# Last 747 passenger flight in the US **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 9, 2018, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-747-passenger-flight-in-the-us/806272 "2018-01-09T21:25:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2026, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-747-passenger-flight-in-the-us/806272/161 "2026-04-17T16:18:17Z")
I’ve had it happen where a plane type was changed and they just re-did the seating ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2026, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-747-passenger-flight-in-the-us/806272/162 "2026-05-04T19:11:04Z")
They still claim it’s a 747. My flight is in a week. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2026, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-747-passenger-flight-in-the-us/806272/163 "2026-05-04T19:51:57Z")
Hooray! You won’t be on the last flight, but of all the millions of folks carried by 747s hither and yon, you’ll be one of the last small percentage. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2026, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-747-passenger-flight-in-the-us/806272/164 "2026-05-05T16:51:43Z")
I just hope to get there and back again, honestly. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2026, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-747-passenger-flight-in-the-us/806272/165 "2026-05-05T16:59:40Z")
This is rather interesting. I’m also scheduled on a Lufthansa 747-400 in mid-July. It’ll be interesting to see if it will still be a 747 by then ETA: And was on one on the way back home last summer as well. I was a bit surprised any were still operating ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2026, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-747-passenger-flight-in-the-us/806272/166 "2026-05-05T17:11:55Z")
This will be my third time taking this flight. (Once each summer.) I gather the 747 is very inefficient by modern standards, so the longer the Iranian war keeps going, the less likely you are to be on a 747. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2026, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-747-passenger-flight-in-the-us/806272/167 "2026-05-12T21:33:39Z")
I am now sitting aboard a 747-400, and boarding started nearly on time. I’m pretty sure I’m going to be flying in a 747. 😆 ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2026, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-747-passenger-flight-in-the-us/806272/168 "2026-05-12T21:41:32Z")
Hooray!! Lotsa pix please! 🙂 [When I saw this thread had just been bumped with a new post, I was pretty sure it was going to be you reporting from the airport. Glad the news is happy.] ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2026, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-747-passenger-flight-in-the-us/806272/169 "2026-05-12T21:43:07Z")
What do you want a pic of? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2026, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-747-passenger-flight-in-the-us/806272/170 "2026-05-12T22:05:05Z")
Anything really. It was just a matter of you memorializing the end of an era in the way that makes sense to you. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2026, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-747-passenger-flight-in-the-us/806272/171 "2026-05-12T22:12:35Z")
Lol, as i said up thread, I’ve never loved the 747. Too large and crowded for my tastes. And i had to evacuate one (down the emergency slides) when i was a teen, because one of the engines caught on fire. I’m hoping this trip is less memorable. (That remains the best slide i ever went down in my life, though. Despite how rough the surface was.) I seem to be atop the wing, this trip. Something about paying for “more space” i guess. I remember having a better view of the engines then i wonder how far forward we were sitting. I saw the flames and thick black smoke shooting out of the engine. I don’t think i could see that from this angle. Maybe i was behind. Do they go all the way across the wing? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2026, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-747-passenger-flight-in-the-us/806272/172 "2026-05-12T22:16:37Z")
We’ve departed, and are driving slowly towards the runways. I’ll be signing off soon. (Unless the flight offers Wi-Fi, i guess.) ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2026, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-747-passenger-flight-in-the-us/806272/173 "2026-05-12T23:09:16Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Boeing is now making loud noises that their next new airliner will be a variation on the truss-braced wing concept. Whatever else we can say about them, I have no doubt they’ll be mighty weird-looking to all of us raised on airliners in the B-7xx and A3xx mold. No good pictures in that article, but here’s a better view. Airplanes, especially jet airliners, have usually been beautiful because they’re necessarily built in the spirit of “form follows function”. But that doesn’t always lead to beauty. This new thing looks rather ugly and ungainly, plus has to have a T-tail, which I understand are more prone to tail stalls than regular tails. But at least those engines won’t be knocking over any taxiway signs like the ground-hugging ones on the 737! [![](https://images.seattletimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/06172023_tzr_200104.jpg?d=780x501) ](https://images.seattletimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/06172023_tzr_200104.jpg?d=780x501) ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2026, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-747-passenger-flight-in-the-us/806272/174 "2026-05-13T01:41:46Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > This new thing looks rather ugly and ungainly I disagree; I think it looks cool. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2026, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-747-passenger-flight-in-the-us/806272/175 "2026-05-13T01:46:51Z")
It looks like that because it’s an X-plane cobbled together cheaply from a retired run-out MD-80 and some various other parts of other existing airplanes. Plus the minimum amount of totally new structure needed to prove the aerodynamic point being experimented about. There’s no way an actual production truss-braced wing airliner would look much like that. Except for the high wings and struts. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2026, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-747-passenger-flight-in-the-us/806272/176 "2026-05-13T07:13:29Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > There’s no way an actual production truss-braced wing airliner would look much like that. Except for the high wings and struts. The high wings and struts look rather cool to me. Anyway, my flight was uneventful. One of the restrooms still had an ashtray! That was one oooold jet. (I used two restrooms, the other didn’t have an ashtray.) It was in good shape, though. The seating and upholstery were fairly new. I think the overhead bins probably were, too. And of course, as best as i could tell, it flew just fine. My return flight will also be a 747. And ugh, i think I’m allergic to every food item offered. (They all include peppers.) There are like 8 “special meals” available, and i bet i could eat one of them, but i have no clue which. (Jain, kosher, muslim, child, vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free…) I guess I’d better pick up a couple sandwiches and pack them. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2026, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-747-passenger-flight-in-the-us/806272/177 "2026-05-13T07:23:23Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > One of the restrooms still had an ashtray! I think they’re still a regulatory requirement. Better there than setting the trash can on fire. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2026, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-747-passenger-flight-in-the-us/806272/178 "2026-05-13T07:35:32Z")
That one restroom has an ashtray? I doubt it. I haven’t seen an ashtray in an airplane restroom in ages. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2026, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-747-passenger-flight-in-the-us/806272/179 "2026-05-13T10:17:53Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > plus has to have a T-tail, which I understand are more prone to tail stalls than regular tails In the picture, that’s not a “T-tail” in the “more prone to stall” sense. The elevators are not above the wing, they are behind the wing as on a low-elevator design, because the wings are up at the level of the tail. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2026, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-747-passenger-flight-in-the-us/806272/180 "2026-05-13T13:28:22Z")
Not really. The wings are at the level of the top of the fuselage = bottom of vertical fin. The horizontal tail is at the top of the vertical fin. Now you’re right the two surfaces are closer together vertically than on the original MD-80 when the wings are at the bottom of the fuselage. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-747-passenger-flight-in-the-us/806272.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/last-747-passenger-flight-in-the-us/806272.md?page=10)