United Airlines Boeing 747-200 / Seoul (Kimpo) to Tokyo Narita

January 1997:
After a business trip to Seoul, Korea, it was time to head home to North Carolina.
Routing was Seoul-Tokyo-Honolulu-Chicago-Charlotte.
Sampled a variety of great aircraft !
Great trip !

[@garylo6180]

Whenever you walked inside the 747 from the L1 door and at first sight you would see a spiral staircase, it's always be an elegance and beauty 😳

[@christopherwaits7852]

I miss this United.

[@tammyterrell1641]

I miss the old united! It was fantastic back then! Frequent visits in the flight deck, the spiral staircase! I miss the 742’s, 744’s! Great memories!

[@caltrain910]

R.I.P. in dedication to all the United 747s 1970-2017. #UA747Farewell

[@caltrain910]

0:23 United + Continental = Modern day United.

[@misled1982]

3:50 someone was listening to Celine Dion's "Its all coming back to be now" a pretty brand new song back then!

[@LLover-ee3qv]

I love these now old videos... 1997!!! It doesn't seem that long ago to me... that's when I started flying! But it's been almost 20 years. Time flies! Amazing... one could think this was ORD and not NRT... I've always found it very fascinating how US carriers used their (post-war) 5th freedom rights to build hubs in foreign countries... NW and PA later UA in NRT (though it was actually UA that made NRT a hub)... TW and PA and later UA and DL in LHR, CDG and FRA respectively...

[@ahahm]

Goold ole United battleship grey livery! Another classic along with Saul Bass livery!

[@gw78787]

I miss all those older age planes... thanks for sharing this with the world to see.

[@THECALIFORNIAJET]

great vid thubs up if u like the 747-200

[@bulletburposmiley]

Heck yeah! :)

[@charlenem6915]

oh wow! such a throwback, even though I was 4 in 97 I can never forget the old school United 747! My family lived in Korea in 96-97 and I remember the long flight back to the States , seeing the old pattern seats and the little screens in front is so nostaglic

[@Springbok295]

Man that looks like a long trip. I flew from good ol' Kimpo to Narita in '86 on Northwest Orient and had a beautiful Japanese FA working that flight.

[@craigjackson2428]

Thanks for the upload. Last flew to Seoul when Kimpo was operational via Tokyo with United Airlines late 90s.

[@nipafilms236]

In 1997 economy seats look like today’s premium economy seats :o

[@airborne8102]

Love the Al Jarreau during boarding

[@Appleboy78165]

What Al Jarreau song was that?

[@skydragontravels5450]

This was back when Gimpo was Korea's main international airport, when Japan Airlines had B747s, and when DC10s were still carrying passengers.

[@Bothomas-vm5hz]

oh yeah the jt9d's are awesome, used united and northwest orient alot in the 80s to visit the phillipines, northwest use to have many flights in to manila

[@friendlysky7674]

This is the REAL UNITED AIRLINES

[@sightsandsoundsofaviation]

Was shuttling between 1994 - 1998 roughly a hundred times and filmed all flights, as well. Fantastic memories. Had the same issue with my camcorder. Basically either no cassette cleaning or cleaning too often ruined the camcorder head. Filming was a nightmare!

[@ttrivett2000]

do you have any uploaded, would love to see some.

[@astardustparade]

Look how comfortable those economy seats looked! Can’t say the same now. United used to be a decent airline back then.

[@ttrivett2000]

ah the good old days (for me at least) how large was the camera to be able to get footage like this, which is common today but rare for that time. remember so well those colors, the seats and bulkhead!

[@jayd1426]

I love the 747 so much

[@MarkRowsey]

Love the Panthers jacket on there! Nice video!

[@caltrain910]

When United was great.

[@alexanderboulton2123]

When United had good paint jobs instead of that weird ocean blue gradient thing

[@caltrain910]

@@alexanderboulton2123 To me the new United paint job looks awesome, it gives United a new look for the 2020s.

[@jayd1426]

@@caltrain910 I prefer the Battleship Grey livery, personally. The United jets looked like beasts, especially the 747s and 777s. I can only imagine how it would look like to see a 787 in Battleship Grey livery

[@caltrain910]

@@jayd1426 UA should preserve N777UA (when it gets retired) in the Battleship Grey livery.

[@friendlysky7674]

@@alexanderboulton2123 how dare you I love the battleship grey

[@visionist7]

Back when "...via..." was still a thing on departure boards

[@joeyGalileoHotto]

0:23 Illuminati prediction of United/Continental merger

[@caltrain910]

Illuminati exposed

[@DannyGoldingTV]

I thought the same thing!

[@christopherwaits7852]

It made me want to cry. Continental ruined United. Long live The tulip

[@owen3drblx661]

Cool, is the boarding music in 1997 still the same as now?

[@friendlysky7674]

Sick

[@DannyGoldingTV]

I was born January 17th 1997! :)

[@friendlysky7674]

I guess your Airplane sign is a B747-200!

[@hanj31]

Gimpo airport the OG international airport of Seoul, South Korea. Flew out of there on my flights to the US as a little boy.

[@inactive6443]

I miss the old united and continental: (

[@gabrielcolon8900]

Charlotte is a good place to live. As an 11 year old, I intend to live in Japan. It's always ok where you live.

[@johniii8147]

Poor guy was in economy on such a long flight.. must be hell

[@willamisbezerra7655]

Velhos tempos Muito Show

[@JMMT7022801]

Was United still flying the 747-200 in 2002? Around that time, I saw a whole bunch of 747s parked alongside each other at the gate at SFO. It was heaven.

[@caltrain910]

No the last one was retired in 2000.

[@friendlysky7674]

They retired it in 2001 maybe because of September 11th...

[@TheLewistownTrainspotter8102]

@@friendlysky7674 They were on their way out due to age. By 2002, all of United's 747s were exclusively the 400s.

[@equissatya]

man today, that flight route from seoul to charlotte would be brutal

[@RoadCone411]

Why so? There are a few different choices but I wouldn't necessarily suggest going through Japan. Just checked and UA has a daily ICN-SFO flight (B789 Dreamliner, not too bad) and then you'd connect to a flight to ORD, IAH or IAD before going on to CLT. Too bad they don't have any direct SFO-CLT flights, you'd have to use a different airline if you wanted to do that leg direct. It's all probably quicker than it was in 1997, to be honest. The B747 may have rightfully been the Queen of the Skies, but I find modern B787s and A350s to be quite comfortable and dare I say pleasant, especially if you're up toward the pointy end. United gets a lot of panning on social media for this and that, but generally I find their service to be quite good.

[@al380aviation]

Ahhh the spiral staircase!

[@user-bw9cz6wf1t]

이건 항공 영역을 뛰어넘어 역사적인 영상이다!

[@tonightwefly]

Wow

[@al380aviation]

Any idea when United retired the last of thier 742s? Btw I'm a big fan of you and your work! :-)

[@caltrain910]

2000

[@friendlysky7674]

Late 1999 early 2000:(

[@PhysicsAirline]

Do you know if this plane was a 747-222B or a -238B? And thanks for posting this great video!!

[@caltrain910]

It's likely a -238B since -222Bs are only used on the JFK-NRT route.

[@CadetClark1996]

What was airport security like, back then for international flights,to and from the u.s?

[@jayd1426]

United sure was better back then

[@unitedfrequentflyer9162]

Quick question where is the other 2 flight the one from honolulu to chicago and to Charlotte where are those two videos

[@mrtodd3620]

What was the duration of that routing? These days you can do it in 17 hours.

[@icedragon23472]

Looks like a comfier time...

[@caltrain910]

What's the tail number of this aircraft?

[@BlueAcidball]

They put the “United” in United Airlines.

[@TomCook1993]

jesus a 4 leg trip is quite a schlep

[@gio11138]

It's pretty quiet...

[@lrg3834]

This should've been a Pan Am flight instead of United.

[@adriendiaz739]

It was filmed in 1997 Pan Am went out in 1991.

[@awangj1]

I wonder why they used a 747-200... they could've easily used a 767.

[@trijetz3562]

Because 747

[@friendlysky7674]

767-200 would’ve been nice! I would love to see that interior!

[@airlinepilotdude]

Ah the 90s hairstyle hahahaha.

[@LudeauvieK]

La cassette a du souffrir

[@Strikr5777]

@alexk902lol..... on my birthday i was at that time

[@visax8550]

Gimpo not kimpo

[@bobbypaluga4346]

I think the grey body with blue and black stripe tail was absolutely the butt ugliest United or any US carrier dreamed up. The wide rainbow cheat line on white was far superior. JAL minimalist is always classy. Continental had it just right, Especially with the older gold tail and red cheat line scheme.

[@misled1982]

Please! te battleship livery was the MOST elegant they had! the current one is dead awful and boring

[@icedragon23472]

No, stop seriously stop

[@sce2aux464]

I liked battleship grey more than the one that preceded or followed it, but the Friendship livery was my personal favorite.