50 years today of commercial flights on the Boeing 747

K1ngston The Thai 747 does the daily BKK SYD run. The thai grandees on the route like first and the passenger numbers can’t justify the A380. Nothing better than seat 1a ahead of the pilot on take off. The old 747 SPs that QF flew were ever better as their take off speed and incline was amazing.

Most of us will recall so many experiences of travel on such an iconic aircraft. I’ve lost count of how many versions/airlines I have experienced, but there have been some notable examples including BA, UA, LH, TG, SA and NZ. My first taste of the “high life” was on a BA flight from LHR to MEL in 1981 – upper deck C-class in seats that were probably not too dissimilar to those fitted by some airlines in premium economy these days. Routing was LHR-KUL-SIN-MEL in those days. Other notable examples were on UA1 in the days that they offered an around-the-world service via DEL. Another notable was with NZ on a flight from AKL to BNE, where I was one of only two passengers on the upper deck. What service!

Various correspondents comment on the tattiness of some BA 747s, even in F class. Sometimes these are obviously long in the tooth (especially those with the ancient IFE system), but in C-class provided you can get seat 64K you can be guaranteed a good night’s sleep. I would certainly suggest that the most recent versions of the 747 are a cut above the rest. Indeed I recall a notable return from IAD to FRA on an LH 747-8 to make that point. I guess the only other version I would like to sample would be Air Force 1, but I don’t suppose there is much chance of that experience.