[Anonymous]

[NiceTravelAdventures]

I was lucky enough to fly with Lufthansa on their beautiful 747-400 from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok in business class, and made a video review of this classic machine covering first, business and economy class

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMxS1j18vYg&hd=1

Lufthansa’s first class used to be very poor on these planes – solo travellers often had to sit side by side with strangers. Lufthansa have gone for a simple but extremely effective trick to upgrade their cabin – they give each passenger a pair of seats, and have converted one of the seats to a proper full-time bed. This means that neither the bed nor the seat have to compromise in quality, although Lufthansa can obviously only sell half the tickets they could before!

Lufthansa business class on these birds still lags behind the competition. The seats are extremely slopey, and have to have a lip at the bottom to stop you slipping off. Not all the seats have direct aisle access, and some are even hemmed in on both sides! Those middle seats work if you’re a family of 3, but for everyone else they’re the seats to avoid.

Food and service on this leg was good – there wasn’t much choice in the menu, but it was only a short sector (750 miles) and far ahead of what European airlines serve on similar length routes on their short-haul birds.

Service was possibly helped by the fact the plane was extremely lightly loaded – to the extent that I doubt even the fuel cost was covered by ticket sales.

Economy looked pretty decent – it’s never going to be better than business, but the cabins were clean & in good condition, with personal IFE and competitive leg room.

If you’re flying First or Economy, then the Lufthansa 747 is a good choice. Business class passengers should avoid these seats for any overnight legs, as there’s many better options out there.

Anyway, do check out the video and make your own mind up!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMxS1j18vYg&hd=1

[AMcWhirter]

Hello NiceTravelAdventures

Thanks for the reports.

In fact we wrote a news story about the unique LH B747 first class product way back in March 2011. It received many reader comments.

http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/lufthansa-new-first-class

Also note that the KUL-BKK sector you featured is discontinued. LH is now flying via KUL to Jakarta. It means that KUL is now served nonstop from FRA as we reported last November.

http://www.businesstraveller.com/asia-pacific/news/lufthansa-to-fly-five-times-weekly-to-jakarta-v

[NiceTravelAdventures]

Yes, very true – though note they still fly the route via a codeshare with Thai.

I found the route a good way to try out their business class product without having to commit to an overnight flight, which would be tough if the seats were at an angle (as indeed they were). It would be ok for a daytime flight, but note the FRA-KUL and the return leg are both overnight legs where a proper flat bed is essential – and a stopover with a rival carrier is personally preferable.

[LuganoPirate]

I flew the 747 in F in February JFK – FRA. I loved the separate bed and slept solidly despite turbulence from take off to 30 minutes before landing.

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