In follow-up to my post this morning about United Airlines seemingly discontinuing service to Oakland this June, here’s a video photo tribute of DC-10s and 747s as seen at the OAK heavy maintenance base back in the 1990s.

I previously posted the maps of Cathay Pacific’s Boeing 747-300 and 747-400 from the 1980s, and here now is their 747-200 for this installment of Vintage Airline Seat Maps. The carrier operated about 20 of this version during its peak.

Seating a total of 363 passengers, First Class offered 35 seats in the then typical 2 x 2 layout, Marco Polo Business Class seated 92 passengers in a 2 x 3 x 2 configuration, and economy class saw the standard 3 x 4 x 3 with 236 seats.

The white ‘x’ appearing on many of the bulkhead walls denote baby bassinet positions and if I were traveling alone, you’d find me in 1A in First Class (hoping there wasn’t a baby across the aisle). I still prefer sitting in the nose of a 747 vs. upstairs and this bird was flying when smoking was allowed where rows four and five are highlighted as smoking seats.

In Business Class, row 16 looks ideal to me being ahead of the wing for optimal gazing out the window. Something I find odd here, though, is that there appears to be only two lavatories for the entire main deck First Class and Business Class cabins. That’s a little punitive, in my opinion.

In economy I’d probably take an aisle seat somewhere around row 37.

Where would you sit?

I should have asked for a time machine for Christmas because I really would like to fly on the aircraft featured in this edition of Vintage Airline Seat Maps – a United Airlines Boeing 747 from 1979. I should note that I turned seven that year, so was around, but didn’t end up taking my first flight until 1982. Why didn’t I start mileage running earlier?

The guide this map came from doesn’t specify whether this is a -100 or -200 series, and United flew both variants, so your guess is as good as mine. Seating a total of 374 passengers with 26 in First Class and 348 in Coach, United primarily flew this aircraft on transcontinental and Hawaii runs.

Be sure to check out the seat pitch figures where coach had either 36” or 38” depending on seat location. This is probably one of the last 747s to dedicate the entire upper deck to a lounge given the Airline Deregulation Act was signed into law the previous October and cabin real estate became much more valuable. Interesting to note is the lack of galley, or buffet as they’re calling it here, just aft of First Class. It’s also a shame they couldn’t have a movie screen/projector in that first coach zone between doors one and two.

In First Class you’d find me in either row two or three and definitely a window seat. In coach I’d favor 18H if I were alone or 17J/K if traveling with a partner.

Where would you sit?

With Continental’s takeover… err… merger with United Airlines, they now have 747s in their fleet again. It has been more than 20 years since the last Boeing 747 was seen flying in Continental’s livery and I’ve picked that version for this installment of Vintage Airline Seat Maps.

The map appearing below is either a -100 or -200 series 747 acquired from People Express, and I notice from Continental’s fleet history on Planespotters.net that they picked up both variaitons from the defunct carrier.

This bird seated a total of 470 passengers with 24 in First Class and 446 in coach. Anyone else notice something missing from the map? Where’s the upper deck layout? The main deck seated 430 passengers if my quick math is correct, so that leaves 16 seats that must be upstairs. Wonder what the layout was since a 3 x 3 doesn’t fit. Was it four rows of 2 x 2?

If row one really had that much leg room as what appears, that’s where you’d find me in First, otherwise I’d opt for row three or four. In coach I’d prefer a window seat somewhere in the 15 to 18 range for a view back at the engines and out the side for the landscape below.

Where would you sit?

The colorful Cathay Pacific seat maps reader Will sent me have become favorites in my collection. Here’s Cathay’s Boeing 747-300 from 1989 for this installment of Vintage Airline Seat Maps. It seated a total of 422 passengers split between First Class, Marco Polo Business Class and Economy Class.

29 seats were found in the nose and just beyond in the then typical two-seater configuration for First Class, and you’d definitely find me in 1A if I was flying solo or in 2A/B with a traveling companion. Well… maybe not 1A as the white ‘x’ mark at the bulkheads (in each cabin) denote bassinet positions. Smoking seats, by the way, are the ones with a yellowish hue.

In Marco Polo Business Class, I’d likely opt to sit upstairs although it’s tightly packed with 42 seats. These were the days before truly generous pitch was found in the middle cabin. The downstairs section might see more personalized service seating only 21 passengers. A tough selection here, but the extra storage bins alongside the window seats upstairs could be the swaying factor for me. I’ll go for 17A.

In coach flying solo, I generally book an aisle in the center 4-seater section on a 747 since those seats have a greater likelihood of the seat next to it being unoccupied. Also, I always pick the ‘G’ seats near the center back since the computer algorithm generally assigns last minute seats left to right, front to back. Otherwise, those aisle bulkhead seats just behind the exit doors would be incredibly spacious. It’d be a toss up between 30C and say, 49G for me. For a couple, nothing beats those last few rows of two-seaters if you don’t mind being last off the plane. Economy on this version seated 330 passengers.

Where would you sit?

I finally finished editing the immense amount of video I took on my trip in First Class on Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong and posted it yesterday on YouTube. Yes, it’ll be 10 minutes out of your life if you watch it in its entirety, but if you’re an aviation geek like me, you’ll absolutely love it.

I went with live sound as music would have ruined some of the unique airplane noises I’ve grown so fond of. It includes footage of both the First Class and Business Class sections of British Airways’ Terraces Lounge at San Francisco airport, along with quite a bit of coverage on the airplane itself. Cathay certainly has an incredibly comfortable and soothing nose section on their 747s.

You’ll also see an Air France A380 parked at the gate in San Francisco, a Lufthansa A380 taking off and probably more than you care to see of an airplane lavatory. I’ve updated my Cathay Pacific Flight 879 post to include the video, but wanted to feature it as a unique post today on BoardingArea. I hope you enjoy it!

In anticipation of the new Pan Am series beginning this Sunday, I bring you another Boeing 747 from Pan Am for this installment of Vintage Airline Seat Maps, a slight variation of the South American version I posted earlier this year. Seating a total of 412 passengers in three classes of service, this 747 was flying the skies in 1987. First Class seated 21 passengers in the pointy section and although not lie-flat, I’m certain the service made up for it. Here you’d definitely find me in 1J if I were solo, otherwise in row three with a companion.

In Business Class (“Clipper Class” in Pan Am terminology, which is by the way why the ‘C’ booking code came about at United for business class), the exceptionally spacious 2 x 2 x 2 layout had to be fantastic. Here I’d steer away from rows 10-13 with the proximity of the lavatories being annoying and instead prefer a seat in rows 14 to 16. The upper deck appears a bit more spacious than the other configuration and I’d probably be keen to sit in row seven or eight.

Economy class had the typical 3 x 4 x 3 layout, but with a generous amount of two-seaters in rows 39 through 45 and then in the common tail ender rows of 54 through 56. If I couldn’t snag an exit row aisle, I’d probably pick a ‘G’ aisle seat in the hope no one was in the ‘F’ seat as is most common on the 747s with a lighter load. Having the seat next to you open in economy on a long haul makes for a much more comfortable and enjoyable trip. Also interesting to note are the 10 lavatories for economy class… I don’t think you’d find that in economy on today’s 747s.

Where would you sit?

The Boeing 747SPs flying around for the major U.S. carriers was truly something special in the 1980s. I previously posted the American Airlines 747SP seat map whose routes focused on the high yield traffic to Tokyo, and likewise United’s Special Performance version of the bird flew primarily to London with additional flights to Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. United acquired the aircraft & routes as a direct result of their purchase of Pan Am’s network. When I was an intern for United in 1993, I had a chance to walk through a SP at their San Francisco Maintenance Operation Center (SFOMOC), but sadly I didn’t get any pictures.

Here, though, is the seat map from the “mini me” of a 747 featuring 47 seats in First Class, 100 in Business Class and 86 in Coach/Economy. What I found interesting about United’s configuration is their use of the upstairs section as First Class. Today’s standards of seat comfort would never see four rows of the premium cabin upstairs in such a layout, but back then it probably did equate to First Class comfort. In First, you’d definitely find me in the pointy section of the plane, likely in row two or three. In Business I’d be in row 17 or 18, and in coach I’d most definitely be found in an aisle seat near row 31.

Where would you sit?

It’s time for another Vintage Airline Seat Map and I bring you a Trans World Airlines Boeing 747-100 from the early 1980s. Divided into three cabins, this workhorse of TWA’s international operations seated 21 passengers in First Class, 52 in Ambassador Class (Business) and 359 in coach. Pan Am also filled the pointy section up with 21 seats, and although the map states they are “sleeper” seats, I’d have to imagine they didn’t recline to a full 180-degrees due to the cabin density.

Ambassador Class looks to have incredibly spacious aisles and it appears those passengers shared the two lavatories with First Class since I don’t see any aft of the Ambassador cabin. I’m surprised TWA didn’t make the entire upper deck non-smoking and find it strange to split the seating the way they did. It was a different time, that’s for sure, but in that small of a space they might have well made it all smoking up there.

Coach has a number of two-seaters, which would be perfect options for couples and otherwise it’s the standard 3 x 4 x 3 layout. In First Class you’d find me in row 2 or 3; Ambassador in 11 or 12; Coach I’d hope for seat 15-8 or 43-8 with the incredible legroom. Also, I have no idea why TWA bucked the industry and decided to number their seats instead of lettering them. If anyone knows why, I’d love to know!

Where would you sit?

Last week I posted about the possibility of United being close to announcing whether or not International First Class would remain on the carrier. Yesterday a report surfaced on Bloomberg quoting United Airlines CEO Jeff Smisek saying “There are certain markets in which (first class) makes a lot of sense and there are others where it doesn’t.” There hasn’t been an official press release or updates to United’s website, but this may be good news for many high value international flyers accustomed to a three-cabin aircraft.

I read the Bloomberg article as a teaser of sorts with a lot of vague and unspecific data points. Another such point by Chief Revenue Officer Jim Compton stated “we have United 747s that have gone through a real recent reconfiguration with flat-bed in both first and business. So we’ll have both.” Retirement of the 747 fleet is scheduled for around the 2016 timeframe, and since they’ve taken down the conversion schedule for what remains on their 777 workhorse internationally, I’m led to believe this is a short-term (five year) decision. Is United considering making some of the unconverted international 777s into two-cabin aircraft?

Fleet integration is definitely a logistical challenge when merging carriers, and it sounds like we’ll have fairly different lie-flat products based on which “metal” we fly and to which markets. Continental’s seat architecture is different than United’s, and it sounds like the new United will maintain both for at least this short-term period. What United will certainly have to ensure during this period is that no market selling first class ends up with an ex-Continental metal aircraft with only two classes. Jeff Smisek acknowledges this issue in the article, however.

One good thing for frequent flyers is although United’s soft product (service & meals) in International First Class is completely inferior to that of its competitors, award redemption opportunities have been easier for the front cabin to popular destinations in Australia, Asia and Europe than that of business class. I will still generally redeem my miles for Star Alliance carriers, though, unless United really makes marketed improvements and reports begin to surface lauding a transformation. Time will paint the picture.

I am still anxious to see United’s official release to support this article, but I now expect United to keep a three-class presence in most markets served by the old United today, at least for the next five years. I now anticipate during the 2015-2016 timeframe United will make a decision on a uniform international offering (seat architecture & cabin configuration) to roll out in the 2018-2020 period based on market demand and global economic factors at that time.