ski-air travel stories

Anybody else been on an Airbus A380?
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.

 
That was an informative video. I would have thought the A380 would be attractive for high volume transatlantic flights, but further research says no. At time of development, demand was overprojected. Business travelers in particular prefer more flight time options vs. fewer flights on bigger planes. Since the newer designs like the Boeing 787 are as fuel efficient per passenger mile, demand for the A380 fell off and production was discontinued in 2021. The A380 will never recover its $25 billion development cost. 116 A380's are in service with Emirates and 74 by 9 other airlines combined, Qantas being in second place with 10. The seats are 1.5 inches wider than in a 747.
 
Anybody else been on an Airbus A380?
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.

787 style planes were the right strategic bet by Boeing (ignoring all the production issues which are a different part of things).

My personal favorite planes to fly are actually the Embraier E175 for domestic and the 787 for long haul (not that I've flown every plane type).
 
I like the 787
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.
 
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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?
 
Anybody else been on an Airbus A380?
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.
 
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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?
A LATAM 787 was used for the 2019 eclipse flight from Easter Island that lasted 8 1/2 minutes without much complaint AFAIK.

2021 was an last minute call after the Falklands denied emergency landing rights to the planned 737 due to COVID.

The wing situation resulted in the eclipse not being an exactly perpendicular view out the windows. That in combination with the dimming degraded some of the high end photographers.

Note 4AM time of post. After sleeping midnight to past noon Sunday, jet lag is still going strong Monday. What is Tseeb doing up at this hour, probably driving to make opening bell at a not that close ski area?
 
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You should tell the group what you saw on the Newark runway a few days ago.
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

IMG_0339.jpeg
 
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