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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The Swiss First Class Lounge in Zurich definitely ranked among my top five lounges in the world, though after this visit I kind of have to wonder why. In terms of design it’s somewhat similar to Lufthansa’s first class lounges, though the décor is different. That being said, the lounge is spacious and has several seating areas, a restaurant and bar area, as well as nap rooms and shower rooms. While there are waiters roaming around offering drinks, they’re not nearly as proactive and attentive as those in Lufthansa lounges.

Seating

Seating

Seating

Bar

Since we knew we’d be having dinner aboard a few hours later, we decided to have pre-flight dinner sooner rather than later. I’ve always enjoyed Lufthansa’s first class dining experience on the ground, so was curious to see how the Swiss experience compared.

Restaurant

The menu was definitely, erm, interesting, consisting of quite a bit of rabbit.

Nothing really appealed to me, though I ordered the white tomato soup. While I realize they’re going for more of a “gourmet” dining experience, I really think this fell just slightly short of fast food quality. The soup was watery and tasteless. Or maybe that’s just what refined palates crave?

For the main course I ordered the “Rossini Burger.” I don’t like foie gras, though I figured the beef would at least be decent. Unfortunately it was way rare for my liking.

Burger

Burger

While my friend napped for a couple of hours I tried to catch up on work. I also decided to take a shower about an hour before our flight. While the shower rooms themselves aren’t very nice, they do have Bulgari amenities, which more than makes up for any shortcomings.

Shower

Swiss has a rather half-assed car transfer service in Zurich, which we had arranged for 10PM. While Lufthansa drives you to the plane from their lounges (assuming your gate is in a different terminal), Swiss drives you in a van to the terminal. No, there’s no escorting you to the gate or onboard, but rather they drop you off in a service elevator which leads to the terminal, and then you walk to your gate from there.

The cool cars

Minivan we got

Tarmac views

We were departing from gate E34, where boarding was well underway. Fortunately they had a priority boarding lane, so we were aboard pretty quickly.

Departure gate

Swiss 180
Zurich (ZRH) – Bangkok (BKK)
Sunday, March 18
Depart: 10:45PM
Arrive: 3:30PM (+1 day)
Duration: 10hr45min
Aircraft: Airbus 340-300
Seat: 2G (First Class)

Once aboard we were directed to turn left to the first class cabin, which already had five of the other six seats occupied.

While the aircraft operating this route is the A340-300 featuring Swiss’ old first class product, I still find it to be very comfortable, especially when traveling with someone. The seats are spacious with a separate ottoman and plenty of storage space.

Our seats

Cabin view

Ottoman

Center console

Seat and entertainment controls

Once settled in the two flight attendants working the cabin offered us amenity kits and pajamas. Swiss has some of my favorite pajamas, and they make up about half of my home wardrobe.

Amenity kit

Pajamas

About 10 minutes later we were offered pre-departure beverages, and I ordered a glass of champagne. This was served with a starter consisting of some sort of fish and breadsticks, which were delicious.

Pre-departure offerings

While the flight attendant working my friend’s aisle was reasonably nice, the one working my aisle could only be described as a “matron.” It was obvious she wasn’t happy to be working, and she made sure everyone knew it.

As departure time approached the captain advised us of our flight time of 10hr30min, anticipating an on-time arrival in Bangkok.

We began our pushback as the safety video started playing, and after a 10-minute taxi we began our long takeoff roll. It never ceases to amaze me how weak the A340-300 feels on takeoff.

About 15 minutes after takeoff the seatbelt sign was turned off and service commenced. During the climb out I tried to choose a movie to watch, and eventually decided on “The Big Year.” After about an hour I just couldn’t take it anymore.

Airshow

Entertainment system

The flight attendants set up the bar in the front of the cabin, and quickly began the service. It started with the purser distributing the menus and welcoming us aboard.

Bar setup

The dinner menu read as follows:

And the wine list read as follows:

Service began with drinks, and I ordered a Diet Coke with lemon.

Diet Coke

This was quickly followed by the tables being set. Swiss has some of the classiest table settings of any airline, in my opinion, including full sized salt and pepper mills, as well as a breadbasket.

Table setup

Service began with Balik salmon. It might not be as “high class” as caviar, but hey, it actually tastes good.

Balik salmon

Friend’s appetizer

The next course was a delicious salad including apricots and cheese shavings.

Salad

That was followed by a white asparagus cream soup, which was much tastier than the one I had in the lounge.

Soup

Then for the main course I decided to go with the tagliatelle, which was supposed to be served as an appetizer. It was delicious, so I had no regrets choosing that over the other options. The flight attendant came around with a separate tray of vegetables, and I took a little bit of everything.

Pasta

My friend had the sea bass, which he enjoyed very much.

Friend’s dinner

Then for dessert I had cheese and then a rather gross strawberry apple gazpacho (I had actually ordered the cake, but the flight attendant wasn’t a very good listener).

Cheese

Dessert

Meanwhile my friend had the other dessert, which actually looked pretty good.

Amaretti cake

To finish off the meal I had a cup of tea and also some pralines.

Tea

Pralines

On the whole the service wasn’t good. The flight attendant serving my aisle didn’t smile once, didn’t once use a polite phrase (you’re welcome, my pleasure, thank you, etc.), and made sure I had to ask for every possible drink refill.

After dinner she informed me she was doing turndown service now, and asked me if I wanted it (as opposed to asking me when I’d like turndown service). When I said yes she already threw the packaged duvet and comforter on my seat before I could even get up.

Turndown service

Fortunately the bed was really comfortable and I managed to sleep for about four hours, waking up with about four hours to go to Bangkok.

I’m an iced coffee addict, and the menu clearly stated that they had iced coffee. When I asked the flight attendant for an iced coffee she simply said “we don’t have it” and walked away before I could say anything. I ended up asking the other flight attendant for an iced coffee, and she had no problem making one for me.

Iced coffee

Chugging along

I wasn’t especially tired so decided to watch a few sitcoms. Before long we were 90 minutes from Bangkok and the breakfast service began, starting with hot towels (notably the first time during the flight that towels were offered).

Hot towel

The breakfast menu read as follows:

A cart was rolled around with the breakfast offerings, and I went with some fruit, yogurt, cereal, and a croissant and roll. For the main course I went with scrambled eggs.

Breakfast

Breads and coffee

You’ve gotta love how generous their hashbrown portions are.

Scrambled eggs

Shortly before landing I changed back into my jeans and shirt and restowed my carry-ons. They still hadn’t passed out landing forms, and the rude flight attendant informed me there weren’t any for Thailand. I asked the other flight attendant, and sure enough she brought us the forms and priority immigration cards.

Immigration form

Cabin before landing

The seatbelt sign was turned on about 20 minutes before landing, and after a smooth descent and landing we had finally made it to our destination.

The funny thing is that it took them about five minutes to open the aircraft door, and during that time the flight attendant that was rude the entire flight became friendly and engaging. She went from not saying a single unnecessary word to asking us about our travel plans, and even smiling. Very interesting…

I was pleasantly surprised to find that Swiss has an arrivals service in Bangkok, which I thought they only had for HON members (their top tier elites). Each first class passenger was met by an agent and escorted through customs and baggage claim, and brought all the way to the curb. That really makes the arrivals experience pretty painless, especially in a city like Bangkok. From there it was off to the city.

Baggage claim

Our escort

Since the following post is about service in international first class, let me start with the disclaimer that below I share some “first world problems.” With that disclaimer out of the way…

I flew Swiss first class last night from Zurich to Bangkok. Swiss is one of my favorite airlines in the world. I find that their in-flight catering is probably the best of any airline, along with Asiana, and generally I find their service to be excellent as well. They also have a very nice first class lounge in Zurich, so the whole experience is solid.

My flight from Zurich to Bangkok was operated by their Airbus 340-300, which features their “old” first class product. While it’s not the most modern product, I still find the seat to be very comfortable for sleeping and the cabin to be elegant, so I only have good things to say about them in that regard.

As usual, the food was phenomenal. Swiss’ catering just can’t be beat. The food is almost always beautifully presented and equally delicious, and this flight was no exception.

Since the flight is over 10 hours I also managed to get about five hours of “real” sleep, which is perfect for me since the flight arrives in Bangkok in the afternoon.

But the one aspect of the flight that was really disappointing was the service. I’ve flown Swiss first class a handful of times, and for the first several trips the service was flawless. On my last flight in December in Swiss first class from Chicago to Zurich the service was acceptable, though by no means great.

The service on this flight, though, was really bordering unacceptable. There were two flight attendants working first class. One was reasonably nice, while the other likely graduated first in her class from the Carol Beer Charm School.

As luck would have it, she was serving my aisle. I understand she would probably rather be sleeping than working a 10 hour flight departing at 10:45PM, but does she really have to make it known?

She didn’t smile once. She didn’t address me by name once. She didn’t communicate with me even once with more words than absolutely necessary – “what do you wanna eat?”

When my glass was empty I had to ask her for a refill, despite her walking by my tray and noticing the empty glass several times.

The menu lists “ice coffee” as one of the drinks, so I pointed to ice coffee on the menu and asked her if I could have one. She said “we don’t have that” and walked away without asking me if I might like something else (or explaining why it’s not available despite being listed on the menu). Those are only a few examples, as I could go on and on.

Anyway, while my flight was still incredibly enjoyable, I guess it’s worth pointing out that even my favorite airlines aren’t perfect and have off days. I suspect this flight attendant had an off decade as opposed to an off day, but I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt.

The funny thing is that as soon as we landed and were waiting for the door to open she was the friendliest person ever — all smiles, wanting to know about my holiday, etc.

To me this raises an interesting question, though. Swiss (like most European and Asian airlines) has an inflight supervisor. US airlines have pursers, who really only get paid a couple of bucks extra an hour to do the paperwork and make the announcements. They’re in no way “in charge,” and therefore don’t really “supervise” the other flight attendants, as they can’t really boss them around or discipline them.

That being said, Swiss does have an in-flight supervisor that is in charge of supervising service, ensuring everyone is happy, etc. They come around to first class passengers at both the beginning and end of the flight to ask how everything was. In general I’m all for being honest, so I would say “the food was good, though the service really wasn’t,” though at the same time I’m not really sure if the inflight supervisor can be “trusted” in that sense. In other words, if I tell her that I thought the service was subpar, is she going to go tell the other flight attendant “the guy in 2G was talking $%*& about you,” or will she actually forward the comments to management.

Would you have said something?

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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Upon arrival we headed down the long corridor to the transfer area, where we had to switch terminals by train. The trains at Zurich Airport are pretty awesome, since they make cow noises and have animated scenes of the alps. You can always tell who’s an American in the airport train, since they’re usually giggling uncontrollably (that includes me)!

Upon arrival

The Zurich terminal is beautiful and airy (everything I’m not), though we headed straight for the first class lounge.

Terminal

Terminal

First Class Lounge entrance

We were welcomed at the entrance of the lounge and tried to find two seats together. The first class lounge isn’t especially large, though very nicely appointed. It has a main seating area overlooking the tarmac, a restaurant area, several sleeping rooms, and showers. In a way it’s very similar to the Lufthansa first class lounges, though I’d say just a notch below in terms of service and the food/drink offerings.

At the time we arrived the lounge was packed, as several flights were leaving to the Middle East, India, and the US. The pictures below were snapped at the end of our layover, when we had the lounge to ourselves.

Lounge

Lounge

After briefly checking my email I requested a shower room. The showers feature Bulgari amenities, which happen to be my favorite.

Shower room

Bulgari amenities

After a shower I snagged one of the nap rooms for a bit of shut eye. The lounge attendant asked what time I wanted to be woken up, and I requested 1PM, which was 45 minutes before our departure.

Swiss nap rooms are a lot better than Lufthansa’s, since they’re actually beds, unlike Lufthansa’s day beds. They also have pretty cool lighting.

Day room

Sure enough, with Swiss precision there was an angry sounding Swiss lady outside my door at 1PM sharp — “VAKE UP ITS VUN PEE EMM YOU VILL FLY SOON.”

After waking up and getting ready to leave the lounge we were informed that our flight to Frankfurt was actually delayed by about 20 minutes due to fog.

Knowing how crappy Lufthansa’s intra-Europe catering is, I had a look at the buffet.

Buffet

Who cares about the rest, I see Fanta!

Salad bar

I settled for a bit of salad and lasagna, accompanied by an almighty Fanta.

Lunch

At around 1:30PM we left the lounge and headed for our departure gate, which was a 30 second walk away.

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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I got to Terminal 5 about 75 minutes before departure, only to find Swiss check-in completely deserted. I briefly had one of those “oops” moments where I questioned whether I didn’t convert the time properly, showed up on the wrong day, or something else.

I weaseled my way up to the check-in counter, where the agent had my boarding pass waiting for me and said “you’re the last passenger to check-in.” I was surprised so asked if I had missed the cut off, to which she responded “you’re in first class. What cut off?” Love it!

Check-in counter

I headed straight to security, where the regular queue was a mile long, though fortunately the premium security line was a more reasonable 15 minute wait. I was in line behind the rather spunky Aer Lingus crew, and I have to say, I kind of want to fly them now.

Security line

I was chosen for the full body scanner, and as usual requested a private pat down instead. When you get a private pat down the TSA agents carry your belongings to the screening room for you, and one of the agents tried to place my bag on top of my laptop. I asked him nicely not to do that and explained it could damage and scratch my laptop to which he responded “really, your laptop is going to be damaged?” At this point the other TSA agent snickered at him to be quiet, and I asked “am I being unreasonable to not want my laptop to be scratched?” The other guy quickly jumped in and said “of course not.” At least one person was reasonable…

After a most pleasant three minute massage (the only thing missing was spa music and a relaxation fountain) I was on my way. The Swiss lounge is located just past security. At the entrance I was pointed left to the first class section, where I met my friend since he had a different inbound flight.

It’s worth noting that I took the same exact flight on Swiss back in 2009, and you can read that review here. Last time the lounge was pretty awful, featuring nothing more than rabbit food (not that you really need a meal before boarding an international first class flight, but it’s still nice to be given the option if you want to sleep aboard).

This time they had changed the setup of the lounge. Not only was it remodeled, but they changed the layout as well. Instead of just having a few seats, they added some dining tables to the lounge, and substantially improved the food selection.

First Class Lounge

Dining table

The lounge now also featured a real buffet, including salad, appetizers, and even a menu with a handful of options.

Buffet

Drink selection

Snack selection

Wine selection

The menu read as follows:

Obviously the menu isn’t worth ruining my appetite over prior to an international first class meal on one of my favorite airlines, though the waiter convinced me to go with some shrimp, and in preparation for heading to Germany I figured I had to have a pretzel roll.

Pre-flight snack

Given how late I got to the lounge we had only about 20 minutes before boarding was announced.

On the whole I was impressed at the improvements they’ve made at this lounge since the last visit. Kudos!

But the real highlight would be awaiting us aboard the flight to Zurich.

I love Swiss. They’re easily one of the best airlines in the world, so naturally I’m happy when they expand their route network. Starting June 2, 2010, Swiss will begin 6x weekly service to San Francisco operated with A343-300s. The schedule for the flight will be as follows:

San Francisco-Zurich (SFO-ZRH) LX 39 dep. 7:25 p.m. arr 3:40 p.m.+

Zurich-San Francisco (ZRH-SFO) LX 38 dep. 1:15 p.m. arr 4:30 p.m.

+following day

Even if you don’t plan on flying this particular flight, you should still be excited about this. It will ease up the bookings a bit (at least among connecting passengers) on the Los Angeles to Zurich flight, which can be tough to get award seats on.

Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: TPA-ORD on United
Part 3: ORD-ZRH on Swiss
Part 4: ZRH-LHR on Swiss and LHR-IST on Turkish
Part 5: InterContinental Istanbul
Part 6: Istanbul
Part 7: IST-HKG on Turkish
Part 8: InterContinental Grand Stanford Hong Kong
Part 9: InterContinental Hong Kong
Part 10: Hong Kong
Part 11: HKG-BKK-MUC on Thai
Part 12: MUC-ZRH-JFK on Swiss
Part 13: JFK-TPA on Delta

———————————————————————-

ZRH isn’t half bad compared to FRA, but it’s not the most fun airport to transit either. Upon deplaning I headed down the escalator and had to take a train to the main terminal. Unfortunately the train runs rather infrequently, so half of the passengers from my flight were at the platform by the time the train arrived. On the other end I headed towards the connections sign, and after walking a while found the right concourse. I headed through security, and was told to leave my belt on, despite wanting to take it off (since I know it sets off the metal detectors in ZRH). As expected I got the full pat down, which really pisses me off. It’s not like the TSA, where they hardly touch you, but instead they fully grab you just about every place known to man. It pisses me off every time.

On the other side of security I realized there was no lounge in that gate area, so I had to leave security again. I headed to the closest Senator lounge, since I really just wanted to check my email. At this point I was sweating, since the terminal was hot as hell and I was wearing a coat and long pants.

The agent at the front desk of the Senator lounge could best be compared to Carol Beer based on her attitude. If you’re not familiar:

It was funny when an older American couple walked into the lounge and the husband loudly proclaimed “see, the air conditioning is broken.” Nah, it’s not broken, that’s just how hot they like to keep the airport.

Senator lounge

Within about 20 minutes I headed back to security, and this time insisted on taking off my belt to avoid the “royal” treatment yet again. On the other side of the terminal I was genuinely delighted to find out that my flight was leaving from a remote gate. Great, from a private international first class cabin to a Greyhound station!

Of course remote gates (scratch that, any flight out of Germany/Switzerland) means boarding is a complete free-for-all, so I just waited until basically everyone was aboard, although I was sweating like crazy in the meantime. Eventually they wrapped up boarding and I got on the last bus.

Hot gate area

A321 to LHR

The queue to board the plane could best be compared to a line for a ride at Disney World.

Swiss 0332, ZRH-LHR, 321
Monday, August 17
Depart: 12:05PM
Arrive: 1:00PM
Duration: 1hr55min
Seat: 3C (Business Class)

Once aboard the maitre de cabin pointed me to my seat. The window seat was already taken, and I was quite peeved when I saw that the person in the window not only had carry-ons bigger than mine, but also took up the space under his seat and the entire space under the middle seat. I stored my bag in the overhead bin.

As boarding finished up he suggested I move to the empty row in front of us, which I did. As the door closed bottles of water and towelettes were distributed to business class passengers, followed quickly by Swiss chocolate.

Water and towelette

Boarding finished up right on time, although we didn’t move for nearly 20 minutes without so much as a peep from the flight deck. Eventually we pushed back and started taxiing, but we came to an abrupt stop just near the runway. After a few more minutes the captain came on the PA, welcomed us aboard, and explained that we were originally delayed because they had to remove a bag from the plane, but they were just informed that they forgot to detach a headset from the nose gear, so they were sending out a car to remove it now. Oops!

It did in fact only take a few minutes, at which time we were cleared for takeoff immediately.

As soon as the seatbelt sign was turned off, service began. First there was a round of drinks, followed by the lunch service. Since this flight was only about 1hr15min in the air, service was nonstop. The flight attendant was extremely professional as well, as he memorized everyone’s name in business class.

Crappy intra-Europe business class!

AIR NOZZLES!

Lunch

While the services offered in intra-Europe business class are impressive, I would take a United domestic first class seat with zero service over this any day of the week. The business class seats are just normal coach seats with the middle seat blocked. It’s just far too uncomfortable, especially after getting off an international first class flight.

As we approached London the captain informed us that we were put in a holding pattern, although that didn’t last for more than ten minutes. Soon enough we were cleared to land, and after a quick taxi made it to London right on-time (see, US airlines aren’t the only ones that pad their schedules like crazy).

Would someone please remind me why the hell I chose to connect at LHR? It’s simply the worst airport in the universe. After walking what seemed like a 5K race I made it to the connection bus. No, this wasn’t your average quick transfer bus. The ride was long enough for me to actually expect a meal service and after a while I was fully expecting to be driven all the way to Istanbul.

Then I finally make it to terminal 3. Almost there, right? Wrong! I get in the flight transfer line, although it’s ridiculously long (and there’s no premium line either). It’s hot, I’m tired, and I simply don’t want to stand still. So instead of waiting I decide to go through immigration, go to the check-in counter to get my boarding pass, and then go through security faster thanks to Fast Track.

This did indeed work out faster. I went to the immigration line, and there was a UK/EU line and a non-UK/EU line. I went up to the lady working there at the end of the line and asked her which line was faster (I have both a German and US passport, so I could go with either, and I really couldn’t tell which was shorter due to the weird snaking of the lines). She tells me I need to use the line for my passport, and I said “yes, so which line is faster” (yeah, I was trying to have fun with her). She then says “sir, you don’t understand, you can only use the line based on your citizenship.” Eventually she gives in and tells me the non-UK/EU line is faster, so I take that one.

Within five minutes I’m at Turkish Airlines check-in, where I was immediately helped. The agent gave me my boarding passes and I explained to her that my brother should be arriving shortly (since his flight was due into LHR 30 minutes after mine). She was confused at first, but eventually understood. She also asked whether we needed a limo service in Istanbul. One of the nice things about Turkish Airlines is that they offer their first class passengers a limo service both to and from the airport in Istanbul. I had arranged this in advance, but it seems like they didn’t do it properly. This wasn’t a problem, but she confirmed they would meet us at the plane upon arrival.

I zipped through security, and five minutes later found myself in the Singapore Airlines Silver Kris Lounge. There I was invited into the first class section, which was totally empty (the Singapore Airlines Suites effect, as I’ll call it). I asked the agent to let my brother know I’m here whenever he arrives, which she agreed to.

The lounge was fine, nothing special really, especially for a Singapore Airlines first class lounge. Ultimately I wasn’t interested in food or anything else. All I wanted was internet and a shower, and they met both of those needs.

First Class Silver Kris Lounge LHR

First Class Silver Kris Lounge LHR Snack Selection

My brother arrived 30 minutes after I did, and it was nice to see him, even if about 12 hours late. We talked about our flights, and it seemed like we both had good experiences (although mine was better, and I’m sticking to it).

Since we were the only ones in the lounge there was no bartender, so my brother asked the lady at the front desk for a glass of champagne. Throughout our stay she had a great sense of humor, so she later not only brought him a glass of champagne, but….

That’s what I call attentive service!

At around 3:30PM we decided to head towards our departure gate, and were happy to have left early. Initially our flight was supposed to leave from gate nine, which is right near the lounge, but we quickly learned that it was leaving from a gate on the other side of the terminal. So after a 15 minute walk we did make it to our gate, right at boarding time.

777-300ER taking us to IST

As boarding time came around there was all of a sudden a mad rush to the rather narrow boarding area. I hadn’t heard an announcement for boarding, so I wasn’t sure if there was something they knew that we didn’t. There were literally 200 people scrunched up in a small space. At that point one of the gate agents made an announcement telling everyone to be seated immediately.

Shortly thereafter boarding was announced, starting with first and business class. As we were trying to board a passenger came up behind my brother and said “excuse me, I’m in business class.” Oh no he didn’t….

Turkish 1992, LHR-IST, 77W
Monday, August 17
Depart: 4:30PM
Arrive: 10:20PM
Duration: 3hr50min
Seat: 2G (First Class)

Upon boarding we were immediately escorted to our seats in the first class cabin. I was shocked when I entered the cabin, as it was easily the most private one I’ve ever seen. It’s worth pointing out once again that the Turkish 777-300ERs are being leased from Jet Airways, so all the seats are their designs.

The cabin has eight seats in total, and my brother and I had the two center seats in row two. We were informed that we would once again be the only two passengers in first class. Two for two!

View from my suite

My seat

Talk about privacy!

AIR NOZZLE!

The coolest thing had to be that each seat had doors which could be closed. Talk about ultimate privacy!

Suite 2K

As soon as we settled in we were offered a choice of hot and cold towels, and we both went with hot towels.

Hot towels

We were then offered a selection of juices. My brother was saddened by the lack of pre-departure champagne. The drinks were accompanied by a bowl of warm nuts.

Pre-departure orange juice and nuts

We were then offered noise canceling headphones, an amenity kit, shaving cream, and a razor.

QC2′s, amenity kit, and shaving stuff

I was happy to see that the items in the amenity kit were from Bulgari.

Amenity kit contents

Shortly thereafter menus were distributed.

Menus

Departure time quickly approached and the doors were shut. We indeed had the cabin to ourselves. The flight attendants prepped for a manual safety demo, and I just started laughing. We each had a flight attendant doing a “private” safety demo for us, and I just couldn’t stop laughing. What made it even funnier for me was that the flight attendants would never make eye contact with us (probably to avoid laughing as well), so they were acting as if they were doing the presentation for 100 people.

For about 30 minutes after our scheduled departure time we didn’t move, without so much as an announcement from the cockpit. Nearly 45 minutes after our scheduled departure time we pushed back, only to start a long taxi to the runway followed by a long queue. Eventually the captain came on to introduce himself, although he didn’t even mention the delay, let alone apologize for it.

After a quick takeoff roll we were airborne and on our way to Istanbul. The seatbelt sign stayed on for at least 20 minutes, but once it was turned off the flight attendants sprung into action.

Service started with another round of hot towels (hey, after touching so many nuts it only seemed right).

Hot towel

At that point the flight attendants asked us what we wanted to eat and drink. The menu read as follows:

welcome on board
welcome drink
salted mixed nuts

after take off
assorted canapées

hors d’oeuvres
selection of Turkish “meze”
tabbouleh / marinated shrimps
“pastirma” air dried beef / Turkish style fresh artichoke in olive oil

or

buffalo mozzarella & sundried tomatoes
grilled vegetables / pesto

salad
Mediterranean salad with feta cheese and grilled artichokes

special from Turkish cuisine
beef “kulbasti”
Turkish style grilled beef fillet
creamy eggplant puree / rice / grilled tomato and green pepper

chicken selection
grilled chicken breast with fresh herbs
pan-fried vegetables / potato puree

pasta
home made rigatoni
creamy parmesan sauce
sauteed broccoli and zucchini

cheese
assorted cheese

fresh fruit
fresh fruit platter

desserts
chocolate & hazelnut mousse cake

freshly brewed
espresso, Turkish coffee, regular coffee, selection of teas

ovenfresh
ovenfresh bread selection

Turkish desserts
“fistikli kadayif, kalbuda basti” / clotted cream

I’m a HUGE fan of this type of food, so I was excited, despite not being all that hungry.

First came the canapés, which were delicious.

Canapés

Then the table was set. Overall the presentation was great. I loved the rose, but the stem was wrapped in tin foil. It seems to me like they could improve the presentation on that just a bit.

Table set-up

For the first course I went with the tomato and mozzarella. Simply delicious.

Buffalo mozzarella & sundried tomatoes

Bread basket

Then came the salad. Once again, fantastic.

Mediterranean salad with feta cheese and grilled artichokes

My brother went with the steak for his main course, while I went with the pasta. I know pasta isn’t all that creative, but I had a steak on Swiss and wasn’t all that hungry. My brother enjoyed his steak, but I have to say my pasta dish was probably in the top five pasta dishes I’ve had anywhere in the world (including Italy), let alone on a plane.

Beef “kulbasti”

Rigatoni

Then came the cheese cart. I passed, since I was saving some room for dessert.

Cheese

For dessert I went with both the mousse and the Turkish dessert. Both were incredible.

Dessert

My brother ordered a Turkish coffee, and he was a bit surprised by how thick it was.

Tar or coffee (after a single sip)?

The meal was truly delicious. As far as the service goes, all I can say is “meh.” The flight attendants were friendly, although they were unpolished and seemed to lack the confidence to serve a first class cabin. We had two flight attendants taking care of us (that’s a 1:1 ratio), yet our glasses were frequently empty and we always had to ask for refills.

After dinner there was about an hour to go to Istanbul, so we decided to try out the suites (although we’d be doing that more comprehensively a couple of nights later on our Istanbul to Hong Kong flight).

I watched a couple of sitcoms, while my brother started to watch a movie. We closed the doors, which does indeed make for a private experience.

Closed doors

Our progress

Before we knew it we were beginning our initial descent, and the flight attendants brought us one last treat — a small cheesecake square and a chocolate covered strawberry.

Post-dessert

At this point the flight attendants were advised to prepare for landing, and we began a gradual descent, which ended with our not-so-gradual landing. It was by far the roughest landing I’ve experienced in the million or so miles I’ve flown. Not only was the landing rough, but as we were at maybe 30 or 40 miles per hour the pilot all of a sudden slammed on the brakes, bringing us to a complete stop on the runway, as the plane cradled back and forth a bit as a result.

As we got to the gate we thanked our flight attendants for a pleasant flight, and at door 2L were met by two people holding a large sign with our last name on it. They introduced themselves and said they’d be taking us through immigration. They helped us with our bags and pointed us towards the golf cart waiting for us right at the gate. This turned into quite an adventure, since the terminal was packed and immigration wasn’t far away at all.

Golf cart

We were driven to immigration, where they took care of our visas and waved us through in no time. They escorted us to the lower level, where a very nice Mercedes S class was waiting to take us to our hotel.

Transfer car

Not only was the car nice, but so was the driver, and he knew how to drive. I don’t even want to guess how fast we were driving, but after a long couple of days we were at the InterContinental Ceylan Istanbul in no time.

To be continued….