Has anyone here taken a ride on one ?
How was it ? glorious ?

Here's a video I watched a couple weeks ago of an Etihad A380 flight in First Class:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R2sOr6vZqo

cool video.

just another tin can, from the back.
DFW-Beijing - at least I had 3 seats to myself.
I dislike the auto-darkening windows - never get dark enough on the sun-ward side.

quote:

Originally posted by Orguss:
Here's a video I watched a couple weeks ago of an Etihad A380 flight in First Class:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R2sOr6vZqo

I saw dirt under Mr. Chuis' thumb nail there. If you're going to travel first class....

What's up with the Air Bus having 4 engines, which I like, when all the 747s are going 2 engines? I'd like to ride a 4 engine please.

quote:

when all the 747s are going 2 engines?

Cost cutting?? Are they removing two engines???

quote:

Originally posted by David Lee:

quote:

Originally posted by Orguss:
Here's a video I watched a couple weeks ago of an Etihad A380 flight in First Class:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R2sOr6vZqo

I saw dirt under Mr. Chuis' thumb nail there. If you're going to travel first class....

What's up with the Air Bus having 4 engines, which I like, when all the 747s are going 2 engines? I'd like to ride a 4 engine please.

I don't think the 747s are going down to 2 engines, I think they're being phased out and replaced with A330's and B777s.

quote:

Originally posted by rscalzo:

quote:

when all the 747s are going 2 engines?

Cost cutting?? Are they removing two engines???

Last I heard/read, Boeing is discontinuing passenger 747 production & moving to only 747F models.
777 & 787 taking over the 747 routes as they retire I suppose.

My office is about 1.5 miles from the departure end of the runway at IAH. Our lab actually had to not do some testing during typical int'l departures, as the 747 & A380 can rattle the walls in our building.
On a really overcast day, it looks like you could nearly reach up & spin the wheels on the A380 as it passes overhead.

IMO, aesthetically, the A380 doesn't come close to the 747 from the outside.

I'm no aeronautical engineer, but I can't imagine Boeing dropping two of the 747's four engines at this stage of its career. It's near retirement/death bed with just a handful of orders.

As for the A380, haven't been on one yet. I did fly the 787 last fall and it's pretty quiet. But like coach on any other airline, it's all the same.

Just a big airplane with A LOT of people onboard.

It's one of the more modern planes out there and depending on which airline you fly, has the modern amenities. Did I mention the amount of people it can carry, imagine a international flight 12+ hours...

If given a choice, I prefer to fly the 787 and 777, however the Airbus' I've yet to encounter a bad experience.

In High school we had to write down ten life goals , for an assignment .

I have done 8 of them .

# 9 was to fly the S.S. T. concorde to france to see the Louvre.

perhaps I can do the A-380 now instead

quote:

Originally posted by bendable:
In High school we had to write down ten life goals , for an assignment .

I have done 8 of them .

# 9 was to fly the S.S. T. concorde to france to see the Louvre.

perhaps I can do the A-380 now instead

Flying on Concorde and attending a live Shuttle launch were both on mine. Sadly, both no longer doable.

Flew in a 787 recently LAX-Dublin-Addis Ababa and return. For an extremely long flight (10 + 7 hours, return 11 + 7 hours) in coach it was remarkably comfortable. I had an aisle seat. Pitch I believe 32 inches, which is quite good; seat reclines quite a bit. Overhead luggage space remarkably capacious which contributed a lot to the comfort of the flight. Did not need to use noise-canceling headphones.

I don't like the idea of getting on and off a huge A380 with many hundreds of other passengers. Also as per Boeing plans, the 787 Dreamliner allows direct long flights rather than relying on hubs.

That's how I want to travel!!

I have flown them a few times from Frankfurt Germany to Houston on Lufthansa. They are a nice ride, smooth and comfortable enough. I sat on the isle. It did load and unload pretty quickly.

IIRC, the A380 uses 2 loading paths? I think IAH only has 1 or 2 A380 compatible gates, and they're visible as you round the east end of the airport.

I imagine that would contribute to ease of loading/unloading of passengers. At least until the airlines take the boss' advice & switch to loading us all on in tubes.

mrs tac and I just flew from SF to LHR on a new United Boeing Dreamliner. I had great fun playing with the electrically-dimming window...the test of the plane was just drop-dead gorgeous - we loved it. Watching that beautiful wing curving up to the tip was a caution, I admit.

Never been on a 380, though. My nephew helps build the wings at BAe/Airbus Industrie Broughton in North Wales. I guess that's as near as I'm ever going to get,

tac

quote:

Originally posted by Orguss:
Here's a video I watched a couple weeks ago of an Etihad A380 flight in First Class:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1R2sOr6vZqo

I just realized of all the 1st class flights I was on, they were NOT really 1st Class!
Excpt for Cathay Pacific NY- Taipei, even that was nowhere near this!

As someone who waited 24 years for a ride on a 747, sorry to burst the bubble but it isn't anything more than another wide body airliner that is just a pain to board/disembark unless you're in first class on one of the middle east carriers.

I shall never again be satisfied with the cattle drive into a tin sewer pipe