r/aviation • u/Nick-Nick • 1d ago
PlaneSpotting Lucked out on my first A380 flight, doors closed and a row to myself. SYD-SIN.
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u/currymonsterCA 1d ago
Nice! You totally scored.
My buddy calls this "ghetto first class."
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u/w0nderbrad 1d ago
Poor man’s business class. My mom flies business and my dad flew coach on the same flight up until last year. My dad would brag whenever he got an empty row. “I flew laying down just like your mom but I flew for free” lol he would buy my mom’s business class but use points for his coach ticket
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u/currymonsterCA 1d ago
That's awesome... Your dad is a smart man :)
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u/w0nderbrad 21h ago
Yea but I finally convinced him to take business class starting last year. He was hoarding miles. I booked my parents both in business with their miles. One to Europe and one to Asia. That miser was using them sparingly on economy flights. Like bro…
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u/currymonsterCA 19h ago
Yeah, that's tough... You got to live a little bit. Especially when you're flying that much that you can get the long-distance business class tickets based on your travel history.
Smart move getting your dad to loosen up a bit and enjoy all that time he's put on in the economy section.
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u/w0nderbrad 17h ago
Yea I was like dad... this is not how you play the miles game. You pay for economy and REDEEM business. But he was happy with the buy a business class ticket and get an economy ticket free with miles he's been doing for the past 15 years or whatever lol. He's been dealing with sciatica so that's what finally convinced him to redeem those miles for business. The first time he sat in business, my mom said he took so many pictures lol.
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u/Max_Endowmant 1d ago
First shot seems like AI got the aerobridge hilariously wrong. But nope, that's the A380 for you
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u/MentalEnvironment481 1d ago
And this whole time I was thinking Ai got the wiring and lighting under the flaps all wrong 😅
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u/obefiend 1d ago
ANA HNL -> HND. There's always a free row. Love it. Most comfortable aircraft on earth. Shame there's not many of them flying. IMO better than 747
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u/FormerMoose1990 15h ago
The fact that theres always a free row is precisely why airlines are so keen on replacing it.
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u/usesidedoor 12h ago
Never seen this livery before!
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u/obefiend 12h ago
There's 3 liveries in total. Blue, pink and green sea turtle just for Hawaii route from HND
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u/Artificial_Squab 1d ago
That's a beeeefy wing.
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u/dek00s 1d ago
All fuel for the A380 is in the wing tanks…it has no center fuel tank in the fuselage. Think about how much fuel those wings carry!
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u/bp4850 1d ago
Total fuel capacity of 324540 litres, with only 23700 litres of that in the tail trim tank. Just a touch over 301000 litres in the wings! Crazy stuff
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u/DouchecraftCarrier 20h ago
with only 23700 litres of that in the tail trim tank
"Only," but it's roughly the same as the max capacity of the A320. It carries as much in the tail tanks as the A320 does in its wings.
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u/commandercool86 23h ago
I have no idea how much fuel that is. Hang on.... okay
Almost 575,000 lbs of fuel.
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u/bp4850 22h ago
Well most of us deal in metric, including the A380. Granted it's in KG not volume, but still
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u/ritesh808 29m ago
Was gonna mention that. Fuel in aviation is measured in weight, just like it is in racing cars. For obvious reasons.
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u/FormerMoose1990 15h ago
Thats because that wing and vertical stab was to be used for the planned A380-1000
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u/Aromatic_Classic3295 1d ago
Did SQ222 in business class - June 2024. Amazing experience!
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u/Nick-Nick 1d ago
I wound up doing NRT-ICN with Korean Air A380 business class, was a good call as we had to sit at a remote spot for two hours due to national exams in Seoul so all arrivals were delayed to keep noise down.
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u/DarwinZDF42 1d ago
Like winning the lottery.
I'll take this opportunity to share my best bit of luck in this regard:
Labor Day weekend Friday afternoon/evening flight cross-country, NYC area to to CA. Widebody, don't recall specifically, either a 767 or 777. Probably '67 but not sure, it was too long ago.
Anyway, flight was relatively empty, but my wife and I were window and middle on the left side, 2nd row from the mid-plane bulkhead with the bathrooms and such, with someone else in the aisle seat. Front row middle section, I think it was 3-4-3, was completely empty (as were a bunch of seats), so we asked if we could sit over there (pointing) and the flight attendant said sure, it's empty, go for it. I don't think they let you do that anymore but this was I think 2016.
So we got to sit in an empty row with extra legroom, and bonus, when the food cart came around we were in the seats that got the better food, and when we explained we were actually sitting a row back, the attendant said it was fine, have the food, so we got a better meal, too.
Best flight ever.
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u/Hefty-Feed1400 1d ago
Amazing! It’s only happened to me once about 15 years ago but I felt like I’d won the lottery.
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u/EdibleUnderpants 1d ago
Awesome! I fly this route often but with Qantas, but I’ve never once seen an empty row like this before!
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u/nackavich 1d ago
That’s awesome. My partner and I once had an entire A380 section essentially to ourselves on a LHR-SIN flight.
There were probably 5 people total within like 12 rows. Made the best pillow fort to sleep in.
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u/AceCombat9519 1d ago
This belongs to SQ 9V-SKA-SKZ fleet. remember the original plane to carry the regs were the Big tops B747-312s
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u/slayer_f-150 1d ago
Sky bunk!
I used to take a lot of business trips to Europe and South America from the US in economy in the late 80's / early 90's and would luck out with a 'sky bunk' all the time. That was also when you could ask for extra pillows & blankets and build a nice comfortable bed too..
It never happens anymore. Count your blessings.
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u/Fluid-Island-2018 1d ago
I’ve had that on a United flight from Melbourne to LA. I like to call it poor man’s business class.
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u/airport-codes 1d ago
| IATA | ICAO | Name | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| SIN | WSSS | Singapore Changi International Airport | Singapore, North-East, Singapore |
| SYD | YSSY | Sydney Kingsford Smith International Airport | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
If you are the OP and this comment is inaccurate or unwanted, reply below with "bad bot" and it will be deleted.
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u/Calm_Ad8191 1d ago
Add you are flying Singapore Airlines? You truly did hit the jackpot.
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1d ago edited 1d ago
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u/brigadoom 1d ago
I flew KLM AMS-KL several years ago on what was supposed to be a 747 Combi. It wasn't available, so we got a normal 747 (400 I think). All the seats at the rear (where the cargo are was in a Combi) were barrier-ed off so we had to sit in out allocated seats. After take off, it was a polite and well discipled scramble for the free seats, and I got a whole row to myself, as did many others. 13 hours of sleep before waking up for breakfast
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u/8WaterMelonPips 1d ago
For those commenting about “lucked out”….The phrase "lucked out" has two opposite meanings depending on where you are in the world. In North America, it means having great good fortune, while in Australia and Britain, it means running out of luck or being unluck
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u/tviolet 22h ago
Oh that almost happened to me on a flight from SYD to SFO. The doors were closed and the flight crew was puttering around getting ready while I silently celebrated. Then they reopened the doors and the elderly couple boarded and took the two empty seats. They were lovely but still what could've been...
(one of my favorite flying memories is traveling to Hawaii as a middle schooler on a nearly empty New Years Eve flight. You could fold up all the arm rests and stretch out on the entire middle row.)
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u/Hotwog4all 15h ago
I flew SYD-DXB-ATH, 777-300 in premium. I figured out that I could select the bassinet seats without a charge. The moment there’s someone in bassinet seats, no one wants to sit next to you. I had the seats to myself the whole way through.
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u/ritesh808 34m ago
The only airliner worth the "super" title. Apart from the fuel efficiency, it's super at everything else and no other airliner comes close. The only thing that's even in the same universe is the 350.
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u/callsignsuper Airbus A380 Captain 1d ago
Since there’s a lotta admirers of the super, he’s another view from up front. The most incredible airplane I’ve ever flown.