On board the Boeing 747-8i

I flew on Lufthansa's 747-8 from BLR to FRA earlier this week. It was a spanking new aircraft; inducted into commercial service in February this year. The paneling was brand new and even the washrooms had that new-car smell. The seats were the new design and the In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) system had the new user interface.

I have to admit, that I boarded the plane already sure that I was going to like it, but the Dash 8 did not disappoint. I was in seat 85A on the upper deck and the windows offered a great view of the new wing and the two GEnx engines on the left side with their trademark saw-tooth trailing edge. And these engines were quiet. It is true that you can barely hear them even at take off. And with the excellent Bose Noise Cancelling headphones, you could not hear them at all.

The new seats were awesome - ergonomics evolution has clearly been keeping pace with engineering. One of the things that really tickled me was how the IFE monitor is designed to swivel and slide with the seat so that you can always get a great viewing angle - no matter what your seat position. This plane is miles ahead of the Boeing 777 or the Airbus A330 or the A340 for cabin design and cabin comfort.

We pushed back from the gate about 10 minutes behind schedule but ze Captain announced on the PA system that we would arrive in Frankfurt 'with punctuality'. I mentioned to the cabin crew that I had taken a roundabout routing PNQ-BLR-FRA-ZRH just so that I could get to fly the Dash 8, and had them all cooing over the 8i. It appears that the crew, like me, were big fans of the 747 over the last couple of decades. One of them took the trouble to go down to First Class and get me a pair of pajamas so that I could enjoy the Dash 8 even while I slept. By the time we landed, word had gotten around that I had taken the crazy routing, and the captain came back to ask if I would like to see the flight deck. I did not know this was even possible after 9-11. In the cockpit, he explained how the Dash 8 is an evolution of the Dash 400 and how it is so much easier to fly. He asked me if I was flying the same aircraft back to India and when I said I was going to fly to Delhi, he said, "Ahh. But you should consider flying on zis aircraft. We would like to welcome you back on board next time you fly."

All in all, I was one happy camper. I would prefer the Dash 8 to every other aircraft bar one. But that is another post.