopping production next year so must hurry and sell more land/property

 

[lifes2short]

you just cant beat cattle class for the experience, have many pleasant memories

 

[bigbob]

Never flown 747, but my goal is to go to Australia (have family i have never met there) on A380.....they are stopping production next year so must hurry and sell more land/property

Upstairs on a 380 with Emirates is rather nice. You get your own mini bar and big TV. It’s a bit like being in Nelson Mandela Tower but brought up to date.

 

[Felonious Crud]

63K was my go to seat too. Sadly BA Club was very dated and no way comparable to Emirates. The 787 that took the new route from LHR - SJC was a very nice plane.

Some of the cabins were pretty dated, I agree. The BA 380s are much better. I dunno about Emirates. Business was nice, food much better than BA, but always rammed. At least with BA Club the cabins were smaller so if the staff weren't in a filthy mood (no guarantee!) the service was always pretty good. Emirates First, however...

 

[Guy]

Did any of you see this? The luxury of repainting an aircraft in celebration of its anniversary is not something I imagine affordable now! This was 11 months ago and we were all blissfully unaware of Covid!!

 

[midlifecrisis]

Did any of you see this? The luxury of repainting an aircraft in celebration of its anniversary is not something I imagine affordable now! This was 11 months ago and we were all blissfully unaware of Covid!!
View attachment 75946

There's a reciprocal A320in BEA colours, often a visitor to LGW

 

[midlifecrisis]

Crab Air from Brize Norton. No movies or catering! Been there, done that!

Done that 3 times, once in the RAF and twice as a civvy. Timmy Tristar twice and a Star Alliance A330 or A340.. Guess which had best looking trolley dollies, food, seating and films.
For the initiated, you left BZN at midnight, get to ASI at 09:00 for refuelling. Hit the bar for a few beers then back on for the flight to the Falklands.

 

[Kiwibrit]

For some reason, I always preferred it when the trip was the start of a holiday. Loved that plane, even with its ancient tv screen, which ensured that you could not read any messages or subtitles!

 

[RSM Masser]

Crab Air from Brize Norton. No movies or catering! Been there, done that!

Non crab air but Brize to Basra APOD - 2003 Was my only 747 flight, it was a charter and I got an upstairs seat!
Pilot even left the cockpit door open as 300 plus squaddies on board so in his words “ safest flight I’ve been on!”

 

[CatmanV2]

I had one opportunity to fly upper class on a Virgin 747. It was bloody excellent, steak for dinner, a massage before landing. All very pleasant! All of the other planes I have flown transatlantic pale in comparison.

Virgin Upper was always my favourite. I really wasn't that impressed by Business on the Emirates A380. Terribly comfortable but not very special. More a Jag compared to a Strad

C

 

[midlifecrisis]

Non crab air but Brize to Basra APOD - 2003 Was my only 747 flight, it was a charter and I got an upstairs seat!
Pilot even left the cockpit door open as 300 plus squaddies on board so in his words “ safest flight I’ve been on!”

Clearly there was no bar!