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BOAC and BA classic 747 seat maps

BOAC's 1971 747-100 carried 362 seats with a 16-seat Monarch Lounge upstairs; the later British Airways -200 seated 319 once the lounge was converted.

By , Boeing 747 EnthusiastReviewed

BOAC took delivery of its first 747, a -136, in April 1970 and began London–New York service with it in April 1971. From that aircraft to the last British Airways 747-400 flight in 2020, the British flag carrier operated 110 747s — one of the largest fleets of the type in the world.

The Monarch Lounge

The first BOAC cabin carried 362 seats: 27 First Class in the nose, two abreast, and 335 economy in a nine-abreast 3-4-2. Upstairs was the Monarch Lounge — a 16-seat First Class space with a bartender and settees, reached by the spiral staircase. It is the purest surviving expression of what the early 747 was for: the upper deck existed to be a room, not a cabin.

Converting the lounge

By the late 1970s BOAC — by then British Airways — had taken the opposite view. The lounge came out and the upper deck was seated, a programme carried out at Boeing’s Wichita facility. Capacity fell from 362 to 319 (27 First and 292 economy), and the upper deck began a second life as a premium cabin, sold as Super Club and later Club World. British Airways’ -236 of 1977, its first Rolls-Royce RB211-powered 747, flew this layout for years; the last classic airframe retired in October 2001.

From the -100 to the -400

The classic British 747s were eventually joined and replaced by 57 of the 747-400, whose cabin layouts are covered on their own page. None of the airline’s classic 747s were preserved — the first aircraft, G-AWNA, was scrapped in 1999 — so this record is a documentary one.

Cabin archive

Visual seat maps

Cabin zones run from the nose on the left to the tail on the right. Seat symbols show the typical abreast pattern, not every individual row.

Historical reconstruction1971

BOAC 747-100 launch layout

BOAC's first 747 carried 27 First Class seats in the nose and 335 in economy, with a 16-seat First Class lounge called the Monarch Lounge on the upper deck.

362passenger seats
Upper deckThe Monarch Lounge, reached by a spiral staircase
Monarch Lounge16 seatsFirst Class lounge with a bartender and settees
Main deckNose at left
First Class27 seats · 2-2 typicalNose cabin
Economy335 seats · 3-4-2 typicalNine abreast

Map note: Summer seating was 27 First and 335 economy; the winter configuration was denser in First at 36 and lighter in economy at 315. First was two abreast in the nose and economy was 3-4-2.

Configuration source: Sam Chui — British Airways 747 history special

Archived configuration1980s

British Airways 747-200 layout

The British Airways classic 747 after the upper-deck lounge was converted to seating: 27 First Class and 292 economy, a smaller cabin than the original.

319passenger seats
Upper deckConverted from lounge to seating
Business ClassUnderstand as Super Club, later Club World
Main deckNose at left
First Class27 seats · 2-2 typical
Economy292 seats

Map note: Removing the Monarch Lounge and seating the upper deck cut total capacity from 362 to 319 — the airline traded seats for the promise that every passenger had a place to sit, and later sold the upper deck as Super Club and then Club World business class.

Configuration source: Head for Points — Boeing 747 history at British Airways

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the primary and institutional references below.

  1. British Airways 747 history special — Sam Chui
  2. Boeing 747 history at British Airways — Head for Points
  3. The story of British Airways Super Club — London Air Travel
  4. End of an era — British Airways and its five 747 decades — FlightGlobal

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