777 service out of KRDU
 

Several weeks ago, I saw an AA 777 departing RDU. Was that a training flight or is American offering non-stop int'l (overseas) service out of RDU? I have never seen that out of that small an airport. I assumed RDU offered mostly domestic service and to nearby countries.

yes it goes to Gatwick i believe? From what i understand theres a huge corporate presence in RDU (Glaxosmithkleine?) and they basically subsidize that flight. jumpseaters dream as i imagine it usually goes out with open seats?

A buddy of mine was in RDU the other day and asked the gate agents about it. Apparently that day it went out with 2...yes TWO...passengers in coach. And a full first/business class. It'd be a jumpseater's dream *if* AA let more than a privileged few jumpseat internationally! They're the only majors with an exclusive international list now. Maybe some day they'll decide to stop being such SkynAAzis and join the rest of the industry...

hmmm i thought you could still cabin jumpseat on them on the same domestic cass reciprocal agreement list, just couldnt get back in on them?

I'm an American pilot. I've rode on that RDU to Gatwick flight. Yes, it is mostly for the Pharmacuedical company. It can get full of pax around the holidays and after school is out.

I just looked at the AA int'l j/s list. Are you sure the other major airlines allow all regional airlines unlimited access to the j/s int'l ??

I'll make a few phone calls to UAL pilots and report back.

Oh, thanks for calling me a Nazi !

and you fly for? Horizon or ?

As an aside, back in the mid to late 90's when Orville, Wilbur, and I used to fly St. Louis to London's Gatwick for TWA, we used to park near American's armada of 777s. One of them of course, was the RDU flight. You can see that this flight has been operating on and off for the last 10 years.

FF

The flight will change over to Heathrow on 3/30/08 per AA's website. Depending on flight patterns and what I'm doing at the moment I often see the 777 come or go over the house.

YES, other majors/legacys allow us little regional airline pilots to use the JS int'l. Goes without saying, it's cabin only. I know, the agony, the horror of letting a lowly regional guy JS on one of YOUR aircraft to Europe, South America, the Orient, wherever is considered int'l per your policy.

For a while, it was you and CAL, now I believe, it's just you guys with that screwed up policy. I know, I know, it's that mentality that since a regional airline can't take one of your pilots to an int'l destination, you guys won't carry a regional pilot to an int'l destination.

When I was based in LGA we had a lot of AA commuters from CHS. AA/AE had no service between CHS and LGA at the time. It was always a joke to tell them, "Since I can't ride on your airline from JFK to LHR because we don't serve that market, why should we let you ride from CHS to LGA since you don't serve this market?"

Calm down, it's a joke, we ALWAYS let them ride. It was amazing how many AA pilots didn't even know that though.

back in the day when RDU was a HUB for AA, they flew London and Paris daily out of RDU.

i dont know if this applies but i one of my teachers in college was a retired AA guy, he said RDU used to have a 767 direct to Paris to fly horse meat, its a delicacy over there i guess, so maybe in England too, can anyone confirm?