United has just released the latest flying changes for June. The JFK-EZE service has been cancelled, and the EZE-MVD-EZE leg will now use a 777 aircraft.
But the startling (and a bit sad for me) change is the LAX-AKL-LAX flight which will be changed from a B747-400 to a B777. Reading this unfortunate piece of news brought but two words to mind...Oh No!
That's right, "Oh NO!" Twelve hours and forty-five minutes stuck on a 777? Two engines vs. four over the Pacific Blue. No upper deck. Much smaller cabin. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.
Melvin says: "For those non-flight attendants reading this article, the B777 aircraft reaches its flight attendant sanity work-tolerance-limits after approximately 8 hours, methinks. Yes, the 777 is a nice, new, and pretty plane. Yes, it saves all the airlines money. And yes, it is a nice marketing idea---which Boeing milked for all it was worth." |
But those long haul Pacific flights just don't feel right onboard the 777. For passengers and crew, crossing the Pacific can still be a grand and exciting airline journey---a welcome respite from the Greyhound traveler era. On the Mother Of All Aircraft, the Oh-So-Grand B747, airline crews and passengers have more environment to move about---and it doesn't feel like you are stuck on a Detroit to Chicago-type plane. Mainly because you could get a change of scenery from time to time.
The large crews, the mighty four engines lifting that massive city in the sky---now that's flying in style!
Nothing against the 777: It makes a wonderful domestic trans-con aircraft. Or perhaps a decent Europe to IAD or ORD shuttlebus. But put me on that thing any longer than 8 hours and that plane is just tooo0 small. And anti-climactic.