quote:

Originally posted by downtownv:

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!

Yeah, domestic first class is nothing like international business class. It is the difference between night and day. I've done it a few times and never wanted the flight to end.

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

Thanks, but not for 14 minutes .

I've been getting lucky the last year and getting deadheads into and out of Dubai. Anything longer than 5 hours the company has to put us in a lie-flat seat.

Went from Paris to Dubai on an Emirates A-380. The entire upper deck is business and first class. You use a separate jetbridge so you never have to rub elbows with the unwashed masses in steerage.

Leaving Dubai once coming all the way home I booked on Lufthansa. 747 Dubai-Frankfurt and an A-380 Frankfurt-Houston. The 747 was just OK, even in business class. And the A-380 upper deck seemed to have more seats than the Emirates one. The Emirates interiors are also almost overly ostentatious, with lacquered wood and gold-colored trim everywhere. But after that, the Lufthansa interior felt almost Spartan.

Oh yeah, the Emirates A-380s have the bar in back on the upper deck. I went back there a few times just to say I did it. One time I was back there we hit some turbulence and they turned on the seat belt sign. I made a move to go back to my seat and the bartender said "No sir, you may stay here. The couches have seat belts." And they did!

And to echo Balze's comments - yes, on international business or first class flights, I actually look forward to being spoiled and don't want the flight to end.

Emirates is the one where Jennifer Anniston was taking a shower in, does she come standard as a shower helper on their flights.

I flew on Emirates from Chicago to Bangkok and back, coach.
From Dubai to Bangkok and back on the A380 the rest of the flight on a 777. I liked the A380, it was very smooth and quite, but not a lot better than the 777.
The seats, HORRIBLE! I thought my ass was going to to need hospitalization after about 4 hrs. The most uncomfortable seats I have ever sat in. I bought every type of seat cushion I could but nothing helped.
I can easily see why people cough up the extra money for business class.

The 747 has been done for a number of years and the iconic plane has been far surpassed by twins. The last two 747s were going to be Air Force One however two 748s - completed and brand new with no customer hours on the frame - were sitting in Victorville because the Russian airline couldn't come up with the money to omplete the sale.

Instead of waiting until the end, the Feds agreed to purchase those two planes and they'll have their interiors stripped and gutted for the conversions at a high price.

But the 747 is done and I'm confident that the anounceentv will come before the end of the year. There are so many 748s sitting in dry storage that you have your pick and the cost to convert it to a freighter is far less than buying a new one.

But the truth is that twins rule the market and other than the 747 and A380, no other 4 engine planes are produced.

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Originally posted by Flashlightboy:
But the truth is that twins rule the market and other than the 747 and A380, no other 4 engine planes are produced.

ETOPS rules...however, I believe the IL-96 is still in production.

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'll second one of the comments on YouTube about it. Like a completely unknown world and half expected to see John Wick in the background somewhere.

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Originally posted by corsair:

ETOPS rules...however, I believe the IL-96 is still in production.

I had to look that thing up since I did not know what it is. Only 15 operating worldwide, and 10 of those in Russian government service? No wonder I did not know what it was! But yes, technically still in production!

Mrs.BurtonRW and I flew a Qantas A380 from LAX to MEL and SYD to DFW last October. Sprung for their Premium Economy cabin. It was well worth the price (almost double coach)in so far as there's no way in hell I could do 15-16 hours in sardine class.

Service was remarkable, but that's Qantas, not the plane. That said, I do have some complaints about the seats. Most notably, the leg rest isn't long enough and/or doesn't extend far enough to be particularly useful or comfortable. It hit me mid-calf, so I just ended up not using it, which made the extra recline of the seats much less comfortable.

-Rob