At around 9PM the personal assistant escorted me to immigration and to the transfer area, where I was directed to a Mercedes van along with four other passengers on the flight to Singapore (two of which were HON members, and two of which were first class passengers).

The ride to the plane took about 10 minutes, and on the way one of the other guys was on the phone with his wife saying goodnight, and I found the conversation pretty hilarious. He was telling her he was driving to the plane, and I could hear her panicking because she thought he was going to miss the flight, assuming he was driving to the airport. He quickly reassured her and said “no, I’m actually being driven to the plane,” and proceeded to explain to her the service Lufthansa provides their first class passengers.

We pulled up right next to our Airbus 380, and parked next to us was another Airbus 380 headed for Johannesburg. Nothing is quite as impressive as two A380s next to one another.

Our van and plane in the background

Wingtips of two Airbus 380s

The driver escorted us to the second floor jet bridge, where the flight attendants took over and directed us to our seats.

Lufthansa 778
Frankfurt (FRA) – Singapore (SIN)
Friday, April 27
Depart: 9:35PM
Arrive: 3:50PM (+1 day)
Duration: 12hr15min
Aircraft: Airbus 380
Seat: 1K (First Class)

I’ll focus a bit less on the actual hard product with this post, since I reviewed it extensively in the review of my Airbus 380 flight from Frankfurt to Tokyo Narita a few months ago, which can be found here.

My seat, 1K

Seat console

Cabin

As I settled in I was immediately offered a beverage, so went with champagne which was served with macadamia nuts. This was quickly followed by PJs and the amenity kit.

Pre-departure drink

I then placed all my belongings in my personal locker, which is located right in front of my seat (it’s one of my favorite features of the Lufthansa Airbus 380). As I closed my locker the lady seated across from me in 1G (an American) said “wait don’t close it, I want to put my stuff in there too.” I explained to her that she had her own locker with a lock on it, at which point she commented “Yooooouuuuuurrr Engggggggliiiiish isssss verrrrryyyyyy goooooood.” It always cracks me up when I communicate with the crew in German, and as a result American passengers assume I don’t speak English (and speak really slowly to me, thinking it’s the only way I’ll comprehend what they’re saying), so I always like to have a bit of fun with it.

So I responded to her with “thanks, I learned English in school.” Naturally she asked “ohhhh wherrrreeeee diddd youuuuu goooo tooooo schooool?” I responded with “New York,” at which point she had a mildly embarrassed look on her face.

Anyway, she was nice enough, so we ended up talking for a bit. She was a “foreign corruption lawyer” and traveling to Singapore for work after spending a week in Germany, so she asked me a lot of questions about why I was traveling and also about the Airbus 380. She told me about how she had booked business class but at check-in the agent said she had an expiring Senator upgrade voucher that she didn’t even know about, and suggested she use it before it expires, so she upgraded.

She had never flown the Airbus 380 before and couldn’t figure out where the bathrooms were, so I showed her. In the end I got stuck in the bathroom with her for about a minute, though that’s a different story. It’s certainly the last time in my life I hope that happens with a woman three times my age, though such is life.

At departure time the captain came on the PA and advised us of our flight time of 11hr30min, anticipating an on-time arrival in Singapore.

As we pushed back the safety video began to play and we had a 15 minute taxi to our departure runway before we were airborne.

Safety video

About 20 minutes after takeoff the seatbelt sign was turned off and service commenced, starting with the purser distributing menus. The menu on this flight was identical to the menu on my Frankfurt to Seattle flight in March.

The dinner menu read as follows:

Menu

I wasn’t a huge fan of any of the options and wasn’t especially hungry, so ended up deciding to skip the main course.

Service started with hot towels followed by drinks and the amuse bouche, which consisted of feta cheese, fig, and sorbet.

Drinks and amuse bouche

About an hour into the flight the appetizer cart was rolled through, and I chose both caviar and the tuna appetizer.

Appetizer

Then I had the salad with macadamia nut dressing.

Salad

As I said I skipped the main course and went straight for the dessert, starting with a delicious cheese plate per the flight attendant’s suggestion.

Dessert

I then had the coffee dessert, the same as on my last flight.

Dessert

Service finished with a tin of chocolates.

Chocolates

Service throughout the meal was phenomenal. The flight attendant working the aisle was young and motivated, and despite the late night departure was constantly smiling and very attentive. Then again that just about always matches my experiences on Lufthansa, though many seem to disagree.

The lovely flight attendant provided me with turndown service (both of my bed and my phone number… I’m kidding), and I was ready for a good night of sleep after one heckuva long travel day. Right as I got comfortable I heard a loud noise. Hmmm, Airbus 380 engine trouble? Unruly passengers in business class? Nope, just the lady in 1G snoring louder than Snufalufagus. Look, I can handle light and/or interrupted snoring, but that wasn’t the case here. This lady was having a snoring symphony, and there was no way I was going to stop her.

I figured it would subside or I’d get used to it, but unfortunately after trying to sleep for an hour I decided that wasn’t the case. I then figured if I put on either noise canceling headphones or in-ear headphones it would help with eliminating the noise. Despite blasting Justin Bieber’s latest album at full volume, I had no such luck. Actually, it kept getting worse (both her snoring and Justin Bieber’s album).

Bed

After trying to sleep for about two hours I called it quits and pressed the flight attendant call button to get an iced coffee so I could at least wake up and get a bit of work done. I’ve decided that the new standard as to whether or not a first class flight attendant is great at their job is whether or not they’ll serve you an iced coffee. It’s not explicitly on the menu, but it’s easy to make and requires (very minimal) thinking outside the box. Sure enough the flight attendant was more than happy to cooperate, and even served it with chocolate and an apology for the noises the lady seated across from me was making.

Iced coffee

After watching a couple of TV shows and getting some work done we were about four hours out of Singapore, and the lady seated across from me finally woke up. Seeing I was awake she said “boy you were right, these seats are comfortable. I slept really well. How did you sleep?” I simply smiled at her and said “oh, great.” Fortunately the fact that she woke up meant I could finally sleep, and I got a solid two hours of sleep before breakfast service began.

Tail camera

About 90 minutes out of Singapore immigration cards were distributed, followed by hot towels and breakfast menus.

Immigration form

Hot towel

The breakfast menu read as follows:

Once the menus were distributed fresh squeezed orange juice was served. Lufthansa serves the best of any airline, in my opinion, and it’s the highlight of their breakfast service for me.

Orange juice

I ordered another iced coffee with breakfast, and also had some fruit and cereal.

Breakfast

For the main course I had scrambled eggs with chives, which were delicious as always.

Scrambled eggs

30 minutes out of Singapore we began our descent and I changed out of the PJs.

Beginning our descent

Final approach

After a beautiful touchdown we had a long taxi to our gate at the very end of the terminal.

Singapore Airbus 380s

Fortunately there were no queues at immigration so I was at the InterContinental about 30 minutes after landing. Not too shabby!

Terminal upon arrival

And like that another amazing Lufthansa flight came to an end. While I think their management team is starting to head in the wrong direction (and I’m not talking about them restricting award tickets to Star Alliance partners, which I can understand) their flight crews consistently deliver.

Because of the fact that I switched to the earlier New York to Frankfurt flight, my very manageable nine-hour Frankfurt layover turned into a 15-hour layover.

As a Lufthansa first class passenger in transit you’re entitled to a complimentary dayroom at the Hotel Kempinski, a service I took advantage of during my last trip. However, this time around I had a lot of stuff to catch up on, so decided to try and power through the day and just hop around the lounges while getting some work done. I did something similar with a long layover in Singapore last year, and it worked out well. I figured it would work out especially well in this instance, since I could just sleep the whole way from Frankfurt to Singapore.

I would have gone into the city but the weather wasn’t especially nice and my family is from Frankfurt, so I already know the city pretty well.

Lufthansa has two FCLs (First Class Lounges) in addition to the FCT (First Class Terminal) in Frankfurt, so I ended up splitting my time pretty equally. The designs are more or less all the same with some very minor variations, which I’ll point out below.

My first stop was the B-concourse FCL.

First Class Lounge Entrance

The FCL boasts plenty of seating, though I headed straight for a cubicle where I got about five hours of work done while I was still wide awake. The great thing about the cubicles is that they actually have a sliding door, so are a lot more like enclosed offices.

FCL

While I wasn’t hungry I did snap a picture of the extensive breakfast buffet.

Breakfast buffet

Breakfast buffet

Breakfast buffet

Breakfast buffet

The highlight of the lounge, though, had to be the tarmac views as the sun rose. Maybe I’m nuts, but I don’t think there’s a more beautiful airport in the world than Frankfurt in terms of the traffic, so a stunning backdrop only adds to that perception.

Tarmac views

At around 11AM I headed to the A-concourse FCL for a change of scenery, which was about a 15-minute walk away.

Awesome apron views

The B-concourse FCL is very similar to the one in the A concourse.

FCL

I intentionally headed over to this lounge as my exhaustion started kicking in, as the nap rooms here are nicer than in the A-concourse FCL or even the FCT. Unfortunately there was a two hour wait for them, so I grabbed a cubicle and enjoyed a nearly endless supply of Fanta and pretzels while getting some work done. Mmmmm…

Best thing in the world

At around 1PM it was my turn for the nap room, and I requested to be woken up after two hours. While the bed isn’t especially comfortable, it is more of a “bed” than in the other lounges, where you basically get a couch with a blanket.

Nap room

Nap room

For comparison, FCT nap room

After a refreshing nap I decided it was time to shower. While I was intending to take a bath in the FCT (after all I’ve gotta kidnap my friend, rubber ducky), I didn’t want to show up at the FCT completely unwashed.

Shower room

The most interesting thing about the FCL visit had to be the group of 16 people (they were Japanese and all seemed to be related) that entered the lounge at the same time. I have to wonder what their deal is. There had to be at least eight HONs or eight first class passengers among them, so I suspect they chartered a whole first class cabin and then some. Impressive!

At around 5PM I headed over to the FCT, which required clearing immigration and walking along the outside roadway to the FCT’s side entrance. Once inside I took the elevator up to the reception, where I was immediately escorted through security.

FCT side entrance

I grabbed one of the comfortable lounge chairs along the windows and played around on my laptop for a bit. As much as I do love the FCT, I did notice the absence of tarmac views after spending so much time in the other lounges, which never previously phased me.

Comfortable seating

At around 7PM I decided to have dinner, which is a highlight of any FCT visit.

Menu

As usual the buffet was extensive, so I piled on a bit of just about everything.

Buffet

Buffet

Buffet

Buffet

Dinner

After dinner I headed over to the shower/bath rooms for a bath. I’m not usually one to take a bath, though the FCT is an exception.

Bath

Rubber ducky

At around 10PM the personal assistant fetched me and brought me down to passport control so I could be driven to my connecting flight.

Transfer area

And after a pleasant day my long layover came to an end, and I was ready to get some sleep.

I headed over to gate three, which is a bit of a disappointment for any aviation geek, given that the aircraft parked at the gate isn’t visible due to a structure blocking it.

Departure gate

747 taking me to Frankfurt

At around 3:15PM boarding started for first class, business class, and Star Gold members, and I was among the first aboard.

Lufthansa 401
New York (JFK) – Frankfurt (FRA)
Thursday, April 26
Depart: 3:55PM
Arrive: 5:35AM (+1 day)
Duration: 7hr40min
Aircraft: Boeing 747-400
Seat: 82H (First Class)

At the door I was greeted by the purser, who directed me up the stairs. Once at the top of the stairs I was welcomed by two older male flight attendants that pointed me to my seat in row 82.

Rather than try to hide my excitement over the new product, I immediately asked if it would be alright if I snapped a few cabin pictures before the other passengers arrived, which they enthusiastically “approved.”

New first class cabin

New first class cabin

82H, my seat/bed

82C, seat/bed across from me

View from my seat

View from my seat

Entertainment system controls

Seat controls

Power plus

As I mentioned in the introduction, the product on this 747 is pretty unique in that it’s a separate seat and bed. So far 10 of Lufthansa’s 28 747s are configured with this product (see this FlyerTalk post for full details on the reconfiguration progress). Meanwhile Lufthansa doesn’t have plans to configure the rest of their fleet with this product (instead they’re configuring it with the same first class product found on the Airbus 380).

While the upper deck was previously in a 2-2 configuration, they basically turned each set of two seats into both a seat and a fixed bed. We’ll talk about the practicality of the product in a bit and whether the space could have been utilized more efficiently, though I have to say it’ll be a while before the novelty of this product wears off for me. Other airlines have enclosed suites, but this is the first product where you have a separate seat and bed. And of course it’s a huge upgrade over the old 747 first class (which I flew from Frankfurt to Bangkok last year, for example), in terms of seat comfort, entertainment, personal space, etc.

Anyway, back to the flight. As I settled in I was offered a pre-departure beverage, and ordered a glass of water, which was served with macadamia nuts. The flight attendant asked if I was a Lufthansa employee, which I found odd, given that I didn’t think Lufthansa employees could easily get into first class (though maybe I’m wrong?).

Pre-departure beverage and nuts

Moments later I was presented with pajamas, slippers, an amenity kit, duty free magazine, and lastly a service survey (the timing of which I found pretty tacky, frankly – that shouldn’t be one of the first things they give a passenger, in my opinion).

Amenities

Pajamas and slippers

The upper deck continued to fill up, surprisingly enough mostly with Americans (in my experience most Lufthansa first class passengers are German). There were two other Germans, and everyone else was American, including two Lufthansa employees (which might explain why they assumed I was an employee, since maybe they knew two Lufthansa employees were aboard in first class).

Shortly before pushback I changed into pajamas. Moments later the captain made his welcome aboard announcement, advising us of our flight time of 6hr45min.

While we pushed back almost on time, we didn’t move after our initial pushback for about 10 minutes. This was apparently because an Air China plane parked at the gate next to us had a broken APU and was still running their engines, and therefore it wasn’t safe for us to pass.

At this point I decided to get started on a movie. This is one huge new improvement over Lufthansa’s old first class product, since you can start watching movies on the ground. Previously the monitors had to be stowed for takeoff, so you couldn’t watch any movies till after takeoff. And that doesn’t even account for the fact that the new screen is triple the size of the old one, and the selection is more thorough.

I decided on “Carnage,” which was actually reasonably entertaining. More than anything else I was amazed that the entire movie took place in one room and basically covered a time period the same length as the movie, so there was no skipping of time. Interesting.

Carnage movie

After a roughly 10 minute delay and 15 minute taxi we took off into the north, where we had a pretty choppy climb out of JFK thanks to the weather.

Lining up on the runway

About 20 minutes after takeoff the seatbelt sign was turned off and service commenced, starting with hot towels.

Hot towel

Simultaneously the purser came around the cabin to welcome the first class passengers aboard and distribute the menus and wine list.

The dinner menu read as follows:

And the wine list read as follows:

Champagne
2009 “D” de Devaux Brut

White Wine
2009 Scharzhofberger Riesling
2009 Rully
2010 Heinrich Vollmer Grauer Burgunder

Red Wine
terra o. Cuvee
2003 Chateau Belgrave Cru Classe
2006 Kaiken Ultra Malbec

Dessert Wine
2008 Huxelrebe Beerenauslese

Monthly Proposal
Oban Single Malt 14 Years

Now, the only downside of the flight was that the menu was nearly identical to the one from my San Francisco to Munich flight in March. Fortunately that menu happened to be one of Lufthansa’s better ones, so it wasn’t all bad news.

The meal service began with the amuse bouche, which consisted of cucumber and salmon.

Amuse bouche

That was quickly followed by drinks.

Diet Coke with lemon

After that the tables were set. I selected some pretzel bread from the breadbasket and also ordered a glass of champagne to accompany the appetizers. The only disappointment was that the flight attendant didn’t distribute the signature Lufthansa rose.

Table setup

At that point the flight attendant came through with the appetizer cart.

Appetizer cart

I selected the grilled shrimp and sirloin.

Appetizer

That was followed by the salad, which was served with “delicious Dressing,” whatever the heck that is.

Salad

I wasn’t especially hungry by the time the main course was served, and had the tenderloin of beef the last time I flew with the same menu, so went with the pasta with potatoes this time around., It was just alright.

Main course

For dessert I went with the panna cotta. If I were as rich as it, I would have retired a long time ago.

Dessert

To finish off the meal I ordered some Baileys, which was accompanied by a tin of chocolates (which I stuffed in my bag to enjoy at a later time).

Baileys and chocolate

Lastly I was offered a bottle of water.

Water

One thing I was wondering about before trying the new product is just how far the seat reclines, given that there’s no way to place the bed in an upright position. So for anyone else that was wondering, below is a picture of the seat fully reclined.

Seat fully reclined

As you can see the legrest goes all the way up, while the seat reclines maybe halfway back. It’s perfect for lounging. If you want to recline more you can always just lay in bed and prop the pillow up, which works equally well (though I do wish they’d provide more than one pillow).

Now, in terms of the timing this flight sucks. I’m a night owl, so leaving in the afternoon means I can usually not get any sleep on such a short redeye. The flight lands in Frankfurt at 5:35AM, which is 11:35PM eastern time in the US, well before I usually go to bed. So in a way such a great first class product is really wasted on such a short, early redeye. But of course that wasn’t going to stop me from at least trying to get some sleep. After dinner I headed over to the bed, which was really comfortable. It has a legitimate “mattress,” and while it’s not a Westin Heavenly Bed, it is considerably more comfortable than most first class mattress pads, in my opinion.

The only aspect of the seat that wasn’t very well thought out, in my opinion, is that the TV screen doesn’t swivel. It would be really nice if you could position it in such a way that it faces the bed, since the screen can be tough to view when laying down in bed.

From bed

Either way, I told myself I’d sleep till an hour before landing, and I did exactly that. I slept surprisingly well, better than I usually do on a plane, and I’d attribute that at least in part to the bed.

Sunset over the Atlantic

About an hour before landing the cabin lights were turned up a bit and breakfast service commenced, starting with hot towels, fresh squeezed orange juice, and menus being distributed.

Hot towel and fresh squeezed orange juice

Menu

The breakfast menu read as follows:

Given how short the transatlantic flights are from the east coast, the breakfast service is a bit more abbreviated than what they offer on the longer flights, with a choice of three options served on a single tray. I went with the “fitness breakfast,” which consisted of muesli, fruit, and a croissant/roll.

Fitness breakfast

About 30 minutes out we began our descent and I switched back into my normal clothes. The views were quite nice on approach into Frankfurt, and we had one of the most beautiful landings ever. Look, I’ve flown over 1,000 segments over the years, and this was hands down the most stunningly amazing landing ever. Yes, a “nice” landing is normal, but this took that to a whole new level. If the landing were any smoother the captain would’ve had to sing me a lullaby.

Final approach into Frankfurt

Pulling into our gate

With a 15 hour layover ahead of me I was in no rush to disembark, though headed straight for the first class lounge to shower.

I made it to terminal one at JFK at around 1PM for my 3:55PM departure.

Terminal exterior

It has been years since I’ve flown Lufthansa out of JFK (I usually fly out of EWR), so I was a bit confused while trying to locate the first class check-in counter. Little did I realize it was just one small counter at the side of the aisle without any partitions, which threw me off given that Star Gold members can use first class check-in as well.

Lufthansa check-in

When I handed the agent my passport she confirmed I was heading to Singapore, and after typing for a minute said “does you have a Chinese visa?” Confused, I said “for Singapore?” She said “yes, you need a Chinese visa.” Dumbfounded I stood there for a moment as she flipped through my passport before she said “oh good, you do have a Chinese visa.” I just couldn’t bring myself to actually say something.

Security queues weren’t too long, and there was even a dedicated premium line. Fortunately they were using metal detectors and not full body scanners, so the line moved along faster than usual.

Once through security the Lufthansa lounge is located immediately on the left.

Airside at terminal one

Lufthansa lounge entrance

After checking in the agent informed me that pre-flight lunch would be served stating at 2PM, which I intended to take advantage of since I didn’t have breakfast.

The Lufthansa lounge at JFK consists of three levels. On the first level is the business class lounge, for business class passengers (obviously).

Lounge entrance and business class lounge

Airbus 380 model at entrance

On the second level is the Senator lounge, for Star Gold members and first class passengers.

The space itself is very nice with a bar, dining area, and plenty of comfortable lounge chairs. The lounge boasts great tarmac views, with runway views in the distance.

Senator lounge

Senator lounge

Senator lounge

Senator lounge

Tarmac views

Since I arrived at around 1:30PM the full buffet wasn’t set up yet, though there were plenty of finger sandwiches, chips, etc. Furthermore, waiters were roaming around offering drinks.

Snack selection

I caught up on email till about 2PM, and then asked an agent about the possibility of having pre-flight lunch, which is served on the third floor. The issue is that you need a key to access the third floor, so the first class waiter has to get you from the second floor to bring you upstairs.

My name was checked off a list and I was invited upstairs. There’s a very small seating area with open bar, and then separately a large buffet with dining room. This area is available for first class passengers and HON Circle members (Lufthansa’s uber-top-tier elites).

First class lounge entrance

First class seating area

Open bar

Open bar

Open bar

I first had a seat in the lounge area, which had a very similar theme to virtually every other Lufthansa first class lounge, both in terms of the furniture and the setup, with canisters of nuts at each side table.

A few minutes later I headed over to the dining room, which was almost identical in quality to the offerings in Frankfurt and Munich.

First class dining

First class menu

View of Senator Lounge from first class lounge

View of Senator Lounge from first class lounge

The buffet consisted of appetizers, six hot dishes, and plenty of desserts.

Buffet

Buffet

Buffet

Buffet

Buffet

Buffet

The service was also fantastic, with a waiter constantly refilling drinks and clearing plates (I had a glass of Rose).

Lunch

Dessert

Boarding was scheduled for 3:25PM, though knowing that my flight would be operated by the 747 featuring the new first class, I decided to leave the lounge at 3PM in hopes of being the first in the cabin to snap a couple of pictures.

On the whole the Lufthansa First Class Lounge JFK is among the best lounges in the US, probably along with the Virgin Clubhouses JFK and Virgin Clubhouse SFO. Kudos to Lufthansa for their consistency.

For months I had a meeting scheduled in Singapore, and originally my plan was to first visit Singapore and then continue on to Thailand for about a week (Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, specifically).

So while I had a ticket booked reflecting that schedule, I unfortunately had a schedule conflict on both ends of the trip. On the front end I was attending Starwood’s screening of “Mansome” in New York at the Tribeca Film Festival, and on the back end I had a family commitment back in Tampa.

Unfortunately this translated to a very quick trip to Singapore of just about 48 hours. While it’s not ideal, I was determined to at least get a few new airline products into the trip, and I’m proud to say that I think I succeeded in this instance.

For the outbound I’ve been dying to try Lufthansa’s new first class on the 747, which consists of both a seat and a bed. I’ve flown their other new first class product, which can be found on the Airbus 380, though never lucked out with the reconfigured 747, since only 10 of the 28 747s feature it.

In this instance the most convenient scheduled for the outbound was from New York to Singapore via Frankfurt in Lufthansa first class for 70,000 United miles one way (which I transferred from Ultimate Rewards).

The Frankfurt to Singapore flight was scheduled to be operated by the Airbus 380, so while it’s not a new product I didn’t feel too bad about flying it again, since I really do love the Airbus 380.

The flight from New York to Frankfurt proved to be a bit trickier. Lufthansa has two flights a day between New York JFK and Frankfurt, one at around 4PM and one at around 10PM. Initially I booked the late night flight, which I far prefer.

The thing is that Lufthansa flies the reconfigured 747s around pretty randomly, so when I woke up in the morning I looked up the tail numbers for the inbound flights from Frankfurt (this FlyerTalk thread is very useful for tracking them). As it turns out, the earlier flight from Frankfurt to New York (LH400) had the new first class, and that plane turns around to fly the early New York to Frankfurt flight (LH401).

So while I wasn’t looking forward to spending an extra six hours in Frankfurt, I decided it was well worth it for the new product. Fortunately the earlier flight had first class award space as well, so I called up to make the change, which took only a few minutes.

The return was also a spur of the moment decision. I initially booked a Cathay Pacific first class award from Singapore to Tampa via Hong Kong and Chicago, which is a tough value to beat at 67,500 American miles. Cathay Pacific has one of the most consistent first class products, though I’ve flown them well over a dozen times, so I was really hoping to try something new.

My flight out of Singapore was supposed to be at 1AM, and at around 4PM the previous afternoon I decided to get online and see if there were any other interesting alternatives.

I found Japan Airlines first class award space from Tokyo to New York in their new Sky Suite. While I flew their old product from Tokyo to New York several years ago, the prospect of trying their new suites proved too much to give up, so I canceled my Cathay Pacific award. The one-way award cost 62,500 miles in first class (flying out of Japan is 5,000 miles cheaper than flying out of Southeast Asia on American).

The issue was getting from Singapore to Tokyo. I had some Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles, so decided to book the Singapore Airlines redeye from Singapore to Tokyo in first class for 51,000 KrisFlyer miles.

While I’ve flown Singapore Airlines’ old first class product and new business class product, I haven’t flown their new first class product.

Now, some might say that Singapore to Tokyo for 51,000 miles on a redeye is a waste. But 90% of the people I know really have no clue how far Singapore is from Tokyo. When I’ve asked people to estimate the flight length, they usually say 2-3 hours. It’s actually blocked at over seven hours, and the distance is further than Boston to London. So when you put it into perspective and think of it as the equivalent of a transatlantic first class flight for 51,000 miles, it seems like a bit better of a deal.

Ultimately there’s no doubt the Cathay Pacific deal was a better one, though you guys are always telling me you want me to review new products, and I figured this would be the perfect opportunity, since three of the four airline products were new ones for me.

When all was said and done, the itinerary looked as follows:

04/26 Lufthansa 401 New York to Frankfurt departing at 3:55PM and arriving at 5:35AM (+1 day)
04/27 Lufthansa 778 Frankfurt to Singapore departing at 9:35PM and arriving at 3:50PM (+1 day)
04/30 Singapore Airlines 638 Singapore to Tokyo departing at 11:55PM and arriving at 8:00AM (+1 day)
05/01 Japan Airlines 6 Tokyo to New York JFK departing at 11:20AM and arriving at 11:25AM

On the hotel front I decided to book the InterContinental Singapore. Since I was staying over a weekend I was able to use an InterContinental Buy One Get One Free Weekend Night Certificate, which is an unbeatable deal in conjunction with Royal Ambassador benefits.

Stay tuned!

Sorry for the teaser post earlier. I needed at least a couple of hours of sleep before I could function again, given that I only got about 90 minutes of sleep in the past 48 hours.

My Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Singapore started like any other. I was driven to the plane, and when I got to my seat, 1K, the cabin was already full, including a lady across from me in 1G. One of the unique features about Lufthansa’s first class cabin on the Airbus 380 is that each passenger has an individual locker, so I placed my bag in my locker. As I closed the door the lady seated across from me said “wait, I want to put my stuff in there too.” I explained to her that she had her own locker that she could even lock if she wanted, and showed her where it is.

We started talking, and she said “boy, you must fly this plane a lot.” She told me she lives in Washington DC and flies Lufthansa all the time to Germany, and that at check-in the agent told her she had an upgrade voucher that was expiring, so asked if she wanted to upgrade, which she did. She then asked what I did, and I asked what she did. She responded with “what do you think?” I said “well, you live in Washington but don’t fly a US carrier between the US and Europe, so you don’t work for the government.” She said “good thinking, I do what everyone else in Washington does.” I said “so you’re a lobbyist?” She said “no, I’m a foreign corruption lawyer.” Okay, I didn’t realize everyone else in Washington did that, but I wasn’t about to argue.

She then asked me what the best strategy was for sleeping between Frankfurt and Singapore. I explained that like most redeyes to Asia departing from Europe, I stay up for two hours and enjoy the meal, sleep for eight hours, and then wake up 90 minutes before landing. She said “I don’t usually sleep well on planes,” and said she might just stay up. I said the bedding is so comfortable that I’m sure she’d sleep really well.

Fast forward two hours. Dinner finishes up, and I’m listening to some music on the Lufthansa in-flight entertainment system with Lufthansa’s Bose noise canceling headphones. All I hear, though, is someone snoring. And I don’t mean the occasional snore or the quiet snore, but I’m talking about the loudest snoring I’ve heard in my life. If there were an international snoring championship this person would definitely be a grand prize contender.

I walk around the cabin because it’s not apparent to me who’s snoring. As it turns out it was actually the lady right across from me in 1G (despite no outside appearance of the snoring).

I figured it was no big deal, so I went to the galley and asked the flight attendant for some ear plugs. She responded with (in German), “I’m so sorry, we hear the snoring from the galley as well.” Mind you, the galley is separated from the cabin by two sets of thick curtains.

Okay, I figure this wouldn’t go on forever, so decide to get some work done, despite being dead tired. But nope, it doesn’t stop.

So after a couple of hours I decide to sleep with noise canceling headphones on while listening to music. It didn’t work.

In the end I just stayed up. I don’t think I can properly articulate just how loud her snoring was, because it was unlike anything I’ve ever heard before, and oh-so-consistent. She didn’t miss a beat for about eight hours straight.

90 minutes before landing she woke up and said “you were right, I did sleep really well. I’ve never gotten this much sleep on an airplane before. How did you sleep?” Oh no she didn’t…

I’m actually kind of surprised the snoring situation doesn’t happen more often, but I’m curious, is there anything that can be done? Would you tell the passenger? Would you hope the crew does something? Or is it something that sucks but nothing can be done about?

So while every other aspect of the flight was amazing, that lady sure ruined it for me. Has anyone been in a similar situation?

But all those positive things didn’t stop this from being the most unpleasant flight in recent memory.

Anyone want to guess why? I’ll have the full story a bit later…

Well, I guess you could say I was “living the dream” today, since I spent nearly 15 hours in Lufthansa’s Frankfurt First Class Lounge/Terminal just going about my business.

Let me sum up my day with five pictures:

After careful consideration I’ve decided to reconsider my goal of being the first permanent resident here. If I have one more pretzel I’ll be saltier than the Dead Sea, and if I have one more Fanta I’ll turn into an Oompa Loompa (in shape and color). As a matter of fact, with the amount of Fanta I’ve been drinking today I’m surprised I didn’t pick up a Jersey Shore tan…

This plane being added to Lufthansa’s fleet is pretty exciting news on a few levels. First of all, this is the launch aircraft for Lufthansa’s new business class product. But second, and more importantly, it’s an all around new and awesome plane, and an evolution of what is undeniably the most beautiful plane in the skies.

Anyway, they’ve just announced that June 1 will be the launch date for the 748 on the Frankfurt to Washington Dulles route, and the flights are now loaded into the system for 6x weekly service (every day except Tuesdays). They’ve also announced that Chicago, Los Angeles, Delhi, and Banglore will be the next routes to get the 748.

For anyone that’s interested, here’s what the seatmap looks like:

First class:

Business class:

Economy class:

I’d give just about anything to be on the inaugural, though unfortunately my brother is getting married the day after, so I’m thinking that’s probably not a good idea? Maybe?

All I can say is WOW. The thing that makes this product unique is that the seat doesn’t turn into a bed, but rather each passenger gets a seat and a bed. Lufthansa actually has two “new” first class products, the other of which can be found on their Airbus aircraft, including the Airbus 380 I flew from Frankfurt to Tokyo a couple of months ago.

I’ll have a full report on the product very soon with a comparison of the two products, but in the meantime below are a few pictures I’ve taken. For those of you that have tried Lufthansa’s new 747 first class, what did you think?