Hi, dear flight-report members and readers!
In this FR I'd like to present a review of Lufthansa's Boeing 747-8i on the flight from Frankfurt (FRA) to Mexico city (MEX) taken on 14 November 2017.
This flight was a part of RT ticket MXP-FRA-MEX-MUC-MXP, which costed just 300 EUR in economy (unbelievable price for today's world).
Intro
Lufthansa is the first (of just 3) and by far the world's largest operator of B748 pax, having 19 units in the fleet: 2012-2015 built D-ABYA…U (including D-ABYP - 1500th 747 built and D-ABYT in retro-livery). LH also is the only B748 operator which has premium heavy 4-class layout F8_C80_W32_Y244. But the hard product in business is dated and in economy is extremely inferior for today's standarts. Needless to say that LH plans to begin retrofitting its B748s soon with Allegris first and business class seats (only lower deck, because Allegris C seats don't fit on the upper deck and still no solution found). Highly likely economy will be retrofitted too.
LH currently operates with B748s the world's longest B747 flight (and also the world's northernmost) - from Tokyo HND to Frankfurt. Before 2022 the world's longest 747 flight was also LH's FRA-EZE (13 hrs westwards). Flights from FRA to MEX are shorter (11.5 hrs), but due to inferior quality of economy class are extremely exhausting (and I can only imagine how passengers survive HND-FRA or FRA-EZE!).
The best place you can spot B748s in FRA is arrival gallery of Z-gates, located high above the planes. Here I show photo of D-ABYP made after the flight MEX-FRA in late November 2016 on D-ABYH (whose view was not "clean" due to catering trucks) and one of its GenX engines (well, all the existing B748s are powered by these engines).
But this time my flight LH498 FRA-MEX was boarding from the most boring part of T1 - concourse B. This is the aircraft of today - 2014-built D-ABYO (I was hoping for D-ABYT in retro-livery). It was hard to make a good photo due to the counter-light and reflections on the window, but it was the only chance - I already knew that in MEX it's physically impossible to see aircrafts from the terminal (T1).
Enter text here…
Boarding
The nose of the Queen.
The 2L door.
The famous stair to the upper deck, housing 32 business class seats in 2-2 layout. On my previous LH flight MEX-FRA in 2016 the crew didn't allow me to visit upper deck. I was hoping for more luck this time, but again failed.
The Lower-Deck Business Cabin
To the right, there is the small second lower-deck business cabin consisting of outdated 12 Collins Diamond Parallel seats in 2-2-2 layout without privacy and without direct aisle access for window seats. The 3rd and 4th photos in the gallery are from D-ABYH after MEX-FRA flight a year before.
The Premium Economy Cabin
After this business cabin there is small 4-row section of economy (will be shown further), followed by premium economy cabin (after 3L/R doors), consisting of 32 ZIMmagic seats in 2-4-2 layouts. These seats have ample width (19") and padding and look very comfortable (compared to the miserable economy seats as you'll see further).
Photos of the premium economy from D-ABYH for the detailed views of the cabin.
The Economy Cabin
Then between premium economy and 4L/R doors follows the 2nd economy cabin (rows 27 to 33) - not very big. The economy was full to the brim on this flight and I was boarding when quite a lot of people were already inside, so I failed to make unobstructed photos of the cabin. The last 2 photos in this gallery is from D-ABYH.
Between the 4L/R and 5L/R doors is the 3rd, large, economy cabin (rows 34 to 49).
The Economy Seat
My seat 31K is located in the 2nd economy cabin after the wing and has 2 windows. The seat model is Recaro CL3520. I cannot say a single good word about this seat model. It's developed from the "iron board" Recaro 3520 short-haul seat (used in narrowbody fleets of LH Group) by change of leather upholstery to fabric and addition of the headrest and IFE. The seat is extremely hard and uncomfortable and immediately tells you that the flight will hardly be enjoyable. The seatwidth between armrests is humble 17.1", whereas aisle width is whopping 19.6". Only the aisle-seat passengers are the ones who benefit from 747 cabin width. For the rest the lateral space is similar to 3-4-3 B777. At least the row pitch is slightly above the average.
The seat has adjustable headrest, outdated Panasonic IFE powered by very annoying underseat box, bifold tray table, cup holder and two seat pockets - the hard under the screen and the soft under the table. The seat in the soft pocket area is thin like paper, and if the passengers behind begins to touch his soft pocket, you immediately feel it. The remote is located extremely inconveniently in the armrest, and it's very easy to occasionally press light- or crew-call button. Headset port is also located in the armrest and the location of the USB port is extremely stupid - under the armrest! The overall ergonomics of the seat is extremely poor. Waiting on the seat are pillow, blanket and headset.
Inside the pocket are safety card, inflight magazine, duty-free magazine and Mexico arrival card.
This seat looks very dull and obsolete even for 2012 standards when LH began to receive its first 748s - at this time there for example, excellent Weber 5751 seats were available on the market. I know that Recaro is a German manufacturer and this choice looks very patriotic, but, Lord, isn't the passenger's comfort and well-being more important than patriotism?! I've also flown quite a lot in more modern (and insanely popular) Recaro model - CL3710 - and also cannot say a single good word about it. I can wholeheartedly say that Recaro seats are developed with no human in mind, but with greediness. Being lightweight and cheap for the expense of comfort, they are good for greedy airlines, but a disaster for passengers. Lord, even bare-bones Geven non-recliner slimline seats in Wizzair A21Ns are day and night compared to any long-haul Recaro with whistlers and blowers!!! It's Recaro who has conquered a lion's share of the market and driven overall reputation of economy class to the bottom. And I have to say it outloud urbi et orbi: dear Airlines, please stop order Recaro seats for your economy cabins if you value your passengers and their comfort! Please stop this race to the bottom! There are enough worthy economy seat manufacturers like Safran, Collins or others that generally design their models with human in mind.
With the upcomind allegrization of LH B748s the economy most probably will be overhauled with newer Recaro R3 seats. But please leave behind any hopes for increase of comfort: R3 is just a lipstick on the CL3710 pig!
As I said earlier, economy cabin was full to the brim. To make things worse, my neighbour was very corpulent, and his body, spillowing outside his middle seat, took significant space of my already narrow window seat. It was feeling like sitting in charter 3-4-3 A350 / 3-3-3 A330 / 2-4-2 B767. Poor me with upcoming 11.5 hours of such ordeal…
The Flight
The pushback begins and safety video is played.
The interior is lit with moodlighting. You may have noticed that there are no overhead airvents, which is typical for B748.
The IFE has an outside camera view with quite poor image quality.
The flaps are in takeoff configuration.
Before us D-ABYH (which I flew a year before on MEX-FRA) is taking off.
Taking off, and due to Prandtl effect, two overwing condensation streams from engines become visible.
Flying over northwest Europe towards English channel. And for the second time I start to feel how extremely noisy is B748 at cruise level if you're sitting behind the wing…
The sky over UK is completely covered by clouds.
The first meal service begins. Chicken in sauce with polenta and vegs, dull salad, salad dressing, cake, bun, cheese and butter. Overall, quite good and tasty meal. The cutlery is metallic.
Time to stretch the legs.
View of the premium economy…
… and of the small front economy cabin
The 3L door.
The passenger phone near 5L/R doors. This is the first time I see such feature on a plane.
The rear economy cabin.
The rear lavatories are large, 777-like with mechanical flush…
… whereas the lavatories between 3L/R doors are smaller and 787-like with sensor flush.
Wing views from 3L/R doors.
We're flying over North Atlantic and our contrail is very dense.
There are drinks and snacks in the galley.
I take juice and pretzels…
… and watch Greenland from far away. Sometimes this flight passes over Greenland, but this time not. Even though, it was possible to see a bit from the distance.
After a while snow- and ice-capped Canada begins.
We're in high latitudes and the winter sun is quite low.
For a while snowy Canadian plains are clear, but then become covered by clouds.
The crew hand tea and chocolate bar. Quite unhealthy snacks, to be honest.
Time to explore the IFE content a bit. There are short films devoted to the retro-Jumbo D-ABYT, to the then-new A350-900 (now LH has a lot of them with A350-1000s to come) and to the ultra-vintage lady Ju-52.
Meanwhile we're over lake Huron, approaching the US airspace…
… and here we are crossing the US's "flyover states". For me, pre-covid EU-MEX flights were an opportunity to look at US, because I never was and never will be able to visit the US. Sadly, the "flyover states" are very dull from above. Now, being able to enter Canada, I theoretically can take some flights between Canada and Mexico over some of the most scenic US's landscapes. For example, YVR-MEX flights can give possibility to see the Grand Canyon. But, unfortunately, Mexico entry rules after 2022 became extremely strict due to migrational crisis, and if you're banned from US, you'll most probably will end banned from entering Mexico. Maybe I should consider flights between Canada and Cuba…
After a while we're flying over the tributaries of the US's greatest river Missisipi, and the views become more interesting.
The crew turn on moodlighting…
… and begin preparation for the second meal service, handing oshibori (nice touch, wow!)
Although, the second meal, which is goulash with puree and vegs, dessert, bun and butter, looks and tastes very chemical. The cutlery is plastic this time. Quite disappointing, but better than nothing, especially taking into account that the cabin was very full and there was no possibility to ask for extra first meal. I also take tomato juice with pepper.
The sun is getting closer to the horizon outside and the windows are frozen.
Now we're approaching Gulf of Mexico, starting to leave the US airspace and preparing to enter Mexico airspace.
And here we are over the coastline of the gulf.
Last glance on the setting sun from the frozen window…
… and with its last rays we enter Mexican airspace.
The moodlighting is turned into "sunset" mode…
… and soon we land in Mexico Benito Juarez international airport.
Due to the night time it was not possible to see the operation of the B748 wing's mechanization at descent and Landing, but I'll show some photos from MEX-FRA flight on D-ABYH a year before, taken on final approach and Landing.
The Economy Cabin After The Flight
My seat 31K after the flight.
View of the second economy cabin.
A glance of the front row (34 HJK) of the rear economy cabin.
The front small economy cabin. Please note that its front row 16 has severely misaligned window, row 17 is also quite badly aligned with its window, and only row 18 is properly aligned. The last row 19 of this cabin doesn't have window at all. Worth noting that aerolopa displays quite wrong window-row alignment for this cabin, so you always should take aerolopa's schemes with a grain of salt.
The Premium Economy Cabin After The Flight
And here is the last glance on the premium economy.
The Business Cabin After The Flight
The last glance on the second lower-deck business cabin.
Then I ask the crew whether it's possible to visit the upper deck. Worth noting that the crew on this flight was very friendly. Unfortunately, they say "no" (only 6 years after I'll be able to visit B748 upper deck on Korean Air flight from Seoul to Paris!), but permit to visit the front business cabin and the first class in the nose before disembarking.
The front business class cabin, consisting of the same obsolete 36 Collins Diamond Parallel seats in 2-2-2 layout.
The First Class Cabin After The Flight
And, finally, luxurious first class cabin in the Jumbo's nose, consisting of 8 massive seats, having zero privacy. So, it's essentialy a "first class hostel", but with the highest level of the spaciousness and the service.
Then I disembark via 1L door…
… and say "adios!" to D-ABYO and, probably to all the LH B748 fleet.
The End
After this flight I was extremely exhausted and it took me almost 2 days to recover after this flight. The first night after the flight I even had nosebleeding. 6 years after I flew twice on Korean Air B748s (CDG-ICN-CDG) and the level of comfort, crew and service was so much better, that I realized LH is just pathetic parody on KE, to be honest.
Thanks for your attention and see you in the next FRs!
