Chasing the A380: Lufthansa First Class Terminal Frankfurt, Lufthansa First Class Frankfurt to Orlando

Introduction
Swiss First Class Lounge Chicago
Swiss First Class Chicago to Zurich
Swiss First Class Lounge Zurich
Lufthansa Business Class Zurich to Frankfurt
InterContinental Frankfurt
Lufthansa First Class Terminal Frankfurt
Lufthansa A380 First Class Frankfurt to Tokyo
Park Hyatt Tokyo
ANA First Class Lounge Tokyo Narita, Lufthansa A380 First Class Tokyo to Frankfurt
Westin Grand Frankfurt
Lufthansa First Class Terminal Frankfurt, Lufthansa First Class Frankfurt to Orlando

Since my friend was returning on the Lufthansa flight to Seattle and I was returning to Orlando, we got to the airport at around 9AM (even though my flight was only at 1PM). Since we had stayed at the Westin we took a taxi to the First Class Terminal, given that it’s a bit further from the train station than the InterContinental.

The First Class Terminal experience was as it always is – awesome. We were immediately greeted by our personal assistant, who actually recognized me from a previous trip, which I thought was impressive given how many guests they have. Of course I immediately asked her whether my flight would feature the new first class, and after researching it she informed me it wasn’t. Booo!

First Class Terminal exterior

Upon arrival we headed straight to the restaurant for lunch, since we had skipped breakfast at the Westin. As usual I selected a few things from the buffet, along with a pretzel and Fanta – my last one for a while, unfortunately.

First Class Terminal bar

Buffet

Lunch

Holy Fanta

After lunch I got caught up on email for a couple of hours, until my personal assistant advised me it was time for boarding. She brought me down to the lower level where I cleared passport control and was introduced to the driver.

Once again I was driven in one of the Mercedes vans, given that there were three other people in the First Class Terminal on my flight – one first class passenger from Tampa (a blog reader, no less), and a HON Circle member and his son traveling in business class.

The ride to the plane was pretty quick, and at the door the driver handed us over to the crew, who directed us to the upper deck.

Our 747

Lufthansa 464
Frankfurt (FRA) – Orlando (MCO)
Sunday, January 1
Depart: 1:35PM
Arrive: 5:55PM
Duration: 10hr20min
Aircraft: Boeing 747
Seat: 82C (First Class)

Within moments of settling in the very friendly flight attendant offered me something to drink. I just ordered a glass of still water, which was served with macadamia nuts and refilled at least three or four times before our departure.

Row 82

View from row 82

Small bins on the side of the seat

Pre-departure drink and nuts

He also offered me the Lufthansa amenity kit and polo shirt, which is their standard daytime amenity. I almost immediately changed into the pajamas from my previous flight, since I was planning on getting some sleep.

Amenities

Before pushback the captain came on the PA to advise us of a slight delay as they needed to unload some checked bags from no show passengers, which caused about a 20-minute delay. He informed us of our flight time of ten hours, anticipating just a slightly delayed arrival in Orlando.

The captain provided multiple updates, and sure enough within 20 or so minutes we pushed back (with four of the eight first class seats taken) and began a quick taxi to the runway, where we were cleared for takeoff almost immediately.

Taxiing out

TAM 777

Shortly after takeoff

After takeoff

Now this is where the flight gets interesting, at least for me, and why this flight was different than any other international first class trip I’ve taken. When flying first class I always try to “maximize.” Previously I defined that as stuffing myself with as much food as possible and staying awake the whole time so I didn’t miss anything. In a way, it’s almost why I prefer flying business class, because in business class I don’t quite feel the need to “maximize” as much. Instead, I’m happy to just get as much sleep as I can.

But let’s face it, after flying Airbus 380 first class for 20+ hours, Lufthansa’s old first class product wasn’t all that exciting. So I decided to go straight to sleep and instead eat my main meal prior to landing. If nothing else it would be a good comparison not only in how well rested I arrive, but also in regards to how the crew handles such a situation.

And sure enough this was one of my most enjoyable, relaxing flights ever. I don’t think I’ve ever arrived as refreshed.

View on climb out

Beautiful day

As soon as the seatbelt sign was turned off I informed the flight attendant of my intent to sleep and eat later. To say this guy was professional is the understatement of the year. Hell, the one part I regret about sleeping is not being able to interact with him more.

With each interaction he addressed me by name, and he immediately made my bed and brought me a bottle of water. He also brought me the menu and asked me to make my selection for later, so that he could ensure that my first choice is still available.

He then asked when I wanted to be woken up. I was serious about my plan of sleeping the whole way, so asked him to wake me up in eight hours if I don’t otherwise wake up earlier on my own. He wished me a pleasant rest, closed all the window shades in my vicinity, and even promised to keep the noise level down so that I can get uninterrupted sleep. He ended by saying that the purser really quickly wanted to welcome me aboard, if that’s alright, so she quickly appeared to wish me a pleasant sleep.

Half of the battle of trying to sleep on an airplane is telling yourself that you want to sleep. Typically part of the reason I can’t sleep when flying is because I’m asking myself whether I should be watching a movie, working, or something else. This time around I literally said to myself “you’re sleeping for the next eight hours, so make it happen.” And sure enough I did. I woke up about two hours out of Orlando, and within moments of waking up the flight attendant appeared unsolicited and asked if I had a good sleep and was ready to eat.

I was, and so the meal service commenced. Before starting the meal I decided on a movie to watch, and chose “I Don’t Know How She Does It.” And I don’t know how I watched it!

Movie

The lunch menu read as follows:

I was curious to see if my choice to dine later would translate into a watered down experience, but sure enough it didn’t. He did everything exactly the same way as they’d do during the normal service, and the food tasted equally fresh. He even brought me the signature Lufthansa rose as the meal service began.

Rose

Instead of having a starter I decided on both soup and salad, starting with the soup, which was delicious.

Soup

Following that the salad was served with a honey mustard type dressing, which was also delicious.

Salad

For the main course I ordered the ravioli, which was surprisingly tasty. I know it’s a “safe” option, but on Lufthansa I tend to err on the side of caution because I feel like they try to hard with their entrees.

Ravioli

For dessert I had the chocolate cake, which was also good.

Dessert

As the meal finished up I was offered pralines, and ordered a White Russian to go along with it.

Pralines

As my meal finished up the pre-arrival meal service was well underway. Obviously I didn’t partake in that, though for those of you that are interested, the menu read as follows:

About 30 minutes out the sun began to set and we began our descent into Orlando. The purser once again came by to bid all first class passengers farewell.

Approaching Florida

Almost home!

On approach

Immigration was quick (thanks Global Entry!), so despite a slightly delayed arrival I was on the curb within 10 minutes.

And so wrapped up another great trip on my favorite airline. I can’t say enough positive things about Lufthansa flight attendants, especially on this trip. I guess part of the reason I like to stay up on international first class flights is because I love to experience the small touches that make the difference between a pleasant flight and a memorable one. I don’t think there’s an airline that on the whole delivers more genuine, professional, and personable service than Lufthansa.

My perception is that the first class flight attendants aren’t nice because they have to be, but are genuinely engaging and love what they do. It’s those service experiences you have where you can’t help but say to yourself “how on earth is this person so friendly despite having no direct incentive to be?” And I guess it comes down to actually having pride in one’s job.

Oh, and as far as sleeping for eight hours goes, it was awesome. I arrived so well rested, and don’t feel like I missed out on any part of the experience. As a matter of fact, whenever possible I plan on having my “main” meal before landing from now on. It’s tough to sleep on a full stomach, so it was awesome to be able to have lunch on the ground in the First Class Terminal, get a good night of sleep, have a nice meal aboard, and arrive well rested.

In the end, I’d say I did a damn good job “maximizing.”

Posted on January 31st, 2012 by lucky
Filed under: Awards, Lufthansa, Travel, Trip Reports | 18 Comments »

Chasing the A380: ANA First Class Lounge Tokyo Narita, Lufthansa A380 First Class Tokyo to Frankfurt

We took the 6:30AM “Friendly Airport Limousine” to Narita Airport, arriving at around 8AM. We were dropped off at terminal 1, which is the Star Alliance terminal.

Terminal 1

The terminal really is a brilliant example of how alliances can improve the customer experience. Instead of segregating check-in by airline, all airlines share ground staff. There are separate counters for coach, business class, first class, and Star Gold members.

Star Alliance terminal

We headed to the “B” counter, which is for first class, though once the agent verified that we were actually in first class, she escorted us over to the private first class check-in area. It’s a pretty sleek separate room that’s well staffed and has a shortcut to immigration and security.

First class check-in counters

First class check-in

First class check-in seating area

Check-in was friendly and efficient, and within a few minutes we were issued our boarding passes for seats 2D & 2G.

We cleared security in no-time, and headed straight for the ANA first class lounge.

Terminal

ANA’s lounges are by no means the best in the world, though the first class lounge is usually pretty quiet, and I like the way it’s decorated.

First class lounge

What I always find bizarre about the service in the lounge is that the moment you settle in one of the staff comes by to offer you a cold towel and drink, though that’s the last you’ll see of them. They don’t do refills. I don’t understand why, but as with many things in Japan, they have a procedure and follow it without exception.

The food in the lounge is somewhat lacking, though they do have a noodle bar, so I ordered something from there.

Snack selection

Booze

Noodles

At around 10AM we headed down to gate 45, where our flight was departing from. Boarding was well under way, though the dedicated priority boarding lane meant we didn’t have to wait.

A380 taking us to Frankfurt

Priority boarding lane

Lufthansa 711
Tokyo Narita (NRT) – Frankfurt (FRA)
Saturday, December 31
Depart: 10:25AM
Arrive: 2:15PM
Duration: 11hr50min
Aircraft: Airbus A380
Seat: 2D (First Class)

Once on board we were greeted by the same spectacular crew we had on the way out. It was pretty funny because as soon as I settled in the flight attendant said to me “it’s a pleasure to see you again, Mr. Lucky,” which got some weird looks from the guy seated across from me.

Service started with champagne and macadamia nuts.

Champagne and macadamia nuts

We were also offered pajamas and amenity kits. Interestingly, Lufthansa only offers a polo shirt on daytime flights from Germany to the US, though they offer full pajamas on flights from Japan to Germany. I’m not sure if it’s because of the length of the flight or because of competition in the market, but it’s just something interesting to note.

Pajamas and amenity kits

By the time boarding was complete, six of the eight first class seats were taken.

The captain came on the PA to announce the flight time of 11hr10min, and within a few minutes we pushed back and began a long taxi to the runway.

Taxiing to the runway

Airborne!

Shortly after takeoff

Within about ten minutes of being airborne the seatbelt sign was turned off and service commenced, starting once again with the purser passing through the cabin to welcome us aboard and distribute menus.

Menu and wine list

The service in first class today was a bit different than on the outbound. The couple seated in row one was Japanese, so as a result they had a Japanese flight attendant working first class, along with the same excellent male flight attendant that also happens to be a trainer.

While I only talked to the male flight attendant about this later in the flight, it would probably be most useful to mention it now for context. I had no clue that Lufthansa actually has flight attendants based at many of their destinations, including Delhi, Shanghai, and Tokyo. The issue, as he explained, is that they don’t speak a word of German. So if there’s one passenger in first class that prefers to communicate in Japanese, then a German-speaking passenger is often forced to communicate in English with that flight attendant.

Obviously the guy wasn’t a huge fan of the program, explaining that Lufthansa is first and foremost a German airline, and a German passenger shouldn’t be forced to communicate in a language other than German (which I agree with).

But what’s interesting is that the Japanese flight attendant working first class recently moved to Germany to work for Lufthansa, though didn’t speak German yet. She was taking German classes, but obviously it takes a while to learn a third language. It was her first time working first class, so the trainer did everything he could to teach her.

Both of these flight attendants were spectacularly amazingly phenomenal. The male flight attendant was awesome for the reasons I discussed in the review of the outbound – he was personable, professional, sincere, and had a great sense of humor.

The Japanese flight attendant, while not nearly as experienced or polished as the trainer, had one of those smiles that just can’t help but put you in a great mood. Her friendliness and sincerity had me sitting there throughout the entire meal service with a huge smile on my face. I had the chance to talk to her for a while, and it was clear that she loved what she was doing and wanted to give 110% to prove it.

I ordered a Diet Coke with lemon to start, which was served with a hot towel. That was followed by the amuse bouche, which, as usual, looked a lot better than it tasted.

Diet Coke with lemon

Amuse bouche

The lunch menu read as follows:

After that the table was setup, again with such precision and care that it couldn’t help but make me smile.

Table setup

The meal started with the appetizer cart being rolled around. Usually they’ll let you choose as many as you’d like, but the senior guy working the cabin insisted on us choosing as many as we wanted but him serving them to us one at a time so we could enjoy each one.

My first starter was caviar, followed by salmon. Both were great.

Caviar

Salmon

That was followed by a salad, which was also tasty.

Salad

Neither of the main courses interested me much, though I went with the beef option. The meat was so tough that I couldn’t even cut it with a knife, so I didn’t even touch the entree. The flight attendant felt awful about it, and my friend tried the other entree.

I was full, so just sent it back.

Braised beef

Sea bream

Instead I had both the cheese plate and cheesecake, both of which were delicious.

Cheese plate

Cheesecake

The meal service finished off with a box of pralines being passed around.

Pralines

Cabin after meal service

Our flight path took us far North (apparently more so than usual), and the views were pretty spectacular most of the way. You’ve gotta love the tail camera. As a result it was actually dark for most of the flight.

Our route

Awesome views

I spent some time talking to the rest of the crew in business class (the flight was again fairly empty, with no more than 30 of the 98 business class seats taken).

The crew was very junior, and I’d guess that not a single flight attendant in business class was over 30. Later I found out why. Apparently Lufthansa separates their crews not based on trip distance or regions, but rather based on aircraft type. You can either work their Boeing fleet (737 and 747) or their Airbus fleet (A320/330/340/380). Beyond that, flying the A380 takes a special certification.

As the senior male trainer explained to me, “the senior flight attendants didn’t want to have to get used to something new, and weren’t convinced the plane could get off the ground, while the young people jumped on it immediately.” He explained that he and the purser were the most senior on the flight by about 15 years, and that it went way down from there.

With about six hours to go to Frankfurt it was time for a nap, so I requested my bed be made. I got a solid two hours of sleep (it was a daytime flight, after all), at which point the flight attendants came around with a cart containing finger sandwiches and cakes. I always find it interesting that Lufthansa doesn’t really have a mid-flight snack menu, even in first class on longhaul flights. So while I wasn’t really hungry, I picked out a couple of things to snack on.

View from reclined seat

Mid-flight snack

I then decided to watch a movie, and went with “Horrible Bosses,” which was hilarious. After that I napped for another hour or so, at which point dinner was served.

Entertainment system

The menu read as follows:

Once again my table was set with great precision, and the flight attendant was a quick learner, as he immediately loaded my bread plate with pretzel bread.

Table setup

The roast beef starter was delicious, as was the pasta entree. If only they would have served that with the first meal.

Roast beef rolls

Linguine

The dessert wasn’t all that great, though.

Dessert

After dessert I had an espresso.

Espresso

About 30 minutes out of Frankfurt the captain came on the PA, and it slowly dawned on me that our awesome A380 experience was coming to an end. This time around the weather in Frankfurt was rather nasty, so we hit a few bumps on the way down.

Tail camera

After a five minute taxi we made it to our gate, where I had to grab one last picture of our bird.

Upon arrival in Frankfurt

Immigration queues were rather long, and I nearly got in a fight with a teenage Brit waiting in line that was trying to mock me for being an American (I shut him up pretty quickly when I pointed to my EU passport). Once through immigration we hopped in a cab to the Westin Grand Frankfurt, where we would be spending the night.

Posted on January 29th, 2012 by lucky
Filed under: ANA, Awards, Lufthansa, Travel, Trip Reports | 31 Comments »

Chasing the A380: Lufthansa A380 First Class Frankfurt to Tokyo

Lufthansa 710
Frankfurt (FRA) – Tokyo Narita (NRT)
Wednesday, December 28
Depart: 1:25PM
Arrive: 8:35AM (+1 day)
Duration: 11hr10min
Aircraft: Airbus A380
Seat: 2D (First Class)

Once aboard we headed left into the eight-seat first class cabin, which is in the nose on the upper deck (unlike Qantas, where it’s on the lower deck). While there are definitely airlines with more glamorous first class suites on the A380, Lufthansa’s cabin is remarkably elegant and understated, at least as a relative matter. There are no massive suites, but rather just an “open” cabin with just the right amount of privacy.

Anyway, as soon as we made it to our seats we were greeted by the first class flight attendant, who was spectacular. He was actually apparently a flight attendant trainer and only works about two trips a month. If this guy is training other flight attendants, then Lufthansa’s new hires are in good hands.

First Class cabin

Before I get into the service too much, let’s discuss the seats. Like I said, they’re not all that private, though they do have privacy shields on both sides if you’re not traveling with someone. The seats have amazing padding, better than just about any other product I’ve flown. So in the upright position, the seat is as comfortable as they get.

Seats 2D & 2G

Each seat has an ottoman which doubles as a storage compartment, given that there are no overhead bins in first class.

Seats 2D & 2G

Seat 2A

Seats 1A & 2A

Ottoman/store compartment

Beyond the ottoman, the seat also has a storage compartment in the center section for glasses, headphones, etc.

Seat storage

Then towards the back of the seat is a cup holder and a deeper storage compartment.

More storage

Here’s something truly unique about Lufthansa’s first class cabin on the A380. As I said earlier, there are no overhead bins in the first class cabin so that it feels a bit more spacious, which is a trend with many new first class products nowadays. Instead, each first class passengers gets their own private compartment behind the first class cabin which they can lock. Many airlines have small lockers, but these are actually massive and fit not only a 22″ carry-on, but have room for a laptop bag, clothes, etc. Really well done, Lufthansa.

Storage compartments

Now back to the actual flight. As soon as we settled in the awesome first class flight attendant offered us drinks. We both ordered champagne, which was served with Lufthansa’s signature macadamia nuts.

Pre-departure champagne and nuts

We were then offered amenity kits, slippers, and pajamas, which I changed into immediately.

Amenity kit, slippers, and pajamas

Pajamas

We were also offered Bose noise canceling headphones. This is a massive improvement over Lufthansa’s previous cheap headphones (not that you can’t use your own, but still).

Headphones

As departure time rolled around the captain came on the PA to welcome us aboard and advise us of our flight time of 10hr20min, anticipating an on-time arrival in Tokyo.

As the door closed there were three other passengers in first class — a couple seated in 1D & 1G, and an older guy seated in 2K (he wasn’t previously on the seatmap, so I suspect he may have upgraded at the airport). For takeoff I moved over to 2A.

Jet bridge retracted

After a 10 minute taxi we made it to the runway, where we were almost immediately cleared for takeoff. Lufthansa has a tail camera on the Airbus 380, which is the coolest thing ever. The other amazing thing about the Airbus 380 is how quiet it is. Even during take off, you can’t really tell the engines are even on.

Taking off

Shortly after takeoff

Rainy day

About 10 minutes after takeoff the seatbelt sign was turned off and I headed back to 2D, where I also turned on the tail camera. The weather was starting to look nicer a few miles up!

Tail camera

Beautiful day at last

The purser appeared within a few minutes of the seatbelt sign being turned off. As is usually the case on Lufthansa, she was engaging and reminded us that we could eat whenever we wanted to. She also presented us with the menu and briefly explained it, given that there’s a Western and Japanese selection. She also emphasized the wine list and encouraged me to do a wine sampling if I wanted to.

Cabin after takeoff

Our awesome flight attendant appeared within a few minutes to take our lunch orders. Seriously, this guy had first class service down to a science. He was the perfect combination of professional and personable at the same time, which many flight attendants lack. We asked to have lunch in two hours, and he advised us to let him know if we wanted anything in the meantime.

I took the opportunity to explore the cabin, starting with the two (identical) restrooms located in front of the first class cabin. Lufthansa’s first class restrooms are massive, with a bench and even a urinal.

First class bathroom

First class bathroom (urinal is what’s covered in the distance)

Between the two lavatories are the stairs leading to the lower deck, though they’re blocked off during flight (apparently to prevent drunk people from falling).

Stairs

I then headed back to business class, which was empty as I’ve ever seen before. There are 98 seats, though no more than a dozen were occupied. While the cabin was huge and featured Lufthansa’s “old” business class product, I’d still fly it in a heartbeat given how much I love the Airbus 380.

The funny thing is that the cabin was still fully staffed, so there were about six or seven flight attendants taking care of 12 or so passengers. The crew to passenger ratio was higher than in first class!

Business class

Yes, this is how empty the cabin was in-flight

Empty cabin!

Wing view from business class

When I got back to my seat I watched a couple of sitcoms on the in-flight entertainment, and before I knew it our flight attendant approached with hot towels in preparation for lunch.

Hot towel

The lunch menu read as follows:

As tempting as the “cockle” and “men” sounded on the Japanese menu, I stuck with the western cuisine (sorry, I couldn’t resist).

Service started with an amuse bouche. As usual on Lufthansa, I’m fairly certain they do everything in their power to make it as disgusting as possible (don’t hate me, it’s just my taste — or lack thereof).

Amuse bouche

After my table was set the appetizer cart was brought through the aisle, and I ordered some caviar.

Starter

I also ordered the salad, which was quite delicious and served with an herb vinaigrette. Our flight attendant was sure to keep me well stocked on pretzel bread throughout the meal.

Salad

For the main course I actually ordered the tenderloin of beef off the Japanese menu. Since they have a Japanese menu on flights to Japan, they only have two western entrees, and neither interested me. So while I didn’t think the beef was especially good, it was certainly edible.

Tenderloin of beef

The main course was served with rice and miso soup.

Miso soup

My friend ordered the roast goose off the Western menu, which he enjoyed.

Roast goose

For dessert I had the “Vanilla! Vanilla!” option. My only question is who at Lufthansa is responsible for naming things on menus?

Dessert

I also had a fruit plate, which was tasty.

Fruit plate

For dessert I had a cappuccino, which was served with some pralines.

Cappuccino

Pralines

After lunch, about four hours into the flight, the flight attendant offered turndown service, which I gladly accepted given that I was getting tired and I wanted to be fairly well rested for our morning arrival in Tokyo.

Turndown service

The mattress pad and duvet were among the best I’ve experienced, a huge improvement over the product they have on their 747 and Airbus 330/340 aircraft.

Turndown service

I wasn’t quite as tried as I thought I was, so I watched “Friends With Benefits,” which was pretty funny.

Movie time!

I ended up getting a couple of hours of sleep, and woke up about 90 minutes out of Tokyo, at which point breakfast service began, starting with the menu and hot towels being distributed.

Menu and hot towel

The breakfast menu read as follows:

For breakfast I had some fresh squeezed orange juice, muesli and a croissant with Nutella to start.

Breakfast

Then as the main I had eggs with chives, which was delicious. If only more airlines freshly prepare egg dishes aboard…

Scrambled eggs

At this point the sun was slowly starting to rise, and before we knew it the captain was on the PA to advise us that we were 30 minutes out of Tokyo and that the seatbelt sign would be turned on soon. At the same time the purser walked around the cabin once again to bid all the first class passengers farewell.

Sunrise

I changed out of my pajamas and stored my carry-ons in the locker, and once again took the window seat for landing, accompanied by the tail camera.

As usual, the tail camera views were awesome. We had a smooth touch down and about five minute taxi to the gate, where we said goodbye to the crew.

Tail camera

It took the ground crew a bit of time to get the upper deck jet bridge connected, though once it was we began our 15 minute walk to immigration.

Our plane upon arrival

The wait at immigration was very short, and we found ourselves in the arrivals hall in no time. We went to the “Friendly Airport Limousine” counter, where we purchased tickets to the Park Hyatt Tokyo. Unfortunately the next bus was only in an hour, though we had no problem passing that time walking around Narita Airport.

Arrivals hall

Arrivals board

As usual Lufthansa first class was spectacular. And the fact that this flight was on the Airbus 380 made it even more spectacularerer. While Lufthansa doesn’t have the most cutting edge hard product, the cabin was as elegant as I’ve ever seen. As usual (always?), service was phenomenal. The best part was that we’d have the same fantastic crew returning two days later back to Frankfurt, so we had that to look forward to. But in the meantime it was off to the not-so-shabby Park Hyatt…

Posted on January 25th, 2012 by lucky
Filed under: Awards, Lufthansa, Travel, Trip Reports | 30 Comments »

Chasing the A380: Lufthansa First Class Terminal Frankfurt

The Lufthansa First Class Terminal is my wanna be home. As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, my goal in life is to be the first citizen of the Lufthansa First Class Terminal using a crazy scheme I devised in my sleep.

I’ve reviewed the First Class Terminal several times before, including here, here, and here.

To me, the First Class Terminal is hands down the best lounge experience in the world… assuming you’re originating in Frankfurt.

After a 20 minute cab ride from the InterContinental we pulled up to the First Class Terminal, where we were immediately welcomed by a personal assistant and porter. I handed the personal assistant our passports, and she escorted us straight through security.

First Class Terminal entrance

Security in the First Class Terminal is a completely different experience than just about anywhere else. There’s no wait, no need to show your boarding pass, and no need to deal with rude security staff. Instead it’s just a few agents in suits that get you in and out in a matter of seconds. Less than 60 seconds after arriving at the First Class Terminal we had already cleared security and were comfortably seated in the lounge area.

The Terminal isn’t as big as many people assume it is. There are a few seating areas nicely partitioned for privacy, a bar, a cigar lounge, a restaurant, shower/bath/nap rooms, and private workstations with sliding doors.

First Class Terminal

First Class Terminal bar

First Class Terminal cigar lounge

First Class Terminal cigars

Within moments of settling in I was approached by one of the waiters and offered a drink. I just requested a bottle of VOSS water, and headed over to the buffet to grab a pretzel. You’ve gotta love a lounge where you can choose the brand of water you want.

Ah, pretzel at last!

After catching up on work for a couple of hours we headed to the restaurant for lunch. Since Lufthansa lets you dine on demand in first class, I figured it made sense to have lunch on the ground (since the food is excellent), and lunch aboard a few hours after takeoff.

Restaurant

The restaurant has both a buffet and menu. I took small portions of several of the hot options, while my friend ordered the “Christmas goose.”

My lunch

My friend’s lunch

For dessert I had chocolate mousse.

Dessert

While I didn’t want to nap, I figured I’d grab a quick picture of the nap room after lunch.

Nap room

At around 12:45PM our personal assistant advised us our flight was ready for boarding, so we took the elevator down one floor to the transfer level. There we had a quick immigration check, and were then driven to our plane in a Mercedes van with two other passengers on our flight. Often they’ll drive you in a private Porsche Cayenne or Mercedes S500, but when multiple passengers are heading to the same flight from the First Class Terminal, they’ll often just use a van instead.

Transfer area

Our departure gate was pretty far away, which was awesome (it’s rare that I can say this with a straight face). It was a busy time at Frankfurt Airport, and we got to drive under the tails of many “heavies.”

Tarmac view

After a maybe five minute ride we pulled up to our Airbus 380. Secretly this is what I was most looking forward to on the trip. Being driven to a 747 is cool enough, but parking next to an Airbus 380 is awesome.

Our Airbus 380

She’s a beauty… kinda!

Would be sexier if it were the S500 or Cayenne, eh?

Our driver escorted us to the elevator, which we took up to the second floor jet bridge. He brought us all the way to the cabin, where he introduced us to the purser.

Posted on January 23rd, 2012 by lucky
Filed under: Awards, Lufthansa, Travel, Trip Reports | 4 Comments »

Chasing the A380: Lufthansa Business Class Zurich to Frankfurt

We lucked out given that our departure gate, A62, was located adjacent to the lounge. Boarding was announced within a few minutes of arriving at the gate. While there was a mad rush for the jet bridge, there was a priority boarding lane which made the process painless.

Gate A62

Our plane

Lufthansa 1191
Zurich (ZRH) – Frankfurt (FRA)
Tuesday, December 27
Depart: 1:45PM
Arrive: 2:50PM
Duration: 1hr5min
Aircraft: Airbus A321
Seat: 2D (Business Class)

Once aboard I was surprised to see that the business class cabin was only a total of three rows. For those of you not familiar with intra-Europe business class, it’s basically coach with a blocked middle seat and better service. The benefit for the airline is that they can adjust the size of the business class cabin after every flight based on demand. It’s efficient, though rather uncomfortable. For many flights between the hubs (Zurich/Frankfurt/Munich) I’ve seen business class go as far back as the exit row, so this was by far the smallest cabin I’ve seen in a while. I guess it’s because we were traveling right after Christmas.

I settled into 2D, and within moments was offered newspapers and magazines by the cheery flight attendant. I talked to her for about a minute (in German), at which point she started talking to my friend. He doesn’t speak a word of German, so stared at her blankly, and said “I don’t speak German.” Her response was priceless. Literally instantly, without so much as a pause to formulate a witty comeback, she said “well why not?” It’ll never sound as funny as it actually was, though I nearly had tears in my eyes based on her presentation.

Business class cabin

Despite our delayed inbound aircraft, boarding was fairly efficient, decreasing our delay to about 10 minutes. As the cabin door closed the captain came on the PA to welcome everyone aboard, advising us of our flight time of 45 minutes, putting us back on schedule.

Our taxi was quick and once we broke through the clouds it was a fairly nice afternoon.

Climb out

As soon as we leveled off the snack was served, consisting of a prawn, some sort of curry dish, roll, and an apple pastry. It was tasty compared to my recent intra-Europe flights on Lufthansa. That was quickly followed by the beverage cart.

Snack

The highlight was the chocolate served afterwards, though I pocketed it for enjoyment at a later time.

Milka chocolate

About 20 minutes before landing the seatbelt sign was turned on, and after a smooth descent and a 10 minute taxi to the gate, we pulled up to our stand just a few minutes behind schedule.

Approach

Unfortunately it was our unlucky day, since we were assigned a remote stand. The flight was empty, given that everyone fit on a single bus.

Plane from bus

After what must have been a five mile bus ride with a wannabe Formula 1 driver, we arrived at the terminal. From there it was a 10 minute walk to the train station, where we boarded a train for downtown.

Posted on January 21st, 2012 by lucky
Filed under: Awards, Lufthansa, Travel, Trip Reports | 8 Comments »

Chasing the A380: Introduction

Back in May I had the opportunity to fly first class on the Qantas Airbus 380 (see this trip report), and ever since I’ve been obsessed. I remember first seeing pictures of the Airbus 380 when it was in production and thinking “okay, what’s the big deal?” It wasn’t until after I flew it that I realized just how passenger-friendly the plane is. Not only is it spacious and does it usually have cutting edge first class products, but what really sets it apart for me is how quiet the plane is and the awesome tail camera, which takes the flying experience to a whole new level.

The thing is, I’m not just obsessed with first class, miles, and travel, but my first passion was actually aviation and planes. I started working on my private pilot’s license at the age of 14, and my love for planes hasn’t died off one bit since.

So I’ve made it a personal mission to ~~stalk~~ fly the Airbus 380 every opportunity I get, at least in a premium cabin. Hell, if there were an Airbus 380 with first class award availability flying to Topeka with a forced six day layover I’d take it in a heartbeat.

Which brings me to this trip. With the exception of Qantas, no airline consistently releases first class award space on the Airbus 380 to partner loyalty programs. That doesn’t stop me from looking ~~hourly~~ every now and then to see if there’s a mistake or change in policy. During one of my late night sessions with the ANA tool and Continental award search tool, I happened to stumble upon some Lufthansa Airbus 380 first class award space between Frankfurt and Tokyo. It was a complete coincidence, though woke me up pretty quickly. I was actually shocked to see that most dates in late December and early January had multiple first class award seats on the Airbus 380.

I assumed it was a glitch, so opened a different browser to verify availability with ANA, Aeroplan, and Continental. Yep, the space was actually there.

Now, admittedly there’s probably a reason there was first class award space to Tokyo right after Christmas — Tokyo isn’t exactly the warmest place that time of year. But still, this trip was about the Airbus 380, and even if it would be cold in Tokyo, I’d deal with it and still enjoy the city.

After playing around with availability I found a flight from Frankfurt to Tokyo with first class award space, and then two days after arriving a flight from Tokyo to Frankfurt with first class award space. Since there were two seats, I convinced a friend to come along.

I should mention that this all occurred just three days before departure, so there wasn’t all that much time to plan. Now the challenge became finding award space between the US and Germany. Since I was only planning a few days in advance I was confident the space would open up, as Lufthansa is great about opening up unsold first class seats to awards last minute. So for the time being I just held the flights between Frankfurt and Tokyo using US Airways miles. They allow a three day courtesy hold, so I left the reservation like that until Christmas Day, the day before I knew we’d have to depart.

And sure enough, award space did open up that day between the US and Europe. For the outbound, Swiss had space between Chicago and Zurich in first class (their new product no less!), while Lufthansa opened up award space from Frankfurt to Orlando for the return. I really lucked out with that, since US Airways doesn’t allow any changes after the original departure flight, and that return award space opened up literally the night before I was leaving. The stars had aligned and it was meant to be… or something like that.

In the end my itinerary looked as follows:

12/26 Swiss 9 Chicago to Zurich departing at 7:10PM and arriving at 10:55AM (+1 day)
12/27 Lufthansa 1191 Zurich to Frankfurt departing at 1:45PM and arriving at 2:50PM
12/28 Lufthansa 710 Frankfurt to Tokyo departing at 1:25PM and arriving at 8:35AM (+1 day)
12/31 Lufthansa 711 Tokyo to Frankfurt departing at 10:25AM and arriving at 2:15PM
01/01 Lufthansa 464 Frankfurt to Orlando departing at 1:35PM and arriving at 5:55PM

Given that we were looking at travel the day after Christmas, it’s no surprise that there was no award space to Chicago. However, as some of you may remember, I was 13 miles short of requalifying for Executive Platinum with American, so this worked out perfectly. While American charged $200 for the one-way ticket from Tampa to Chicago, it was well worth it to lock in Executive Platinum status for the following year.

My favorite thing about the whole trip was the cost. I used just 120,000 US Airways miles, which I had purchased through one of their mileage purchase promotions for under $1,800. Taxes and fees were roughly $200, so I paid about $2,000 for four longhaul international first class segments on some of my favorite airlines, including two on the Airbus 380. I always live in fear of US Airways devaluing their award chart, so this was a nice way to burn some miles guilt free.

As far as hotels go, in Tokyo I redeemed 22,000 Gold Passport points per night for the Park Hyatt Tokyo — an absolute no brainer, given the number of good things I’ve heard about this place (and it didn’t disappoint). We also had two overnights in Frankfurt, one in each direction. I decided to book the InterContinental for our outbound stay at a rate of 107 Euros, and the Westin Grand Frankfurt on the return at a rate of 129 Euros.

Sit back, relax, and enjoy, and see you in Chicago tomorrow.

Posted on January 13th, 2012 by lucky
Filed under: Awards, Hotels, Hyatt, Lufthansa, Priority Club, Travel, US Airways | 30 Comments »

My goal in life: first citizen of the Lufthansa First Class Terminal

I seem to come up with my best ideas in my dreams, and last night was no different. I consider myself to be a pretty motivated person. I mean, I work out like at least twice a year, and my SAT score was higher than the maximum temperature my oven goes. Along the same lines, I think I’ve finally figured out my goal in life — to become the first permanent resident of the Lufthansa First Class Terminal.

You see, I love Germany, I love Lufthansa, and I especially love the Lufthansa First Class Terminal. For those of you not familiar with the First Class Terminal, as the name suggests, it’s a separate terminal for first class passengers in Frankfurt. It’s a completely different experience than what any other airline offers, since a minute after entering the terminal you’re already sipping a drink or having lunch and just waiting for your personal assistant to get you for boarding. Then you’re driven to your plane in a Porsche or Mercedes. It’s a pretty nifty place that every frequent flyer should experience at least once.

This brings me back to my grand scheme. You see, being self employed, I can work from anywhere. Some days I’ll work from Starbucks, some days I’ll work from Panera, some days I’ll work from my “office,” and some days I’ll work from bed (as I’ve been doing for the past week or so). In my opinion, the First Class Terminal makes a better office than any of those… well, maybe with the exception of my W Hotels bed.

So the way to get into the First Class Terminal is either to be a Lufthansa first class passenger or to be one of their HON Circle members, their super-dooper top tier elite status level. To earn it you have to accrue 600,000 elite qualifying miles within two consecutive years. So that breaks down to 300,000 miles per year, and if flown in discounted business class, it’s only 150,000 miles per year (because you earn 200% of base miles for paying business class). While it’s not cheap, it should be possible to fly 150,000 mile in paid first class for under $20,000, meaning it’s a total investment of $40,000.

Once I’m a HON Circle member I’d book a Frankfurt to Munich roundtrip ticket every day. I’d book Frankfurt to Munich at around 3PM, so that I can work most of the day in the First Class Terminal and have breakfast and lunch, and then the last flight of the night from Munich to Frankfurt, so that I can have dinner there and keep working. Then when I get back to Frankfurt I’d be roaming the streets till the First Class Terminal opens again at the crack of dawn.

So for about $120 a day I’d get breakfast, lunch, dinner, unlimited rubber ducks, and an office. Hmmm, I wonder if they’d kick me out eventually?

On second thought, the idea doesn’t sound quite as good when I put it down in writing…

Posted on January 10th, 2012 by lucky
Filed under: Lufthansa | 34 Comments »

Lufthansa now consistently releasing Airbus 380 first class award space?

I figured after a few trips the novelty of Airbus 380 first class would wear off, but it still hasn’t. Originally I thought the plane was no different than any other, though after flying it a handful of times now, I’ve decided that’s not the case. Between the awesome tail camera and how quiet the cabin is, it really is a completely different flying experience.

Anyway, I just got back from a quick trip to Tokyo where I flew the Lufthansa Airbus 380 in first class. Previously Lufthansa seemed to protect Airbus 380 first class, so up until a few weeks ago I saw maybe a handful of Lufthansa first class award seats in my whole life that Star Alliance partner airlines had access to. Now they seem to release a decent number of seats within a couple of weeks of departure.

For example, I just had a look at first class award space between today and January 20 for Lufthansa’s A380 routes to Tokyo, Beijing, and Johannesburg, and the following dates in January have at least one first class award seat available:

Frankfurt to Tokyo: 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17

Tokyo to Frankfurt: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 16, 17

Frankfurt to Johannesburg: 5, 6

Johannesburg to Frankfurt: 3

Beijing to Frankfurt: 4, 5, 9, 11, 17

At first I figured this was a temporary glitch or one-time thing on the part of Lufthansa given that it’s low season in Beijing and Tokyo, though the more I look at it, the more I think it’s an intentional strategy to release unsold first class award seats last minute.

So it’s just something to keep in mind. Qantas makes their Airbus 380 first class readily available for awards (I flew with them in first on the A380 from Singapore to Sydney and Melbourne to London earlier in the year), and Lufthansa seems to quickly be joining that camp.

It would make my day if you guys would snag some of the above seats, as I’m sure you wouldn’t regret flying Lufthansa first class on the Airbus 380. Keep in mind that if you’re originating in the US, you can route from the US to Asia via Europe using both Continental and US Airways miles. US Airways only charges 120,000 miles for first class to Beijing and Tokyo, while Continental charges 135,000-140,000 miles.

Posted on January 3rd, 2012 by lucky
Filed under: Advice, Awards, Lufthansa | 21 Comments »

Slept for 85% of my flight. Who’s proud?

There seems to be a common misconception among some of my readers that I actually enjoy flying. Or eating. Or drinking Diet Coke with nuts. All of this couldn’t be further from the truth. The only reason I eat 12 course meals when flying is for you guys, so I can take pictures and report back.

Okay, maybe that’s not entirely true, though it makes me feel a bit better about myself. Secretly I’ve always admired the person that flies international first class, has a glass of water pre-departure, and sleeps from takeoff to touchdown. Of course when thinking rationally I realize they’re the ones that are being responsible — their companies are often paying for them to fly first class so they arrive well rested and ready to work, as opposed to stuffed and exhausted. Well, yesterday, just once, I was that person.

I flew from Frankfurt to Orlando in Lufthansa first class, which is a daytime flight, though that didn’t stop me from getting 8.5 hours of sleep.

You see, I had flown Lufthansa Airbus 380 first class for the previous two flights, so my “high” had died down a bit by that point, given that I found myself in Lufthansa’s old 747 first class.

It’s still a perfectly nice product, though by comparison not exciting.

I had a glass of water pre-departure and asked the exceedingly friendly flight attendant if he could make my bed, which he gladly did. He also asked me to already take a peak at the menu to see what I would want later, so he put my selection aside for me. “Mr. Lucky, shall I wake you for your meal in a couple of hours?” I responded with “yes, please wake me in eight hours.” His eyes widened and he said “wow, you must have had a late New Years Eve.”

Sure enough I slept. And slept. And slept. I woke up just over Washington as they started serving the pre-arrival meal. And I felt fantastic.

So the next time you fly international first class, don’t hesitate to eat your main meal just before landing. It’s a lot easier to sleep when you don’t have a full stomach, and I sure arrived a lot more well rested than usual.

Lastly, I just have to say how much Lufthansa has grown on me over the past year. They’ve become my favorite airline in the world, bar none… at least in first class.

Posted on January 2nd, 2012 by lucky
Filed under: Lufthansa, Travel | 25 Comments »

What’s better than a great flight crew? The same great crew two flights in a row!

After finding some Lufthansa Airbus 380 first class award space to Tokyo over the holidays, I couldn’t help but take a quick trip to one of my favorite cities. Unfortunately availability dictated that I would only have two full days in Tokyo, though I was fine with that.

While I’ll talk a bit about what I did in Tokyo in a future post, there’s one thing that made an already amazing Airbus 380 flight even better – I had the same (beyond) top notch crew in both directions. I guess that’s one of the benefits of staying at a destination for as long as the crew does.

While I’ve had the same crews when doing a direct turnaround flight or will often run into a flight attendant again after a few months, I’ve never had exactly the same crew a couple of days apart after being at my destination for as long as them.

But seriously, this crew wasn’t just great, but *spectacular*.

One of the flight attendants working first class was actually a flight attendant trainer and rarely actually flies, though was doing one of his two monthly trips. It’s clear the future of Lufthansa is in good hands if this guy is training the new hires. Then also working first class was a Japanese flight attendant (who didn’t speak German), who was working first class for the first time ever. She was so friendly and her smile was contagious. I wanted to tell her what a contagious smile she had, but figured she might misunderstand me and instead put on one of those surgical masks that many Japanese people seem to wear when flying.

The funniest part must have been when we boarded the return flight. The purser immediately welcomed me and said “it’s a pleasure to see you again, Mr. Lucky.” The look from the passenger seated across from me (who was a HON Circle member) was priceless, since he had no clue how I knew the crew so well.

And one last example of how great the crew was. The flight out was so empty that I couldn’t help but mention to the purser “you must love having flights this empty.” She responded with “are you kidding? We make no money this way.” Now that’s an employee taking an interest in their company, as opposed to the typical “I just work here” attitude on many other airlines.

Anyway, just another reason Lufthansa is probably my favorite airline out there. The flight attendants are consistently attentive, personable, and professional, without being overbearing in any one area.

Posted on December 31st, 2011 by lucky
Filed under: Awards, Lufthansa, Travel | 18 Comments »

A flight in Lufthansa Airbus 380 first class…

Good morning from Tokyo! While a full trip report will be coming in a bit, I couldn’t help but share a few pictures of Lufthansa’s Airbus 380 first class, after flying it from Frankfurt to Tokyo.

As evidenced by the pictures, this was one of the emptiest flights I’ve ever been on, especially in business class, where they ended up having a higher flight attendant to passenger ratio than in first class! Seven flight attendants for 14 passengers (out of 98 seats).