(upbeat music)
- Back at Dubai Airport, travelling on Lufthansa 747
to US through Frankfurt.
I met Mr. Ahmed here.
- Yes.
- Actually, he saw me arriving back
from the US when Dubai just opened
and I flew Lufthansa a year and a half.
He reminded me today.
I'm going again today, so excited.
Just arrived at the Lufthansa lounge.
They have a dedicated lounge in Dubai here and I was showing
them my 747 and see the engine on the wall,
that's the 747.
(upbeat music)
I took off from the Lufthansa lounge.
It was really crowded,
it was small and limited food choices.
I knew a better lounge.
And now let's go.
- You're going home to see your parents?
- [Sam] Yes.
- For Chinese New Year?
- Absolutely, you read my mind.
I am going to the States to see my parents
for Chinese new year, yeah.
Thank you, thank you.
(speaking in foreign language)
All right, this is why I left because I think this lounge,
the Dubai Airport lounge, is better.
Use your credit card with lounge key
or priority pass to get in.
(upbeat music)
Not quite sure this is Korean beef.
This looks like a Pakistani kima actually.
(upbeat music)
It's 1:00 A.M, getting really sleepy,
but now walking down the jet bridge,
boarding the 747, getting pumped.
Oh wow, look at this, beautiful.
Look at a shape of this.
Love it.
Hello, hey there.
- Welcome aboard.
- [Sam] Hey.
I know where I'm sitting here.
I have a very strange seat.
- Here's your seat sir.
- [Sam] Ah, in the middle.
- Yes.
- Thank you. - You're welcome.
- Wow, what a strange seat, right in the middle of the nose,
the throne seat.
But it's really open, everybody can see you.
It feels like you're part of the display here.
It's quite a different experience,
but this is the only single seat here.
Every other seat is a double seat
or a triple seat in the middle.
(upbeat music)
A glass of champagne?
- [Crew] Yes.
- [Sam] Thank you.
- [Crew] You're welcome.
- Hello, my name is Marcus Hickus.
I'm the captain of the flight of Lufthansa 747-400 tonight.
So the night flight from Dubai International
to Frankfurt International Airport.
Our flight time will be six hours and 30 minutes tonight.
And we're cruising up to an altitude of flight level 380.
I'll introduce at this time
my fellow cockpit crew member Mr. Hickle-Hanser,
he's our first officer.
- [Sam] Do you also fly the 747-8?
- Yes, we do have four types.
- [Sam] So you interchange the types?
- That's right.
- [Sam] Alright, is it a lot older on this aeroplane?
The classic, is that harder to fly or it doesn't-
- No, it's quite similar.
Some technical issues are more modern on the 747-8,
but it's basically flying the same way.
- [Sam] I have a very difficult question for you now.
(Marcus chuckling)
How difficult is to have a bad landing on the 747?
- How difficult? - Yeah.
- [Marcus] Well, every landing you can walk away from
was a good landing, I was told, so.
(both laughing)
- [Sam] I don't think it's possible
to have a very bad landing on the 747.
- [Marcus] 747 is quite good to land.
Well, depending on the wind situation and all that stuff,
but it's quite good to land.
- [Sam] It's a pleasure to fly with you, sir.
- Thank you very much,
enjoy the flight with us.
(upbeat music)
(plane engine roaring)
(upbeat music)
- Refreshments?
(speaking in foreign language)
This is for you.
- Okay. - Enjoy it.
- [Sam] I will try this one.
- This one, okay.
Excuse me one second.
(utensils clatters)
(speaking in foreign language)
(girl laughing)
And, here is your beer.
There you go. Enjoy.
- [Sam] Thank you.
- And here is your wheat beer.
- [Sam] Oh, this is another kind of beer.
- This is typical German wheat beer.
- [Sam] Wheat beer.
- That's a typical German Pilsner beer.
- [Sam] Pilsner, okay, thank you.
- You're welcome.
- [Sam] It's like a beer festival.
Testing beer here.
- Beer tasting.
- It's like Oktoberfest, but it's in January.
The crew gave me two different kinds of German beer,
wheat beer and Pilsner.
I'm going to sleep well tonight.
As you can see it's a 1:00 A.M departure, a midnight flight.
Everybody's gone to sleep now.
I just reclined my seats as well.
It's actually quite comfortable.
Feels like I'm the only seat.
I can go this way and this way out,
I don't have to cross somebody over
and I'm going to take a nap because it's going to be
a very long flight when I get to Frankfurt,
a couple hours there and then continue to the US.
(upbeat music)
My energy came back just before landing, go have a tour.
- Hi, my name is Aslan, I'm the chief of the cabin
and this is my working position here, and I love it.
Boeing is the best aircraft.
Thank you.
- [Sam] You have such a cool office, actually.
- Yeah. - Hey.
(everyone laughing)
- [Sam] People think this is a bar.
- No, it's not.
(both laughing)
We're not allowed to have a break here.
- [Sam] What do you have in your office?
What is all this stuff?
- Well, I have everything for the lights, for the internet.
I can switch anything here.
I have paper to write.
I have a printer, everything.
- [Sam] All the keys.
- I have a nice monitor here.
- [Sam] Monitors, whoa!
(plane engine roaring)
- Check. (crew girl chuckles)
- [Sam] Cabin secure?
- Yes.
(Sam chuckles)
- Now we're just half an hour before landing,
the whole flight's in darkness.
During the flight I was thinking how lucky I am
because the 747-400 were all grounded during the pandemic
and we all thought it would be done
and it made a stunning comeback a couple months ago
and flying again.
It's remarkable,
and the seat where I'm sitting here is a legacy of the 747.
It's old, but gold,
because only the 747 have a nose curvature like this
and then they have a unique throne seat in the middle,
and I think it's a very unique experience worth to try once.
I managed to swap seats with somebody, and so
I have a good landing view and I'm really grateful
for that lady who wanted to try out my seat
and I try out this one.
The centre cabin is really crowded, two, three, two.
It's very very crowded.
This is not a great configuration.
(plane engine roaring)
(upbeat music)
Any safe landing is a good landing.
That was a great landing.
My 280th time on the Boeing 747.
I'll be transiting here in a couple hours
and onward to Los Angeles with the 747-8.
- Okay, goodbye.
- [Sam] I'll say the same, bye.
- Have a nice day.
- See you. - See you.
(upbeat music)
- Well, I didn't expect to walk
on the streets in Frankfurt Airport here.
The staff told me, "Hey, Sam, you have three hours to kill,
you should go to the first class terminal."
This is just like a five star hotel bathroom.
This is a champion's breakfast.
I love meats.
If I die, I'm very happy to die here.
Who's going to come here and drink all of these?
Oh, it's beautiful.
The Panamera.
Wow, the lucky God shines on me.
I've been wanting to fly on the retro Lufthansa 747-8
for a very long time.
- Welcome to our first class again, good to see you.
- Thank you.
Beautiful champagne.
Off to a really great start.
Frankfurt is definitely the land of 747.
(upbeat music)
I think airline would really hate me to tell you this,
how you can fly Lufthansa the first class very cheaply.
(upbeat music)