How To Tell Different Airplanes Apart

How To Tell Different Airplanes Apart

22

The miles & points world has all kinds of different enthusiasts — some people are only interested in miles & points in order to save money on travel, while others are interested in miles & points because they love airplanes. I know there are plenty of people who are very frequent flyers but can barely tell the difference between an Airbus A380 and Boeing 747.

In this post I figured I’d share how I easily identify planes in a split second. Of course there are lots of methods for doing this, but I figured I’d share mine (and maybe other hardcore avgeeks can chime in with their methods in the comments section).

To keep things simple, I’ll just stick to the most popular wide body aircraft (though if readers find this interesting, I’m happy to do a post about narrow body aircraft as well). That’s probably complicated enough, given all the variants of aircraft nowadays. Let’s start with Boeing aircraft, and then we’ll cover Airbus aircraft.

Boeing 747 characteristics

As far as I’m concerned, the Boeing 747 will always be the queen of the skies. While the Airbus A380 has overtaken it in terms of size and passenger comfort, it can’t compete with the 747’s curves. The 747 has a full lower deck and then a partial upper deck, making it easy to identify.

While the passenger version of the 747 is becoming increasingly rare nowadays, there are two types that are most common — the 747-400 and the 747-8 (and no, it’s not the 747-800).

How can you tell the difference between the two planes? For one, the 747-400 has traditional winglets that stick “up.” On top of that, the 747-400 has a smaller upper deck. Behind the upper deck exit row, there are only seven windows on each side.

Lufthansa Boeing 747-400

As a point of comparison, the 747-8’s wingtips gradually go up, and the upper deck is bigger, with 15 windows on each side behind the upper deck exit row.

Lufthansa Boeing 747-8

The rear of the 747-8’s engines are also similar to those of the 787, with a zig-zag pattern, as I’ll explain below.

Lufthansa Boeing 747-8

Boeing 767 characteristics

From a distance, it’s not unreasonable to think that a 767 and 777 look alike. I even sometimes make that mistake. It’s especially tricky since there’s the 767-300 and 767-400, and they’re roughly proportional to the 777-200 and 777-300 in terms of their dimensions.

What makes identifying the 767 especially tough is that many airlines have “modified” them. Some airlines have winglets on the 767, while others don’t. Some airlines have two doors on each side of the 767-300, while others have three doors.

So let me make this simple — at the base of each wing, the 767 has two sets of two wheels. In other words, on each side there are four wheels, for a total of 10 wheels on the plane (including the two nose wheels). Meanwhile the 777 has three sets of two wheels at the base of each wing, for a total of six wheels on each side. I know this might sound minor, but I’ve actually found it to be a very easy way to tell the planes apart.

Boliviana de Aviacion Boeing 767-300

How can you tell the difference between the 767-300 and 767-400? The 767-300 has at most three sets of doors on each side (and sometimes just two), while the 767-400 has four sets of doors on each side.

Delta Boeing 767-400

Boeing 777 characteristics

For me there are three identifying characteristics of the 777 — two huge engines, no winglets, and a total of 14 wheels (two in the front, and six in the back on each side, with three rows of wheels there).

But how do you tell the difference between a Boeing 777-200 and a Boeing 777-300?

A Boeing 777-200 has just four doors on each side of the aircraft (one in the very front, one in front of the wing, one behind the wing, and one in the very back).

American Boeing 777-200

Meanwhile the 777-300 has five doors on each side of the aircraft (one in the very front, one in front of the wing, one immediately behind the wing, one a bit further back, and one in the very back).

American Boeing 777-300

Boeing 787 characteristics

The easiest way to identify the 787 is by the zig-zag “cut outs” in the back of the engine. Also, the wings have a unique shape. While there aren’t abrupt winglets, the wings “stretch” pretty high up.

Ethiopian Boeing 787-8

How do you tell the difference between the 787-8, 787-9, and 787-10? Personally I can eyeball it pretty easily, but it can be tough for some people to do, since all versions of the plane have four exits on each side, similar wings, the same number of wheels, etc.

The only real difference between the planes is the length — the 787-8 is 186 feet long, the 787-9 is 206 feet long, and the 787-10 is 224 feet long. That’s a pretty significant difference, as the longest version is over 20% longer than the shortest version.

I think a 787-8 is pretty easy to spot, because it looks quite small from the outside. Usually I look at the number of windows between the first and second set of doors. If there are 10 or fewer windows on each side (including ones that are “blacked out”), it’s a 787-8.

United Boeing 787-8

Meanwhile if there are more than 10 but fewer than 15 windows on each side between the first and second set of doors, it’s the 787-9.

United Boeing 787-9

If there are more than 15 windows between the first and second set of doors on each side, it’s the 787-10.

United Boeing 787-10

Airbus A330 characteristics

The major challenge with identifying the A330 is that there are two very different types of these planes — there’s the A330-200/300, which is the original version of the plane, and then there’s the A330-800/900neo, which is the new version of the plane. To some people, the A330-900neo may look more like an A350-900 than an A330-300.

Let’s start with the A330-200/300. This plane is pretty “proportional” looking, and can easily be identified by the fact that it has two engines and the most “traditional” winglets out there. The winglets are an easy way to differentiate it from the other twin-engine wide bodies out there. Furthermore, the plane has four doors on each side.

Delta Airbus A330-300

The A330-800/900neo has a similar body style, except the winglets are different. While the A330-200/300 winglets are wide and point almost straight up, the A330-800/900neo winglets get narrower, and curve a bit more.

Corsair Airbus A330-900neo

The A330neo and A350 have similar general designs, though there is a big difference in the wingtips, as you’ll see below when I cover the A350. If anyone has any other easy ways to spot the difference between the two planes, please let me know.

Airbus A340 characteristics

The A340 is a single deck plane with four engines, which makes it pretty easy to identify, since it’s the only non-double decker that has four engines. But how do you tell the difference between the A340-200/300 and A340-600? Okay, truth be told there aren’t a lot of these planes flying anymore, so there aren’t many situations where you’ll have to do that. But still…

The A340-200/300 has engines that looks disproportionately small (like, are these things gonna propel us through the sky at 500 miles per hour, or dry my hair?), and also has just four doors on each side of the aircraft.

SWISS Airbus A340-300

Meanwhile the A340-600 is a gorgeous, beastly work of art. It’s so long, so skinny, and has appropriately sized-looking engines. There are also five doors on each side of the aircraft. Personally after the 747, I find the A340-600 to be the most beautiful plane.

Lufthansa Airbus A340-600

Airbus A350 characteristics

The Airbus A350 has two main identifying characteristics — an extremely sleek design (especially near the nose, and with the Batman-looking cockpit windows), and very “steep” winglets (they’re not gradual, unlike the 787).

Air France Airbus A350-900

How do you tell the difference between the A350-900 and A350-1000? There are two many differences.

For one, the A350-900 has 10 wheels, while the A350-1000 has 14 wheels. The difference comes from the base of each wing having six wheels (three rows of two) rather than four wheels (two rows of two).

That’s because the A350-1000 is the stretched version of the A350-900. The easiest other way to tell the difference is based on the number of windows between doors one and two. The A350-900 has somewhere around 15 windows on each side between the first two sets of doors.

Philippine Airlines Airbus A350-900

Meanwhile the A350-1000 has over 20 windows on each side between the first and second set of doors.

Cathay Pacific Airbus A350-1000

Airbus A380 characteristics

I don’t think anyone has trouble identifying this whale-jet, given that it has two full decks.

Emirates Airbus A380

Bottom line

Understandably not everyone can spot the difference between airplanes, because, well, to most people it doesn’t actually matter. That being said, for us avgeeks it’s often a favorite pastime. Hopefully the above is a simple guide that can help people tell apart planes, should they be interested in learning a bit more.

While there are lots of other differences, I figure it makes sense to highlight some of the most “obvious” tricks, as opposed to studying each plane in great detail.

To fellow avgeeks, I’d be curious to hear how you easily tell planes apart!

Conversations (22)
The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser's responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered.
Type your response here.

If you'd like to participate in the discussion, please adhere to our commenting guidelines. Anyone can comment, and your email address will not be published. Register to save your unique username and earn special OMAAT reputation perks!

  1. TW Wayne Guest

    My first of defense in differentiating a 767 vs. 777 is to look for the 777's sharply attenuated and vertically-flat tail cone below the tail vs. the roundish one characteristic of the 767. Will find your window- (and wheel-) count stratagems useful in identifying the right series! And most heartily endorse your affinity for the 747 as your first love...so much so that I might even go along with your nomination of 340-600 as runner-up.

    1. Tocsin Member

      I was going to point this one out - I call the 777 tail cone 'the chisel' :)

  2. Timo Diamond

    The serrated nacelles on the 787, 747 & 737MAX are also referred to as chevron. Designed for noise reduction.

    1. jallan Gold

      Thank you - I was wondering why they are designed that way.

  3. CMT Guest

    Nice, easy, primer. Nice idea to post this Ben.

  4. Andy Guest

    For an A330, the vertical stabilizer is more curved as it joins the fuselage than say a B777.

    For an A350, there is a black frame around the cockpit, a trend Airbus is following in newer planes.

    The B787 can also be characterized by its aerodynamic nose, which is similar to the A350. Also, the upper tip of the vertical stabilizer is curved, not straight like other models.

  5. Francisco C Guest

    You did this post 10 years ago (or so) at my request. Congratulations on being the best points blogger and #1 must-read every day!

  6. IrishAlan Diamond

    I’d like to think that anybody that gives even the slightest of craps about aviation could pick out a 747 or A380 since they’re so unique and distinctive. Then again it tells you how little people pay attention at all to safety as I know people who can’t ever tell me what aircraft they just flew on despite it being announced during the safety demonstration and sticking out of the seatback on the safety card.

    I’d like to think that anybody that gives even the slightest of craps about aviation could pick out a 747 or A380 since they’re so unique and distinctive. Then again it tells you how little people pay attention at all to safety as I know people who can’t ever tell me what aircraft they just flew on despite it being announced during the safety demonstration and sticking out of the seatback on the safety card.
    I won’t deny some aircraft are hard to tell apart even as an avgeek though.

    1. Hillshum Guest

      Once you've flown a few times you realize that knowing the model of the plane does not alter how you handle a safety incident in the slightest

  7. mitch Guest

    the 787 is also the only wide body to have 4 cockpit windows instead of six

  8. mitch Guest

    the middle door on the 777-300 is on the wing wing, not before it

  9. Norman Guest

    The era of DC3's, constellations, 707's, DC8.s and L101,s was great. My favourite all was the VC10 for long haul. All dwarfed by Concorde which everyone could recognize.

  10. Ethan Guest

    Narrowbody, too, please! Printed these out for my avgeek son and he loves them.

  11. Brian Guest

    I think a narrowbody version of this would be even more helpful. The average traveler will see an order of magnitude more narrowbody jets at the airport than widebody, and having tricks to distinguish an A319 from an A320 from a 737-800 at a glance would be nice!

    1. Tocsin Member

      For the Airbus - A319 has one over-wing emergency exit, A320 has two over-wing emergency exits next to each other, A321 has two emergency exits just before and just after the wing - hope that helps (you and Ben)!

      To add, I've seen A321 XLR artist impressions with two over-wing and one after wing emergency exit as well...

  12. derek Guest

    767 vs. 777 if you can see the rear. The 777 has a flat end, inspired by McDonnell Douglas MD-11 and MD-90.

    I have trouble telling the A321ceo and A321neo, 777-200 and 777-200ER and 777-200LR.

    The cockpit windows are a good way but there is a very subtle difference between 767 and 777 and no difference between A330 and A340. This is why I object to Air Canada's dishonesty, just like Justin is dishonest, in...

    767 vs. 777 if you can see the rear. The 777 has a flat end, inspired by McDonnell Douglas MD-11 and MD-90.

    I have trouble telling the A321ceo and A321neo, 777-200 and 777-200ER and 777-200LR.

    The cockpit windows are a good way but there is a very subtle difference between 767 and 777 and no difference between A330 and A340. This is why I object to Air Canada's dishonesty, just like Justin is dishonest, in blacking out the area around the cockpit windows.

    I can tell the difference between the IL-96 and A340 despite both having 4 engines.

    1. Ekene Okpareke Guest

      You can tell the A320/321 CEOs and NEOs apart from their engines and winglets. The neos either have CFM Leap 1-A or P&W 1100-G engines. Each of these engine families have carbon fiber fan blades in front, so they are black in color, with titanium (shiny metal) edges. The neos also have tall upward winglets whereas the CEOs *mostly* had the wingtip "fence" that extends both above and below the wing.

    2. CPH-Flyer Gold

      A321NEO and CEO is really only the size of the engines that clearly tell them apart. Some potential indicators: door layout, the NEO may have fewer doors and small over wing exits. The CEO may not have winglets.

      The 777-200LR vs 200 and 200ER, look at the wingtips. Pointy raked wingtips equals the LR. Same for the 300ER vs 300.

  13. Anon Member

    One characteristic that sets A330 aprt from other twin engine aircrafts is the tail end of the fuselage; the top of the fuselage remain straight and does not dip down, making it look "prim and proper", similar to having a good posture.
    @Ben, perhaps that could help distinguish between A330 Neo and A350?

    1. GBOAC Diamond

      An even more telling difference about the A330 is the row windows at the rear of the fuselage bends up slightly. This also occurred on the A310s as well.

  14. Bill n DC Diamond

    Fun post! Thanks.
    The DreamLiner cockpit windows are another dead giveaway.
    I also check the tail end differences like between 777 & 767.
    Hi to Mikes! :-)

    1. Bill n DC Diamond

      Miles. Sorry. Stupid spellcheck

Featured Comments Most helpful comments ( as chosen by the OMAAT community ).

The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser's responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered.

Ethan Guest

Narrowbody, too, please! Printed these out for my avgeek son and he loves them.

6
Brian Guest

I think a narrowbody version of this would be even more helpful. The average traveler will see an order of magnitude more narrowbody jets at the airport than widebody, and having tricks to distinguish an A319 from an A320 from a 737-800 at a glance would be nice!

6
Francisco C Guest

You did this post 10 years ago (or so) at my request. Congratulations on being the best points blogger and #1 must-read every day!

3
Meet Ben Schlappig, OMAAT Founder
5,163,247 Miles Traveled

32,614,600 Words Written

35,045 Posts Published