Introduction
United Global First Lounge San Francisco
Lufthansa First Class San Francisco to Munich
Le Meridien Munich
Lufthansa First Class Lounge Munich, Swiss Business Class Munich to Zurich
Swiss First Class Lounge Zurich, Swiss First Class Zurich to Bangkok
St. Regis Bangkok
Thai Airways First Class Lounge & Spa Bangkok
Thai Airways First Class Bangkok to Hong Kong
Ritz Carlton Hong Kong
Exploring Hong Kong
United Club Hong Kong and Thai Airways Royal Orchid Lounge Hong Kong
Asiana Business Class Hong Kong to Seoul Incheon
Hyatt Regency Incheon Airport
Asiana First Class Lounge Seoul Incheon
Asiana First Class Seoul Incheon to Frankfurt
Sheraton Frankfurt Airport
Lufthansa First Class Terminal Frankfurt, Lufthansa First Class Frankfurt to Seattle
Four Seasons Seattle

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I can’t say I’m a huge fan of Lufthansa’s Frankfurt to Seattle flight, though because my friend lives there and it’s one of the longer transatlantic flights, I don’t mind taking it. The reason I’m not a huge fan of the flight is twofold. First, it’s one of the earliest transatlantic departures, leaving Frankfurt before 10AM. One of my favorite things about Lufthansa first class is enjoying lunch or dinner in the First Class Terminal prior to the flight, and that’s not possible for such an early departure. Second of all, the flight lands in Seattle at around 11AM, which just sucks in terms of getting over jetlag. I far prefer flights that leave Europe in the late afternoon and arrive in the evening, allowing one to get a good night of sleep upon landing and waking up relatively “adjusted” the following morning.

Of course in the world of first class travel I really have no right to complain, but just figured I’d share those two observations if you ever have the choice between a morning and an afternoon flight out of Europe.

We left the Sheraton at around 8:30AM and took the walkway to the terminal. From there we had to walk on the outside roadway to the First Class Terminal, which is maybe a 10 minute walk. It was a beautiful morning, so I quite enjoyed getting some fresh air. I’ve taken this exact flight before, so feel free to check out my previous report, which can be found here.

Lufthansa First Class Terminal Frankfurt

Once in the terminal we were welcomed by our personal assistant, who escorted us through security. For me the highlight of the First Class Terminal is that you can go from entering the terminal to sitting in the lounge area in less than a minute, an experience no other airline can provide.

We decided to have breakfast right away, since we hadn’t eaten at the hotel.

First Class Terminal seating

First Class Terminal restaurant

The buffet is pretty extensive and consists of just about anything you could want. I still far prefer their lunch or dinner offerings, but that’s probably more of a function of me preferring lunch and dinner over breakfast.

Menu

Breakfast spread

Breakfast spread

Breakfast spread

When breakfast was done we headed back to the lounge area, where I caught up on email for about 20 minutes. At around 9:30AM our personal assistant approached us to let us know our flight was ready for boarding. We were brought down to the lower level for our departure, where we were introduced to our driver, who drove us to our plane in a Mercedes S class.

Frankfurt Airport is the one place where I hope that the gate is as far from the terminal as possible. Unfortunately in today’s case our departure gate was just about the closest to the terminal, so our car ride was less than five minutes. I jokingly asked if the driver could make another round, so he did a little loop on the tarmac for us right next to the plane. Awesome!

Driving to our plane

Our ride

The driver took us up the elevator to the jet bridge, where he walked us all the way aboard and introduced us to the crew, who took over from there.

Our plane to Seattle

Our plane to Seattle

Lufthansa 490
Frankfurt (FRA) – Seattle (SEA)
Sunday, March 25
Depart: 9:50AM
Arrive: 11:15AM
Duration: 10hr25min
Aircraft: Airbus A330-300
Seat: 2G (First Class)

Once onboard we settled into 2D & 2G. Only one other seat was taken (1A), so it was a fairly empty flight upfront, while business and coach were packed.

Seats 2D & 2G

View from seats 2D & 2G

Cabin view from 2G

In this instance we had one senior flight attendant and one junior flight attendant (I assume a trainee) working first class. Lufthansa seems to often have trainees working first class on the Seattle route. While I find just about all Lufthansa flight attendant attendants to be great, I find the trainees to be especially good in first class, since they’re usually enthusiastic about having the opportunity.

In this instance the trainee was working the cabin while the senior flight attendant was working the galley. The trainee was friendly and polished, though lacked the excitement and sincere smile that many of Lufthansa’s trainees seem to have when they get to work first class.

We were almost immediately offered pre-departure beverages, and I ordered a glass of champagne, which was served with the usual macadamia nuts.

Pre-departure service

Moments later I was offered slippers, an amenity kit, and a long sleeved shirt, which are the usual amenities on a daytime Lufthansa flight. I’ve never found the shirt to be especially useful, as I far prefer pajamas on such a long flight. So I immediately changed into my Swiss pajamas, which are among my favorite.

Amenities

Before pushback the captain came on the PA to advise us of our flight time of 10 hours, anticipating an on-time arrival in Seattle.

After a quick pushback and taxi to the runway we were airborne in a matter of minutes.

As we climbed through 10,000 feet the seatbelt sign was turned off and crew began their service, starting with setting up the bar in the front of the first class cabin.

Bar setup

While the first class flight attendants did that, the purser introduced herself and passed out menus for the flight.

Menus

The lunch menu read as follows:

Shortly thereafter the flight attendant passed through the cabin with hot towels, followed by the amuse bouche, which was some sort of feta cheese with fig and sorbet, if I recall correctly.

Hot towel

Amuse bouche

After that the tables were set and drinks were offered, which was followed by the appetizer cart.

Table setup

Appetizer cart

I just had the smoked tuna and caviar, as the other options didn’t interest me. Both were delicious.

Smoked tuna and caviar

I also love how Lufthansa even has a first class logo on their butter.

Gotta love the butter!

The next course was a salad with macadamia nut dressing.

Salad

And then a rather interesting herb cream soup.

Soup

For the main course I selected the potato and sauerkraut crepe. As far as Lufthansa’s catering out of Germany goes, I thought it was quite good.

Potato and sauerkraut crepe

Then I had a pretty interesting coffee dessert.

Dessert

Lastly I ordered a glass of Baileys, which was served with a couple of pralines.

Baileys and pralines

One of the nice things about the flight from Frankfurt to Seattle is how far North it flies, since you fly right over Greenland.

View from the window

View from the window

I wasn’t especially tired after lunch so decided to watch a movie. I had seen almost all the movies, so ended up deciding on Happy Feet Two. It was unbearable, so about halfway through I decided to turn it off and watch Abduction for the second time in two days. Slightly more pleasant of a movie!

Happy Feet Two

During the movie I decided to order some iced coffee, which the flight attendant prepared rather creatively, in my opinion, so kudos to her.

Iced coffee

After that we had about five hours to go till landing in Seattle, so I decided to take a nap. I woke up about 90 minutes out of Seattle, over Northern Canada, at which point the pre-arrival meal service began.

Airshow

The pre-arrival menu read as follows:

I really do like Lufthansa’s pre-arrival meals thanks to the variety of options they offer in a “buffet” format.

Pre-arrival meal

For dessert was a slice of white brownie cake.

Dessert

About 30 minutes out of Seattle I changed back into jeans and a t-shirt, and restowed all my carry-ons. After flying past the airport we turned around and landed into the North.

View on approach

We taxied past the Icelandair 757 and parked next to a Delta 767.

Icelandair 757

Delta 767

Thanks to Global Entry queues at immigration were non-existent, and my last Aeroplan round-the-world ticket came to an end.

Stay tuned, as there’s one more bonus installment.

As a United Premier 1K you receive six systemwide upgrades per year, which can be used to upgrade United flights in select fare classes at the time of booking pending upgrade availability. All you had to do was book a minimum of a “W” fare to upgrade from coach to business class, or a minimum of a “D” fare to upgrade from business to first class.

One of the other cool things about these systemwide upgrades is that they could also be used to upgrade Lufthansa flights on a space available basis on the day of departure. The process was a bit more complicated since you had to call Mileage Plus to request a paper systemwide upgrade which they mailed to you, and then you had to bring it to the airport (as opposed to the process for upgrading a United flight, which was electronic).

Historically they could be used to upgrade Lufthansa coach fares to business class assuming you were booked in the “V” fare bucket or higher, which is just a bit higher than the minimum fare required on United. But the really cool thing was that you could use them to upgrade any revenue business class flight to first class on Lufthansa. So while United only let you upgrade from “C” and “D” fares to business class (more or less full fare), you could use those same certificates to upgrade to first class on Lufthansa on a discounted business class ticket (like “Z”). Naturally this was a really valuable benefit for many, given that it’s not unusual to see $2,000 discounted business class fares between the East Coast and Europe, which could be upgraded to first class through this program.

Well, it appears as if the policy has finally changed. New Lufthansa systemwide upgrade vouchers issued by United specifically exclude “Z” and “P” fares from being upgraded to first class, as you can see here. That being said, if you had a previously issued systemwide upgrade that doesn’t have that exclusion, they should still be usable on Lufthansa on discounted business class tickets through September 1, 2012. I suspect this policy change has more to do with Lufthansa than United, given that they just announced a policy change whereby “Z” and “P” fares are no longer upgradable to first class, even for their own members.

Introduction
United Global First Lounge San Francisco
Lufthansa First Class San Francisco to Munich
Le Meridien Munich
Lufthansa First Class Lounge Munich, Swiss Business Class Munich to Zurich
Swiss First Class Lounge Zurich, Swiss First Class Zurich to Bangkok
St. Regis Bangkok
Thai Airways First Class Lounge & Spa Bangkok
Thai Airways First Class Bangkok to Hong Kong
Ritz Carlton Hong Kong
Exploring Hong Kong
United Club Hong Kong and Thai Airways Royal Orchid Lounge Hong Kong
Asiana Business Class Hong Kong to Seoul Incheon
Hyatt Regency Incheon Airport
Asiana First Class Lounge Seoul Incheon
Asiana First Class Seoul Incheon to Frankfurt
Sheraton Frankfurt Airport
Lufthansa First Class Terminal Frankfurt, Lufthansa First Class Frankfurt to Seattle
Four Seasons Seattle

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We made it to the airport around 3PM and headed straight to first class check-in, which is partitioned off from the rest of the terminal. The agent had a good sense of humor, and when he saw we were going to Bangkok he said “oh, is it time for Hangover 3 already?”

Terminal

First class check-in

In no time we had our boarding passes, and proceeded to the dedicated premium security line located right next to the first class check-in area. We were through in less than five minutes, and took the three-minute walk to the First Class Lounge.

Terminal

FCL entrance

Unfortunately our flight was leaving from a gate today, meaning we had to walk there (as opposed to the remote stands, where they’ll drive you to the plane).

For once the FCL was fairly empty, which is a rarity given how small it is. The lounge is designed almost the same as the First Class Terminal in Frankfurt, with lounging areas, a restaurant area, a bar, a cigar room, and shower suites.

FCL

I checked out the buffet area though in the end only grabbed a pretzel, since I knew there would be lots more food that evening.

FCL restaurant

Buffet

Buffet

I worked for about an hour, and at 4:30PM we headed to our departure gate, G44. Our flight was going to be operated by an Avro RJ100, which is one adorable little plane.

Departure gate

Mini-jet

Business class boarding was called almost immediately, so we headed aboard.

Swiss 1109
Munich (MUC) – Zurich (ZRH)
Sunday, March 18
Depart: 5:05PM
Arrive: 6:00PM
Duration: 55min
Aircraft: Avro 100
Seat: 4D (Business Class)

For those of you that haven’t flown intra-Europe business class, it’s simply coach with a blocked middle seat and better service. They do this in order to allow flexibility for revenue/inventory management, given that you can change the size of the business class cabin from flight-to-flight based on demand.

The RJ100 is unique in that it’s in a 2-3 configuration, so if you’re seated on the “2” side you don’t get a blocked middle. As a result we selected the “3” side, so we would have an empty middle seat.

Business class

I found the seats to be a bit more comfortable than Lufthansa’s, and certainly nothing to complain about on a 30-minute flight.

Within a few minutes of settling in the purser offered us a bottle of water and refreshing towel.

Water and towel

As our departure time rolled around the captain came on the PA to advise us of our flight time of 30 minutes, anticipating an on-time arrival in Zurich.

Sure enough we had a quick taxi to the runway, and within moments were airborne. The RJ100 is one heck of a powerful plane.

Shortly after takeoff

There was some chop on the way out, though within about five minutes the seatbelt sign was turned off and service commenced.

Unlike Lufthansa’s intra-Europe catering, I found Swiss’ to be excellent. The snack was a cold plate with chicken pesto, tomato and mozzarella, zucchini, two hot rolls, and some sort of custard dessert. I accompanied it with a Diet Coke. You really can’t beat the quality (or quantity, for that matter) of food on such a short flight.

Snack

Just about as soon as we leveled off we began our descent, and about 10 minutes before landing the seatbelt sign was turned back on.

On descent

Unfortunately we were arriving at a remote stand, though this turned out to be a good thing. Swiss has business class only buses, which leave almost immediately and are very comfortable, not to mention they drop you off in the area of the terminal where the first class lounge is. So less than five minutes after the aircraft door opened we were already in the first class lounge – can’t beat that!

Our plane

Business class bus

First class lounge entrance

And this is the part of the journey where it’s supposed to get more fun…

Introduction
United Global First Lounge San Francisco
Lufthansa First Class San Francisco to Munich
Le Meridien Munich
Lufthansa First Class Lounge Munich, Swiss Business Class Munich to Zurich
Swiss First Class Lounge Zurich, Swiss First Class Zurich to Bangkok
St. Regis Bangkok
Thai Airways First Class Lounge & Spa Bangkok
Thai Airways First Class Bangkok to Hong Kong
Ritz Carlton Hong Kong
Exploring Hong Kong
United Club Hong Kong and Thai Airways Royal Orchid Lounge Hong Kong
Asiana Business Class Hong Kong to Seoul Incheon
Hyatt Regency Incheon Airport
Asiana First Class Lounge Seoul Incheon
Asiana First Class Seoul Incheon to Frankfurt
Sheraton Frankfurt Airport
Lufthansa First Class Terminal Frankfurt, Lufthansa First Class Frankfurt to Seattle
Four Seasons Seattle

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Lufthansa 459
San Francisco (SFO) – Munich (MUC)
Friday, March 16
Depart: 10:05PM
Arrive: 5:25PM
Duration: 11hr20min
Aircraft: Airbus 340-600
Seat: 2G (First Class)

Once onboard we settled into 2D & 2G, the two center seats in row two. I was a bit sad to see this flight was being operated by Lufthansa’s old first class product, since several of their A340-600s are now configured with the new first class (which is very similar to first class on the A380). On the other hand it’s a product I’ve enjoyed over the years, so I saw it as one of the last opportunities to try it.

Seats 2D & 2G

Seat 2K

Once settled in the two lovely Munich based flight attendants working first class introduced themselves and offered us drinks. We both went with champagne, which was served with macadamia nuts.

Pre-departure drinks

We were also offered pajamas, slippers, and an amenity kit. The pajamas were the same ones I was offered on my Frankfurt to Bangkok flight last August, while the amenity kit was in a see through bag, one I hadn’t seen before (and frankly, not one I need to see again). I immediately changed into the pajamas and requested a duvet to get a bit more comfortable.

Amenity kit, slippers, and PJs

Pajamas

As departure time rolled around the captain came on the PA to advise us of our quick flight time of 10hr10min, anticipating an on-time arrival despite our delayed departure.

As the door closed it looked like every seat in business class was taken, while six of the eight first class seats were taken. We lucked out, since the two empty seats in first class were 2A and 2K, meaning we had the row to ourselves.

At that point the safety video began playing. While I love Lufthansa’s branding, their super-low budget safety videos make me cringe. After a long taxi to runway 28R we were airborne and began our long and choppy climb to our cruising altitude. The seatbelt sign stayed on for about 30 minutes due to rough air, which delayed the service a bit.

During that time I decided on a movie with dinner, and went with “New Year’s Eve.” At the risk of being sent to a mental asylum, I’ll say that I actually quite enjoyed the movie, especially for an airplane.

On our way!

Airshow

However, once the seatbelt sign was turned off the flight attendants were sure to speed up the service and maximize sleep time (for us, and I suspect for them as well).

Cabin

The purser immediately welcomed us aboard and introduced herself. She also offered us the dinner menus and wine list.

Menu and wine list

Shortly thereafter one of the first class flight attendants offered us hot towels. Lufthansa has by far the nicest towels of any airline I’ve flown, in terms of thickness, wetness, and scent.

Service continued with drinks and an amuse bouche, which was some sort of a salmon cucumber starter. I don’t think I’ve ever said this before about a Lufthansa amuse bouche, but it was tasty.

Amuse bouche

Drinks

Then the dinner service began. The menu read as follows:

The table was quickly set along with the signature Lufthansa rose being offered. That was quickly followed by the breadbasket, from which I selected some garlic bread and pretzel bread.

Table setup

Shortly thereafter the appetizer cart was rolled around, and I went all out, since everything looked great. I love Lufthansa’s presentation, which consists of the appetizer “tower” and then caviar served separately.

Appetizer setup

With the exception of the beets (what was I thinking?!), I really enjoyed all of the appetizers.

That was quickly followed by the salad, which I ordered with balsamic vinaigrette.

Salad

For the main course I went with the steak, while my friend went with the lobster.

Steak

Lobster

I thought the steak was a bit underwhelming in quality, similar to what I’d expect in domestic first class. I’ve had much better steaks on Asiana and Swiss. My friend enjoyed his lobster, though.

For dessert was a raspberry key lime tart served with vanilla ice cream, which was delicious.

Dessert

To finish off the meal I ordered a glass of Baileys and was also offered a tray of chocolates, which I ended up putting in my bag and taking with me since I was stuffed. I was then also offered a bottle of water.

Baileys and chocolate

By the time the meal service was finished we were about eight hours from Munich, so I tried to get to sleep right away.

Reclining seats

Dimmed cabin

While Lufthansa has a nice duvet and blanket, I’m rather frustrated by their lack of a comforter. Their new first class features amazing bedding, so I find it a bit surprising that they don’t offer the same amenities when you end up in their old cabin.

I slept for about six hours and woke up two hours out of Munich. There was quite a bit of turbulence over Northern Canada which woke me up for a bit, but I fell back asleep quickly. After freshening up a bit and watching an episode of “How I Met Your Mother” it was time for breakfast.

Howdy Europe!

The menus and hot towels were distributed, followed by beverages. I ordered a glass of orange juice, which was delicious as it always is on Lufthansa.

Menu

Orange juice

The breakfast menu read as follows:

For breakfast they rolled around a cart consisting of fruit, cheese, muesli, cereal, etc. I decided on some muesli and a cheese and salmon plate. I also selected a croissant and roll from the breadbasket.

Breakfast

Then for the main course I ordered scrambled eggs with chives. Lufthansa prepares their eggs aboard, so I find them to be the tastiest in the sky (and best of all, they’re never runny).

Scrambled eggs

As we began our descent I changed back into my jeans and shirt and restowed all my belongings. The purser once again came around the cabin to bid farewell to everyone, and about 20 minutes before landing the seatbelt sign was turned on.

Beginning our descent as the sun sets

Cabin on approach

On descent

Final descent

After a smooth descent and firm landing we taxied to our gate for about 10 minutes, past several smaller aircraft as well as an ANA 777 bound for Tokyo.

Traffic

ANA 777

Reflection

Once off the plane we headed towards immigration where there was virtually no queue, and hopped on the train bound for the Munich Hauptbahnhof.

Arrivals hall

Airport courtyard

As usual my flight on Lufthansa was spectacular. The food was better than normal, but more than anything else the service was phenomenal. The flight attendants were professional yet personable, a seemingly tough balance at many airlines.

Via FlightGlobal, Lufthansa has announced that Washington Dulles will be their first Boeing 747-8 destination. Lufthansa will be taking delivery of the 747-8 on April 23, though I doubt they’ll immediately start transatlantic service, but rather first fly it on shorthauls for a while to work out the kinks (though I may be wrong?).

Anyway, this is exciting on a couple of levels. First, Lufthansa is the launch customer of the 747-800, so this will be the first time it enters passenger service. While it’s not quite as big as the Airbus 380, it’s certainly sexier (and longer), so I’m quite looking forward to seeing how the onboard experience compares. I certainly enjoyed my Lufthansa Airbus 380 flights from a few months ago, so I doubt it can top that.

Beyond that, though, the 747-8 will be the first aircraft to feature Lufthansa’s (not-so-awesome) new business class, so it will be interesting to finally get firsthand reviews of that.

Anyone else going to try and get on the 747-8 within the first few weeks of service? Anyone currently have an award booked on Lufthansa between Washington and Frankfurt anytime starting in late April?

Even when flying in premium cabins, travel isn’t always seamless. There are still so many things that can go wrong, from airport security to long lines at customs/immigration to surly flight attendants to bad food to lost bags.

But I think I can officially say that my flight from San Francisco to Munich on Lufthansa was – dare I say it – almost perfect.

Check-in was smooth, the security lines were short, and the United Global First Lounge they use at SFO is fairly nice. We were escorted to the gate by a Lufthansa representative meaning there was no wait at the gate. Up until this point the only negative was my TSA experience, where the TSA clerk asked me what my name was. The “security” process went downhill from there until a few suits got involved, though I’ll leave it at that.

Once onboard I had the perfect flight. After flying dozens and dozens of flights in international premium cabins, I’ve decided that 10 hours is the perfect flight length. It leaves two hours to eat and watch a movie after takeoff, six hours to sleep, and two hours before landing to eat again and freshen up.

And as usual, the service on Lufthansa was phenomenal. While I’m not usually a huge fan of their food, it was actually the best I’ve had on Lufthansa. I do tend to prefer their catering out of the US as opposed to Germany, surprisingly enough.

Upon landing there were no queues at immigration, and my bag was waiting at the carousel as soon as I got there.

For once travel was truly seamless and stress free to the max. Let’s hope that continues with tomorrow’s flights…

In the meantime, it’s time for some lovely German Fanta and pretzels.

But I do have two incredibly minor things to note.

First, you know how Lufthansa doesn’t serve limes with drinks? I’m a lime-aholic, and lemon just doesn’t give me the same rush. Well, uh, notice anything interesting about my breakfast?

Also, one of the cool things about Lufthansa is that they keep airplane postcards towards the back of each cabin to take with you. Anyone else think the placement of one of these postcards is a bit unfortunate?

More to come later!

Sleep well. I know I will. And I’ll share all of the details with you tomorrow, of course!

It’s the moment we’ve all (kind of) been waiting for — Lufthansa has just officially unveiled the details of their new business class product, which will debut on the 747-800 that enters passenger service soon.

I think it’s fair to say this has been pretty anticipated, given that they’ve been lagging the competition for years with their angled flat dentist chair business class seat. So I think most of us assumed their new product would be cutting edge. After all, Swiss’ new business class product is excellent, and they’ve had it for years.

Anyway, check out the pictures of the new business class product on Business Traveller, including a couple of videos, as well as Lufthansa’s official new business class seat website. While the seats are fully flat, the seat is in no way innovative, and I’d argue even a bit impractical. With the design it will be pretty tough for the person in the window to get out when the person in the aisle is reclined, but more importantly, I find it bizarre that the foot compartments are so close to one another. I hope you’re ready to play footsie with your seat opponent!

Don’t get me wrong, this seat is a massive improvement over the old one, but Lufthansa is only now starting to roll the seat out, so expect it to be at least a few years before it’s found fleetwide. I can’t wait to see what Singapore has by then.

What are your thoughts?

Photo courtesy of Lufthansa

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

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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

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.”

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

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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

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.