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’m definitely on a Cathay Pacific kick right now having just finished my complete trip report, so I’ve selected a Cathay Boeing 747-400 for this installment of Vintage Airline Seat Maps. This particular configuration was flying the skies in 1988 and I have to once again give special thanks to reader Will who graciously sent me several of the carrier’s seating layouts from the 1980s.

It seated a total of 363 passengers split up between First Class, Marco Polo Business Class and Economy Class. First Class extended beyond just the nose and occupied more than half of the space between doors one and two. United Airlines used to have a version that went fully back to door two and I thoroughly enjoyed flying on 747s with this type of layout. It felt like the entire plane was an exclusive privately operated luxury jet with an incredible amount of room to move about.

30 seats were found up front in the typical 2-seater configuration for First Class during that time period. Still much preferring to sit in the nose for its uniquely shaped aestheticism, you’d find me either in row two or three. Smoking seats, by the way, are the ones with a yellowish hue. That orange square behind the port-side lavatory is labeled as a “bar unit” according to the legend.

Most frequent flyers today prefer the upper deck for its feel of isolation from the rest of the plane and its normally personalized service, but given the volume of Business Class seats crammed into the upstairs section in the 1980s, you’d find me downstairs probably around rows 26 or 27. The mini-cabin at rows 20 and 21 might be unpleasant due to the proximity of both the First Class and Business Class galleys, not to mention being in the smoking section. Oh, and those “x” marks in front of rows one, 10, 20, 23, 31 and 57 denote bassinet positions for which I’d definitely steer clear of.

In coach, I generally book an aisle seat in the center 4-seater section on a 747 since those seats have a greater likelihood of the seat next to it being unoccupied. Here I’d go for rows 38 or 39 as last-minute standby seats are generally assigned front-to-back, so my unoccupied seat strategy has a better chance of coming through. I might consider rows 58 and 59 for the same reason. Also, I always pick the ‘G’ seats since the computer algorithm also automatically assigns last minute seats left to right.

Where would you sit?

Upper deck

Main deck