JohnWhen bars and restaurants are shown in these massive people carriers I somehow keep thinking A380 Titanic.I think you will find that 550 is a public diplomacy starting point as the aircraft is designed to carry 800.Should anything ever happen either through terrorism or some huge mistake the resulting loss of life would be horrific.Anyone know what the wake turbulence seperations would be on this Bird?Peter

Oh, about 40 miles.... :)Back a long time ago, I flew in one of the first A310's (or maybe it was a 320, I don't remember). It was a brand new, sparkling bird, and I remember having trepidations about it. You know, infant mortality and all that engineering lingo. When we took off there were two distinct things I remember; the a/c felt like it had square wheels, and the longitudinal stability of the fuselage was so elastic that I could actually see the physical displacement from port to starboard along the length of the fuselage (and I wasn't even in the last seat in economy... I can only imagine what that person saw). The perception of square wheels came from the noise and vibration in the cabin. For a new aircraft, it was amazingly "loose". That, combined with the longitudinal "sway" caused this rather experienced passenger shudder. In every Airbus that I have subsequently flown in, I have the same impression, including a roundtrip to Cairo from Frankfurt in a Lufthansa 340 last September.Now the 380.... Until the combined fleet of flying aircraft reaches a minimum of 5 million hours total operating time, I am staying the heck off this aircraft. Bars, pools, shops, beds, big fat discounts, or whatever, will not induce me. I have been too up-close and personal with metal fatigue, strutural stresses, and that infant mortality thing I mentioned, to want to jump on this a/c anytime soon.

yes, the 550 seater is with the entire upper deck for first class as well as a good portion of the lower deck.If a more realistic cabin is chosen with the upper deck in 2-3-2 configuration businessclass seats you're already well over 600 seats.Scrap the first class segment on the lower deck and replace that with economy and you're at 700 or so.

>>I've spoken with luggage handlers at Schiphol who clearly>state the >inabillity to get an aircraft that large loaded and>unloaded in >anything approaching a reasonable time.>>That's just a typical. Before they have even seen the aircraft>they have decided that it is impossible. I guess it must be>real efficient to have to load up two Boeings instead of one>big Airbus, occupying more parking space, more runway time,>more ATC resources, making the airspace more congested and>releasing twice the noise to keep the neighbors happy.>They'd have to handle that A380 AND a 747, not one A380 OR 2 747s...Those people know what they're dealing with, they know the numbers.Even if the aircraft can be loaded and offloaded quickly, the systems to get the baggage and passengers to and from the aircraft just aren't capable of handling that amount of people and baggage in a decent amount of time.>>Additionally ever more airlines are starting to abandon the>>hub and spoke system as passengers more and more elect point>>to point service (which is one reason lowcost carriers who>do>>this effectively already are so successful).>>So how come all the megahubs are seeing increased traffic>numbers every year and are all expanding.>for the simple reasons that airtravel as a whole is increasing. The hubs are however growing at a far slower pace than the smaller destinations proving that an ever larger percentage of people chooses those.Connecting flights through hubs are increasing even slower, so more and more people use hubs as their final destination rather than a transfer station.>>Unless you have a>>market to fly 550+ passengers point to point without a large>>feeder system you're not going to be economically successful>>with the A380 if that trend continues.>>Alliances took care of the problem years ago. What's the big>principal difference between a 747 with 450 passengers and an>Airbus A380 with 550?>You're still thinking about hub-spoke... The 550 seater is just the beginning. Before long there will be 700 and 800 seaters which is the real capacity of the aircraft.The 747 was originally marketed as just a few more seats than the 707 as well, but a lot more space. Those couches and lounges disappeared in very short order and the 747s were equipped with the same style cabins as those 707s yielding a LOT more seats.The same will happen with the A380 as well.

I'm with you, as I have no desire to fly on one of these Monstrosities.I think some of this European Conglomerates planes make funny noises anyway. And I can't be the only one that thinks that either. When I schedule flights, I stay away from all of them to be honest. It's been about 6 years or so since I've been on on of their planes.I just think Niche and cargo will be the focus on this aircraft.JoeJOIN The AVSIM RTW RACE FLIGHT TEAM****************Grab My FREEWARE Cessna 172 Voice recognition Profile here:[a href=http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fs2004misc&DLID=58334]Cessna 172 Voice Profile[/a].You will need the main FREEWARE Flight Assistant program to use it, get it here:[a href=http://library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=genutils&DLID=39661]Flight Assistant 2.2[/a]

Well, it's not like the European Conglomerate and its Government Cohorts would force or threaten people to buy these Monstrosities........Oh wait.....What's this??????Could it be......No, It couldn't be........Well, I guess this is one way to ensure a market for this thing. ;-)READ THIS:"Tsunami-hit Thais told: Buy six planes or face EU tariffs "From:http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/internatio...cfm?id=66782005Excerpt:"TSUNAMI-struck Thailand has been told by the European Commission that it must buy six A380 Airbus aircraft if it wants to escape the tariffs against its fishing industry.While millions of Europeans are sending aid to Thailand to help its recovery, trade authorities in Brussels are demanding that Thai Airlines, its national carrier, pays

TomNow you know the real reason you wont be jumping on this aircraft soon is that you know you will end up No 799 in the line 3 blocks away.It bad enough on Easy Jet. Somehow I always end up at the back shuffling my case forward with my foot every 5 minutes one space.Even if there are two lines. The one I am on always moves slower.Change lines deviously and my old line speeds up and the new one grinds to a halt :-(Then when on board! " ladies and gentleman there will be a short delay as we retrieve a Mrs Blewetts luggage who cannot be accounted for. We shouldnt be delayed by more than an hour ".Then lastly we will probably be taken out of the sky by some errant C150 lost on a circle to land approach onto a different runway :-(Peter

Thanks Joe for that. I am absolutely speachless; which doesn't happen too often.

No need Tom, we in the French European colonies are well aware of the way the French government markets their aircraft...Thailand isn't the only one. Many airlines have been given to understand in no uncertain terms that unless they buy Airbus they will see those landing rights at French airports (especially CDG) when hell freezes over.

Well, that speaks volumes now, does it not? But come on, don't be surprised... It's not the first time it happens. Airbus has pretty questionable business tactics when it comes to sales, independently of their performance (let's not go there).Daniel P.http://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/ng_driver.jpgMember of SJU Photography. [A HREF=http://www.jetphotos.net/showphotos.php?userid=9004]Click Here[/A] to view my aircraft photos at JetPhotos.Net!The official psychotic AA painter. :)

I wish it all the success but I too would want to wait some time before I flew this oceanliner in the skies. Which brings some food for thought.1. With this capacity it truly is like a cruise ship. When I went to the Caribbean out of Florida loading (dis-embarking?) was scheduled over several leasurly hours. How long will it take to get that many people on board? Let's say one hour... that means you could be sitting at your seat for up to an hour before you even pushback? 2) Add that to the two hours most airports suggest for international flights and now we are talking getting to the airport 3 hours before takeoff?!3)Think of a waiting area that can handle 500-800 people for one gate? 4) 10's of millions are being pumped into the hub airports to expand and make ready for this as they did with the 747's. Does this mean we have to go back and expand all out FS airports as well?!?! ;)Personally, I always have enjoyed flying real-world on the 747's to Europe and Asia on business and I luv the 777. Would really like to take the 380 when I travel to Australia (a long term goal).

That is not a French tactic. American companies are well known for these tactics. In particular when it

>>But wasn

"That is not a French tactic. American companies are well known for these tactics. In particular when it

I asked some people where I work today what they thought of the A-380 and flying on it. These are people that fly every week, as part of their job. To a person, they all said, " Forget that, I am not going on anything that big. I'll stick to something that can be boarded and unloaded in a reasonable time." I have to say, I share the same feelings about the 380.