747 experience

[fdcg27]

"Sieben vier sieben acht" ...

As the captain proudly announced the advent of our journey, since on Lufthansa every announcement is made first in German and then repeated in English.
Got a ride yesterday FRA to IAD in one of these rare birds.
First time we got to fly on the upper deck of a 747 and our only flight on the -8i, a type I had wanted to fly on.
Lots of wind noise on the upper deck, but the flight was otherwise great.
I had counted on Lufty offering a reasonable cost upgrade to biz and they did, so for a little more than 1200 Euro additional, wife and I were in biz with nice food and lie flats.
With three FAs for thirty two pax, service was exceptional.
We slept through most of the snacks, since we were very tired having set off from TBS early that morning and having darn near missed our connecting flight to FRA in MUC. We had selected the lie flat option after the first meal and both went comfortably to sleep.
This is the way in which man was meant to fly as a passenger.
I'll post a travelogue in the appropriate forum to bore everyone later, but we've been in Europe for a month and had a wonderful trip.

 

[Leo99]

I flew upstairs twice. Both were memorable but not for the best. First time I got placed in a "quiet" cabin which meant no food or cocktails. I quietly remedied that. The second time was lie flat but there was a foot rest about 2 feet from my knees so it took some maneuvering to get it working. Then the plane got grounded and we had to switch to another similar plane. I felt bad for the folks that popped a sleeping pill too soon. For $1200, it's a no brainer. We're planning a "bucket" trip to Amalfi Coast and going to burn some of my 500,000 frequent flyer miles.

I used to handle a lot of international shipments with Lufthansa. Shipped a lot of Envirotainers with them. Occasionally, we'd have a pilot that didn't want to transport our Envirotainer. We questioned why and were told, if the pilot doesn't want to take it in their plane it doesn't go.

Interested to hear about your adventures in Europe!

 

[JHZR2]

Glad you were able to!

I had never flown in one, so on one of my European trips in 2023, I booked “United”, which put me on Lufthansa FRA-ORD. I had heard that this was one of the highest likelihood flights to get a 747, so imagine my happiness when it was also the best priced.

Going that far west (my other 747 flight was FRA
-EWR) took us further north. It was a clear day and we could see Greenland clearly.

The best thing about the 747 is the extra width in the cheap seats. There’s about 2-3”, I’d say, between the window seat and the window/fuselage covering. That’s a welcome comfort for folks like me who prefer window seats but are tall enough for the encroachment of the cabin curvature to be an issue.

 

[4WD]

I catch one once in a while - normally in the attic - most recent was in May:

 

[Variant_S]

I flew upstairs on one trip in the '90s to teach a class in Bangalore, India. Flew on Air India from/to ORD. Business Class was 4 across, maybe 12 - 16 rows. Good food and service.

On the way back to the States, while waiting on board in New Delhi (through passengers did not deplane), an attendant approached me and asked if I would take a seat in First Class. I asked and found that the flight was overbooked. After determining that yes, it was a window seat, I said that I'd be glad to do what I could to help them out. That was quite nice.

 

[y_p_w]

Glad you were able to!

I had never flown in one, so on one of my European trips in 2023, I booked “United”, which put me on Lufthansa FRA-ORD. I had heard that this was one of the highest likelihood flights to get a 747, so imagine my happiness when it was also the best priced.

Going that far west (my other 747 flight was FRA
-EWR) took us further north. It was a clear day and we could see Greenland clearly.

View attachment 295912View attachment 295913

The best thing about the 747 is the extra width in the cheap seats. There’s about 2-3”, I’d say, between the window seat and the window/fuselage covering. That’s a welcome comfort for folks like me who prefer window seats but are tall enough for the encroachment of the cabin curvature to be an issue.

Depends on the model. Japan Airlines had the 747SR (short range) which seated over 500 in a single class. They used it for fairly short trips, such as Tokyo-Osaka.

As far as I know, I’ve flown on a 747-100, 747SP, and 747-400. At least with the latter, I believe it was on United, China Airlines, Malaysian Airline Systems, and Air New Zealand.