blightyboy

Any opinions of which is better. Have the choice and am travelling BC on Oasis Hong Kong Airlines. Is the upperdeck tighter on space, does it feel claostrophobic, is there as much space. Any advice please. Currently have seats on the lower deck 2 rows forward of the 2nd door from the front.

cynstalker

I've never flown "Oasis", but when flying BA, Qantas and AA, we have always chosen the upstairs if possible as it seems to be much quieter and more private. There was plenty of space, very comfortable.

<font color="green">Cyn</font>

sunshine007

On BA children are not allowed on the upperdeck.

AAFrequentFlyer

<b>cynstalker</b>,

That AA 747 experience must have been some time ago. I believe AA gave up it's last 747 in the mid to late 70s.

rkkwan

AA had 2 747SPs that fly 60/61 DFW-NRT from around 1988 to early 90's. Don't know what they put on the upperdeck, however.

I had my one and only international op-uped on one of those flights. They have 2-3-2 seating in C, which is better than most airlines 2-4-2 on 747s at that time.

AAFrequentFlyer

<b>rkkwan</b>,

I'm just going by what aa.com says....

<i>Boeing 747 - The massive Boeing 747 was the world's first jumbo jet. <b>American Airlines first introduced the 747 in March 1970. While American used the 747 to carry passengers for only a few years</b>, it served as an all-cargo aircraft for longer. This oversized aircraft was capable of carrying oversized cargo such as one of San Francisco's famous streetcars.</i>


http://www.aa.com/content/amrcorp/co...aircraft.jhtml

cynstalker

AAFF - could have only been BA and Qantus, but all flights were using AA miles, hence my confusion as to which metal we were actually flying on - although, some of our upper-deck flights WERE a long time ago...

At any rate, I still like the upper deck better than lower for BC.

<font color="green">Cyn</font>

rkkwan

I thought I've flown more, but checking my flightmemory.com data, I flew three AA60/61 roundtrips between 1988 and 1990 on the 747SP. Op-uped on one of the 6 legs. That's a pretty good percentage.

blightyboy

Thanks for this BUT please answer Upper or lower in simple terms please

rkkwan

blightyboy - I have never sat in the upper deck of a 747, only went up to visit the cockpit for a few minutes.

But my experience was like others who have commented. It's very quiet up there. Engine noise is almost non-existent, and there are only that many of you up there.

You will have room for your stuff, when flying business class, so that's not a concern. Your seat will have the same room as downstairs.

The difference is that you're in a much narrower part of the fuselage with lower ceiling. If that doesn't bother you, then sit upstairs.

And if were me flying, and I haven't sat upstairs before, then FOR SURE I'll try it, at least once.

Jack

I have flown on 747s many times and IMHO the only place to fly in business class is upstairs. It is much quieter, the service is great, at least it always seems like you get more attention than you do downstairs or on any one level plane. You also don't have so many people to go up and down the aisle to get to the restrooms. There is not a lower ceiling upstairs. I'm 6' 4&quot; and I have no head room problems whatsoever. However, because the fuselage is narrower, that is why there is only business class because they can only fit two business size seats on each side of the aisle. There is also lots of room for storage for roll ons at the back of the compartment. Just make sure you go to seatguru.com to pick out your seat, as some seats are considered better than others.

blightyboy

Great, thank you for this. It will be lower deck on the way out and upper on the way back. The way back is a night flight departong HK at 12.50 am and arriving LGW at 6.30am - so I will appreciate the quiter area then.

blightyboy

Interesting on Seat Guru is shows South African with economy 6 abreast on the upper deck, recon this might be tight.

rkkwan

Correct. Several airlines had put 3-3 economy in the upperdeck.

simpsonc510

I fly UA 747's in Asia all the time. I prefer the upper deck. I like the window in row 11. No one in front of me so plenty of space. And I like to prop my feet up on the storage compartment on the side, just under the window. The extra storage is nice, although you cannot put anything of any size in there. Any roll-aboards and backpack type bags need to be stowed in the little &quot;room&quot; at the top of the stairs.

Upper deck for me... it's a no brainer.

Carol

AAFrequentFlyer

<b>rkkwan</b>

I did find this site and it seems like you were correct...

http://www.airfleets.net/flottecie/A...story-b747.htm

Majority of AA's 747s were sold in 1984 but they did keep 2 until 1994.



Upper or lower?

I did fly BA Upper deck and I did like the cabin, not the new seat config. The backward/forward seating config.

I also flew in business on Cathay Pacific. One flight was on the upper deck and one was on the lower deck. Had very nice flights both times. Really not much difference in the cabins.

The best is the forward <b>first</b> class cabin on ANY 747 (flew on BA, CX and QF) on the lower deck. Now that's the way to go. Arriving at the destination before the pilots do....

rkkwan

AAFF - Those two 747SP were registered N601AA and N602AA and came from TWA. They were actually fairly new when they joined AA in 1986:

http://www.planespotters.net/Product...747/21962.html
http://www.planespotters.net/Product...747/21963.html

flanneruk

Oasis configures those of its planes I've been on differently from most Western airlines.

Seats in front of the forward door have the same (immense) amount of space in front and around them as First used to have in the early 90s. It's not quite a separate cabin: it doesn't have the dividing wall that Garuda keeps in the same place. But those seats in the front have an extraordinary feeling of spaciousness.

Business class seats upstairs and behind the forward door are like most intercontinental business seats have been for years. Like many airlines, Oasis' upper deck business seats have the little compartment next to the window seat which downstairs business seats don't. In practice, this tends to be more a benefit for window passengers than for those on the aisle

Oasis are as reliable as everyone else in keeping the hoi polloi out of all three premium area cabins. But of course the hoi polloi enter through the rear business cabin, whereas they can't get into the upper one or the forward one at all.

blightyboy

Most usefull Thanks Flanneruk.

jlillberto

When I booked international travel for corporate clients, they all preferred the upper deck. I, on the other hand, prefer the main cabin for business class. Too quiet makes me anxious!