Only flew upper. I did like it, feels intimate. Looking at the seatmap, lower deck looks like any other good J these days...

On United, I love the upper deck window seat because of the storage lockers right at your side. Usually in a lie-flat seat, I have to curl up to sleep because I'm always longer than the pod. But in these seats, I can sleep on my back with my feet on the storage locker. (It's far enough away from other seats that this doesn't disturb anyone else.)

The nose would be cool too - especially if you get a seat that has a somewhat forward-looking window. But that's usually F, and if I'm spending F miles I'm trying to get onto some airline not called United, and so far have never had a 747 nose seat. I flew LH F when that was upstairs.

I have recently flown on IAD-FRA and FRA-BOM on upper deck of 747-8i. The seats were much quieter and a lot more intimate. In the future, I will always prefer the upper deck.

Answered this question in 2015 and answer is still the same. Upper deck always. Flew Ord to lhr on BA recently. More space less people storage for luggage that's not overhead.

I agree Lufthansa upper deck - when I did my tour of the 748 on my first flight the downstairs looked a bit hectic, and the curtains between the biz and eco cabins weren't being used, or only partially closed. It was a bit busy. Upper deck looked much more peacefull.

Airlines I don't take upper deck are the ones with older model 747s that might have very small overhead lockers, like Qantas. On BA I take lower deck because I don't have sufficient OW status to secure a good seat upper deck in advance :(

Always upper. It may not be true given circulation, but it seems that you don't get the smell coming up from the steerage section they way you do on the lower deck. And it feels less crowded.

Good point. The odor about 12 hours into a long TPAC can get a little ripe...