A380 first passenger flight

[S Green]

From The Sunday Times
October 21, 2007

A sneak peek at the A380
Anyone with a tenner can join the mile-high club, if they're prepared to
fool around in a low-cost airline's smallest room. But this week we found
out the price of doing it in style: about £4,000.
That's what it costs (for two) to lie under the Givenchy-designed duvet of
the world's first airborne double bed. Oh, and you get flown from Singapore
to Sydney into the bargain. The flying love nest works out at roughly £8 a
minute, so you'd better make it worthwhile. No pressure.

The bed is the headline-grabbing centrepiece of the A380, the largest
passenger plane ever built, which was handed over to Singapore Airlines
(0844 800 2380, www.singaporeair.com) this week in Toulouse and will have
its inaugural flight on Thursday. It's the first time the world has been
allowed to see inside the double-decker superjumbo that its makers, Airbus,
hope will replace Boeing's 747.

There has been plenty of talk about what might be on the plane - gyms,
casinos, waterfalls, even bowling alleys. Real life, of course, doesn't work
like that. All those gimmicks would soak up space that airlines could
otherwise use for revenue-producing seats. Singapore Airlines, by contrast,
simply promised that its A380 would be the most luxurious plane in the sky.
I've had a good snoop around, and, on first impressions, it has succeeded -
up to a point.

In the Suites (the airline decided the label "first class" simply wasn't
posh enough), everything's rosy. Literally: rose petals were scattered over
that double bed. Passengers have individual cabins, like a capsule hotel.
Inside, there's a vast seat for you, plus a smaller one for visitors (invite
a friend up from economy to gloat), a clever bed that folds down from the
wall, and a 23in television (which is more than I've got at home).

Just two of the cabins are doubles. To do what comes naturally, though, you'll
need some nerve: for safety reasons, the walls only go up to about forehead
height, allowing the crew to peek in on tiptoe.

Business class is great, too. The seat is almost ridiculously wide - at
34in, it could accommodate two comfortably. Flat bed, proper mattress,
privacy screens: the TV's just 15in, but you'll manage. Like everyone else
on the plane, you've got a choice of 100 films to watch on it - and if you're
still bored, there's a tiny snack bar to stroll to for a chat.

What about the downtrodden masses back in coach? Well, our lot has also
improved - a little. The legroom is a bog-standard 32in, but clever design
of the seat backs - which indent at the bottom - has made the most of it,
creating extra space for jutting knees. The seat is an inch wider than
usual, there are power and USB ports for your laptop, and the large windows
make the cabin feel airy and light. No bar or mingling area, though. Shame.

The verdict? The jury's still out. If it's going to be more than a
plane-spotter's dream come true, the A380 has to turn long-haul flying from
the cramped, squalid, downright degrading experience we've come to expect
into something all of us - including economy passengers - can actually
enjoy. The only way to see if it does is to fly on the thing. So, next week,
I'm doing just that.

In the meantime, for those of you still disappointed at the lack of driving
ranges and football pitches on board, here's a snippet. Rumour has it that a
turf-loving Saudi prince has ordered a superjumbo as his private plane, to
kit out as he wishes. Hmm . . . an airborne racecourse: well, why not?

It was this big

- The A380 is 73 metres long - only two metres longer than its rival, the
747-400 jumbo jet. The wings, though, are a whopping 15 metres wider: you
could park 70 cars on them.

- The tailfin is taller than five double-decker buses.

- The plane could hold 853 passengers, but Singapore Airlines has installed
just 471 seats - those first-class suites soak up a lot of space.

- The A380 has cost £8.4 billion to develop. If you fancy buying one, it'll
set you back £156m, list price. Sorry, no part exchange.

- There's 50% more floor space than on a 747.

- It will fly 9,320 miles without refuelling - not enough to get to Sydney,
but you'd reach Darwin.

- The plane will make its first flight carrying paying passengers on
Thursday, from Singapore to Sydney. Services from London will be launched in
spring 2008.

[[email protected]]

On Oct 24, 1:49 pm, "S Green" > wrote:
> From The Sunday Times
> October 21, 2007
>
> A sneak peek at the A380
> Anyone with a tenner can join the mile-high club, if they're prepared to
> fool around in a low-cost airline's smallest room. But this week we found
> out the price of doing it in style: about £4,000.
> That's what it costs (for two) to lie under the Givenchy-designed duvet of
> the world's first airborne double bed. Oh, and you get flown from Singapore
> to Sydney into the bargain. The flying love nest works out at roughly £8 a
> minute, so you'd better make it worthwhile. No pressure.

For that price, a babe should be included with the bed!

[Morgans[_2_]]

"S Green" > wrote

> Anyone with a tenner can join the mile-high club, if they're prepared to
> fool around in a low-cost airline's smallest room. But this week we found
> out the price of doing it in style: about £4,000.

I bet they could double the price and double the beds, and fill them on
every flight. There are a lot of people in the world with more money than
sense!
--
Jim in NC

[Gig 601XL Builder]

Morgans wrote:
> "S Green" > wrote
>
>> Anyone with a tenner can join the mile-high club, if they're
>> prepared to fool around in a low-cost airline's smallest room. But
>> this week we found out the price of doing it in style: about £4,000.
>
> I bet they could double the price and double the beds, and fill them
> on every flight. There are a lot of people in the world with more
> money than sense!

Probably right. But the way to generate the most income from them is to
auction them off in flight about 5 hours in to a 16 hour trip.

[Robert M. Gary]

On Oct 24, 3:30 pm, wrote:
> On Oct 24, 1:49 pm, "S Green" > wrote:
>
> > From The Sunday Times
> > October 21, 2007
>
> > A sneak peek at the A380
> > Anyone with a tenner can join the mile-high club, if they're prepared to
> > fool around in a low-cost airline's smallest room. But this week we found
> > out the price of doing it in style: about £4,000.
> > That's what it costs (for two) to lie under the Givenchy-designed duvet of
> > the world's first airborne double bed. Oh, and you get flown from Singapore
> > to Sydney into the bargain. The flying love nest works out at roughly £8 a
> > minute, so you'd better make it worthwhile. No pressure.
>
> For that price, a babe should be included with the bed!

Actually there is. 1/2 of the plane is dedicated to only 75 passengers
including 12 "suites" complete with bed in private room acording to
today's WSJ. Apparently that was Singapore's decision on how they
wanted the plane laid out.

-Robert

[Thomas Borchert]

Morgans,

> There are a lot of people in the world with more money than
> sense!
>

Actually, if you really have the money, need to fly a lot, but not
enough for a long-range biz jet to make sense, what doesn't make sense
about booking the suite?

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

[Stefan]

Thomas Borchert schrieb:

>> There are a lot of people in the world with more money than
>> sense!

> Actually, if you really have the money, need to fly a lot, but not
> enough for a long-range biz jet to make sense, what doesn't make sense
> about booking the suite?

And if you must spend a whole working day in the plane, it may even pay
for itself to have a full featured private office during the trip. (The
double bed suite may or may not pay for itself.)

[Andrew Sarangan]

On Oct 25, 3:22 pm, Thomas Borchert >
wrote:
> Morgans,
>
> > There are a lot of people in the world with more money than
> > sense!
>
> Actually, if you really have the money, need to fly a lot, but not
> enough for a long-range biz jet to make sense, what doesn't make sense
> about booking the suite?
>
> --
> Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

But do they have access to the internet from the suites? I find it
very difficult to do work without access to my email, files and other
online resources.

[Robert M. Gary]

On Oct 25, 3:11 pm, Andrew Sarangan > wrote:
> On Oct 25, 3:22 pm, Thomas Borchert >
> wrote:
>
> > Morgans,
>
> > > There are a lot of people in the world with more money than
> > > sense!
>
> > Actually, if you really have the money, need to fly a lot, but not
> > enough for a long-range biz jet to make sense, what doesn't make sense
> > about booking the suite?
>
> > --
> > Thomas Borchert (EDDH)
>
> But do they have access to the internet from the suites? I find it
> very difficult to do work without access to my email, files and other
> online resources.

You need to set up your system to sync. That way you have a current
copy on your PC. I can respond to emails for hours on end without
refreshing new ones.
The WSJ article said they had some sort of USB network connection. Not
sure if that is just internal or if internet access is available.
-Robert

[Morgans[_2_]]

"Robert M. Gary" > wrote

> You need to set up your system to sync. That way you have a current
> copy on your PC. I can respond to emails for hours on end without
> refreshing new ones.
> The WSJ article said they had some sort of USB network connection. Not
> sure if that is just internal or if internet access is available.

I would find it hard to believe that there would not be an internet
connection.
--
Jim in NC

[Andrew Sarangan]

On Oct 25, 7:30 pm, "Robert M. Gary" > wrote:
> On Oct 25, 3:11 pm, Andrew Sarangan > wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Oct 25, 3:22 pm, Thomas Borchert >
> > wrote:
>
> > > Morgans,
>
> > > > There are a lot of people in the world with more money than
> > > > sense!
>
> > > Actually, if you really have the money, need to fly a lot, but not
> > > enough for a long-range biz jet to make sense, what doesn't make sense
> > > about booking the suite?
>
> > > --
> > > Thomas Borchert (EDDH)
>
> > But do they have access to the internet from the suites? I find it
> > very difficult to do work without access to my email, files and other
> > online resources.
>
> You need to set up your system to sync. That way you have a current
> copy on your PC. I can respond to emails for hours on end without
> refreshing new ones.
> The WSJ article said they had some sort of USB network connection. Not
> sure if that is just internal or if internet access is available.
> -Robert- Hide quoted text -
>

Most of the times I am writing proposals or evaluating other peoples
proposals, so I don't know ahead of time what resources I might need.
I may need to pull an article from a journal, or search for a piece of
information on a government database. Besides, I don't like the idea
of syncing everything that is on my server to a laptop because of the
security risk. On an aircraft that costs hundreds of millions, surely
there must be a way to link to the internet via some satellite link.
If Southwest offered internet access, I would happily take their bench
seats over private suites in a luxury airline that did not offer data
service.

[James Robinson]

Andrew Sarangan > wrote:

> Most of the times I am writing proposals or evaluating other peoples
> proposals, so I don't know ahead of time what resources I might need.
> I may need to pull an article from a journal, or search for a piece of
> information on a government database. Besides, I don't like the idea
> of syncing everything that is on my server to a laptop because of the
> security risk. On an aircraft that costs hundreds of millions, surely
> there must be a way to link to the internet via some satellite link.
> If Southwest offered internet access, I would happily take their bench
> seats over private suites in a luxury airline that did not offer data
> service.

Singapore Airlines used to have the Boeing Connexion service for
broadband internet. Fees were something like $30 for unlimited access on
the flight.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connexion_by_Boeing

As noted in the above link, Boeing decided to shut down the commercial
service about a year ago, since they couldn't attract enough customers.

As far as the problem of having to bring a laptop, an alternative for
many people will be the use of a U3 enabled USB drive, which carries the
software and data you want. A traveler would use the computer system
provided by the airline, and not have to carry a laptop.

http://www.u3.com/

The U3 drive doesn't leave anything on the host computer, so there is a
limited security risk.

[Andrew Sarangan]

On Oct 25, 11:06 pm, James Robinson > wrote:
> Andrew Sarangan > wrote:
> > Most of the times I am writing proposals or evaluating other peoples
> > proposals, so I don't know ahead of time what resources I might need.
> > I may need to pull an article from a journal, or search for a piece of
> > information on a government database. Besides, I don't like the idea
> > of syncing everything that is on my server to a laptop because of the
> > security risk. On an aircraft that costs hundreds of millions, surely
> > there must be a way to link to the internet via some satellite link.
> > If Southwest offered internet access, I would happily take their bench
> > seats over private suites in a luxury airline that did not offer data
> > service.
>
> Singapore Airlines used to have the Boeing Connexion service for
> broadband internet. Fees were something like $30 for unlimited access on
> the flight.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connexion_by_Boeing
>
> As noted in the above link, Boeing decided to shut down the commercial
> service about a year ago, since they couldn't attract enough customers.
>

This defies my logic. If $30 for unlimited broadband was a hard sell,
how is $15/min for a bed on an airplane an easy sell?

[James Robinson]

Andrew Sarangan > wrote:

> On Oct 25, 11:06 pm, James Robinson > wrote:
>> Andrew Sarangan > wrote:
>> > Most of the times I am writing proposals or evaluating other
>> > peoples proposals, so I don't know ahead of time what resources I
>> > might need. I may need to pull an article from a journal, or search
>> > for a piece of information on a government database. Besides, I
>> > don't like the idea of syncing everything that is on my server to a
>> > laptop because of the security risk. On an aircraft that costs
>> > hundreds of millions, surely there must be a way to link to the
>> > internet via some satellite link. If Southwest offered internet
>> > access, I would happily take their bench seats over private suites
>> > in a luxury airline that did not offer data service.
>>
>> Singapore Airlines used to have the Boeing Connexion service for
>> broadband internet. Fees were something like $30 for unlimited
>> access on the flight.
>>
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connexion_by_Boeing
>>
>> As noted in the above link, Boeing decided to shut down the
>> commercial service about a year ago, since they couldn't attract
>> enough customers.
>>
>
> This defies my logic. If $30 for unlimited broadband was a hard sell,
> how is $15/min for a bed on an airplane an easy sell?

Perhaps the people who can pay the big bucks for private suites are the
type who wouldn't soil their hands on a computer?

If you read the article in the link, they said that while the service was
popular in Europe, they couldn't get enough customers in the US. So it's
Joe Sixpack who wouldn't cough up the money.

[Marty Shapiro]

Andrew Sarangan > wrote in
ups.com:


>
> This defies my logic. If $30 for unlimited broadband was a hard sell,
> how is $15/min for a bed on an airplane an easy sell?
>
>

You can't join the mile high club on a broadband link.

--
Marty Shapiro
Silicon Rallye Inc.

(remove SPAMNOT to email me)

[B A R R Y[_2_]]

Andrew Sarangan wrote:
>
> This defies my logic. If $30 for unlimited broadband was a hard sell,
> how is $15/min for a bed on an airplane an easy sell?

You have to ask? <G>

[Robert M. Gary]

On Oct 25, 9:33 pm, Andrew Sarangan > wrote:
> On Oct 25, 11:06 pm, James Robinson > wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > Andrew Sarangan > wrote:
> > > Most of the times I am writing proposals or evaluating other peoples
> > > proposals, so I don't know ahead of time what resources I might need.
> > > I may need to pull an article from a journal, or search for a piece of
> > > information on a government database. Besides, I don't like the idea
> > > of syncing everything that is on my server to a laptop because of the
> > > security risk. On an aircraft that costs hundreds of millions, surely
> > > there must be a way to link to the internet via some satellite link.
> > > If Southwest offered internet access, I would happily take their bench
> > > seats over private suites in a luxury airline that did not offer data
> > > service.
>
> > Singapore Airlines used to have the Boeing Connexion service for
> > broadband internet. Fees were something like $30 for unlimited access on
> > the flight.
>
> >http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connexion_by_Boeing
>
> > As noted in the above link, Boeing decided to shut down the commercial
> > service about a year ago, since they couldn't attract enough customers.
>
> This defies my logic. If $30 for unlimited broadband was a hard sell,
> how is $15/min for a bed on an airplane an easy sell?- Hide quoted text -

According to the WSJ article the airline's market analysis showed that
those in business class want to work and are excited to be in big
seats. Those in 1st class are used to being taken care of and just
want to sleep. No internet connection required.

-Robert

[Kloudy via AviationKB.com]

Marty Shapiro wrote:
>> This defies my logic. If $30 for unlimited broadband was a hard sell,
>> how is $15/min for a bed on an airplane an easy sell?
>
> You can't join the mile high club on a broadband link.
>

But you can on a band of broads.

--
Message posted via AviationKB.com
http://www.aviationkb.com/Uwe/Forums.aspx/aviation/200710/1

[Big John]

Gig

Are you talking about a hot bed operation :o)

Big John

*************************************************

On Thu, 25 Oct 2007 08:16:42 -0500, "Gig 601XL Builder"
<wrDOTgiaconaATsuddenlink.net> wrote:

>Morgans wrote:
>> "S Green" > wrote
>>
>>> Anyone with a tenner can join the mile-high club, if they're
>>> prepared to fool around in a low-cost airline's smallest room. But
>>> this week we found out the price of doing it in style: about £4,000.
>>
>> I bet they could double the price and double the beds, and fill them
>> on every flight. There are a lot of people in the world with more
>> money than sense!
>
>Probably right. But the way to generate the most income from them is to
>auction them off in flight about 5 hours in to a 16 hour trip.
>

[Martin Hotze]

James Robinson schrieb:

> http://www.u3.com/
>
> The U3 drive doesn't leave anything on the host computer, so there is a
> limited security risk.


but if you still need to cross an American border - there lies the
security risk.

#m
--
I am not a terrorist <http://www.casualdisobedience.com/>