Downstairs, in the all-first-class accommodations, there were passenger seating and sleeping compartments, a dining room/lounge, and restrooms. Upstairs on the 314 you would have found the cockpit, baggage hold, crew quarters and galley. (That route is now a 15-hour nonstop flight in a Boeing 777, with less space per passenger, but also without the roar of prop engines in your ear and the turbulence from flying under the weather.) Those flying on to Hong Kong would arrive six days after leaving San Francisco, after island-hopping across the Pacific. People boarding a Pan American Boeing 314 Clipper in 1939 (Photo by Apic/Getty Images) The 17-hour trip was flown at a blistering cruise speed of 125 mph, while passengers tolerated the thunder of four 1,600-hp Wright Cyclone radial piston engines. The 25 passengers per flight headed from San Francisco to Honolulu were pampered by four pursers on the luxurious lower deck of the Clipper. (Want to bring back that idea of not stuffing planes to the gills, airlines? We're all for it.) It could carry as many as 74 passengers, but was configured for 40 or fewer for overnight flights. In service from 1939 to 1948 - and drafted into the US military during the war - the 314 had a cabin almost as wide as a 747’s. Oh, the romance of the Pan American Clippers, captured in exotic settings on the gorgeous travel posters of the 1930s! They were the archetype of the seaplanes that dominated long-haul air travel before and immediately after World War II.īoeing’s Model 314 flying boat was the ultimate in pre-World War II intercontinental travel. The Points Guy will not share or sell your email. No way, no how, no money, no deal.I would like to subscribe to The Points Guy newsletters and special email promotions. Imagine if a kid is sitting ahead- on top of you, spilling his juice on your lap, in this case, instead of on his own. But this guy, Nunez Vicente, says he's doing it for the better of humanity, that he has heard from airlines and seat designers. Given the price of jet fuel, too, that much of added passengers, I would think, would be unsustainable. Even for the lower prices, I can't imagine. And I think it's going to be mostly all negative here. SEANA SMITH: If you have to go to the bathroom, you're out of luck.ĭAVE BRIGGS: I'm with you. SEANA SMITH: You can't stand up at all, no. It's less than five feet between you and the ceiling.ĭAVE BRIGGS: So you can't stand up at all. I was reading that if you're on the top, you would think that the top layer would- the top row would actually be a little bit better. The fact that you can't stand up, it's extremely claustrophobic. But no, I don't think I would even take it for free. I don't think I would go on a flight unless it was maybe 20 minutes where I'm not flying anywhere that would only take a 20-minute flight. I already get claustrophobic if I'm in the middle seat. I don't- no, I don't even know if I would do it for free. Is there a price you'd be willing to pay to cram into this space? The 22-year-old says he's open to feedback, negative and positive, from flyers. And he's received lots of interest from major airlines trying to make better use of their space, as well as some hefty investment. Now airplane seat designer Alejandro Nunez Vicente thinks this chair's long design could revolutionize budget air travel.
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