Well, it finally happened. I’ve been chasing Lufthansa’s new 747 first class for a long time, and I finally flew it from New York to Frankfurt. Heck, I landed about 20 minutes ago, so how’s that for turnaround time?
All I can say is WOW. The thing that makes this product unique is that the seat doesn’t turn into a bed, but rather each passenger gets a seat and a bed. Lufthansa actually has two “new” first class products, the other of which can be found on their Airbus aircraft, including the Airbus 380 I flew from Frankfurt to Tokyo a couple of months ago.
I’ll have a full report on the product very soon with a comparison of the two products, but in the meantime below are a few pictures I’ve taken. For those of you that have tried Lufthansa’s new 747 first class, what did you think?
I can't believe I beat Ben! Three of us had the new 747 LH F on a flight earlier this year. Not only was it the new F, but we had the entire upper deck entirely to ourselves!
That was so far the best flying experience any of us have ever had. It was like having a private plane. Now, if only we could have asked the pilots to, oh, i dunno, stop for a day in Istanbul or something...
Wow this looks very nice!!! Needed to get to London this weekend and could not find availability on any 747 product so will be going old school A340 IAD-FRA in F. Question for you Ben what lounge access/breakfast options will I have in FRA coming in in F and leaving in J to London? I have allowed a couple of hours to enjoy a good breakfast, shower etc but not too sure on the set up as I've never been through FRA before
My first impression was WOW! But on second thought, I agree with ffi. Looks like a generous waste of F cabin space which could have been used for creating SQ-like private suites. I don't know how many would prefer to have a separate bed especially if the complaints about not being able to watch TV from the bed are true.
While I"m sure it's very comfortable, it looks like a medivac aircraft.
Nice indeed, but First class will never be First class until you get
Snore-proof suites. So sick of having to deal with middle aged men snoring in first class.
sorry for typos
Waste of a F cabin
They sould have made 4 into these suites for full fare pax and left 8 in F class.
And, I can't speel eether ;-)
Been there, done that. :-)
@ MIke -- Six of the eight seats were taken and the crew seemed pretty rushed, so I never got one (which makes me sad, since I'm sure the rose looks especially nice in the new suite).
It looks like everyone gets an aisle seat, which is good because when you're sleeping you probably don't want people looking at you. Since each seat has a bed, how far does the actual seat recline since it's not used as a bed.
Where's the signature rose? It seems to be missing. I noticed the diet coke and lime though.
@ Guy -- I thought it was surprisingly good. It's not a Westin heavenly bed, though it was "bed quality."
@ Dan -- Yes, if you like to look out the window it's not great when you're sitting. That being said, you have a great window view when trying to sleep.
@ Josh G -- Only part of their 747 fleet will be two cabin, which will be placed on their more low yield routes.
...@ Guy -- I thought it was surprisingly good. It's not a Westin heavenly bed, though it was "bed quality."
@ Dan -- Yes, if you like to look out the window it's not great when you're sitting. That being said, you have a great window view when trying to sleep.
@ Josh G -- Only part of their 747 fleet will be two cabin, which will be placed on their more low yield routes.
@ sil -- Hope you get the new product! For whatever reason the new product seems to only rarely make an appearance on the LAX-FRA route, though I'm crossing my fingers for you.
@ Dave Op -- Yes, first class is on the upper deck.
Is the first class on the upper deck? The cabin looks narrow to me.
Will be on 1st class from FRA to LAX in early June. Same 747. Luckily I scored on this awards booking with Continental a long time ago....Looking forward to the royal treatment.
Didn't LH announce that they intend to put the 744s in a 2-cabin configuration? It looks like a great product, I hope its around longer to try.
Regarding the seat layout, I like to look out the window. Don't you think the seat and bed should be reversed?
loved it on ORD-FRA and SFO-FRA... can't wait to be on it again
My wife and I got lucky and got the new first last Oct IAD-FRA. It was as great as it looks. I would argue that the hard product suite is the best on the market, bar none. My only complant was the flight was to short. We has a huge tailwind and got into FRA over an hour early. But that did give us more time in the FCT. :-)
How do you rate the quality of the mattress? Coz surely that's the biggest difference compared to seat+mattress set up u find from time to time.
I have flown it twice (SFO-FRA and FRA-KIX) and I loved it. I don't think I ever slept as soundly as my flight to FRA from SFO.
Only thing I did not like was the quality of the video feed to the screen (too low res). I don't watch videos in bed, so the lack of monitor swivel did not bother me.
For those of you who can't wait for Lucky's TR, here is one on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pes3wGR_YF8 (Frankfurt to San Francisco).
"That’s my one complaint with the seat design. Unfortunately the screen doesn’t tilt so it’s tough to see it from bed."
That seems to be the only complaint I've seen on TRs regarding this new seating layout...
I got lucky and scored two seats on that baby (FRA-IAD) as part of my honeymoon in November. Yes, it was just as incredible as it looks (if not better) and the fact my wife and I had our own dedicated FA wasn't bad either!! I can't believe I actually be you @Lucky to an experience. Haha. I knew you'd catch up sooner or later ;)
@ BRC -- That's my one complaint with the seat design. Unfortunately the screen doesn't tilt so it's tough to see it from bed.
Wow, a seat AND a dedicated bed? Now there's a great concept! I can't believe they don't have more pictures on their website.
Do the TVs tilt or are they otherwise easy to view as you're falling asleep?
Looks great. I need to get more miles.
Lucky are you at the airport now? Waitinf for my fra-sfo flight now...
The third photo down looks as though it's for a very sick patient who needs to be strapped in, with the seat next to him for his private nurse!
The others are just drool-worthy, tho'.
@ Rory -- It's my understanding that they'll actually only convert a subset of the 747 fleet to a two cabin product for low yield routes, while a majority of 747s will feature the new first class product.
I tried this back in September and loved it, but unless I'm misreading the news from Lufthansa is week, it's not going to be around very long.
Didn't LH announce conversion of all remaining A340-300s and 747-400s to two class with a possible premium economy cabin being added? The 747-8s will have, as far as I know, the new first class seat being fitted to the A380/A346 fleet.
@ HansGolden -- Unfortunately there's no way to tell in advance for sure. There are certain routes it frequents, including FRA-EWR/PVG/KIX/HKG, though it's not certain till day of. The FlyerTalk thread linked above shows tracking information for the 10 747s with the new first class.
In the case of my flight, I was actually booked on the late night JFK-FRA flight, though when I woke up I noticed that the inbound FRA-JFK flight for the...
@ HansGolden -- Unfortunately there's no way to tell in advance for sure. There are certain routes it frequents, including FRA-EWR/PVG/KIX/HKG, though it's not certain till day of. The FlyerTalk thread linked above shows tracking information for the 10 747s with the new first class.
In the case of my flight, I was actually booked on the late night JFK-FRA flight, though when I woke up I noticed that the inbound FRA-JFK flight for the earlier flight had the new first class while the later one didn't, so I decided to make the switch.
Go here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles-more-lufthansa-austrian-swiss-other-partners/1318664-new-first-class-retrofit-thread.html
How do you tell which 747s have the new FC?
So glad for an amazing first class product in a sea of airlines that seem to be eliminating them in favour of a 2 class cabin. Great pics. Looking forward to the full report.
Awesome indeed!
Great pics!
Last October, ms. jmd001 and I scored a pair of last minute *A awards for FRA-LAX and experienced the new 747 F. Hard to say which impressed her more: LH FCT at FRA or the new F on the 747.
@ Antonio -- Sadly it's the same old business class. They haven't gotten around to reconfiguring business class on the 747-400s yet.
Awesome. What's their business class like on that plane?
Holy crap. So jealous!