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Journalism of Courage
John van Keppel, a 190-centimetre tall manager, had a choice for his trip to London: Go nonstop on a British Airways Boeing 747 or fly down to San Francisco and catch United Airlines’ Boeing 777 to London. He flew to San Francisco to get the “Triple 7.”
His choice is no surprise in the travel industry. For the first time since the supersonic Concorde took wing in 1976, a new jet has so captured the imagination of the flying public that companies like UAL Corp.’s United and British Airways are rushing to capitalise on the phenomenon.
“It is a plane that has a very high level of customer recognition and acceptance,” says Steve Danishek, a U.S. travel consultant. “I don’t want to say it’s like a cult, but people can get pretty insistent about it. If there’s one on their route, they want to find it.”
For 777 enthusiasts, the jumbo jet’s greatest appeal is its spaciousness. As with the 747, passengers feel they are being carried aloft in a room, rather than an aluminum tube. Another plus: Some 777 models allow passengers to plug in their laptop computers to adaptors and offer a choice of a half-dozen videos on individual screens, fostering a sense of private space.
Still, a Triple 7 isn’t exactly the QE2 luxury cruise ship, and all those electronic gizmos have to go somewhere which is under the seat. That in turn has led to complaints from passengers who can’t fit some carry-on bags under the seat.
Another complaint: noise. United agrees that the plane can be a bit noisy in spots but says it has added insulation to fix the problem.
The walls of the 777 fuselage are more vertical — hence less tubular — than most jets, creating a sense of openness. “The most obvious difference is the stand-up room and the elevated sides,” says Katherine Prezas, a partner at Apollo Travel agency in Chicago. “You can really stand up.”The overhead bins tuck into the ceiling, leaving 193 centimetres of headroom in the centre and 188 centimetres above the aisles. The 777’s economy seats are, in fact, 3.8 centimetres wider than those on a typical 747 with a 10-seat configuration — 47 centimetres versus 43 centimetres — according to United.
To be sure, airlines are seldom motivated by customer comfort, but rather by an obsession with cutting costs. Sales of the 777 plane are driven largely by its lower fuel consumption and cheaper maintenance costs; the comfort is a bonus.
Europe’s Airbus Industrie is touting the benefits of its A-340 — to the detriment of the 777 but United, which was first to launch the 777 in June 1995 regards the Boeing plane as “a good competitive weapon.” Indeed, some United reservations agents have begun keeping wall charts handy, listing routes and flights that offer the Triple 7 because so many callers ask for the jet by name.
Of course, for many business travellers, the type of plane they fly on is secondary to convenience. Tony Clancy, who logs hundreds of thousands of kilometres a year as head transportation consultant for Andersen Consulting, says, “Maybe I’m jaded, but I notice a bad airplane quicker than a good one.”
