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Old Posted May 25, 2019, 2:24 PM
azliam azliam is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Phoenix
Posts: 779
Quote:
Originally Posted by N830MH View Post
Right! It's Terminal 5 at Heathrow, not Sky Harbor.



Yeah, I will miss 747 very much. No more 747-400 aircraft. She will be retired soon. I flew on 747-400 for 4 times.
I will miss the 747 too. I have some good and not so great trip memories about them.

My very first time on a 747 was with Pan Am when they operated troop flights to Saudi Arabia during Desert Shield/Desert Storm. That flight felt like the longest flight ever and there was nothing extravagant about it other than it was a big bird. I was 18, had never flown on an overseas flight and obviously had no idea what to expect in that entire situation once we landed.

In 1995, I flew with a friend to Athens. We extended our trip for a week to Mykonos - well worth it! The trip back was quite long. One of my friends stateside worked for an airlines and adjusted the flights back, but somehow that got screwed up. After a long night of partying, my friend misplaced his passport, so I ended up flying back the following morning myself. Mykonos to Athens - 3 hour layover. Athens to JFK on Olympic Airways 747 ended up being diverted to Boston instead. The plane sure did rattle a lot and was so empty that it felt creepy. I thought it best to try to sleep my way through the flight and was able to lie down across 4 middle seats of my choice. Once in Boston, I was able to find a short hop to JFK, but missed my connection to Vegas. I got a later flight to Vegas and then subsequently took my last flight back to Tucson. When all was said and done, Olympic lost my luggage for 2 weeks.

Another long trip was to Sydney and Asia in '97. I took a flight from Tucson to PHX - two hour layover. PHX to Denver - 3 hour layover. Denver to LAX - 5 hour layover. Then 16 hour flight to Sydney on Quantas 747. The flight was great, but super long. Damn woman sitting next to me wouldn't turn off her light, so hard to rest. When we arrived to Sydney, we couldn't check into our hotel because a student demonstration was happening right outside of the hotel (students were protesting for free education). They stormed the hotel. I was livid at that point. Later in trip, took Quantas 747 to Singapore. Singapore Airlines 747 to Hong Kong (best service ever). Later, Japan Airlines 747 to Narita. United Airlines 747 from Narita to Honolulu - the worst turbulence ever 3 or so hours nonstop - this happened a few weeks later: https://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/29/w...oman-dies.html

I've also flown 747s from Atlanta to Amsterdam (KLM - good service), and Phoenix to London on BA. No major complaints.
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