Back when I flew regularly the MD-80 and derivatives where my favorite planes to fly because of 5 across rows with wider seats than the 6 abreast 737 which is like flying in a cattle car. My least favorite for long haul trips was the 777. Twelve hours where the seat armrest would go up only part way was too much. It made it very difficult to take advantage of adjacent vacant seats or just cuddle with my wife.
The seat armrest is a property of the seats (which are chosen by the airline) rather than a property of the aircraft, so you should blame your choice of airline rather than the perfectly fine 777. I often fly on Air France's 777s between Osaka and Paris and the armrests go up fully.
In terms of comfort my best flight in coach was on a Korean Airline A380: spacious and quiet; my worst on a JetStar A330 in cattle-like configuration. But I won't blame/praise Airbus: even though quietness is certainly a quality of the aircraft, the seat layout is absolutely a choice of the airline, so I now avoid JetStar like the plague.
Not to mention how amazingly QUIET they can be! In the front of the cabin the engines were a barely discernable whisper. Also, I was always intrigued at how far back the wings are mounted, probably due to the rear engines bringing the center of gravity further back.
Man, I HATE the MD-80 and the 717 and every other plane with body-mounted engines. There's always a beat frequency between the two engines and that's ok for the first couple hours but eventually it drives me crazy. Would be nice if they could somehow lock the engine speed perfectly.
Comments
Back when I flew regularly the MD-80 and derivatives where my favorite planes to fly because of 5 across rows with wider seats than the 6 abreast 737 which is like flying in a cattle car. My least favorite for long haul trips was the 777. Twelve hours where the seat armrest would go up only part way was too much. It made it very difficult to take advantage of adjacent vacant seats or just cuddle with my wife.
The seat armrest is a property of the seats (which are chosen by the airline) rather than a property of the aircraft, so you should blame your choice of airline rather than the perfectly fine 777. I often fly on Air France's 777s between Osaka and Paris and the armrests go up fully.
In terms of comfort my best flight in coach was on a Korean Airline A380: spacious and quiet; my worst on a JetStar A330 in cattle-like configuration. But I won't blame/praise Airbus: even though quietness is certainly a quality of the aircraft, the seat layout is absolutely a choice of the airline, so I now avoid JetStar like the plague.
Not to mention how amazingly QUIET they can be! In the front of the cabin the engines were a barely discernable whisper. Also, I was always intrigued at how far back the wings are mounted, probably due to the rear engines bringing the center of gravity further back.
Man, I HATE the MD-80 and the 717 and every other plane with body-mounted engines. There's always a beat frequency between the two engines and that's ok for the first couple hours but eventually it drives me crazy. Would be nice if they could somehow lock the engine speed perfectly.
This is also something I remember well. I thought they had some way of locking them to the same speed.