Tarmac tourism: A look inside the A380 superjumbo and a posh 777

PARIS — On the tarmac at the Paris Air Show, Airbus gave tours of the interior of an A380 superjumbo jet, while Boeing showcased the latest plush passenger cabin on a Jet Airways 777-300ER.

The Airbus jet impresses with its gargantuan size.

Looking down from the double-decker plane's upper level provides a view like that from a four- or five-story building.

The Boeing jet's claim to fame is the latest trend in first-class lavishness: "suites" enclosed by sliding doors and half-walls to provide the pampered passenger with the semi-privacy of a sleeping cubicle.

Happily, both airplanes offer some comfort in coach class, too.

Familiar feeling

Inside, the superjumbo A380 at first seems familiar.

The passenger cabin is divided at intervals, with partitions, so that there's not an exceedingly long aisle to look down. And sitting on one deck, you are unaware of the other.

So the sense of space inside isn't very different from, say, Boeing's big twinjet 777, which has a very roomy interior and high stow bins so passengers need to duck very little, if at all.

But you know you are in a superjumbo when you are in a window seat.

On the lower deck, if you sit by the enormous wing, you can't see the end of it. The wing curves down 1.5 meters while parked, so the tip is out of sight.

Only the top of the vertical winglet is visible, showing the approximate location of the wing tip.

(By the way, those distinctive winglets that go up and down from the wing tip on Airbus jets are made by Boeing Australia.)

On take-off, the wing tip will come into view as the mighty wing flexes upward 4 meters at full lift.

If you have a window seat upstairs, it almost seems you are looking down on the wings and engine of another airplane way down below.

The superjumbo will enter service in October with Singapore Airlines, a premium carrier keeping its cabin design under wraps but promising eye-popping luxury.

The flight-test aircraft Airbus displayed at the airport in Le Bourget is a more generic design, to show possibilities.

It's configured to hold 519 passengers. Coach seats are wide and have plenty of legroom, though if the seat in front of you is pushed back, it does impinge on your space.

Of course, the cabin interior is entirely subject to each airline's variation.

Emirates plans to carry up to 621 passengers in its A380s.

An airline could conceivably pack in even more seats; in that case, the extra legroom would disappear.

There is a window in some of the aircraft's restrooms.

But oddly, it's behind the toilet, so only male passengers doing their business while standing will get a view.

To others, it may only cause uneasiness. For that, there's a shade.

Passengers on a long flight might think to take advantage of the aircraft's size by going for a stroll. But that probably will be limited by the typical restrictions airlines impose for reasons of security and class distinctions.

"Airlines are unlikely to allow passengers a jogging route up the back stairs and down the front," said Keith Stonestreet, A380 product-marketing director.

The suite life

The Boeing 777-300ER parked at Le Bourget is one recently delivered to India's premium airline Jet Airways.

The coach seats are similar to the A380 seats.

Then there are the eight first-class "suites." There, each seat has a 23-inch TV screen, a fold-out table, a facing seat for a visitor or to connect to form an 83-inch lie-flat bed.

Each suite has a slatted sliding door to the aisle, and on the other side a partition separating it from the neighboring suite. The partition slides up or down at the touch of a button.

With the door closed and the partition up, a passenger is enclosed. However, since the walls are office-cubicle high, the privacy is incomplete. It's not quite the Orient Express.

The seat has a massage mode. You can customize it to vibrate to your taste. It can do shoulders, upper back, lower back, all of those and more.

If you try it, you will almost certainly massage your bottom before you find the right button to stop it.

Mind you, it's a not unpleasant feeling. A good talking point perhaps, if you slide down the partition to connect with your neighbor.