American Airlines 747 Coach Lounge Commercial 1

In the golden days of airline travel, the new (at the time) wide-body jets had lounges, even for Coach passengers. American was a pioneer in creating a large coach lounge in the tail section of the 747 and DC-10, and further gained notoriety by installing a piano bar.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• 747
• lounge
• airlines

[zamusicza]

Flying is now just Greyhound with wings.

[WingsOTWorld]

A lounge? IN COACH!? WHAT!?!?!?!?! REALLY? YOU'RE NOT CRAMMING KIDS AND PEOPLE INTO CATTLE CLASS?!?

[theknightlynews]

We all don't want to admit it, but flying was a lot better - the experience was better - before everyone else was flying too. The "golden age" was that short window in the early '70s after the introduction of the jumbos, but before the teeming masses, deregulation, and competition, turned the lounges into cattle cars. And whatever pleasure was still left after Homer Simpson started flying, was soon stripped away when Achmed starting flying, too. I'm just grateful I tasted it while it lasted.

[SimHarrison]

@ILikeCheese747 have you been living under a rock for the past 6 years?

[WingsOTWorld]

@OlegKostoglatov Oh lol I know that. I just wanted to put up a joke post for the laughs. There was a great history channel documentary about the fall of regulation of airlines and how Southwest Airlines changed the face of US Aviation.

[TomsFriendKake]

@OlegKostoglatov Oh they even regulated coach lounges eventually across the Atlantic too.

[OlegKostoglatov]

@somewhatlongdong I will agree with you on that, ingnoring the actual flight itself the "Security Theater starring Chester the Molester" you have to go through has made flying a miserable experience. I say "security theater" because none of it has ever caught a terrorist, nor will it, it's just a expensive and useless front involving glorrified rent-a-cops.

[somewhatlongdong]

@OlegKostoglatov I don't want to get into a regulate/deregulate debate, but flying back then was a hell of a lot more enjoyable then.

[OlegKostoglatov]

@WingsOTWorld From the mid 1930s to 1978 airlines were regulated in the U.S by the Civil Aeronautics Board so they were not allowed to compete in price on airfares. It was so bad that the sizes of the meals were even regulated, so they had to think up other gimmicks to get around the rules like racey stewardess uniforms and flashy decor inside the cabins, I think maybe that was the idea behind having lounges and piano bars.

[TheVineyarder]

wow those were the days..I remember flying American in both first class and economy..it was an event to be on their 747's..sadly its service has disappeared

[sideslide23]

@TheMrleomartin most of the smaller aircraft only uses two engine instead of 3 or 4, the biggest plane that american airlines has is the boeing 777 200.

[TheMrleomartin]

@Flatbedkw they could only fill the 747's on a few routes, it was to big and due to a fall in passenger numbers and a rise in oil prices they could not fill the plane, so they switched them for smaller aircraft.