After the warm reception to my flight and subsequent trip report from Detroit to Nagoya with Delta Air Lines’s 747-400, I figured it might be time to return to possibly the most iconic variant of the Queen of the Skies for a flight returning from Germany to Texas. Once the backbone of Lufthansa’s long-haul operations, the 747-400 fleet is now down to a handful of airframes flying to a handful of destinations, namely Singapore, Houston, Vancouver, Bengaluru, Toronto, and Boston, with a couple of one-off flights to Los Angeles and San Francisco earlier this month. As Lufthansa is the last major operator of the 747-400 in passenger service that we have in Infinite Flight, I’d like to get some flights in with the example in it (D-ABVT) before the entire fleet is retired in the next year or so.
Server: Solo
Airline: Lufthansa
Aircraft: Boeing 747-400
Origin: Frankfurt Airport, Frankfurt, Germany (FRA)
Destination: George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Houston, Texas (IAH)
Flight Number: LH440
Route: EDDF-KIAH
Seat: 3K (Business)
Time En Route: 10 Hours 42 Minutes
Waiting to board the Queen at Gate Z23. The Queen may be an increasingly uncommon sight in scheduled passenger service and the -400 variant of the old girl all but extinct, but Lufthansa has committed hard to the type, with the -8Is expected to stick around until the mid-late 2030s at least and the 747-400s will have been in service longer than all of the German flag carrier’s rivals. British Airways and KLM retired their 747 fleets in 2020, leaving LH as the last major European 747 passenger operator, the remaining U.S. operators retired their 747s in the latter half of the 2010s, and almost all of the Asian carriers had retired theirs by the end of the COVID pandemic. Now in the twilight of her career, this 747-400 is definitely going to be going out on top.
Taxiing on the outboard engines past Frankfurt Tower and the entrance to the Lufthansa Technik ramp. We’re seated in a unique spot, directly beneath the cockpit and Lufthansa’s signature crane emblem on the forward fuselage. One of the unique features of the 747 unavailable on any other commercial aircraft in service is the ability to sit underneath or even in front of the flight deck, owing to the Queen’s signature humpbacked profile. Inside the cabin, we’re well-satisfied with our accommodations in business class so far, although a sense that this is a rapidly-vanishing opportunity is eating at us. Hopefully it doesn’t completely overshadow our flight on this gorgeous June morning.
Lifting airborne from Runway 18 with all four General Electric CF6s in full song. The takeoff was absolutely splendid, with oir flight crew gently lifting this aircraft airborne. This part of Germany is going to be a lesser place when the last Lufthansa leaves for the desert and the skies are no longer treated to the sound of four CF6-80C2s at takeoff thrust, hauling a heavy 747 into the sky. At the risk of sounding like the late Jerry Reed, we’re Texas Bound and Flyin’.
Turning north over the municipality in Nauheim, located just southwest of FRA at the edge of the woods surrounding Runway 18. Throttled back to climb thrust, the GEs are making a pleasant hum, somewhat reminiscent of their bigger, more powerful, and more fuel-efficient GE90 successor. As we leave the State of Hesse, we’re taking in our surroundings in this clean, fairly modern 747-400 business class cabin. Lufthansa has updated its 747-400 cabins over the years, with the current edition dating from around 2015. While not nearly as cutting-edge as the Allegris cabins on the 787-9, A350-900, and the 747-400’s younger sibling, the 747-8I, they’re still very, very good, at least for their age. We’ve got a ton of legroom, the seats are well-padded, and the IFE monitors are extremely generous. All in all, not a bad way to fly on an aircraft near the end of its life.
Cruising at 30,000 feet and Mach 0.85 over the North Atlantic. For some reason, the 747 feels like a much more solid, stable aircraft than its twinjet replacements, even though the latter’s autopilot and flight control systems are years ahead of the 1980s-era technology in the 747-400. Maybe it’s due to the fact that the sheer bulk of the aircraft requires a significant amount of rough air to noticeably upset or because it’s a dinosaur, a relic of an era before ETOPS (Engines Turn Or Passengers Swim), when there were still such a thing as trijets in passenger service for airlines not needing the mammoth capacity of a 747 or the conmeasurate operating costs that came with them, and nigh-extinct creatures known as Flight Engineers roamed the Earth. Whatever it is, the 747 has an inimitable panache, and we’re stoked to experience it as the Queen prepares to take her curtain call.
A few hours later, we’re somewhere over the expanse of western Ohio. An hour and a half ago, we had a wonderful lunch consisting of a beef filet with cognac pepper sauce, green beans, and rosemary potatoes, followed by a strawberry basil tartlet with rhubarb compote for dessert. Service on this flight, as on the 787-9 we took to Frankfurt from one of Lufthansa’s two other Texas destinations, was outstanding. Seems like the cabin crew is as excited to be on a 747-400 in 2026 as we are, and the amazing quality of their service reflects that.
Spoilers are slightly up as we turn onto final. The remainder of our flight has been pretty quiet and relaxed, with no obtrusive noise up here in business class. All we can hear is the steady rumble of the CF6s and the sound of the flaps lowering to their full 30 degrees of extension. While our flight has been very enjoyable, like all good things, it has to come to an end.
Landing on Runway 08L on a hot day in Houston. Our flight crew greased the landing and seemed to aerobrake the 747 like a fighter for around 10 seconds or so before setting the nose gear down and opening the thrust reversers. When those reversers open, we can feel a stiff deceleration as a couple hundred tons of aircraft comes from over 150 knots to a fifth of that in less than half a minute. As we slow down to exit the runway, we’re packing our stuff up so we’re prepared to deplane.
Crossing Runway 08R/26L after a long taxi from the north side of the field. In the usual fashion for a 747, we’re taxiing on the outboard engines to save fuel on the way to the gate. While the 747-400 was once a common sight at IAH, with both British Airways and Lufthansa sending their examples here, the type’s days here are numbered. When the -400 goes, it’ll either be replaced by the 747-8I or the 787-9 here. As such, it’s something of a bittersweet occasion to have landing here on one, since the number of times a Lufthansa 747-400 will come here has just been decreased by one.
Parked at Gate D11 while baggage and cargo is unloaded from our aircraft. With the 747-400 almost gone from the skies in scheduled passenger service, we’re glad we got to get at least one flight in on one before it’s too late. As for the experience on it, the soft product was typical for Lufthansa, which is to say great, while the seat was pretty good but not as stellar as the new Allegris seat. However, the fact that we were flying on a 747-400 allowed us to overlook whatever minor flaws there may have been, making this a highlight of the summer. We’re certainly going to try to get more flights in on the 744!