My Flight on Korean Air's 747-8

Korean Air's 747-8 HL7637 preparing for boarding and subsequent Departure to Los Angeles.

After a wonderful trip to Japan for two weeks, I had decided that my flight home would be one last additional adventure. Given it cost less to fly Korean Air out of Tokyo-Haneda Airport instead of direct back home to Los Angeles, I was in for a treat. Korean Air's flight to Los Angeles would be operated by a Boeing 747-8, the newest and last version of the iconic "Queen of the Skies." Considering the rarity of the Boeing 747 as a passenger plane today, it was an opportunity too good to pass on. I arrived from Tokyo early in the morning on an A330-300 and had a 6 hour layover before my flight back to Los Angeles. In the mean time I took advantage of Seoul Incheon's lounge with showers and places to refresh., and of course photograph flights Departing Incheon. During that time, I was able to photograph several of Korean Air's recently introduced paint scheme aircraft, including the Boeing 787-10 and Airbus A330-300. After several hours waiting, the 747 scheduled to take me home was brought to the gate. The aircraft doing the honors of flying me home on May 22, 2025 was 747-8 HL7637.

A Korean Air 787-10 in the recently introduced livery Departing on another intra-Asia flight. While a lot of avgeeks dislike this livery, I however can't see the problem with it. At least it isn't another "euro-white" scheme.

An Asiana Airlines 777-200ER in the "Star Alliance" Livery Getting Underway on another international flight (this time to Istanbul). With the Asiana-Korean Air acquisition, this is a livery that will certainly not be around much longer.

After a bit of photography inside Incheon's terminal and some lunch, I made my way to the gate for my Korean Air flight. At this point the aircraft still hadn't been pulled up to the gate, so I knew I had some time to kill. While waiting, I did start talking to other passengers, particularly those who were traveling home to the US and may have also been tourists like myself. Among them was a gentleman who like me had also been in Japan (though he was visiting his son who taught English there). He also booked his flight to LA on Korean Air specifically to fly on the 747. Sure enough we got talking right away about how signifiant this moment was for us as aviation geeks. Funny enough, he was old enough to remember flying the TWA 747 from LAX to London back in the 1980s.

As the Korean Air 747 was being towed to the gate. I could hear the 2001: A Space Odyssey theme immediately in my head.

At that very moment, our Korean Air 747-8 was being towed into the gate for our flight home, It was a pretty exhilarating experience to see it coming to our gate. I could almost hear the 2001: A Space Odyssey theme opening in my head as it got closer. Although it is rather cliche, there is no question the feeling of flying on the 'Queen of the Skies' is more of a rarity and so I completely understood why I must've went to the place that I did upon seeing our aircraft pulling in.

Regardless, there was also a feeling of emotional excitement and heaviness at the same time, as the 747 is becoming more of a rare bird in the airline industry. With Lufthansa, Air China and of course Korean Air being some of the very last passenger operators worldwide. Other airlines including Qantas, British Airways, and KLM got rid of them during the COVID pandemic and replaced them with twin-jets such as the Boeing 777, Airbus A350, and Boeing 787. Prior to this adventure, the only other 747 I had flown was a Qantas -400 version. But that is a story for another day, as I was much younger and starting to become an aviation photographer and enthusiast, so I had a lot less pictures to document it. That being said, I knew this was an opportunity that was not only special but soon to be history in the next several years.

My fellow aviation traveler who I spoke to earlier also asked for an obligatory photo with our aircraft as it was being towed in for the flight. While the two of us knew we were flying on a 747-8, several of the other passengers I was speaking with either did not know we were on a 747, or how rare it was to be flying one. It must be that unfortunately, outside of the aviation community, nobody really knows what airplane they are flying on today as long as it gets them from point A to point B and the service is nice.

Shortly after arriving at the gate, it was boarding time. Although I was not in the first-class on the upper deck, I had heard reviews and stories from other aviation geeks that Korean Air had pretty good legroom. I was very interested to find out as I knew I was essentially doing an overnight flight all in the same calendar date. Because of the time change, we leave Seoul on the 22nd and arrived back in Los Angeles on their 22nd of May in the morning. I ended up sitting in seat 28A, a front row economy seat with extra legroom, and a perfect view out the window of the left wing with the two GEnx engines.

The moment of truth; boarding time on Korean Air 17 to Los Angeles. Oh boy is there a lot of excitement in my head at this moment.

The Ideal view for an Avgeek passenger, a wing with two engines is almost unusual in todays mostly twin-jet era of aviation.

Seat 28A is also adjacent to the "Stairway to Heaven." The stair case to the upper deck is further proof of being on a 747.

Once on-board there was a ton of activity as 300 passengers were taking their seats, crew members doing final pre-departure preparations. Shortly after boarding my phone battery had gone dead, so I was scrambling to find a way to get it charging before taxi and takeoff. However, the stewardess told me the chargers would not start working until after we got airborne. Thinking fast, I knew I could not lose an opportunity to film a takeoff on a 747. That's when I figured out how to take video on my DSLR camera. It was perfect timing as 30 minutes after boarding, we were doors-closed and pushing back for departure. Given how close our gate was to the runway lineup position, we ended up taxiing rather quickly and within 15-minutes, our four GEnx engines roared to life and we were thundering down that runway. Moments later, we were airborne climbing out over the bay before heading east across the Pacific Ocean.

The Flight

Here is our Departure to Los Angeles on video. The noise of GEnxs at full power is music to avgeeks.

Shortly after takeoff over Incheon Bay. the condensation vortices above the engine are clearly visible.

Finally at Cruising altitude for the next 11 Hours.

Shortly after departure, they started meal service in our section of the cabin. While I was interested in trying out Korean Air's food choices, I was not sure which choice was exactly the "Western" option or the "Korean" option. I ordered the chicken dish only to find out it was most likely the "Western" choice after it was served. Oh well, at least it was definitely on the better end of food service quality on a commercial flight.

After food service, the cabin began to dim the lights given we were leaving Seoul around evening time in Los Angeles. Because I had such a late night flight from Tokyo-Haneda into Seoul, and got a rather short amount of sleep I ended up passing out rather quickly. Thanks to a front-row economy seat, I had almost "living room" like leg-room. Therefore, it gave me a chance to get some rather high quality rest on a commercial flight. I ended up sleeping for like 4-6 hours, before I was awoken by a fellow passenger. It turns out the gentleman I had been speaking with prior to the flight was in the nearby galley chatting with the crew about flying on the 747. Considering he seemed to be a true aviation geek, I got up, and joined him in the galley. There, we both spoke with the crew and I also asked them specific questions about flying on the 747-8. Based on what I gathered, they had a true appreciation for the aircraft and of course its undeniable historic presence in aviation including with Korean Air.

After the crew had to go deal with another distraction, the fellow aviation geek and myself went back to our seats, but only for a little bit. I found out where he was sitting and he had no other seat mates, and I went several rows down to go talk with him more. Given he was much older than me, he had a lot of aviation memories going back decades. Among the most notable included flying on classic airliners such as the DC-10 and MD-80s for airlines such as Northwest. On another note, it seemed like we were perhaps the only avgeeks who were traveling on this flight specifically because of the aircraft being a 747. Everyone else were either Koreans flying to LA, or Americans flying back from other places in Asia. Nevertheless, it felt kind of unique to be one of only two actual avgeeks on this flight. As everyone else was most likely on the flight for convenience rather than the aircraft type.

Before going back to our seats for the majority of the flight, we also asked the crew if we could go and check out the upper deck on the aircraft after we landed. For us avgeeks the upper deck is arguably the key feature of any 747 as it is only a feature on the Boeing 747 and Airbus A380. Now those may be wondering that given I flew a Qantas 747 back in late 2017, why did I not go onto the upper deck on that flight? Unfortunately on that trip I was with my family and we were in a rush to get off the flight, and based on my memory the crew were unable to allow the opportunity. In this case, the cabin crew would talk to the captain and let them know about our intentions.

Skirting between Russian and Japanese airspace and giving me comfort knowing we were unlikely to become another KAL 007.

Our tailwinds gave us a ground speed of roughly 1066 km/h or 663 mph.

An Incredible sunrise begins to break over the Pacific Ocean.

An incredible sight for an avgeek: Sunrise from a 747 at cruising altitude.

Our Descent

After a few more hours of darkness, dawn began to break over the horizon. By now we had only a few hours left of the flight and were approaching the California coastline. The morning breakfast service was about to commence an hour and a half before landing. This also leads me to mention another key point, and arguably because of choosing a Korean Air 747 as my flight home. While the in-flight entertainment choices on Korean Air were definitely decent, I was less interested in watching anything while on this flight. In my opinion, I felt that being on the 747-8 was an experience in an of itself and I wanted to appreciate every moment. On top of the fact I was pretty exhausted and slept for a solid chunk of the flight. Therefore, I didn't really watch any programming until the final hour of the flight as we were on descent and we needed to be seated. So what film did I choose to watch? I decided to watch the iconic 2004 film The Notebook with Ryan Gostling and Rachel McAdams. I had not seen it before, but have heard countless stories about it from people. I didn't finish it but I did enjoy the first half. 

Meanwhile, our breakfast service included a rice-porridge dish which was unremarkable but certainly not terrible. Honestly, I wasn't that hungry and was too focused out the window observing our descent and approach into Los Angeles. Having seen Korean Air's 747 fly into Los Angeles on the western approach for years, it felt kind of strange to be on the flight itself and seeing LA from the air. I should also note, this flight was in May (four months after the devastating Palisades fire), so the damage was clearly visible as we flew over the Santa Monica coastline on our down leg into LAX. I even flew over my neighborhood and high school, which are both right under the flight path of flights typically coming from Asia into Los Angeles. But the most exhilarating area we flew over was Downtown Los Angeles, being that close to the buildings is exhilarating but also a tad bit freaky, especially for anyone that may have been flying into Los Angeles after 9/11. Shortly after passing Downtown, we made our final 180 degree turn over Commerce, California and began our final approach. 

A few minutes later, our 747-8 roared over the 405 freeway and the iconic In-N-Out park at the foot of Runway 24R. We planted 18-tires onto the runway, and with that our 747-8 flight had come to a safe and incredible conclusion. 

An awesome view: Two GEnx engines and Malibu down below.

You can clearly see the devastation and subsequent aftermath of the tragic Palisades fire.

Even at a safe altitude, flying over Downtown LA is both exhilarating but also scary at the same time.

Back on familiar territory once again, it was also rather clear for a typically May Gray time of year.

Post-flight

As many of you might be wondering, how did Korean Air's 747-8 service land with me? Well, I have to say I was pretty pleased with the service, food, and especially the legroom. It also was significant considering the fact it is at this point only my second time flying on a 747, and first time on the -8 variant. Although the 747-8 is still soldiering on with Lufthansa, Korean Air, and Air China it is definitely a rarity in the international airline industry with the twin-jets dominating the market. Therefore, any 747 flight in this era has significant weight regardless of the airline. 

I am sure everyone of you is also wondering about if I went on the upper deck? Well, you will not be disappointed, after we got to the gate and the rest of the passengers deplaned. The crew allowed both my new avgeek friend and myself to come up to the upper deck on the 747-8. While it was only first class seats and there wasn't anything too remarkable, it was the experience that mattered the most. It is the first time I have checked out the upper deck of a Boeing 747 that is currently active in commercial airline service. If I was to give any advice to anyone who is trying to fly on a 747 in this era. I would recommend you do everything you can to get permission to check out the upper deck as it is arguably the one feature that makes the 747 unique. 

After we checked out the upper deck and snagged a few photos, both my fellow avgeek and I were going through customs and parting ways through Tom Bradley terminal. Luckily we exchanged contact information and have stayed in touch for the last several months since that flight. As I was waiting to be picked up I even ran into the flight crew and pilots of our flight. I immediately thanked them for not only getting me to Los Angeles safely, but also for allowing me to check out the upper deck after landing. As they were the ones who had the authority to give that permission to anybody who wasn't in first class.

Here on the Upper Deck with my fellow avgeek in the background talking to the stewardess.

It may not be the most remarkable interior, but the experience of seeing an active 747 upper deck with the cockpit door straight ahead was surreal.

The Korean Air logo on the pilot caps is proof they were piloting my flight home safely. Couldn't miss an opportunity to thank them on the curb next to Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX.

Final Thoughts

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed my experience of flying on Korean Air's 747-8. I am very excited to begin this new chapter of sharing aviation stories, news, and thoughts with everyone who visits Eyewitness Aviation. I intend to have at least one post a week, some will be about aviation sightings, airline news, and photography and airports here in Southern California and other places that I have visited.

Welcome aboard, and see you guys very soon.