End of an era: Boeing 747 takes last US commercial flight

I've only flown on a 747 once, and it was a great ride. I checked in at LAX for the flight to Okinawa. The ticket agent was getting trashed by people ahead of me in line. I greeted her politely, which was something she hadn't seen much of that day. When I got my ticket and pass it had a U by the seat number, but I didn't know what it meant. Unaccompanied maybe? Anyway, when I boarded I was pointed toward the stairway to the Upstairs. There were only around 16 or so seats up there, but it was much better than downstairs. The rest were mostly senior officers and some accompanied senior enlisted with babies. I was a new WO and it was something I was not accustomed to. It was one time that kindness paid off, as it was a very relaxing and comfortable flight.

Edit: I think I may have flown 747 out of LAX another time, but it wasn't upstairs. Tower Air (Israel) had gotten the contract from Flying Tiger. It was a unique flight also. After takeoff at LAX we picked a few more PAX up in Oakland. I noticed the attendants were counting heads soon after takeoff from Oakland. Seems a sailor had gotten off in Oakland and not gotten back on. When we landed in Anchorage we were herded like cattle and they completely offloaded all luggage. Everyone had to claim theirs and what was left belonged to the sailor. This was because he could have left a bomb aboard and gotten off. This took hours and the crew passed the requirements for crew rest. They put us up in hotels in Anchorage for the few hours before we reloaded and continued with the trip. Not a good way to start the 1 year tour, but better than the alternatives of a bomb. I'd guess the sailor had a hard time if they caught up to him.

I am dating myself here but my first 747 flight was on Pan Am from Hamburg Germany to NY JFK in 1985.

My first trip in a 747 was also in 1973, returning from Korea. We had to wear our class A's back then. After we took off, the pilot came walking through the economy class. There were about 5 or 6 GI's. He invited every one of us to come up to the upper level where there was a bar. We spent most of the trip up there.
Great flight!!!!!