So I wouldn’t be me without a long winded story, now would I?
My first time flying was on a 747, LAX to Honolulu. It was probably1977 and I remember it vividly. I had to dress up since we were going on a plane so I had khaki shorts, a clip-on tie and a little sport jacket. I remember the burnt orange floral seat covers, the double isles I could run up and down for hours, the massive rear galley where the stewardesses in pretty Hawaiian patterned dresses gave me candy and soda. I visited the cockpit during flight and got to talk to the pilots and see all the instruments (so many knobs and switches). The best was the spiral stairs to the upstairs lounge where I sat with my father as he smoked and read his book at the low cocktail tables, I felt like a VIP. The bartender gave me extra cherries in my 7-up. This is how I remember flying as a child, Ifeel saddened that kids don’t get to experience that kind of joy and privilege when flying anymore.
The last domestic US route for the 747 was from Chicago to Maui on United, they stopped about 7 years ago. I flew it back in 2007 and it was as I remembered (without the burnt orange upholstery and the flight attendants weren’t wearing floral dresses anymore). But those double isles…with a back condition it was glorious as I could get up and walk laps around the plane during flight, or just stand in the galley for a while and look out the window.
The article linked above says Lufthansa still flies 25 747’s, who knows for how long. Perhaps I’ll see if they fly into an east coast terminal and we’ll take a flight to Berlin just to give the plane a kiss goodbye.
