Your most exciting aircraft swaps

rainaviation2 · Mon Feb 20, 2023 3:00 pm

af773atmsp wrote:
Not the most exciting thing in the world but today flying ATL-MSP it was scheduled to be a 752 but was replaced with a 739ER, which I haven't been on before. Since this was at night I didn't notice at first, so when I boarded the aircraft I thought "wow, the interior on this 757 is way better than the one I flew from St. Maarten to Atlanta!" Then I noticed the 739ER safety cards.

Lol I would rather fly on the -900ER unless it is a 757-300 which is my favorite aircraft by FAR...

My most exciting swap was on MSP-AMS when we were supposed to be on the old 330 config, and we were on a brand new 339.

TWA772LR · Tue Feb 21, 2023 8:40 pm

Not really a swap but it definitely was a last minute change for me.

I was trying to nonrev HKG-LHR and BA looked the best (most seats open, and either an A380 or 744). I decided to go for that flight with VA and CX as back up. Well VX cancelled and the BA and CX options were now looking bad for standbys. I looked at places like CDG, MAN, AMS, FRA, BRU and eventually looked at DUB. If you're familiar with how myID Travel works, they use a smiley face system to indicate how likely it is to get on: green happy face is good, yellow caution face is tight, and red frown is not looking good. The CX flight to DUB was the only green so I listed for it. As checking finally opened for the flight, the status changed to yellow and it dawned on me that revenue and nonrev pax were jumping to the DUB lifeboat like me. I went to the CX counter and told them I listed and they gave me a slip of paper with a number. CX calls their standbys at the ticket counter like a lottery, calling out the numbers instead of names. They called my name and I was excited as it was my first time on CX and an A350. Before boarding, I found DUB-LCY on a RJ86 to be a green face and my inner avgeek couldn't pass that up. So thanks to 1 cancellation and a last minute change in plans, I got to fly on 2 new types and fly into a new airport fous for it's approaches and practically synonymous with the planes I was flying to it on.

A few months later the world shut down for COVID and I thank my lucky stars I was able to experience aviations last golden age of old and new planes as well as fringe routes that were impossible before that generation of aircraft and perhaps still is after covid., Not to mention the RJ86 is all but extinct.

frigatebird · Wed Mar 01, 2023 3:19 pm

Back in 1998, my morning flight HER-AMS with Martinair 763 was cancelled. The evening flight was also supposed to be 763, but to accommodate the passengers of the cancelled morning flight, it was upgauged to a 742. Not just my first and only 747 classic flight, but I was assigned a seat in the front of the aircraft too (in front of door 1) :bouncy:

In 2002, CHC-SYD with TG, 744 to 773 (non ER). I had been on 744s many times, but never a 777-300 (it was rare at the time), no one knew then how successful the 77W would become.

A few years later, CDG-AMS, AF A319 to A318. That was a funny little aircraft.

Couple of years back, disappointment and excitement on the same day. Booked a UX flight as I was never on a 787 before. Sadly, the AMS-MAD leg went from 788 to 332. But the connecting MAD-LPA leg went from 738 to 788 :cheerful:

With a row of 3 seats for just me and my wife, she still regards it the most comfortable flight ever.

Lingon · Wed Mar 08, 2023 7:36 am

Cathay HKG-MNL, Airbus 330 (I think it was ) swapped out for a 747, and only a handful of passengers. Pilot joked the reason was to get a sturdy machine due to weather... interesting to fly a 747 with fewer pax than rows.
SAS KRN-ARN in summer 2013, the planned Boeing 737 was swapped for an MD-80, and at arrival we deplaned through the rear stairs. The MD-80s were gone from SAS three months later.

ReverseFlow · Sat Mar 11, 2023 3:33 pm

DocLightning wrote:
TUGMASTER wrote:
DocLightning wrote:
We were doing a FRA-MUC connection and the LH A321 that we were supposed to be on got swapped for my first (and so far only) A320-NEO. She happened to be D-AINA, the world's first A320-NEO.

Absolutely NOT exciting.... from crap to crap....

I think getting not only your first ride on a new model *AND* having that aircraft be the first ever example of that model is pretty neat.

I also happen to like the A320. It's much more passenger-friendly than its competitor.

I'm going to be pedantic and say the first A320NEO is F-WNEO MSN 6101

D-AINA is the first delivered NEO

B777LRF · Sun Mar 12, 2023 8:18 am

POS to SXM. Instead of a direct on a boring old 737, swapped to an island hopping Dash-8 which included a change of aircraft in Antigua. Think it was 5 stops along the way. Only downside was arriving SXM in the dark.

jjlucash · Wed Mar 15, 2023 4:51 pm

"Exciting" mostly because of the airline, but up-gauging from a -700 to an -800 on Avelo back in January, my first time flying them (and not the last). It was a BWI-HVN route, so I didn't expect to fly one of their 73Hs at any point.

Aero800 · Wed Mar 15, 2023 7:29 pm

Nice topic!

I have 2 exciting aircraft swaps

1) Back in 1991, supposed to fly JED-BOM on an Air-India A310-300, but flew on a 747-300 Combi instead! Was a nice surprise considering this type was not usually sent to JED. As a bonus, flew on the upper deck with newly refurbished seats.

2) In 2015 flying from YYZ-YVR, aircraft changed at the last minute from an Air Canada A320 to 777-300ER. This had the 3x3x3 layout at the time, and a fairly empty cabin. Very comfortable flight.

N649DL · Fri Mar 17, 2023 11:14 pm

It wasn't a swap (usually that would've been a downgrade) but some rarities I was able to track down and book as "one-off's". In August 2010 I flew on a domestic DL 763 on ATL-EWR and then DL EWR-MSP on the return with a 752 with AVOD. This was all connecting in and out of LAX.

There were two times I flew on AA 757s one in November 2006 and another in April 2007 on EWR-DFW. Those were also pretty rare as that route was constantly S80s at the time. Back to LAX from DFW was on an AA 763 in F with the old recliner chairs which was fun too.

Another route which was somewhat recent was ATL-BTV on a DL 73G in 2019. That's one you'll never see again.

TyVil · Sat Mar 18, 2023 6:17 am

January 2021 middle of the pandemic and AA had parked the A321T fleet. Instead of flying almost hourly LAX-JFK it was down to 3 times a day on the 77E with 37J. I had booked Y and as a platinum pro the upgrade cleared right at the window to J - I assigned myself 1A. I'm sitting at the urgent care waiting for a covid test (required to go to NYC at the time) and I got an alert that there'd been a swap to a 77W. Now my 1A was one of the 8 seats in the F cabin. Service was still J; but it was pretty cool.

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