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READERS SHARE FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE, EXPERIENCES AND IDEAS

CANUCKLAD

Well, another victim of the Covid disaster. And, more poignantly, it seems that with British Airways retiring its B747 fleet with immediate effect, we’ll be denied an opportunity to experience for one last time the “Queen of the Skies”. If memory serves, my last flight was on a BA B747 heading back to Vancouver; then again, it could have been on a Cathay Pacific flight to Bangkok, or possibly a KLM flight to Hong Kong. It reminds me what a privileged and lucky life I’ve had, considering the majority of the planet’s population hasn’t flown, never mind on the magnificent 747.

GIN&TONIC

My first trip on a B747 was at the age of 17. My mum made me wear my threepiece suit, shirt and tie, in economy! But what an experience and I loved the numerous trips that followed. Yes, we need to reduce carbon and cost but we will never create such nostalgia again.

HI_FLIER

I was looking forward to taking my son (a budding aviation enthusiast) on BA’s B747 later this year before it became a museum piece – I had the coveted upper deck seats booked as well.

DAVIDSMITH2

We had seats 64J and K booked for flights to and from Accra in May this year to start and end our holiday in the best way possible. Both were cancelled. Very sad that we will never have that chance of climbing to the upper deck and feeling as if you are on a 20-seater luxury jet.

ESSELLE

My first B747 flight was on Pan Am in the late seventies. As these were “classics”,

the upstairs bubble was smaller and reached by a spiral staircase. Seat 1A or 1K on BA was a special place; 5E and F when travelling with Mrs Esselle. Sad to see them go.

SWISSDIVER

What a sad day! My first trip was to New York on the defunct Swissair more than 40 years ago. Over the years I flew almost 250,000 miles aboard the Queen of the Skies.

COCKTAILMIKE

I managed to squeeze in one last trip to New York at the beginning of March. Business class upstairs on a half-empty plane – lovely. I knew it would be my last on the B747. I first went on a brand new -400 on BA to Philadelphia in May 1990. I was in economy – but upstairs! My first-ever long-haul trip. Since then, I have managed to travel on the -100, -200 and -300 variants.

INQUISITIVE

I adore the magnificence of the B747 – the contours, the take-off and the cosy upper deck. I like the A380 very much for stability and low noise, but it is nowhere near [as good for these factors]. My first B747 flight was in business class, my first international business travel. I was on the upper deck, which was very small and cosy, and I kept my eyes wide open throughout the journey and used the stairs to go down two or three times for no reason!

ALAINBOY56

My first flight was from Heathrow in first class to Miami in the early seventies on a classic BOAC B747-136. I do also remember visiting the upstairs bar/lounge, accessible via the spiral staircase. My last B747 flight was in summer last year from Dubai International to Heathrow.

DEREKVH

According to the numbers released by BA when the issues around redundancies started, they have 272 captains and 349 co-pilots assigned to the B747 fleet. Real shame, I will miss this beautiful lady. Virgin is doing the same and [many of] its B747 flight crew have already been made redundant.

AMCWHIRTER

My first B747 flights from 1970 to 1975 were all economy class with Pan Am and Japan Airlines. I recall the spacious nine-across seating and the wider seats compared with when all B747 carriers began the conversion to ten-across. What began to spoil my impression of the B747 was in the later 1970s when I took a trip with Air France in economy from Paris all the way to Mauritius. It was an awfully long, drawn-out flight with en route stops (not only in Paris, where there was a change from Charles de Gaulle to Orly) but also in Djibouti, Nairobi and Réunion. Economy seating on the main deck was dense. After all, it was one of Air France’s holiday flights.

‘Yes, we need to reduce carbon and cost but we will never create such nostalgia again’

JDTRAVELLER

The B747 has had a good run and will be fondly remembered, as with Concorde before her. My earliest memory of it was a TWA flight from Gatwick to St Louis and being upgraded to business class at the gate – experiencing freshly cooked steak to my liking and feeling like I was king of the world (I was eight). What a way to travel! However, my lasting memories will be from flying the BA birds that have long needed

some love and attention. Unfortunately, it’s about time the old girl put her feet up and let us fondly remember the good times and not the most recent.

MARTYNSINCLAIR

I will also miss the huge, lumbering and iconic B747, but more for its outer visual impact and the love for aviation it gave me over the current dated and shoddy fittings it certainly did not deserve. Retire gracefully and I hope one will remain perhaps parked next to a Concorde to remind us fussy passengers of the graceful days of travel from previous years.

TOMINSCOTLAND

My first flight on the aircraft was in 1984 on an Aer Lingus B747-100, DublinShannon-New York JFK. My favourite, however, remains the B747SP which I have flown with Qantas, South African Airways and, more recently, Iran Air.

BULLFROG

My last B747 flight was in February 2019 from JFK to Heathrow on the day flight, in what I would consider the “best seat in the house”: 2K. Having lost count of the number of flights I’ve taken over the past 43 years, I only wish I had kept all the boarding passes, menus and memorabilia. Air travel is unlikely to ever be the same again. Thank you, B747! Great journeys, and great memories.

CANUCKLAD

One take-off I’ll never forget – flying on a staff pass, I got the last seat on Canadian Pacific Air Lines’ flight from Vancouver to Amsterdam. Window seat, last row on the right-hand side. We slowly taxied out to the runway threshold. Rather than turning right, the aircraft turned left and did a 180-degree turn that epitomises the phrase “turning on a dime”. By the end of the turn there was no concrete underneath the back end of the plane, just grass being crushed by the engines powering up. As we rumbled down the runway, slowly picking up speed, we started to pass exit way after exit way. Anxiety started to increase in the cabin for those who knew we would normally be airborne at, or just after, passing the terminal. I’m convinced that most of the frequent flyers onboard thought our journey would end in the Georgia Strait. Just as our take-off roll started, it ended as our orange jet gracefully took to the air with little or no concrete left. Maybe aided by the large intake of air from the communal gasps of relief.

ALEXTPA

I thought this may happen at some point this year, so I was glad I took one more ride home from JFK in March. Seems it could well be one of the last revenue flights on a BA B747, as lockdown came the very next day.

CHRISJR

I was reminiscing about my experiences upstairs on BA B747 flights – about ten times in total. The last was to Lagos early last year. I was upgraded from World Traveller Plus [premium economy] at check-in and assigned a lower deck seat – and to my surprise there were still plenty of seats upstairs available, so I changed to 60J I think. The upper deck was such a delightful experience – better than first class as far as I was concerned. You really do forget about the other people on the plane. I hope

‘The upper deck was so delightful – better than first class as far as I was concerned’

they put some of the jumbos to good use – I reckon you could market them as some kind of tourist/hospitality attraction (two hours sat on the upper deck with free flowing drinks, etc).

BOBM

Having grown up with them, they have always been a part of my life. Sad to read Qantas has now flown its last [B747] flight over Sydney.

JJLASNE

My last B747 flight was on Qantas from San Francisco to Sydney. I will remember it fondly. We returned on the A380 to Los Angeles International. What a difference – the Airbus felt a lot bigger, heavier, which it is, but also smoother.

BULLFROG

I was fortunate to visit the cockpit during flight prior to 9/11, en route from Johannesburg to London. It was especially memorable as the captain invited me back to the cockpit for landing at Heathrow. The view as one descends and gets on to the final approach is truly amazing. A few hours in the BA simulator is worth every penny, so treat yourself if it is still available.

THECARTOONMAN

I had a similar visit to the cockpit for landing on a Virgin B747 from Tokyo to Heathrow – the view as we came over the Thames Estuary and then over Central London was fantastic. After we had landed, the comical piece was that out came a map of Heathrow and a discussion from the pilots as to how exactly they were going to get to the right gate number, which was quite a way away – priceless and never forgotten.