Per airlineroute.net, Lufthansa will begin operating a 747-8 on one of their Frankfurt to Chicago frequencies as of October 27, 2013. Presently they have two daily frequencies between Frankfurt and Chicago, so the earlier of the two flights will become a 747-8.
That frequency operates with the following schedule:
Lufthansa 430 Frankfurt to Chicago departing 10:35AM arriving 12:55PM
Lufthansa 431 Chicago to Frankfurt departing 4:10PM arriving 7:30AM (+1 day)
The biggest benefit of the 747-8 over the 747-400 is that the 747-8 features Lufthansa’s new fully flat business class seats, which are a huge improvement over the old product.
747-8 business class
Originally it was even more exciting since the 747-8s had 92 business class seats, compared to the 80 they have on most of their 747-400s. However, in the meantime they’ve realized there’s not enough demand for that many business class seats, so they’ve retrofitted the 747-8s to have 80 business class seats as well. So unfortunately the 747-8 no longer translates into an increase in the amount of business class award space.
Regardless, it’s a damn sexy plane, which I had the pleasure of flying just a couple of days ago in first class.
747-8 first class
(Tip of the hat to Ghetto IFE)
I can certainly testify to the un-comfort of the angled seats on the 747 (flown ORD/FRA in May) - LH is generally a great airline, but that flight showed that they need to get rid of those awful seats system-wide ASAP
Awesome--I've already got a seat on FRA-ORD post-equipment change! Hopefully the larger aircraft also leads to some new award inventory being opened up.
I have 150,000 or so UR points, which in the past could be redeemed for Luvwaffle business class seats at a 150,000:0 ratio. Doesn't sound like the 748 changes that equation much.
@ TravelinWilly -- They should be correct now.
Ben,
As others have noted, you have the flight times (if not the flight numbers) flip-flopped: "Lufthansa 430 Frankfurt to Chicago departing 10:35AM arriving 12:55PM"
That would be a Europe-USA flight.
Thx Lucky & RakSiam. I scheduled an IAD-FRA flight in a few months to try out the new business class seat on the 747-8i!!! I'm hoping I'll get to try that sexy plane!
@ Joey -- They're still adding 747-8s to the fleet, so don't think it's coming from anywhere. Miami gets switched around quite a bit, though don't think it's an actual loss from the route but rather just another addition to the fleet.
@ SAN Greg -- Wow that's bizarre. I placed the correct business class seat in the draft and it even shows correctly when I'm in edit mode, but on the published side it shows the other first class seat. Fixed now!
@Joey - If it's not a new aircraft then I'd guess it's coming off MIA route since it usually gets replaced with A380 around this time.
Hey Lucky.
I think those schedules aren't right. 430 should be FRA-ORD, no?
More likely they are just adding more 747-8s to the fleet.
Where is that 747-400 going though? That's an F class I would like to try.
Sounds great Lucky! However, is there a tradeoff? Is LH taking away the 747-8i from one of its other routes (LAX, BLR, IAD, etc.)? If so, do you know which one?
Oh, back to the subject - thanks for sharing the good news!
That's definitely a 747-400 first class seat in that first picture. :)
Flight 430 should be FRA-ORD and 431 ORD-FRA.
Wrong pic for bizclass.
I think d flight times are reversed
That first pic is actually the new first cl. on the 747-4.
That sure looks like an F class seat in the first picture...