First Dreamliner passengers sing new jet's praises
ABOARD THE BOEING 787 DREAMLINER -- Boeing's much-ballyhooed but long-delayed 787 Dreamliner finally entered commercial service this week, flying paying passengers for the first time on an All Nippon Airways flight from Tokyo to Hong Kong on Wednesday.
The ultramodern 787 is being hailed in the aviation industry for its technological innovations, including the carbon fiber construction that makes it the first jetliner not made of traditional aluminum and steel.
But while the 787 is drawing acclaim from industry observers, how will it go over with ordinary passengers?
The Dreamliner — which Boeing designed with passenger comfort as a priority — drew nearly unanimous positive reviews from the roughly 240 passengers lucky enough to secure a seat on its inaugural flight.
Those passengers, however, might not be a good barometer for how the jet is received by the average traveler. Nearly all of them were on board because they enthusiastically sought it out.
Only 100 seats on the 264-seat jet were made available to the general public, and ANA received more than 25,000 applications for those. The other 140 on board were a mix of journalists, airline officials and other industry workers.
Also among those 140: six business-class fliers who bid for their seats on Flight 7871 via auction. One passenger — Gino Bertuccio of Miami — paid more than $33,000 via that auction to get his spot on the inaugural flight. He also flew on the inaugural flight of the Airbus A380 in 2007.
So will the glowing reviews of the 787 hold up as the Dreamliner's passenger counts soar and as more airlines begin to fly the jet — possibly in less customer-friendly configurations than Boeing had envisioned?
"I think the 787's benefits will be appreciated mostly by frequent travelers and aviation enthusiasts," says Henry Harteveldt, co-founder of San Francisco-based travel research firm Atmosphere Research Group. "Passengers may have a better flight but may not know why, since some of these benefits are somewhat subtle."
Among the potentially "subtle" passenger-experience upgrades that were put before fliers on the 787 inaugural:
•Bigger windows. In what was hands-down the top new feature cited by passengers on the inaugural flight, the Boeing 787's windows are now the biggest of any commercial passenger airliner. Boeing says the 787's windows are 30% bigger than those on a Boeing 767. The windows also are now positioned closer to eye level for most passengers, meaning fewer strained necks from looking out the window.
"The windows," said Flight 7871 passenger Stephanie Wood of Davie, Fla., when asked about her favorite feature on the 787.
"You really notice it and it makes the plane feel so bright and like you're not shut in," adds Wood, who also joined the flight via the charity auction after she and her husband, Dean, successfully bid on a pair of business-class tickets. The couple would not divulge the price they paid.
In addition to the well-received larger size, the windows on the 787 do not have manual shades. Instead, they are darkened by a button control that can electronically dim the light partially or entirely
•Storage bins. Boeing says they were designed to accommodate the wheeled roller bags that have become ubiquitous. The bins on ANA's 787 — which are about 30% bigger than on Boeing 777 aircraft — easily accommodated even large roller bags, though irregularly sized luggage could mean a less-than-optimal fit.
