Narrowbody jets are becoming popular for transatlantic travel

Nothing makes a wide body more comfortable except for the psychological effect of more “airspace” in the cabin. You can be squished into a seat with no legroom in either type and in the wide body you have to get by more folks from a middle seat in the center section. Wide body seats are often no wider than narrow body seats and in the case of ten across seating are actually narrower. It all depends on how the airline outfits the cabin.

But unfortunately, the passengers are (no pun intended) only along for the ride as the shareholders are the real customers of airlines. Business plan is simply to put bums in seats, the more the better, and make sure the costs are as low as can be. Safety? Not too much due to cost (ref: 737-max) Unfortunately, for the general public aviation is now simply taking the subway at 32,000 feet.

Agony? Really? Come on. Woman up!

Check the price. Do you think they fly a 32 seat airplane for the same ticket price as a packed wide body with 300+ seats?

Sadly, BA001 was discontinued a few years back. 32 Club World seats and a snug environment.

It was an interesting service, with a part fuel load for take-off at LCY (short runway in the City of London). Landing into Shannon to uplift an Oceanic fuel load enabled the passengers to run through the interrogation by US Immigration on Irish soil, so the plane landed as an internal flight. Pick up bag and just walk off the plane to the taxi rank.

I recall an operation called PrivatAir operating a similar service between Dusseldorf and Newark for Lufthansa using an A319. I thought they also had a scheduled Newark flight from Switzerland, but I can't find it now.

I've taken that flight a few times and it was terrific IMHO. Arriving/Departing LCY was a real benefit.

And a bit more specifically,,,remember the Concord(e)? Single isle aimed at upper-crust travelers. Privileged travel on an A319 somehow has less panache.

You’re exactly right about being all about the $. A first class seat at coach price ain’t gonna happen! Especially since people keep buying the cheap tickets.

Yup Boeing F'd up big time with the 757 but due to bad decisions backed themselves into a corner and now we have the "Franken737". Greed and being behind the competition (ie: Airbus) drove that decision. Too bad, have flown the full range of legacy Boeing birds (707,717,727,737,747,757,767,777) many times and is, to me, the best mid-to short long haul technology that the shining house on the hill ever produced.

You mean, like the 200-seat Boeing 737-MAX8200 which Ryanair are hoovering up on distressed purchase deals from Boeing? At least there is an extra emergency exit down the side of the aircraft...

You must have never flown on a DC-8.

Things haven’t improved much since I left Travis Air Base for Viet Nam in 1970. As a lowly Warrant Officer (helicopter pilot) my seat didn’t have a perk I can think of. Lol

I depends on where you are going. Not every TATL destination warrants a wide body. NY to Bristol or Shannon doesn’t warrant a 747. You have to consider the cost and bother of connecting through LHR waiting two or three hours for a connection (in a narrow body of course). So, the narrow flight that is 6 hours vs the connecting WB at 9+ hours. I would be fresher and brighter on the former. I’d rather go through customs and security at BRS than Heathrow any day also.

Around the world in 80 coffees?

Call it what you want, the travel industry calls TATL flights LONG HAUL.

You want long haul? Here ya go:

“On September 29, 1957, a TWA L1649A Starliner flew from Los Angeles to London in 18 hours and 32 minutes…..The L1649A holds the record for the longest-duration, nonstop passenger flight aboard a piston-powered airliner. On TWA’s first London-to-San Francisco flight on October 1-2, 1957, the aircraft stayed aloft for 23 hours and 19 minutes….”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Constellation#Records

The L1649A was a long-range Constellation variant.

In those days, with no laptops, tablets, seatback screens, passengers could only sit there, eat, drink, sleep, read books or magazines, talk or play cards with traveling companions, all the while listening to the drone of engines and props. Of course the seats were probably roomier and more comfortable than we have now, and the passengers better behaved.

For a captain’s account of piloting a Los Angeles-London Connie flight:

https://airfactsjournal.com/2014/09/archives-bob-buck-flies-connie-la-london/

Everything is comparative, Journey to Space Station takes around 24 hours whereas Ireland to UK can be just an hour. I would regard 7-8 hours as long haul, Sydney to London in one hop, that would be tiring but guess the split flight tiring too.

Forever?

We traveled to Vietnam in a chartered 707 packed three seats on each side of the aisle. I didn't hear much grumbling.

Really long-ass haul!😜

Lol! Best part about SWA’s unassigned seating is you get a shot at avoiding the above described types.