I have not. Despite it being a favorite jet of many travelers, airline geek forums have reported that sending it to the scrap heap is increasing due to its high operating costs, unsuitability for use at most airports, and inability to be converted to cargo transport. As mentioned in the video below, Emirates and Qantas are the only major airlines that will continue to fly the A380 in significant numbers.
Nope. Outside of flying through the middle east, those planes are rare. Although Lufthansa is up-gauging one Denver route this summer from an A340 to the A380 (I forget if it is Frankfurt or Munich route). First ever A380 route for DIA.
My only time on the 787 was the 2021 eclipse flight, so only 1/4 occupancy including for the flight from Santiago down to Punta Arenas. The only feature of the plane to get attention was the flexible wings that rise during flight and potentially cut off views from certain windows.
Didn't you mention that the 787's dimmable windows (the first jet to have this helpful feature in 2011) degraded the view of the eclipse somewhat? If that's the case, I wonder why they used that plane -- especially since it was only a quarter full?
You should tell the group what you saw on the Newark runway a few days ago.
British Airways flies one roundtrip SFO-LHR daily using a 380 and another using a 777. We flew the former on our way there last Sept and the latter on our return. I remember seeing stairs in the rear going to the upstairs on the 380, but they had a chain and a sign, so I did not go up them. We had exit row seats
on the return assigned to us at gate after they only had one seat available at check-in.
A LATAM 787 was used for the 2019 eclipse flight from Easter Island that lasted 8 1/2 minutes without much complaint AFAIK.
Hard to believe that the first deliveries of this plane were 30 years ago. I remember my father lauding it after a flight in 1996.
On Saturday morning, I had a flight out of Newark to Jacksonville, Florida. We pulled back from the gate. The pilot came on, said the airport is currently closed due to an emergency landing. We were front and center to the FedEx plane I just landed and is burning on the runway in front of us. The fire crew did an amazing job extinguished the fire quickly and the airport opened in 15 minutes. There was a lot smoke
No surprise about today's announcement, in red below. Hard to believe that it took them so long to make the change.
