Lufthansa B747-8 (Config. 2) Business

This was the second flight of a three legs journey GVA – FRA – IAD – ORD, an unusual route to be able to enjoy the new B747-8.

Second leg: FRA – IAD, LH418, B747-8, Business class, upper deck (85K)

Arriving from Geneva (see part 1 of this trip report), no check-in and no security. Just a quick passport control in the middle of a 30 minutes walk to the lounge. Or shall I write to the lounge’s door, to queue for about 5 minutes to get in.

Lounge (“Business Class”): the one by the Z gates is the newest at FRA and the only one up to the standards. It is large, and offers various sections, to eat, to sit, to work or to rest (including three of these marvellous Panasonic Yasumi relax chairs). There is even a smoking room.

Boarding: Boarding was eventless (with no ID control) after though a long walk to the gate (Z52 although Z58 was printed a couple of hours before on the boarding cards given at check-in).

The plane (D-ABYC) was of course quite new (1 year old). My seat was on the upper deck by the window (85K). It is worth noting all seats are the same on the upper deck. Only row 81 (first one by the wall) and 84 (exit row – may-be the nicest as seats are behind a little high table instead of another seat) are a bit different, but do not offer more space.

The seat: this is the new LH business class seat that will progressively be retrofitted on the whole fleet (impossible to compare it with the current one equipping most of the fleet that is one of the worse In the industry). On the upper deck, the configuration is 2 + 2 (8 rows so 32 pax) while in the main deck it is 2 + 2 + 2, each pair being in V, the feet sharing a tiny footrest (small separation in the middle).

Below it is possible to put a small bag. Upper deck windows seats have the advantage of a side storage where a hand bag or a computer bag can fit in. Seats can be adjusted in a number of ways including fully flat. In this position, the feet are somewhat squeezed since the footstep is tiny. It is however reasonably long (comparable to the rest of the industry).

The main issues is the lack of privacy:
* no separation whatsoever between seats,
* when flat, legs might enter in contact with you neighbour’s, quite embarrassing when you don’t know him/her
* seats are rather high so passenger can be watched by the whole cabin
* lack of aisle access for windows seats so exiting means going above the neighbour’s legs (even for me who is rather tall).

The food: For this 8 hours flight, one full lunch and one snack.

* The lunch: First course plus salad then main course and cheese or desert. On the menu, some strange meals such as a “Tea flavoured smoked beef tart, pineapple and bell pepper relish and cilantro ginger mayonnaise” or a “Tenderloin of beef and braised beef cheek, chocolate chili sauce, kohlrabi, carrots and polenta”.

I went for more traditional options with king prawns and cod fish, both being rather good for inflight meals. Wine-wise, two white ones (a German and a French – I drank the latter that was quite good) and two red ones (a Bordeaux, average, and a Syrah from California, good).

* The snack: a soup (ginger stew with veggie and chicken) and a mix salad, both good. A cake was also present.
* In between, only drinks were available. No snacks as you can find on many other airlines.

The IFE: normal LH IFE offering that offers a reasonable choice of movies, series and other programs as well as music. The screen is large but the remote is required to operate the system (no touch screen).

Arrival: we were split between two buses (“mobile lounges” as IAD airport is calling them), one for connecting passengers and one for arrival ones. As I was in transit, I took the former one that brought us to the C concourse where immigration (rather quick – we were lucky) and security screening did take place. Then off to the lounge.

Verdict: the B747-8 is definitively the new Queen of the sky! A true B747, obviously more recent, but also longer and quieter (and fuel efficient). LH new business class seat is a huge improvement, although it suffers from privacy issues. Good service. Sad this aircraft is so far only operated by two airlines…

This ends part 2 of this trip report. Third leg follows separately.

Hi Swissdiver

Thanks very much for the report, sounds very interesting.

I was able to get the ABZ – FRA flight the night before, then onto the 747-8 to IAD then IAD to MCO for the planned trip thanks to Tim Fitzgerald. However, the internal US flights were in economy, we were able to then get the internals to business but it put the price at well over £1K more than the United from EDI option, which to be honest is so much easier and with better connections.

So, all things considered (although something came up which has thus far prevented me from booking) it looks as though I’ll do EDI – EWR – MCO for cost, convenience and not having to fly economy from IAD – MCO return.

Will look at LH again now I know it is an option though, and for sure will give it a go, somewhat worried about the lack of a privacy screen, that seems a real rookie error.

Hi AOTG,
Sorry you to read you are missing the opportunity. All in all though, there are stupid things we do alone (such as weird routings) that we might be better off avoiding with the family. Or did I miss something? 🙂

Enjoy it while it lasts – LH have already announced their retirement!

How odd – personally, given the choice and other things (most particularly the seat) being equal, I would choose the A380 over any B747 variant! The quietness and smoothness of the A380 would seem to make it the more obvious choice

Well, I know it isn’t a fair comparison since the 747 has been around forever and the A380 hasn’t, but…

Airbus A380 Statistics
Last updated: 24 July 2013
Hull-loss Accidents: 0 with a total of 0 fatalities
Other occurrences (hull-loss): 0 with a total of 0 fatalities
Unfiled occurrences (hull-loss): 0 with a total of 0 fatalities
Criminal occurences (hull-loss, excl. hijackings): 0 with a total of 0 fatalities
Hijackings: 0 with a total of 0 fatalities
Survival rate for all fatal accidents: N/A

Boeing 747 Statistics:
Last updated: 24 July 2013
Hull-loss Accidents: 45 with a total of 2861 fatalities
Other occurrences (hull-loss): 3 with a total of 0 fatalities
Unfiled occurrences (hull-loss): 0 with a total of 0 fatalities
Criminal occurences (hull-loss, excl. hijackings): 4 with a total of 857 fatalities
Hijackings: 31 with a total of 24 fatalities
Survival rate for all fatal accidents: on average 23.9% of all occupants survived fatal accidents

Hmmm….

And let us not forget that according to the WTO, Boeing also received illegal subsidies

There are two sides to every story, Swissdiver

I do understand your preferences, but I suppose this just illustrates that yours and mine are different. Vive la difference!

I did say the stats weren’t directly comparable, but they do seem to show that the B747 isn’t exactly the world’s safest aircraft…

And the A380 soon to die? With over 150 outstanding orders? How many outstanding orders for the B747-8, Swissdiver? How many actually in operation? And exactly how many of the current operators are committed to retaining it?

Sorry, but the world’s airlines seem much more interested in the A380 than the 747-8