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Comment by robotnikman | Hacker News Reader

Guess I probably wont get a chance to fly on one, flying on the 747 was on my bucket list.

Lufthansa still has a number of 747-8 and 747-400 in active operation - while there's evidence that the routes are scaling back, there's at least a few more years to fly one. They're even refurbishing the interiors to have a more competitive long-haul business class offering.

Korean Airlines has a handful of 747-8 in active operation but they're making moves to retire them especially post Asiana merger.

Air China also operates a handful of 747-8 and 747-400 on both international and domestic routes.

FlightsFrom is a great resource to find routes for specific aircraft: https://www.flightsfrom.com/explorer/FRA?aircrafts=747 https://www.flightsfrom.com/explorer/ICN?aircrafts=747

Oh nice, that makes finding a flight on a 747 so much easier! Sounds like I have an excuse to visit Germany next year.

A good excuse:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48710175

I flew 747 last month with Lufthansa and asked one of the crew how long they will keep it in operation. «I retire in two years so I don’t care» a very German response but at least they hadn’t made any announcement that he seem to be aware of.

Always fun to be on the second floor despite the seat configuration being a bit dated.

Lufthansa first class on the 747 is definitely something to try once.

Somehow I only managed to end up on one of these gorgeous birds once. In seat 64K, NRT-DTW (or was it NRT-MSP?). The main cabin is... nothing to write home about. I was in no hurry to book another 744 leg. Upper deck, perhaps a different story.

Great seat number though.

Yeah economy class on a 747 sucks as much as it does on any other airliner.

On the A380 you get to enjoy the higher ceiling also in economy. It does make quite a difference for how cramped you feel, even though the leg room might be the same.

And both B747 and A380 fly much calmer than the smaller, lighter widebodies, which is equally nice for passengers on all classes.

The A380 is probably the smoothest flying plane I've been in, but in my experience it has one slightly annoying behavior quirk that degrades from my ability to enjoy it. Granted, I've only flown in one a few times, so I may have just been unlucky. But at cruise, the autopilot surges and coasts on a slow repeating schedule. Ease off and float for a bit, get just a little bit low and throttle up slightly to catch it, rinse and repeat. Not terribly noticeable when awake, but when I try to sleep I'm acutely aware of that sensation.

So far my personal favorite is the 787. About the only thing 'bad' I can say about it is that all the mechanical bits are kinda loud, like the flaps and stuff, and are very noisy inside the cabin. But it cruises so nice, and the lower pressurization altitude and increase in humidity is noticeable on a long flight.

I've done a lot of travelling between Australia and Europe via Dubai on the A380, and I've definitely noticed the same thing, you can really feel it. You can also see it on the interactive map thing on the ones that have the 'virtual cockpit' view - the vertical speed goes positive for a bit, then back to zero, then negative for a bit, then back to zero, and repeat, all 10 hours or so of cruise on the long leg!

The 787 is nice but I find the seat width quite cramped in economy, and unfortunately premium economy isn't great value either to pay or for points upgrade on any of the airlines I fly...

Granted, like any widebody it's a bit less claustrophobic. But the personal space, the legroom, the size of the lavatories, etc. is no better at least to my recollection; I've only flown on a 747 a handful of times and it's been at least 10 years.

One time I got an entire center row of 5 seats going from Seattle->Heathrow overnight.

I had that SF to Heathrow once, though I recollect four seats? Only time I’ve ever had a lie-flat bed on an aircraft.

3-4-3 and 3-5-3 are relatively common on 747 and 777 IIRC.

I had a long haul flight from DFW-SYD that had plenty of empty seats to the point they offered an upgrade to guarantee you'd be the only person in the row. Best spent $100 ever related to airfare.

This is or was a feature on Air New Zealand. You could buy three adjacent seats and call it a SkyCouch where two people can lie down and cuddle. Not sure how much the seats actually transformed into a couch. They were also very clear that clothes must remain on.

One time I was on a 747 YYZ→LHR with a total of 14 passengers.

No, it is much nicer than the 737/A320 class. Just thinking of the curve of a 737 makes my neck knot up. Bigger planes like the 747/757/767/777 are much more comfortable as well as modern planes like the A220/E195. 737 class planes are so ubiquitous that many passengers have no idea another experience is possible.

My dislike for widebody airliners is that the odds of getting a window seat are much smaller.

What’s even the point of flying if you can’t look at the world from up high?

The 767 2-3-2 layout is my favorite, with only 1 middle seat per row, yet still two aisles so you can use one while the other is blocked, or walk little loops if it's not.

Wife and I just flew on an A330 in a 2-4-2 economy layout. With both of the outboard seats on one side, it was not bad.

Reserve your seat then. Doesn’t cost that much on most airlines.

I always do, but, just this Saturday, due to some air-traffic meltdown (perfectly understandable considering the heat wave), we had our aircraft swapped for a slightly smaller one, and I had to renegotiate seats to be together with my kid.

I’ve flown on a wide variety of planes, and never found any difference in comfort from the plane itself. It’s all about the seats.

The 737 is noticeably louder than other planes on the ground and in the passenger cabin and especially for the pilot. 787/A350 and the A220 have a higher cabin pressure and better air quality that helps you feel better. It could be that most of my wide body experience was going over the Atlantic on 747s in the 1990s and a few times circa 2012 flying 767s on the JFK-LAX route which felt luxurious. As I see it, I’d rather fly coach on a better plane than “first” on a worse plane. (e.g. first on a 737 is like business on a widebody, in an A380 first-class is crazy over the top) 737 first still has your ears ringing, under-oxygenated, feeling cramped inside a small cylinder, etc. Luggage bins are nicer on a big plane too.

I’d take first in anything, even crappy fake “first,” over coach in anything. Additional personal room trumps everything else for me. I don’t really care how big the fuselage is, I care how hard my knees are crammed into the seat in front of me.

> Upper deck, perhaps a different story.

I only ever flew on the upper deck in coach configuration, and the last time I did that was about twenty five years ago on SAA. It wasn't anything special, but it was a little quieter.

I've flown upper deck on a 747 in Business (BA Club World).

It felt like a private jet up there, very cool. And that's even with the awful club world seats where you had to step over your neighbour to get to the aisle.

Back in the olden days (2015-ish?) KLM was having a really, really cheap business fare sale JFK-AMS; I snagged it with Delta miles (if I recall correctly) - and flew there and back in their 747 in the upper deck (just to take the flight; didn't have anything to do in AMS). It was really quite nice; it was the first and apparently last time I've taken the 744. I'm really glad I was able to do it.

Lol imagine sitting through 8 hours of agony for no reason. Do you actually enjoy flying? I'm sure I would find it agony even if I had the Emirates suite with the bedroom and shower (which is still more cramped than a 50 euro hotel room)

I would at least explore the city for a few days to have a break.

The only flying I enjoy is when I'm the one in the front left hand seat holding the yoke :)

If it's something you want to do, this is your call to action. (There have been several already)

There's still a few of these in passenger service, so you can easily get it done if it's important to you.

Otherwise, you'll need to figure out how to get on a cargo flight.

They are beautiful things, but the last few I rode on with BA were absolutely starting to show their age inside prior to BA retiring them in 2020. I think the last passenger models were produced in 2011 and most of BA's 747 fleet was from the mid-90s. The experience was probably better on other carriers towards the end.

I got what was probably my last 747 trip a few years ago on a BA flight from DC to Heathrow.

But I probably missed my chance for an A380. Maybe a Lufthansa flight will pop up that’s affordable. The other airlines mostly operate in the ME or Asia, and no plans for either right now.

Flying on one in August, upper deck, courtesy of a lowball points redemption through United.

If this is truly on your bucket list, you should be able to pull it off.

I just asked my favorite stochastic parrot to find the cheapest flight from SFO on a 747 to anywhere. It found a one-way flight on Lufthansa for $500. If you can, I'd encourage you to spring for a business class flight on the top deck (probably $4000 one-way).

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