Photos & first impressions: inside Lufthansa's Boeing 747-8

Lufthansa’s new Boeing 747-8 – the majestic successor to the Boeing 747-400 and last of the mighty 747 family – takes to the skies this weekend.

At 250 foot (76 metres) from tip to tail, this fifth-gen Jumbo is the longest passenger aircraft in the world and can seat around 470 passengers in a typical three-class configuration, up from 416 in the 747-400.

Australian Business Traveller toured the 747-8 (nicknamed the Intercontinental by Boeing) in Frankfurt, during Lufthansa’s Passenger Experience Day, to bring you these real-world photos and hands-on impressions.

Something old, something new...

At its core, Lufthansa’s 747-8 is a seriously stretched version of the 747-400 – albeit quieter, more cost-effective and environmentally-friendly.

On the inside, everything looks fresh and modern – as the 747-8 uses the Boeing Sky Interior design common to the 787 Dreamliner and the latest 737-800s flown domestically by Qantas and Virgin Australia.

That means gently sculpted side walls, bigger overhead bins, larger oval window surrounds to let in more light (and make the windows themselves seem larger, even though they’re not) plus brighter variable LED mood lighting.

The overall effect is a cabin that’s lighter and brighter, as well as looking softer and more spacious.

Regular Lufthansa travellers will also note a dramatic shift from the blue and silver-dominated scheme of Lufthansa’s 747 business class to the more relaxing muted brown and grey-themed cabin, which Lufthansa says creates a ‘living-room feel’.

Lufthansa's Boeing 747-8 Business class

Lufthansa has dedicated the 747-8's expansive upper deck to business class.

And if you like the exclusive vibe of business class in the Boeing 747’s bubble then you’ll love sitting upstairs on the 747-8.

As this Lufthansa-supplied PR shot shows, the 'private cabin' ambience and 2-2 seating layout makes it feel like you’re travelling in a much smaller all-business class plane like a Boeing 737 or Airbus A320.

You couldn't be blamed if you forgot that there's a whole 'nother deck of passengers just beneath you!

Business class continues downstairs, with a still-spacious 2-2-2 seat layout split over two cabins. We'd pick the front one as our first preference, it's likely to be quieter than the rear cabin shown below, which borders economy class:

This layout compares favourably to the 2-3-2 (Qantas) or even 2-4-2 (British Airways and United) configuration seen in business class on a 747-400‘s main deck.

If you'll be sitting downstairs, consider a seat in the centre pair – the extra-wide centre console between these seats will afford plenty of elbow room.

Contrast that with the narrower console in the pairs of seats by the windows or on the upper deck:

These seats also fold out into a long lie-flat bed -- more than long enough for our 6'2"/188cm journalist to stretch out.

Regular Lufthansa travellers will also note a dramatic shift from the blue and silver-dominated scheme of Lufthansa’s 747 business class to the more relaxing muted brown and grey-themed cabin, which Lufthansa says creates a ‘living-room feel’.

And a big bonus for those carry-on bags: bigger bins, even upstairs where window passengers have their own private side storage bin too!

First class

Eight first class 'mini-suites' are ensconced in the airplane’s nose (a change from their previous location on the 747's upper deck). This Lufthansa PR shot uses a bit of 'fisheye' lens to expand the space, but it's still a plush, roomy interior.

They’re nearly identical to Lufthansa's new Airbus A380 first class seats, reclining into individual fully flat beds, with a personal locker for each passenger to hang their clothes and put away their carry-on bag. Another Lufthansa shot:

Here's a close-up of one of the wide first class seats.

And in bed mode:

The 747-8's nose also has a touch of the Boeing Sky Interior design in the LED illumation surrounding a ceiling cut-away, as Lufthansa's PR photo illustrates:

Economy class

Much further down the back, in an area almost as long as the lower desk business class cabin, are are 28 rows of economy seats arranged mostly 3-4-3.

These seats are a little narrower than Lufthansa’s A380 economy benches but use the same slimline design.

Notice how the back of the economy seats are scalloped towards the base and raise the magazine pocket a little higher, to provide that extra bit of precious knee room in the seat's 31 inch pitch.

Here's a Lufthansa shot of what things look like on the A380, for a bit of spot-the-difference comparison:

Now, about those "footsie" seats in business...

In our in-depth photo special on Lufthansa's new business class seats, we flagged a concern that the angled two-together layout of the business class seats could see you almost playing footsie with your seatmate.

So once onboard the 747-8 we made a beeline for business class and tested it out with a couple of fellow journalists.

When you're the only person stretching out, all's fine, especially if you're in one of the few extra-wide seats in the centre section downstairs:

But as we suspected, the divider between the recessed foot sections is too shallow, too short, too narrow and not rigid enough to adequately separate our feet from those of our seatmate when in an upstairs seat or in one of the window pairs downstairs.

Fortunately, it shouldn't be too hard to fix the footsie problem: a larger, firmer, and basically more ‘dividing’ divider is surely not beyond the realms of Lufthansa Technik's techies. (Hey, if they can create flying VIP palaces for the 747-8 and A380, they can sort this one out.)

Another issue, and one not as easily solved, is that you won’t have have direct aisle access if you’re in the window seat.

There’s simply not enough room in front of you, so you'll have to find away over your seatmate’s somnolent bulk to get out – this photo illustrates how tight things can get.

The only way to avoid clambering over someone (or being clambered over, if you're in the aisle seat) is to book a seat in the downstairs cabin, where there are centre pairs flanked by an aisle either side.

But for comfort and privacy, Lufthansa’s business class window seats are significantly better than aisles.

The way the seat pairs are angled means that aisle passengers' shoulders and arms tend to stick out into the gangway, which makes you ripe for a clunk from someone's handbag or stray elbow.

For more on the seats themselves, check out our photo tour of Lufthansa's new fully flat business class seats -- and stay tuned for an in-depth analysis covering the whole seat soon.

And for why they're so much better than the old angled flat Lufthansa business class seats they're replacing, refer back to our call-it-like-we-see-it review of Lufthansa's A380 business class.

For the very latest news and reviews, follow Australian Business Traveller on Twitter: we're @AusBT.

John Walton

Aviation journalist and travel columnist John took his first long-haul flight when he was eight weeks old and hasn't looked back since. Well, except when facing rearwards in business class.