The air was different on November 7, 2017. It felt heavy with nostalgia, yet electric. If you were at San Francisco International Airport that morning, you saw something rare in our modern, cynical age of air travel: grown adults weeping over a piece of aluminum and jet fuel. This wasn't just any plane. It was UA747. The United last flight 747 was more than a ferry mission from SFO to Honolulu; it was the final exhale of an era that defined how we see the world.
The Boeing 747 didn't just carry passengers. It shrank the planet.
Before the "Queen of the Skies" showed up in 1970, international travel was basically a country club. It was expensive, cramped, and frankly, a bit elitist. Then Joe Sutter and his team of "Incredibles" at Boeing built this massive, hump-backed beast. Suddenly, you could fit nearly 400 people on a single jet. Prices dropped. The world opened up. When United Airlines decided to retire their fleet in 2017, they didn't just send the planes to a desert boneyard in Arizona. They threw a party that spanned the Pacific.
The Retro Magic of UA747
United played the hits for this one. They really did.
Flight 747 to Honolulu was a deliberate throwback to 1970, the year United first flew the jumbo jet. The flight attendants weren't in their standard 2017 navy blues. Nope. They wore retro uniforms—think bright orange scarves and vintage hats that looked like they stepped off a Madison Avenue ad set. Even the menu was a time capsule. We're talking Trader Vic’s Mai Tais and Macadamia nuts. It was kitschy, sure, but in a way that made you realize how much "soul" we've lost in modern, hyper-efficient regional jet travel.
The plane itself, N118UA, was a 747-400. While the 747-400 wasn't the original 1970s model (that was the -100), it represented the pinnacle of the line's commercial success.
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People paid thousands of dollars for seats. Some guy reportedly spent over $10,000 on the secondary market just to be in that cabin. Why? Because you can’t buy a memory like that twice. The atmosphere on board was less "commute" and more "wedding reception." People were standing in the aisles, sharing stories about their first time crossing the ocean, or the time they saw the spiral staircase for the first time as a kid.
It was loud. It was crowded. It was perfect.
Why the Queen Had to Go
Let's be real for a second. As much as we love the 747, it was a gas guzzler.
Airlines are businesses, not museums. The math just didn't work anymore. The United last flight 747 happened because of the "Twin Engine Revolution." When the 747 was designed, engines weren't reliable enough to cross the ocean with only two of them. You needed four for safety (and power). But by 2017, planes like the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and the Airbus A350 could fly further, using way less fuel, with only two engines.
- Fuel Efficiency: The 747-400 burns roughly 3,300 gallons of fuel per hour. A 787 burns significantly less while carrying a similar, albeit slightly smaller, load.
- Maintenance: Four engines mean four times the mechanical headaches.
- Cargo Space: While the 747 is a cargo king, the "belly" space on newer twins is often more profitable for scheduled passenger routes.
United wasn't alone in this. Delta retired theirs around the same time. British Airways held on a bit longer until the pandemic forced their hand in 2020. Seeing the United last flight 747 was just the first domino to fall in the US market. It was the end of the "Jumbo" monopoly.
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The View from the Upper Deck
If you've never been in the upper deck of a 747, honestly, it’s hard to explain the vibe. It felt like a private club. Because you were above the main cabin, it was quieter. You felt tucked away. During that final flight to Hawaii, the upper deck was the heart of the celebration.
Captain David Smith, who was one of the pilots on that final journey, spoke about the plane's handling. Pilots loved the 747 because, despite being the size of a building, it handled like a much smaller aircraft. It was stable. It was "honest," as some aviators say. When it touched down in Honolulu, the pilots taxied through a water cannon salute—a traditional aviation "thank you"—and the cheers from the ground were audible inside the cabin.
But here is the thing people forget: the 747 actually saved Boeing from bankruptcy back in the day, but it also almost ruined them because it was so expensive to develop. It was a gamble that changed human history. Without it, the "global village" would just be a theory.
Where are they now?
Most of United’s 747 fleet ended up at Victorville, California. It’s a dry, dusty place where planes go to be stripped for parts or wait for a second life that rarely comes. Some were scrapped. Metals recycled. Engines sold for parts.
It’s kinda depressing if you think about it too long. This machine that crossed the Pacific thousands of times, carrying millions of people to honeymoons, funerals, new jobs, and first vacations, just sitting there in the dirt.
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But the legacy isn't in the metal. It's in the route maps. United's current long-haul strategy—flying direct from hubs like Newark or SFO to places like Cape Town or Singapore—is only possible because the 747 paved those ways first. It proved there was a market for 15-hour flights.
Lessons from the Final Departure
We can learn a lot from how United handled this retirement. They didn't just swap the tail numbers in a computer system overnight. They acknowledged the emotional connection between the crew, the passengers, and the machine.
For the travel industry, the United last flight 747 remains a case study in brand loyalty. It showed that passengers actually care about the vessel, not just the destination. In an era of "Basic Economy" and shrinking legroom, the 747 represented a time when flying was an event.
If you're looking to capture some of that magic today, you're mostly out of luck with US carriers. You have to look toward Lufthansa or Korean Air if you want to fly a passenger 747-8 (the newest, and likely last, version). Or, you can find them in the cargo world. Atlas Air still flies them heavily. If you see a giant shadow over an airport, it's probably a freighter carrying your latest smartphone or car parts.
What you should do next
If you're an aviation geek or just someone who misses the "golden age" of flight, don't just look at old photos.
- Visit a Museum: The Museum of Flight in Seattle has the very first 747 (City of Everett). You can walk through it. It smells like old plastic and ambition. It’s worth the trip.
- Track the Heavies: Use an app like FlightRadar24. Filter for "B74" or "B748." You’ll see them still crawling across the oceans, mostly cargo now, but still there.
- Fly the 747-8 while you can: Lufthansa still runs them out of Frankfurt to places like Los Angeles and Chicago. It’s not the 1970s United experience, but it’s the closest you’ll get to that "Queen" feeling before they are all gone for good.
The United last flight 747 was a goodbye, but it was also a reminder. It reminded us that for a few decades, we conquered the planet with four engines and a hump. And that's something worth remembering.
Next Steps for Enthusiasts:
Check out the tail number N118UA on aviation database sites to see its full flight history from delivery to its final resting place. You can also find archived cockpit footage of the final SFO departure on enthusiast forums which captures the literal "last look" the pilots took at the California coastline from the 747's flight deck.