2-5-2 configuration in Economy
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at 13:20 by rferguson.
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icenspiceParticipantLast month I flew from Dallas Fort Worth to Heathrow on AA. I was expecting the aircraft to be a B773, but it turned out to be a B772 with above configuration.
I am struggling hard to remember when I last flew with this seating arrangement. It may have been in 2001 to JFK on same airline….I really can’t remember. If not, it was in 1992 on an Iberia DC-10.
Anyway, this particular flight had a very light load and on my several walkabouts I saw many passengers sprawled out, taking advantage of the empty seats. I was in 20C, an aisle seat in the middle section. This is a bulkhead seat and has much more legroom than the 2 duos on either side and fortunately there was only a couple with me and he moved to the centre seat to give his wife more space.
Having said that, it turned out to be a long, restless flight…..not helped by the impressive squiggles over SW London adding at least 30 mins to the journey.
Do any other airlines still have this configuration in economy?
7 Dec 2015
at 09:46
AMcWhirterParticipantUA’s B777s were delivered with 2-5-2 in economy.
But the configuration proved unpopular with passengers and so UA reconfigured its B777s 3-3-3.
7 Dec 2015
at 11:00
dutchyankeeParticipantThere are a few others. AA has some 777-200’s with this configuration, although these are all being changed, Air China as well in their 777-200’s, Malaysian 777’s, and I think United still has some 777’s configured this way, probably on domestic flights. It was a very frequent configuration with DC-10 operators, although many went to 10 abreast. The L-1011’s of Delta had this config, as well as other L1011 operators such as Cathay, Air Lanka, Gulf Air, etc.
7 Dec 2015
at 11:23
AMcWhirterParticipantdutchyankee – Thanks for the information and bringing back some memories.
To be fair, Gulf Air’s Tri-stars were originally branded “Five Star Tri-star” on the economy seating was just 2-4-2.
Passenger capacity in total was 211 which is one of the lightest wide-body configurations ever seen. There was even a stand-up bar at the back of the economy zone.
https://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1976/1976%20-%200504.PDF
7 Dec 2015
at 11:30
canuckladParticipantWorst flight I’ve ever endured was on Northwest DC10 between Boston and Minneapolis
Imagine being in the middle of 4 obese Americans who brought on their own fast food ,and also took advantage of the in-flight catering. Worse, they all knew each other but none of them wanted to sit in the middle.
Oh and they had more hand luggage than a camel could cope with!
Horrendously, they also insisted on playing with their laptops
I vowed to avoid US carriers as much as possible from that day on!7 Dec 2015
at 11:37
dutchyankeeParticipantThanks Alex, I love reading memorabilia of the better times in travel. Remember the lounges TWA would have in economy on their 747’s and L1011’s, and American and Continental had them in economy on their DC-10’s (remember ‘The Pub’ on the CO DC-10’s?). The days when Philippine Airlines had a type of Dormitory of bunk beds in the upper deck of their 747-200’s, and of course Pan Am’s legendary Restaurant in the skies in their 747’s. It’s nice seeing some airlines (mainly the ME3) bringing back some of that glamour!
7 Dec 2015
at 11:44
LuganoPirateParticipantWasn’t that on the Tristars Simon? I seem to recall getting the last seat in the middle of the middle row, only to find after boarding the plane was only half full and I had the whole row to myself. But in my case that was late 80’s I think.
7 Dec 2015
at 15:04
Speedbird_ABZParticipantMaybe I’m talking rubbish, but I seem to remember being on a Varig DC10 LHR/GIG in Y when it was 3-4-2? It was definitely something strange like that.
7 Dec 2015
at 16:39
LuganoPirateParticipantOn reflection it may have been the DC10, but it was a long time ago but I do remember it was RUH-JED.
7 Dec 2015
at 17:20
mkcol74Participant@AMcWhirter Love that PDF thanks. What I also noted, and hadn’t realised, was that they were G- registered back then.
7 Dec 2015
at 19:10
sparkyflierParticipantIn the 80s and early 90s I flew DC-10s on BCal, KLM, Sabena, Swissair, Northwest and Zambia Airways, and they all had 2-5-2 in economy. Nigeria Airways had 3-4-2, which I thought was a good idea. I believe none of these airlines ever went 10 across on this aircraft.
I have also been on United 777’s which had 2-5-2, which did change to 3-3-3, but was not for popularity reasons, but for the new Inflight entertainment was easier to have on banks of 3 seats etc.
Of course savvy travellers mostly know how to get the decent seats (2 on the sides), but stuck in the middle of 5 cannot have been fun.
Economy seats and space are becoming far inferior, which is why I think the airlines now hold economy passengers in contempt and are plain nasty. And the previous excuse of “high oil prices” is simply not true any more.
8 Dec 2015
at 12:42 -
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