Traveling in a Boeing 747 in the 1970s was pretty damn awesome

United on their overseas routes to be specific...

Kai

 

I enjoyed that article, being an 80's child I have never had the fortune of being able to stretch out during a flight

 

The first 747 flight I ever took was, believe it or not, from Miami to Atlanta! It was on Delta in 1971 (while they were still waiting for their TriStars), but the aircraft actually said Pan Am on it!

Apparently Delta had an interchange agreement with Pan Am; the latter would fly the aircraft between Latin America and Miami, then Delta would take the aircraft over and fly it domestically.

Most of my later 747 flights were on Northwest between New York and Seattle, which was the first leg of a flight that continued on to the Orient. During the '80s, I alternated these flights with United DC-10s at first, and later with TWA TriStars.

 

The last time I saw a 747 used for a domestic route was when the Chicago Bears chartered a United Airlines 747 back in 2007 to return from the Super Bowl (also departed Miami) but obviously landed in Chicago. Never thought I would've heard of one being used like that before or since...

 

I started working on the 747 in 1967 and remember an engineer laying out the wing thickness drawing . Because of the size , the span dimensions were 50% of the thickness dimensions and it showed the extreme shear in the wing that we weren't used to seeing at that time. Soon thereafter we got used to seeing a lot of things that were new. i was around to see the airplane take shape on the board and then on the factory floor in Everett. It was an exciting sight to see it lift off on its first flight after so much work.

 

Jan. 22, 1970: first Boeing 747 flight leaves New York

Yahoo!

 

I still remember sitting in the parking area along MIA's perimeter road - back when you could still do such things - and watching planes take off from runway 9R. Seeing a 747 roaring towards you, it was hard to believe that such a massive machine could actually take to the sky, and then just as it passed you, it would rotate and do just that!

 

I believe it was 1971 or '72 when I flew on a Northwest Orient 747 from Chicago to Phoenix to visit my grandparents. I was about 8 years old and I remember they had a piano bar in the back of the airplane. There weren't very many people on board and my sisters and I spent a lot of time running up and down the aisles!

 

It's fun to read the posts by guys who " were little kids" in the 70's and 80's. I was still a little kid, too. when the 747 made it's first flight. I was 43.

 

I guess I'm an "in-betweener" then. I was 18 when I took that Delta/Pan Am flight in '71.

 

I travel a lot in the 80s and 90s using Singapore Airlines 747-400 business class. 22 hours flight. Pity back then the business class seats was not fully flat.

 

I flew in row 1 on a 747 on the main deck from Seoul to LA about 15 years ago. Sat next to Mick Mars from Motley Crue. It was a great ride. Also got to fly in the upper deck Business section several times. Those were the days.

-F

 

As a young kid, at times, I would go to IAH on Sunday afternoon and watch the new KLM 747 arrive. I have some old pictures. The exterior fuselage finish had natural metal and paint. At the time, the KLM livery had significant areas of the fuselage with natural metal finish. What a lovely airplane.

I remember my father taking me to look at cockpits with some of the domestic carriers. I could briefly look at the cockpit and talk to the pilots just before the airplanes took off. We were just visitors with no airline tickets. No security check points. Most likely these were 727, DC-8/9, and 707 airplanes. Security has changed over the years .

 

My first flight on a 747 was quite memorable. It was in September of 1970. At the time, my parents lived in the UK and I was starting college in Los Angeles. What was supposed to be a non-stop flight from Heathrow to LAX (TWA, I think) ended up stopping first in San Francisco due to the fact that there were no fewer than two heart attacks on board. One of them was a gentleman sitting right across the aisle from me. A couple of years later, I was talking to my college roommate and we discovered that, although we didn't know each other at the time, he had been on the same flight.

 

It is really too bad that many have never experienced the old-time Pan Am...this was deluxe airline service as it should have been.

But of course it could not stand up to the market pressures of today.

BTW, the old Braniff of those days is another one I miss.

 

My first flight on Pan-Am was on a turbojet 707 from Oslo, Norway to Idlewild in August, 1961. A real adventure. Lots of room, pretty stewardesses who fussed over you, and everybody dressed as if they were going to church. Times change. Looks like lots of passengers now travel in their pajamas.

Last flight on a 747 was in the upper deck business class on TWA in 1994 from JFK to Frankfurt, when I was a Royal Medallion. Dedicated flight attendant and bar. Very cushy and the seats reclined nearly fully. First class downstairs was even nicer, but not as private. Times change. Pan-Am and TWA bit the dust.

 

When I flew Business class on United back in the 90's it was pretty nice. Maybe the stewardesses weren't quite what I would call hot but the service was good.

Heck, just having the ability to board early, room to stretch out, and a decent meal made the trans-pacific flight really nice in my opinion.

I think 747's were really great. Hope to fly on a 787 from Denver to Tokyo one of these days.

-F

 

That takes me back. In the early 60s, I was just a kid and my dad's job with Alcoa had us living in Lausanne, Switzerland. For our annual summer vacation trip back to the USA, we flew from Geneva to New York. (This was usually on Swissair Convair 990s, as I recall.) Anyway, my mom insisted that my sister and I dress up in our "Sunday best" for the flight. I had to wear a jacket and tie. I never understood having to wear my most uncomfortable clothes on the six hour flight and protested to no avail. I guess I was ahead of my time.

We had a running joke in the family about one of those flights. Two Dutch gentleman were seated directly behind us. Once we were airborne, they began ordering cocktails and did not stop for the entire trip. When it came time to disembark in New York, we looked back and saw them sitting absolutely motionless with glazed eyes staring blankly into space. We never knew how they made it off the plane.

 

I stay in the same hotel in Narita (Tokyo) as AA and UA crew. Yeah, they're old. Really old.

 

I flew on a Qantas 747 in 89 from LAX or San Fran (can't remember) to Honolulu for a brief stop, couple hours, then onto Cairns, where we deplaned down a steep ladder thing. The first leg I had the whole row, the 2nd not an empty seat and it was lousy.

Around 78 my father got us all a 1 month fly as much as you want pass on Delta and we went all over the US on wide body DC-10's/ L1011's.


nice graphic -- http://www.airlinereporter.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/L1011.jpg

 

My introduction to the 747 was a promotional visit in 1970 or 71 of one of the first PanAm aircraft to Greater Southwest Airport in Fort Worth (yes we had our own airline airport before DFW). I stood in line for 2 hours then walked up what seemed like hundreds of stairs to enter the big cabin. Most impressive, particularly looking up the vertical tail from the ground.

Sure enjoyed a trans-pacific flight 12 years later on Singapore Airlines business class. The only way to fly!

 

The new 747 was a big deal back when it came out. So much so that our class in grade school took a field trip to Evansville, Dress Regional airport to take a tour of the hump backed bird. That was my first sight of one of these and I think I've ridden in one only twice since.

 

I flew to Italy late 70's pan am 747. They still had the upper deck lounge which was pretty cool, if you didnt mind a lot of second hand smoke. Otherwise I would say its far far better today.

I regularily travel Ba 747 400's first is great, even buisnes has lay flat beds. Nothing in the 70's or 80's was that comfortable. First class was wide seat which reclined a lot, but you were still more or less sitting. There were also endless anouncements, and while the food was very good it was a whole production.

Nowdays you have your own pod space, a selection of great movies, great headphones etc. Remeber the crappy headsets int he 70's hard plastc in your ears, one movie on a screen.

The closest you get to the 70'ds vibe is on virgin which still has a bar, and mosty pretty and very enthusiastic young things serving.

One thing is for sure, its hard to beat sitting in the front of a 747. If you are on a 777 its noisier and less private. For the ultimate go BA buiness and sit on the upper deck of a747, you get the privacy of asmall get with the dampened ride of a 747. The 747 is simply the cadillac of the sky, I will be sorry when they are gone from passenger service.

As to USA airlines, I guess the maintanace and flying is good, otherwise they poretty much suck. Its like comparing a 70's detroit car to a mercedes of the era, they both get you there but that si where the similarity ends.