What's your favourite 747 memory?

[PineappleSkip]

My best memory wasn’t flying, it was marvelling, standing by General Holmes Drive watching the first QF 747 land on its maiden flight into SYD. That was back in the day when a 747 was a Jumbo Jet, a term which seems to have disappeared.

IIRC, not only did the early 747s have stairs, they had spiral staircases, and I remember them being advertised as the ducks nuts of flying. Not sure if the QF version ever had such.

They are still in QF system it seems, and just this morning I was issued an e-ticket on an 747SR. Only in Y but at least it’s in non-smoking. Remember when the back of the Y cabin was full of smoke? If I can’t find FICTITIOUS POINT - It’s not on google maps - I might frame the ticket.

cheers skip


QANTAS AIRWAYS QF9219 ECONOMY CLASS (Y) CONFIRMED
DEPART 06JUN21 FICTITIOUS POINT/FICTITIOUS POINT 0900
ARRIVE 06JUN21 FICTITIOUS POINT/FICTITIOUS POINT 1200
OPERATED BY QF QANTAS AIRWAYS
3:00 DURATION
AIRCRAFT : BOEING 747SR NON SMOKING

 

[ChrisGibbs]

January 1974 - QF731 747-200 EBA - Syd-Sin-Kul-Bah-Fco-Lhr as a 10 year old it was my first ever flight. August 1974 - QF2 Lhr-Ams-Bah-Sin, Sin-Syd. Indelible memories included the tubed headsets that rubbed your ears red raw. Lots of cigarette smoke in the cabin. Movies included: Blazing Saddles, Benji, Herbie. Still remember some of the names of the Captains - Peter Quinn, Henderson, Neil Andersen, Richardson??? Back in those days a child Syd-Lhr airfare cost around $A750 on way...

 

[LadyC]

Although I may have flown on one earlier, my first specific memory of flying a 747 was back in 1996, travelling with my father in F to Europe on BA. That was pretty special! I think the last time I flew a 747 was in 2013 with QF, flying SYD-HKG in F (it had seen better days). We enjoyed a nice extended stint at the F Lounge in Sydney due to a weather delay and shared the F cabin with Bob Hawke on our flight.

 

[p--and--t]

My first 747 flight was *domestic*.

During the pilots strike in 1989 I flew on a (presume chartered) JAL 747 ADL-SYD.

Thinking back, at the time I presume it was filling in time between the arrival and departure from Japan instead of sitting on the ground in SYD.

I'm not sure who the work tickets were through (AA or TN), but on boarding my boss and I were checked into exit row seats near the front of the plane. We were handed cardboard boxed meals on the flight.

The highlight was that during the flight we were approached by an FA and asked if we would like a coughpit tour. We spent quite some time in the coughpit and in very highly accented Japanese/English one of the pilots explained some of the banks of switches which seemed to cover over half of the ceiling. Blew my mind at the time. Also wondered how the traffic controllers ever understood what they were saying over the radio.

Had a couple of experiences during the pilot strike, the second was a trip ADL-MEL on a charter flight (I think from some European airline). The main things I remember from the flight it was single aisle 3+3 and the seats had almost no padding (numb bum most of the way) and looking out the window I came to the conclusion the pilots had decided if you followed the coast line you would eventually find Melbourne as the sea was in view for a large proportion of the flight, way more than on normal flights and the flight time was way longer than usual. Would you call that the Sea_nic route?

 

[NickCorr]

Nice thread!

Some memories that come to mind for me...

• most unusual: a hard, heavy landing, *allegedly* touching down before the runway. The mess in the cabin! Many of the service carts had been thrown loose and were lying strewn across the galley floors at all angles... there was liquid everywhere seeping down the aisles from the carts. Don't know what happened to the plane! (no instant news in those days!)

I know this one... When I was a kid, dad had mates who were pilots and training captains at our sailing club.. Over a beer one day, they explained that some colleagues had "struggled" with the loftier perch of the 747 and hard landings had become more common, much to the engineers annoyance...

 

[SydneySara]

I'll start - and sorry, I think I will have to pick a couple of different memories of the queen of the skies.

One of my earliest memories as a small child is boarding a SYD-AKL flight. As we walked onto the plane, I noticed there was this fancy staircase leading to the upper deck. I wanted to explore upstairs, but one of my parents told me that it was only for rich people and we kept walking to the back of economy.

For years, I thought I'd never be able to fly on the upper deck of a 747. Finally, last year, I had an opportunity to do it (and not because I'm rich at all - I just know now how to use frequent flyer points effectively). I relished every bit of that experience!

My other 747 memory is my first trip to Europe as a 17-year old, which was also my first big solo international trip. I had begged my parents for months to let me go to Germany on exchange, and was so excited when they finally said yes. I flew with Qantas on a 747 from Sydney to Frankfurt (with a stop in Singapore), and associate that trip with so many happy memories.

Matt - great memories! I’m your age & my first was also to Frankfurt On a CX 747 in 97 via Kai Tak!

I too gamed my points & have had 5 upper deck rides - 5 of the happiest experiences.

I’m just heartbroken that the beautiful old girl is gone.

 

[harvyk]

So apparently I've done 56 sectors on various types of 747's. For years, if 747 was a realistic option, I would take it over any other.
I've done the 747-100 / 747-300 and 747-400.

So some of my memorable flights were:

My first ever flight was a continental 747-100, from SYD-HNL back in 91. We got the middle 4 bulkhead seats, the movie on the overhead screen was "Ghost" and we arrived in HNL at around 5am. (It's amazing the details that you can remember ever though it was so long ago)

My first ever J flight was a AKL-MEL, upstairs in the bubble, however that was shortly followed by my first long haul J, again upstairs in the bubble.

My best flight in one was a PE, from SYD-LAX. What made this flight so good was just how on the ball the FA was. Now all QF needed to do was clone her and they'd have the perfect airline.

Some other memorable ones involved visits to the flight deck. Whilst thanks to my sim at home (another story), I felt right at home in there, there was also something special about being inside a real one and not a sim.

But perhaps my favorite memory, would be when I took the family to the US 6 years ago. Whilst in some ways the flight was just a flight, it was the first big international trip that my kids went on. The excitement, and anticipation, the everything. We'd driven to SYD from CBR earlier that morning (it was a 2am start time), arriving at SYD T1 at 5:00am. The flight itself wasn't until 10:30am, so we had a ton of time to kill. That just kept the excitement levels rising, the anticipation, seeing the plane sitting there that was about to take us overseas. It's a feeling that was very different from just about every flight I'd done up to that point.

 

[mel-world]

Good idea for a thread to reminisce as we all sit on the ground. I have many fond memories of the 747 across many airlines but just a couple that come to mind:

I was working in HKG in the early 90s and well remember the AN 747s between HKG and MEL, especially their J cabin at the front of the lower deck. I still use the shoe bags AN issued as amenity kit holders each flight. AN put a lot of effort into one of their few international routes.

In 1996, after working about 30 days without a break in ATL, I had an upstairs J seat on a chartered QF 747 for an 0230 departure ferrying the Aussie Team and some media back to SYD. We were all exhausted but more alcohol had to be loaded during a technical stop in LAX. I think everyone slept most of the way across the Pacific but woke to an early morning low level arrival up Sydney Harbour with 'I still call Australia home' was playing on the PA (many a teary eye was observed) before landing to a big media welcome in a hanger near the the QF domestic terminal. Customs and Immigration were done in ATL before we left so I just disembarked, collected my bag and went home; the media had more important people to interview.

 

[Mattg]

I almost forgot to mention flying on QF63 a few years ago when we flew right over Antarctica. We flew far enough south, and the weather was good enough, that we could see icebergs out the window for around 5 hours mid-cruise.



The cabin came alive in a way I've never seen on a long-haul flight. Everyone was thrilled to get a glimpse of the icebergs and people were taking turns sharing windows, etc.



There are a few more photos in my trip report from the time: Safaris and many more adventures in South Africa

I've now flown with QF on the SYD-JNB and SYD-SCL routes 5 more times since then, and none of the subsequent flights were as good. Two of the flights were at night, and on the other 3, we just didn't get close enough to the icebergs and/or they were covered in cloud. On some of those flights, the window shades were even kept down the whole time and nobody seemed to notice or care where we were.

 

[StevoQFtraveller]

Great thread!
So many great memories of the big bird! A few that come to mind
- urgent last-minute trip LHR-SYD via Kai Tak wiith Cathay for a funeral. Only had seats in middle rows at the back of the plane. After getting off I felt I had spent a night in a night-club, with all the smoke!
- PER-SIN-ATH J class with SIA. I was the only one in the top-deck of the plane. Treated like a king!
- upgraded to first on United SYD-SFO. Loved the FA asking me if I wanted my nuts hot!
- Y in Ward Air LHR-YYZ - very special economy for the time, with Royal Doulton, etc
- J upper deck last year (and final QF big bird flight) JHB-SYD. Was great to be welcomed on board by the attentive QF crew, after dealing with some FAs with attitude from earlier EK and BA flights on the same trip.
May the old bird rest in peace...

 

[John in Melbourne]

1972: MEL to SFO, first leg of first-time trip to London. I saw this huge plane and had a mild panic that it wouldn't stay aloft. Mum, Dad and friends came to wave me off.
1977: MEL to SIN, first leg of a "student charter" to London. The Qantas stewards allowed my friend and me to sit in the first class lounge. Those were the days!

 

[Seat0B]

I'm going to have a few little reminiscences here.

My first ever overseas flight was as a 15 year old in November 1975 with my parents and sister on a QF 747 from Sydney to London via Singapore and Bahrain. it was just such an amazing experience for me. That trip was 2 years in the planning - back in the day when your wrote away for a Thomas Cook train timetable to research your ground travel options, and used Europe on $15a Day to send aerogrammes to little pensione in various countries requesting accommodation - and then waited weeks for snail mail to do its thing. It was the start of a very beautiful friendship for me with trips to Europe/UK on the 747 in 1977 (just my sister and me) and 1983 (with my then boyfriend, later husband) to follow. I recall very clearly that our 1977 flight ticket cost $1275, which was a lot of money back then. Pre-COVID, you could still fly to Europe for about the same money. We had a lot of space to ourselves on that flight and managed to stretch out over 4 seats and sleep for what felt like hours.

In 1990, by now with Mr Seat 0A and an almost 3 year old daughter, we travelled in business class style to the USA on a military posting. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I said at the time - "I will know I am rich if I can ever afford to pay for this for myself!".

Since then, I've flown many many sectors in the old workhorse, including Sydney - New York in Y as a family of 4 - Mr Seat OA, daughter then aged 19 and son aged 15, and Sydney -Paris, also in Y with the family a couple of years earlier. These trips gave me a new perspective on that first trip when I was 15 with my mum and dad . There were no spare seats to speak of on those flights. By then I was a WP and the kind cabin crew did bring me and Mr Seat 0A a couple of drinks from Business Class, and upgraded us all for the final leg from LAX to JFK into the business cabin. After those trips, a few more business class sectors made their way into my ticketing!

My last 747 flight was on Wednesday 22 January 2020. Mr Seat 0A and I flew business class in the quiet little cabin in the pointy nose end of the plane from Sydney-Haneda. I did not know then that it would be my last trip - I still have an award booking for January 2021, which now will not happen at all, for so many reasons. I would have made more of a big deal of it had I known. Instead I just quietly accepted a glass of pre-flight bubbles, put on my jammies and went to sleep on the not so comfy "flat" bed - that once upon a time had been my idea of heaven. I don't even think I got a photo. Isn't that always the way with "last times" - we never know when they will happen. So it is with a lifetime of fond memories that I say goodbye to this queen of the skies.

 

[FirstClass]

1977, SYD - LHR, Captain Cook Lounge, @ the bar, given a whole flat pack of (properly branded) Dunhill with my drink, followed by an hour in the flight deck jump seat... Those were the days!
Despite the demise of the Lounge, and the aging of the fleet, subsequent F class in 747 always had a comfortable 'clubby' feel not evoked by F in later, more 'plastic', aircraft like A380...
Like many inevitabilities, sadly missed.

 

[Hvr]

In February 2008 I was returning from Japan and due to loading was op-upped to J on the A330. I vowed then to never fly in Y again. And thanks to AFF that has basically been the case.

So when planning for a Circle Asia fare commencing in November 2008 I booked J, the first international leg being SYD-BKK on QF1. I also applied for and received an upgrade to F.

I was living in CBR at the time and booked a domestic flight to SYD and got my luggage checked through. The customer service person was obviously having a bad day and when I saw her put the yellow F tag on my bag (I was SG at the time) I asked if my upgrade had come through I got a surly and unintelligible response.

However, I then saw the F BP and was very happy. I then went to the newly opened CBR J lounge for my first visit. The lounge lady saw my obvious enthusiasm and asked me if this was my first F flight. When responded affirmatively she asked if I wanted the F folder which I accepted with enthusiasm.

A quick flight to SYD and then the bus to the international terminal. I happily made my way to the F lounge for my very first visit. Nestor met me at the door and upon sighting my F BP welcomed me to the inner sanctum with a big smile.

I was fortunate enough to get a spa treatment and ate well. I saw the magnificent 747 on the tarmac awaiting my journey. Finally, it was time to board and I availed myself of priority boarding.

Upon sighting my BP at the door the FA welcomed me and escorted me to my seat. I began to truly appreciate I was flying on a classic plane.

A little later another FA asked if I needed guidance about the seat and I accepted this telling her this was my first F flight. She was pleased and gave me a good explanation of the various features.

As we took off I appreciated the view and knew I was on board the Queen of the sky.

I had some fine food and Diet Coke, a small sleep and all too soon we arrived at BKK.

As I disembarked I looked back and truly appreciated that I had flown on a classic plane that had moved millions of people around the world.

I later travelled many different routes on the 747 mainly in J with the occasional flight in an F seat. The last one being from SFO-SYD. While the seats were looking a little tired just knowing that I was flying in a plane that will be talked about for ever is a memory that I will forever cherish. However, as with many things in life, we always remember our first time.

I had the privilege of flying upstairs, but as a solo traveller preferred the single seat in row 5.

Now of course QF1 is routed SYD-SIN-LHR and SIN is the only Asian port used by QF to continue on to LHR.
In late Nov 2008 BKK AP was occupied and there was a period of time where QF didn't fly there.

That the COVID-19 pandemic has seen the end of QF747 pax flights is a sad way for them to finish. The 747 truly deserved a fine send off at the end of their long and illustrious service for Qantas.

I'll miss the old girl.

 

[Seat0B]

A couple more things I've remembered - the old "non-smoking section" that was just a different row to the "smoking section". I recall sitting all the way to London and back a few times wreathed in smoke.

Two never forget it landings into old Kai Tak airport in Hong Kong in January 1976 and February 1984, both times on BA.

 

[pjm99au]

Late 70’s as an eleven yo I flew on a BA 747 unaccompanied to the UK to visit the grand parents. Prior to landing the FA who was looking after me moved me up the front so that we could get off first to walk me through immigration.

Waiting at the door there was a problem with the aerobridge and I remember asking what would happen if they couldn’t get it to work. We’ll just have to release the slide and you can slide down was the response. Much to my disappointment they got the gate working

 

[Seat0B]

Hopefully, I'm not getting confused, but I think the 747 used to fly the 2nd leg of the 'direct flight' SYD-JFK? (ie, the LAX-JFK leg). In the early days of getting into 'the hobby', when I used to fly Y, I loved the way the plane had about 4 or 5 rows of 2 window seats at the back of the plane, as it created a fair bit of extra room and comfort for Y travellers (and they didn't seem too hard to get), especially if you had no one sitting next to you. After the 14 hours in Y to get to LAX, it was a bit of a welcome relief.

You're not confused - my family and I did that trip in December 2006 on a 747 and miraculously scored a sympathy upgrade to Business Class for the LAX-JFK leg after quite a long layover on the ground that included delays for some reason or another.

 

[GoldCanyon340]

My first B747 was QF10 in November 1994 LHR-SIN, connecting to QF52 SIN-BNE (also a B747) Also my first flight in a premium cabin.

I quit my job in London and flew to Australia for a three-month holiday to watch that summer's Ashes / World Series. Happy days.

Still remember the old QF LHR T3 lounge like it was yesterday, down the corridor and up the stairs from the current ground floor QF lounge.

 

[RooFlyer]

Matt - great memories! I’m your age & my first was also to Frankfurt On a CX 747 in 97 via Kai Tak!

I too gamed my points & have had 5 upper deck rides - 5 of the happiest experiences.

I’m just heartbroken that the beautiful old girl is gone.

And welcome to posting on AFF @SydneySara

 

[harvyk]

Hopefully, I'm not getting confused, but I think the 747 used to fly the 2nd leg of the 'direct flight' SYD-JFK? (ie, the LAX-JFK leg). In the early days of getting into 'the hobby', when I used to fly Y, I loved the way the plane had about 4 or 5 rows of 2 window seats at the back of the plane, as it created a fair bit of extra room and comfort for Y travellers (and they didn't seem too hard to get), especially if you had no one sitting next to you. After the 14 hours in Y to get to LAX, it was a bit of a welcome relief.

They sure did, and flying that sector on the 747 was always a bucket list item for me (which I did in 2017). Better still my upgrade came through for that sector. So I ended up doing BNE-LAX (spent a night) and then LAX-JFK all in J because the upgrade fairy smiled on me twice