Can This Thing Get Off The Ground?

The travel world was a-buzz last week when the A380 Airbus made its U.S. debut.  The world's largest passenger plane landed at the JFK airport in New York City last Monday, and even arrived 20 minutes ahead of schedule - a feat impressive for a plane of any size these days.  The double decker jumbo jet is approximatley eight stories higha nd is as long and wide as a football field.  The A380 could hold almost 800 passengers, but has decided it will seat closer to 500, so the passengers will have more legroom.  With travellers being concerned about DVT (deep vein thrombosis) long before Vice President Cheney's DVT issues surfaced a few weeks ago, being able to move around a plane on a long trip is a major plus. 

I did a little research and found that the A380 Airbus will have one pilot, one co-pilot and a crew of eight flight attendants.  I don't even need to tell you that those flight attendants will be running around in circles trying to attend to 500 passengers who will all want a pillow or something to drink at the same time.  It wouldn't surprise me if the flight attendants didn't sneak off to one of the bars on the Airbus for a drink themselves. 

As I've thought about the world's largest passenger plane, I have a few concerns.  First of all,  it's bad enough getting on and off a normal plane, but can you imagine how it will be when 500 passengers are trying to get on or off of the Airbus?  I don't think there has been one time that I've flown when I haven't been hit by someone's elbow or carry-on bag that they're trying to stuff into or out of the overhead bin.  And speaking of overhead bins - I sure hope the Airbus has a bizillion bins to accomodate all of the oversized carry-on bags that people will be lugging on the plane. 

And what about the aforementioned beverage service on board?  With that many people, unless you're in first class you can pretty much forget getting something to drink in a timely manner if you press the overhead button and call for the flight attendant; I'm afraid it's up to the push-the-drink-cart-down-the-aisle service.   So you'd better be wide awake and not engrossed in what's playing on your iPod when they come around with the carts for drinks, because that will probably be your only opportunity to wet your whistle.

With all of the beverage drinking going on, that leads me to another concern: the bathrooms.  This baby had better have no less than a dozen scattered throughout the plane.  Keeping in mind the enormity of the Airbus, would you hate to have to walk from one end of the plane to the other just to go to the bathroom?  Especially if you got lucky and were getting great drink service and you really had to go? Note to self: if I ever get to fly on the Airbus, make sure my seat is close to a bathroom.