I have a trip planned with Lufthansa on an A380 in economy and i have noticed on seat guru that there is a small economy section on the upper deck, whereas the most part of the seats are on the main deck! is there a difference?? what would you recommend? ad in terms of service, do they give out food first downstairs or upstairs on in parallel? thanks a lot!
also, please note that this could be a unique chance for me for a while to fly upstairs, because as a student business and first are no gos for me!

KLDC10 wrote:

Go for it. You'll receive the same service, albeit in a smaller cabin (which is a nicer experience to begin with). The crew downstairs don't serve the upper deck - there a dedicated FAs for that. It's quieter upstairs too.

Plus you get the storage compartments which are always nice to have

Go for it. You'll receive the same service, albeit in a smaller cabin (which is a nicer experience to begin with). The crew downstairs don't serve the upper deck - there a dedicated FAs for that. It's quieter upstairs too.

Flying upstairs in that small eco cabin has advantages and one disadvantage:
+ Small cabin
+ Better layout (2-4-2 opposed to 3-4-3 on the Main Deck)
+ Window seats have their own stowage

- Windows are useless due to the thick wall, curvature of the fuselage and the stowage between seat and wall. You can only see the sky out of the window, not the ground.

The mini cabin upstair is of course much more private and cozier than downstairs, seating is 2-4-2 and on the window seat there is a storage bin which comes in handy to hide away small items, plus gives you some sense of space.

Service is same as downstairs and it has a dedicated set of crews and it´s only about 4 rows of seats.

Go for it!

MIAspotter.

trijetsonly wrote:

- Windows are useless due to the thick wall, curvature of the fuselage and the stowage between seat and wall. You can only see the sky out of the window, not the ground.

is it really that bad?
also, is it possible to visit the downstairs section during flight?? just to get a sense of the actual size of the beast, cause so far the biggest i have flown with is the A330-300!

In LH's 380s I always flown on the main deck. Nice but I found the A346's seats more comfortable!
Go for the upper deck - and enjoy!

Thanks for all of the replies!! i hope there will be an open seat when i check in(as soon as it is possible for free ahah)

AZa346 wrote:

trijetsonly wrote:

- Windows are useless due to the thick wall, curvature of the fuselage and the stowage between seat and wall. You can only see the sky out of the window, not the ground.

is it really that bad?
also, is it possible to visit the downstairs section during flight?? just to get a sense of the actual size of the beast, cause so far the biggest i have flown with is the A330-300!

It's not so bad that I would prefer the Main Deck because of that. The Upper Deck is still superior.

I love LH's A380, it's such a wonderful plane to fly on. Small suggestion, during online check-in, upper deck window seats are rarely available. They mostly have just a few seats available and they are usually in the middle or next to the isle.

If you have a chance fly in the upstairs cabin. If your flight is longer than 9 or 10 hours then downstairs toilets tend to get really filthy and disgusting.

AZa346 wrote:

trijetsonly wrote:

- Windows are useless due to the thick wall, curvature of the fuselage and the stowage between seat and wall. You can only see the sky out of the window, not the ground.

is it really that bad?
also, is it possible to visit the downstairs section during flight?? just to get a sense of the actual size of the beast, cause so far the biggest i have flown with is the A330-300!

I don't think it's as bad as trijetsonly is making out. I flew upper deck Y on a SQ A380 a few years back and had no problems seeing anything but "the sky" out of the window.

The view from the maindeck is way better than from the upper deck. Plus the sidewalls are nice upright on the main deck and there is a lot of shoulder room next to the window. I'd go for maindeck window seat.

I'll be on the LH 380's in August, downstairs to Munich and back.

Upstairs does not work for me as a family of three.

** spent about 1800 HK$ booking seats to and from Munich

If you wait til free online check in opens, there is zero chance of getting an economy seat on the upper deck

Not necessarily. I always get upper deck seats. The window seats are usually taken, but since I prefer isle seats, I always get the seat I want in the upper deck. Funnily enough you often can check in before the 23 hour limit.

AIRT0M wrote:

Not necessarily. I always get upper deck seats. The window seats are usually taken, but since I prefer isle seats, I always get the seat I want in the upper deck. Funnily enough you often can check in before the 23 hour limit.

I've noticed that too. Online checkin usually openes between 25 and 28 hours before departure time.

AZa346 wrote:

Thanks for all of the replies!! i hope there will be an open seat when i check in(as soon as it is possible for free ahah)

I wish you luck but it didn't happen for me a couple of years ago - either inbound or outbound. I suspect people pay to reserve those seats first.

I also wasn't allowed to go upstairs from downstairs - tape barrier across the stairs and was told "no" when I asked politely.

I flew this last year and really enjoyed it. The airline charges extra, but it was well worth it:

- The seat has an inch or two better pitch than the ones downstairs.
- The side storage is really nice, and its flat surface means you can put stuff on it eg newspaper
- 2-4-2 is a really fantastic seating configuration. The upstairs cabin feels really cosy and comfortable.
- There's a FA based in the galley behind, so always one close by.
- The view thought the window isn't really a problem. The A380s do have thick window sockets though, so photography of specific targets outside can be a bit of a challenge. The upstairs windows are at a slight angle.
- Premium Economy meals.
- I'm the sort of person who likes to stretch my legs on a long flight. In this case the upper economy is ideal; you can walk downstairs and then along most of the length of the main cabin and then back upstairs again.

FYI, during boarding, you board the plane with the regular economy passengers (ML2), walk to the end of the aircraft then go upstairs. During disembarkation, you can go forwards through the Business cabin and then out through the upper exit.

SomebodyInTLS wrote:

I also wasn't allowed to go upstairs from downstairs - tape barrier across the stairs and was told "no" when I asked politely.

I guess this depends on the cabin crew. I've been on a flight where I was sitting downstairs, but the crew were fine with people walking up and downstairs, even if they weren't seated in the upstairs economy cabin. Using the stairs for excercise is great; they're far enough back that you're not disturbing anyone and its great for improving circulation.

cedarjet wrote:

If you wait til free online check in opens, there is zero chance of getting an economy seat on the upper deck

True dat! I booked my FRA-MIA-FRA in September 2016 to travel in August 2017 I paid for seat selection and even then, only managed to get an upper deck seat on the return flight.

As for the view... here are a few shots from that flight.


Waiting for boarding to complete, due to the thunderstorm cargo loading had to be stopped.


Overview of the small economy section on the UD


Climbing out of MIA


And after 7 hours we are on the other side in FRA.

MIAspotter.

zkojq wrote:

- Premium Economy meals.

AFAIK the service is the same - so the meals... Makes me wonder what was "Premium" about the meals?!

If you are 6 foot 4 is the upper deck window seat comfortable?

LH658 wrote:

If you are 6 foot 4 is the upper deck window seat comfortable?

I'm six foot two and found it fine.

zkojq wrote:

LH658 wrote:

If you are 6 foot 4 is the upper deck window seat comfortable?

I'm six foot two and found it fine.

Thanks mate

This is an interesting thread for me, as in December I am travelling LHR-AKL-LHR via SIN on Singapore Airlines, with all legs on the A380. On 3 of the 4 legs I have seats in the SQ equivalent small rear upper deck economy section. The other leg is downstairs. I am looking forward to trying it out. Unfortunately for me, travelling with 2 small children means my days of window seats are probably over, so I'll be having the center block of 4.

It will be interesting to compare it with previous A380 trips on EK, where I've mostly sat on the lower deck but up front.

One other note about the rear upstairs cabin...since you are high and in the tail, there tends to be more noticeable yaw and pitch back there if the air is at all turbulent. I even asked a FA about it once, and she said it was common in this cabin, but she loved having only 36 seats to take care of.
There is a dedicated lav for this section, but you are free to walk downstairs to use one, or just to exercise. There is a gate in place, but the FA's have told me I can open it and walk up and down. Food is the same as downstairs, but they tend not to run out of alcoholic beverages upstairs.