Let’s kick off the Memorial Day weekend with another Vintage Airline Seat Map, shall we? I previously posted two other versions of American Airlines’ DC-10s from the past (here and here), and the one appearing below was seen flying the skies in 1987.
Seating a total of 313 passengers in a high-density “Hawaii” configuration, there were only 16 First Class seats scrunched up there where the fuselage begins to taper towards the flight deck. It appears they removed the front galley on this version to accommodate the seats, which were in a 2-2-2 layout.
Economy seated 297 passengers in the common 2-5-2 configuration. Something interesting to note is that they had an entire closet dedicated for just blankets (near the rear lavatories).
I’d definitely be seated in ‘Zone 1’ ahead of door two. In First, you’d likely find me in the second row and in economy I’d probably go for row five or six.
Where would you sit?
I used to fly these with my parents once a year, LAX-HNL-LAX. I thought they were so cool
totally love how row 1-2 is non-smoking, row 3 is smoking, and they think that makes ANY difference
Thanks for sharing. BTW, do you remember if the “Hawaii” configuration had more, or fewer, first class seats than the standard domestic configuration?
@AAdvantage Geek: The Hawaii version had more seat. The standard DC-10 flying at the same time was 34/256 for a total of 290. I’ll post that seat map eventually (probably not for a while to break things up).
@ Darren – Thanks for the info. That’s a pretty cramped flight.
Yikes – here we have the beginning of miserable air travel post deregulation. Removing galleys, cutting down first class. This makes any config out there today look like a walk in the park.
Imagine if flyertalk were around when this was introduced…
These early ‘Tens’ had lower galleys, so meals were cooked below deck and sent up in a heating cart for the service. Beverage carts, coffee makers, and other items were stored in service stations on the main level, basically mini-galleys. Elevators at the service stations were used to move the carts up and down between decks. The lower galley was massive, and occupied a lot of space that could otherwise be used for revenue-generating cargo. Lower galleys (like cocktail lounges, conversation pits and polyester) were a 70s-era trend that didn’t survive the long haul!
@Gene: Thanks for the info about the lower lobe galley. I think I still have a polyester shirt, though.
I actually worked on these airplanes to Hawaii out of Dallas. The plane was a GIANT coach section that went on forever. There was a movie screen that came down I think at the 3LR cross aisle. They were always sold out. Going out they had a nice lunch and a snack with a white chocolate macadamia nut cookie and coming a nice dinner and a muffin before landing. We used to try to service before landing as quietly as possible because it was an allnighter out of Hawaii.
They also did a Maui turn out of Honolulu.
@Chris: Thanks for your inside scoop on this aircraft!