747's
 

This may not be a big deal to the seasoned traveler out there, but I've never flown on a 747 before and would like to at some point. Although I don't do a lot of travel, I hope to be traveling to Santorini, Greece in September in either business or first class and was hoping to fly on one from Orlando probably via JFK. Any suggestions or am I not missing anything?

I'm an airplane fan so I can appreciate your interest.

The upper deck of a 747 is a nice experience. On most airlines that is business class. Even nicer is the nose area, which I flew on SQ first class once.

Several airlines fly 747s from JFK to Europe, where you could then connect on to Santorini.

My recommendation is to NOT connect through JFK though. Nothing wrong with JFK, but if you're going to fly business or first, you might as well do so directly from Orlando to maximize your comfort.

You'll have to poke around to find out who flies 747s out of Orlando - maybe BA to London or AF to Paris. Just guessing. Lufthansa has a fleet of 747s as well - through FRA.

An alternative is to find out who flies 747s from a US hub non-stop to Athens. USAir no. UAL doubtful - I think they use 747s primarily to Asia. Maybe Delta. Just guessing.

AF uses a 747 from Miami to Paris. At least they were the last few times I flew that route.

The 747 is an older plane on most airlines, though, which means that quite often they are not equipped with individual screens.

Have no idea how many 747s are still in service and they are definitely the oldest planes in any fleet.

I've flown them a lot - often in first class - since TWA used to have a great mileage program - for only 50,000 miles you could get a free first class ticket anyplace they went and your companion got a first class seat for the lowest coach fare. So - we would do one or two trips to europe every year on free miles (since I flew a lot for business).

The planes had a lot of seat room (at least TWA - some other airlines would stuff in extra rows of seats). But what I liked best was that they were totally over-engineered - they could in fact fly a significant distance and land on only one of the 4 engines. I also liked the 6 course meals (they cooked food to order) - esp if we took a 6 pm flight out.

Never went upstairs since we were focused on sleeping after dinner- not drinking.

Don;t expect any updated tech services - these are OLD planes.

I don't find any airline using 747s between Orlando and JFK or JFK and Athens. Virgin and Continental code-share some flights on 747s from Orlando to Gatwick, and Lufthansa/UA/Continental code-share from Orlando to Frankfurt on 747s.

Once you narrow your flight options, you can find seat dimensions, cabin layouts and 'amenities' at www.seatguru.com. Not all 747s are the same.

The 747s we flew between Seattle and Heathrow had individual seatback screens.

We just flew a 747 out of Vancouver Canada to London and it also had a very nice seatback entertainment system. As an additional bonus the plane was half empty, so both my husband and I were seated in rows with an empty middle seat between our aisle seats and the window seat-what a pleasure!

>>The 747 is an older plane on most airlines, though, which means that quite often they are not equipped with individual screens.<< Not my experience at all. Yes it might be an older plane but that does not mean they have never been refitted. EG BA 747s have individual seat back screens on the flights I have taken, as well as Virgin and I have travelled in every class on those airlines. Am travelling on a 747 again in a week or so which will be my 3rd 747 trip this year.

On Virgin in Upper Class (equiv to business class) they have a bar which is very nice.

Not sure if Virgin still fly 747 from Orlando to Gatwick, might be an Airbus now, BA may have 747 or try Miami/Heathrow. Easyjet fly direct from Gatwick to Santorini.

The OP is not interested in "seatback screens." In first and business class on any 747 I've flown in the last 20 years, the screens are all individual and pop out of the console next to the seat.

You've got a few choices for flying the 747. Virgin has a non-stop from Orlando to London-Gatwick on one, but then you'd either have to take 2 flights from there to Athens or trek to Heathrow for a non-stop. Easier, probably, would be to go to a gateway for Lufthansa (ORD, JFK, and others, seasonally) or British Airways (JFK and others). Keep in mind, though, that non all Lufthansa or BA trans-Atlantic flights are on 747s.

It's nonsense to suggest all B-747s are old. The plane is still being manufactured. The current model is just going into service, a stretch version designated the 800 series. But it's certainly true that some very early planes are still in the air. At an international airport it's possible to spot 747s with a stubby top deck.
Unless you're paying the big bucks for the upper deck, however, inside the aircraft it is just another wide-body airplane and configured according to individual airline requirements. It's very wide-body if you are stuck with a middle seat.
On long flights, video-on-demand is definitely a feature worth seeking when you shop for tickets; it will make more difference that the model of aircraft.

Thank you all for taking time to help out. You've given me some great ideas and leads.

For those that are curious here's a list of all 747's.

http://www.airfleets.net/listing/b747-29.htm (p29 of 29)

Since 2001 there have only been a handful of passenger versions shipped, with the latest around 2005. All planes since then have been freighters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_747-400

The new 747-800i (passenger) is under test and with 1st deliveries later this year or next year.

As others have said it's the airline and age of the cabin that matters most. An airplane can undergo a complete interior retrofit one or more times in it's lifetime.

Same holds for new planes - don't expect them to be any different. I recently flew on a brand new A380 (LH, steerage class) and sat in the same generic LH coach class seat. I believe business class is also the same, angled seats you'll find on any other LH plane.

It all depends on the operating airline.