Posted by Seth on December 22, 2011 under Dining, Flying, Trip Reports | 
Flights from New York City to western Europe are generally too short for anything remotely resembling a good night’s rest. In many cases even a chance of a decent nap is pretty low. The key to having a chance, however, is to be done eating before clearing the edge of Canada. That generally means at least 4.5 hours until landing, leaving a 4 hour window for sleep before the attendants have to put the cabin back together for arrival.
And so I was watching the in-flight map as we departed Newark for Frankfurt last night, trying to figure out how we were doing on the meal as we headed east. When the appetizers showed up we were over Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Not good for hoping to be done with the meal before clearing Canada. On the plus side, the food was quite good, a pleasant surprise in quality and quantity. I even managed to skip the Fernet Branca, going to sleep without that flavor in my mouth for the first time in a long time on a Lufthansa long-haul flight.
By the time the meal was done we were 3:45 out from landing. I slept almost all of that, even in the angled seats of Lufthansa business class. We were fortunate to arrive to a gate at the terminal rather than a remote stand and from there wended our way through the terminals and the SkyTrain to find some lounge time.
Our onward flight to Chennai departed from B42, directly adjacent to the new Terminal B Senator Lounge. The new lounge is quite a welcome improvement over the old B lounge, though it still suffers from crowding at the peak morning departure bank; the wait for a shower was about 30 minutes and our layover wasn’t long enough to make that work.
And then it was time to head out to the gate and board our flight to Chennai. Another 8.5 hours in the sky with Lufthansa as we begin this crazy adventure.
Tags: Canada, Chennai, Dining, Frankfurt, in flight, India, Lounge, Lufthansa, New York City, Newark, NYE2011, Photos
Posted by Seth on October 6, 2011 under Dining, Trip Reports |
I’m a sucker for a good, old fashioned food market. Partly because I truly enjoy a picnic and partly because I hate massive groceries, but a good food market just about anywhere in the world will draw me in. Given the relative dearth of enjoyable things to do in Frankfurt (at least that I found interesting), my most recent trip was a bit heavy on the food market visits.
The main market in the old city is the Kleinemarkthalle. Originally built in the 1870s, the market was destroyed in World War 2 and rebuilt in the current location in 1954. It houses dozens of stalls with merchandise covering the full gamut of fresh and packaged goods. Meats, cheeses, seafood, produce, flowers and more.
Of course, to visit the Kleinmarkthalle we first had to find the Kleinmarkthalle. Easier said than done. Juggling Google Maps on my BlackBerry and a pretty awful paper map from the hotel I was pretty sure I knew where I was going. There were landmarks along the way and I was recognizing them. Or so I thought. Getting lost is just part of the adventure, however, and before I realized just how off-track we were an even better discovery came along.
I think we might have been at Konstablerwache, but that’s just a guess. What I know for certain is that we had stumbled into an open-air market that was bustling, and it was time to eat. And drink. Sure, it was only about 10:30am, but there were a number of vintners amongst the stalls and they had tastings running. Who was I to insult them by not partaking??
We found pastries and brats. Butchers selling uncooked meat outnumbered the grills running, but not by much. There were produce stalls and flowers and other stuff, too. Eventually we settled on a breakfast menu – pastries and wine (white for breakfast, naturally) – and relaxed at a table, letting the bustle of the market swirl around us.
The break for breakfast also gave us the opportunity to regroup on the navigational front. It didn’t take us long to figure out where we went wrong and adjust our plan for finding the market we meant to visit. And given the historical significance of the Kleinmarkthalle (plus the opportunity to find something else to do in Frankfurt) we set out on our way. Just a few minutes later we were where we meant to show up.
The Klein Markthalle is larger and a bit better organized than the outdoor market. It also had a broader variety of shops, but only by a bit. Stuffed peppers and pastas and more "interesting" cuts of meat on offer than I’ve seen in a while.
Eventually we settled on a menu for our picnic, collected the necessary bits from the vendors and headed out to enjoy a sunny afternoon along the river.
Both were thoroughly enjoyable, though I doubt that the outdoor version runs year round. I suppose it mostly depends on when you’re in town as to which you should plan a visit to.
Posted by Seth on September 19, 2011 under Flying, frequent flyer, News, points |
Singapore Airlines has announced that effective 15 January 2012 the Singapore-Frankfurt-JFK route will change from the Boeing 747-400 to the Airbus A380. This change has been expected for quite some time and the news from the carrier finally puts to rest speculation on the timing of the change.
For the United States, our customers will be able to enjoy the latest cabin products on all routes, in addition to having the A380 serving both east and west coasts. For Germany, it will also mean offering our customers the latest cabin products on both of our daily Frankfurt flights as well as our daily Munich flights.
The change has both positive and negative aspects associated with it. The quality of the hard product on the 747 is pretty mediocre. It was great a decade ago when it was introduced but it has since been surpassed by many other carriers. The product quality on the A380 is significantly better throughout the aircraft so that’s an upgrade to be sure. There are also 25% more seats on the A380 which means potentially lower prices and easier access to award inventory. Sortof.
The main negative of the change is on the award inventory front. Singapore has chosen to outright block redemption of first class seats ("Suites") on their A380s from partners and allows redemption for KrisFlyer members only at incredibly inflated prices. Business class award seats are generally not available to partners either, though some routes are now showing award inventory to some partners so that wall is coming down a bit.
Overall this change is probably a good thing. It certainly is for the folks who are paying the going rate for premium cabin fares as they’ll be getting a much better product for their money. But it sucks for folks like me who tend to only fly in premium cabins on award redemptions. If this route starts to show award seats to partners then I’ll certainly consider it an upgrade overall. I did the JFK-FRA route once a couple years ago in business class and it was nice but not amazing. But given the choice between nice or not available I’ll take nice.
Hat tip to SitInFirst.com for noticing the update.
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Tags: A380, Airbus, award, Boeing, Frankfurt, frequent flyer, Munich, New York, New York City, points, Singapore, Singapore Air
Posted by Seth on June 9, 2011 under Trip Reports |
It would seem that, sadly, this is going to be a rather short post. Yes, I’m quite happy that I got to spend a couple days in Frankfurt, Germany as part of the Lufthansa A380 Inaugural flight from San Francisco, but there really isn’t a ton to do in town. We got by and managed to not go too crazy, but it was tough.
The Altstadt ("Old Town") is where we spent most of our time while in town. It is convenient to the river and where our hotel was so that definitely helped keep us there. And what few tourist-focused bits of town exist are rather concentrated in that area (though we did head across the river for dinner both nights).
The European Central Bank is in the area, and it looks just like a bank building but with a nifty Euro logo out front. The Frankfurt Bourse is also in the area. They went with the more traditional bull & bear theme for their statues.
And then there is the Dom. Like any good European town, the city of Frankfurt is more or less centered around a town square, with the local cathedral not too far away. In the case of Frankfurt Saint Bartholomeus’s Cathedral (Dom Sankt Bartholomäus) is located just a block off the central square and it is one of the main tourism spots in town.
The location has had a cathedral for several hundred years but, like much of the town, this iteration is relatively new construction from after the war. The Dom served as the election site for emperors of the Holy Roman Empire as well as providing a site for the anointing of German kings. Today it is just a cathedral, with no special powers (and not even a Bishop’s seat) but it still serves as a focal point in the community, for tourists and locals alike. Plus, at 95 meters tall it is a great navigational beacon in town.
Within the main square there is some interesting history to go along with the very tourist-focused shops and the Römer, formerly City Hall and now used by the local government for a number of functions, including wedding facilities in some of the halls. There is a lovely statue of Justitia, holding the scales for judging and a sword for carrying out guilty verdicts.
The square also happens to be where we got a snack our first day in town. There is a cute little würst shop selling sausages of various persuasion, along with the requisite sides, and beer. It was certainly not the best food we had during the trip but given that the options just north of the square included a Subway I’m pretty sure we made the right choice. Besides, standing out in the square eating and drinking was a great opportunity to people watch.
And that’s pretty much it. We did spend some time in a couple different food markets (one on purpose and one by accident); that will be another post as there are too many cool photos in that one. We also took a quick trip out to Mainz for 30 minutes and that was more fun than the several hours we spent in Frankfurt.
Don’t get me wrong, Frankfurt isn’t bad, per se, but there are much better cities to visit in Germany if you’re looking for more traditional touristy things to do.
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Posted by Seth on May 23, 2011 under Review, Trip Reports |
As part of the prize package from Lufthansa and the A380 Inaugural flight from San Francisco we were given two nights in the Steigenberger Frankfurter Hof hotel. The Frankfurter Hof is arguably the flagship hotel in the Steigenberger chain. With over 130 years of history, a Michelin starred restaurant and a beautiful façade, it is readily regarded as one of the nicer properties in Frankfurt. Based on our experience there it is easy to understand why.
The property is located in the heard of the financial district, just around the corner from the Euro Central Bank headquarters and less than a kilometer from the main train station in Frankfurt. Add on the U-Bahn station just outside the front door and the location could hardly be better.
As best as I can tell the room we had was just a standard room. It was, however, anything but "standard" compared to other hotel stays I’ve had in the area. In addition to being rather large (and the fire escape map suggests that it was just the same as the others on the floor) it had a walk-in closet, high ceilings and was generally well appointed.
The room was nice without any over-the-top luxury at play. It also, as it typical of European hotels, was somewhat lacking on the air conditioning front. There was one and it mostly worked, but we had it set as cold as possible and with the fan on high and it barely cooled off the room; It was only in the mid-70s outside. Were it the middle of the summer I’d be worried about just how warm the rooms would get. Yes, this is typical, but I’d still be wary of it. The windows do open which can help with the ventilation if the weather isn’t too muggy.
Our room rate also included complimentary breakfast. I’m not usually a breakfast person and when we missed it the first day because of jetlag I wasn’t all that broken up over it. When we woke up early the second morning before our flight home and did have time to dine I immediately regretted having missed it the day prior. For starters, the listed rate for breakfast was €32. I don’t know of any breakfast that is actually worth $50 and I’d never actually pay that, but if it is included in the room rate then why not, right? It was definitely worthwhile.
They had American (omelet bar, bacon, etc.), European (sliced meats & cheeses, breads, etc.) and Japanese (noodle bar, soup, etc.) options available. In addition to the traditional smoked salmon they had a house-cured gravlax; it was delicious. Plenty of fruit and other light options, too. Oh, and sekt. Lots and lots of sekt. We were in a hurry and there was plenty more in the Senator Lounge when we got to the airport so I wasn’t too disappointed at only getting a couple glasses in during breakfast, but it was a nice accompaniment to the great food being served up.
I certainly would not go so far as to consider the Hof a luxe property. Luxurious in many ways, but not luxe. Still, it has a sort of old-world style about it that makes it quite the lovely place to stay. Things like live jazz music on the patio in the afternoon for snacks or cocktails. Those bits add up to make for a wonderful hotel experience.
And, needless to say, it was a much nicer hotel than I would have had were I paying for my room.
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Posted by Seth on May 16, 2011 under Trip Reports |
A few weeks back Lufthansa held a contest via Twitter and FaceBook to give away seats on their inaugural flight of an Airbus A380 from San Francisco to Frankfurt. Given that I like to travel and I like to do it for free I entered. And I lost. But my friend Scott won and it was a trip for two so guess who eventually got the text message asking if I was available to go to Germany on May 10th? This guy!
A quick hop (as much as a transcon can be) from JFK to San Francisco had me out there in plenty of time to see the plane arrive in from Frankfurt and to join the party that the San Francisco Airport and Lufthansa hosted out in the Bayfront Park, just off the airport grounds. It was a surprisingly solid crowd out to welcome the first regularly scheduled A380 service to SFO.
They had box lunches and picnic blankets that they were giving away as well as a raffle to win free tickets and a trivia contest to win other toys. I didn’t win the raffle but, well, apparently I’m loud enough that I managed to win at least one of the trivia question toys. And I am pretty sure I got a few other answers right but no big deal.
After the party outside the airport we headed back into the terminal to the official party being hosted near the boarding gates. This one was a bit harder to attend as it was officially only for press and other invited dignitaries. Such limitations are trivial to me, however, and I managed to negotiate for access to the party for all three of us. Some good snacks and more cool toys (I seriously almost needed an extra bag to bring all the good stuff home), plus getting to catch up with a bunch of my Lufthansa friends. All good things.
Finally it was time to board and begin the long flight over to Germany. Boarding was, not surprisingly, a bit of a mess. Getting 500+ people onto a plane is always a bit of a challenge, even with three jetbridges in use on two different levels. And the walk to our seats (4th row from the back) was a long one. Still, we got into our seats, stowed our bags and started to make friends with the flight attendants and other passengers with whom we’d be spending the next 12 hours or so.
Part of my "settling in" process at my seat was to unpack the blanket I brought with me for the trip. I acquired it from United Airlines on my flight from JFK earlier that morning and it is wonderfully comfortable. It was also still in the plastic wrap when I put it down on my seat and headed to the back galley area to chat. Imagine my surprise a few minutes later when I returned to my seat to find that the blanket was missing. Sortof.
It seems that my seatmate also noticed that the blanket was really nice and she figured it was fair game since it was still wrapped up. Oopsie. I don’t know that I’ve had a more awkward conversation with a total stranger before this one, trying to explain that it was a blanket that I had rightfully stolen and that I’d like it back. On the plus side, we did chat off and on the rest of the trip so it was a decent icebreaker.
The rest of the flight was surprisingly uneventful. The meal was fine and the open bar was well stocked and free flowing. I did discover that I was unable to get my "favorite" beverage – Fernet Branca – as it is only available in business class. I had to make do with the brandy that they were serving in coach instead. And then I slept. Even wedged into an economy seat and even all the way in the back of the plane I managed to get a solid 6 hours of sleep. That’s definitely an advantage of the longer flights from the West coast; on a flight out of JFK sleeping 6 hours would have me in the hangar after they finished unloading and cleaning the plane.
Overall it was a great trip and a ton of fun. Plus we had 2 days in Frankfurt lined up for more grand adventures!
Posted by Seth on December 2, 2010 under frequent flyer, Internet, News, points |
Two airlines made news this week with regards to in-flight internet connectivity with coverage growing both within the United States and across the Atlantic Ocean. Delta Airlines has announced plans to increase their already leading gogo deployment. With the installation of gogo nearly complete in their domestic mainline fleet, the company will add connectivity to another 223 aircraft, namely regional jets operating under the Delta Connection brand. The jets being equipped – larger RJs with 70+ seats – also have first class cabins and are used on longer flights as well as some targeted markets including the Delta Shuttle routes. Delta will begin the installation on these aircraft in January 2011 and expects to complete the deployment during the calendar year.
Also this week, Lufthansa is once again offering internet connectivity across the North Atlantic Ocean with the activation of the FlyNet service on their Airbus A330 aircraft. FlyNet takes over where Connexion by Boeing left off when it was shut down in 2006. At that time Lufthansa had 69 aircraft equipped with the necessary satellite hardware to provide internet service to its customers. The A330 was the first type to be certified with the new service; the A340 and 747-400 expected to receive their certifications very quickly. The service is not fully global, yet, but it does cover most transatlantic flights that Lufthansa operates.
This launch comes just over a year after Lufthansa announced their intention to restore the connectivity in partnership with Panasonic Avionics. The service went live on a flight from Frankfurt to New York City’s JFK airport. The Panasonic partnership also covers the acquisition of new antennae in order to provide connectivity on aircraft that do not have the legacy hardware installed. This will include the A380s that have been recently been delivered, with the intention to have them equipped “as soon as possible.”
The service isn’t cheap – €10.95 for one hour or €19.95 for 24 hours – but there are other options available to pay for the service. Based on the existing contract for lounge access with T-Mobile the carrier will offer seamless connectivity throughout the journey. There will also be roaming partners available and the opportunity to redeem Miles&More frequent flyer points for the service. The rates for points redemption are not great – 3,500 or 7,000 for the two defined levels – but it is nice to have the option available. Additionally, the service will be free through January 31, 2011 as part of the re-launch and there will be some free websites offered on the portal even after the trial period expires.
Unlike the gogo or Row44 services which are WiFi only, the FlyNet service offers both WiFi and GPRS/GSM connectivity for mobile phones. Voice services are not enabled for these devices. Similarly, Skype and similar VoIP protocols are theoretically blocked though there are generally ways around those blocks for the particularly resourceful folks out there.
I’m hopeful that the 747s are certified and operational within the next 4 weeks as I’m currently scheduled to fly Frankfurt – JFK on January 4th and it would be great to try out the service, especially for free. Otherwise I’ll just have to wait until next year’s StarMegaDo where we can live blog the flights and stream video from our first class picnics.
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Tags: A380, Airbus, Boeing, Delta, Flying, Frankfurt, frequent flyer, internet, Lufthansa, New York City, points
Posted by Seth on November 5, 2010 under News, Trip Reports |
When I saw the original itinerary for today’s festivities at StarMegaDo I thought that landing at Paine Field in Everett, Washington was going to be the highlight of the day. It is an airport that doesn’t see commercial airline service and flying in on a jet is quite rare unless you’re a Boeing test pilot. As we were panicking trying to find the driver of the luggage delivery company (that’s a whole ‘nother story) I was also chatting with one of the Boeing organizers and she let me in on an additional detail of the itinerary: We were going to be inside one of the 787 Dreamliner test aircraft.
Boeing has taken a few 787s on tour over the past few months but they don’t really let just anyone on board to look around. Indeed, several of our tour guides today noted that they had never been inside one either. Still, somehow we managed to convince them that it was a good idea for us to get inside. And they were incredibly gracious in allowing us to do so.
We bounded up the stairs and into the cabin and, in that moment, became part of the record books. We were the first non-industry folks to be inside the plane. With our near 200 participants touring the aircraft we also significantly increased the total number of people who have toured it in general. We didn’t have full run of the aircraft like we did on the Airbus A380 in Frankfurt, mostly because it is still a test aircraft and still mostly being used for making sure that things are really working as expected so that the planes can be delivered. It wasn’t even fully fitted with an interior.
It did have enough bits installed, however, to make our walk-through truly memorable. We got to poke our heads into the cockpit. It is all glass and huge digital screens rather than traditional instruments. Quite a change from the Bonanza I was sitting in earlier in the day during my Phoenix visit. The whole main console is LCD screens and the electronic flight deck is integrated into the cockpit rather than in huge binders. The cockpit is also rather spacious, with a couple jump-seats and standing room for another person or two.
The crew rest area – installed into the space above the passenger cabin – was surprisingly large. I suppose had they cut it to three beds from two it would have been incredibly cramped. Instead they appeared quite spacious and comfortable.
The overhead bins are apparently spec’d to hold four bags each at 12”x16”x25”. That’s HUGE. It didn’t look to me like the 25” dimension was real but I didn’t have a tape measure handy and they wouldn’t let me crawl up in one to check it out (the guy running that part actually noted that he’d been warned about me and overhead bins when I asked about that).
Perhaps most significant was that the aircraft was fitted with a few rows of economy class seating in a 3-3-3 configuration. There has been much concern in the frequent flyer community as most airlines announced their intentions to go 9-abreast on the 787 rather than the 8-abreast that Boeing originally claimed the aircraft was designed for. Sitting in the seats today I was pleasantly surprised by just how comfortable the cabin felt. I know that there’s a lot more to it than just seat width, but things might not be quite as dire as feared.
And that was it. The visit was short – only about 15-20 minutes – but incredibly fun and truly an amazing experience. And yet another first for StarMegaDo.
No photos (from us) because of corporate security policies but their folks took a few of our group that I hope to post soon.
Posted by Seth on November 2, 2010 under StarMegaDo, Trip Reports |
As we boarded the flight out of JFK last night we were treated to a bit of good and bad news. The flight time would be only 6:20 across to Frankfurt. Less sleep, but an early arrival so more lounge time once we did arrive. Win some, lose some.
The flight was reasonably pleasant and included a couple attempts (mostly unsuccessful) by Tommy to convince folks on board that Fernet Branca is not the devil’s elixir. I am decidedly in the not convinced camp but that didn’t stop me from joining the group in a toast or two.
Upon arrival we headed down to the Welcome Lounge in Frankfurt airport. With a few dozen showers and a pretty nice breakfast spread, the lounge is a great place to finish up a flight and to start your day in Frankfurt. Keeping with my personal time-honored tradition for fighting jetlag, I poured myself a beer from the tap and headed down to the shower room for a refreshing soak.
Back upstairs for another beer, some bacon & eggs and a fresh pretzel and I’m ready to go out and have a great StarMegaDo day!
n.b.- I’m participating in StarMegaDo 2010 all week long. There will be a few posts here as well, but the bulk of my online time will be on www.starmegado.com and twitter,com/starmegado. Follow over there for some great stories and adventures. Coming up later this afternoon, we climb around inside an LH A380 and later tonight dinner with executives from Star Alliance and several member airlines.
Posted by Seth on October 22, 2010 under frequent flyer, News, points |
StarMegaDo is a little slice of heaven for aerophiles. Basically a week-long party with airlines, aircraft manufacturers, frequent flyer programs and even some hotel loyalty program fun mixed in as well. Frankfurt for dinner with Lufthansa and Star Alliance? Yeah, we’ll go there and back overnight for that. And, sure, you could fly from Houston to Seattle on a scheduled flight, but you’d miss the party with US Airways (including CEO Doug Parker) and flying into Paine Field, north of Seattle, for the exclusive tour of the Boeing wide-body assembly facility. Did I mention that the domestic segments are on a chartered 757-300 where we get to set the menu and catering policies.
The event is pretty much sold out at this point, but it is still possible to score a free seat, thanks to Lufthansa.
You’ll join us for the whole trip – from Frankfurt to Houston to Phoenix to Seattle and back to Houston. Hotel and airfare are included for the lucky winner and the event covers almost every meal (and most of the booze) in between. This is truly a unique experience and one worth going for, especially since it is so easy to win.
Check out the rules here: http://www.lufthansa.com/online/portal/lh/us/nonav/local?nodeid=2795872. Then get on Twitter and go for the win.
All entries must be received by 6pm Eastern Time on Monday, October 25, 2010.
Good Luck!
Posted by Seth on August 4, 2010 under Trip Reports |
Sure, Continental recently announced that they’ll be operating the 787 Dreamliner on the Houston – Auckland route next fall, but in the mean time getting to Oceania using their program requires a bit of creativity. Fortunately they have some of the most flexible rules regarding award travel routing, particularly to that region. Assuming that the seats can be found, there are quite a few options available. And I’m taking advantage of many of them on an itinerary that I just booked to New Zealand this December.
Perhaps the most significant benefit that the OnePass program offers is the ability to book travel to Southeast Asia and Oceania either across the Atlantic or Pacific ocean. I have a couple friends who even managed to book both on the same trip but it seems that the computers have finally closed that loophole. Still, the ability to go transatlantic opens up a number of additional carriers and routing options for getting to that part of the world. With Singapore Air limiting premium cabin reward redemption on so many of their aircraft these days having such flexibility is important.
In the end I managed to book an eight segment award and I’m holding out hope that the last couple segments I need can be picked up as awards if the inventory opens up. As a platinum elite such changes are complimentary. If I cannot find the seats then the cost of buying that ticket is relatively low. So what’s the routing? On the outbound I fly:
- Newark – Munich: Lufthansa A340-600 First Class
- Munich – Bangkok: Thai Airways B747-400 First Class
- Bangkok – Melbourne: Thai Airways B777-300 Business Class
- Melbourne – Auckland: Air New Zealand A320 Economy Class
The return trip is similarly enjoyable:
- Sydney – Bangkok: Thai Airways A340-600 First Class
- Bangkok – Istanbul: THY Turkish B777-300 First Class
- Istanbul – Frankfurt: THY Turkish B737-800 Business Class
- Frankfurt – Newark: Lufthansa A340-300 First Class
I even get about 10 hours in Munich and about 8 hours in Bangkok to see some of the sights. Every single one of the flights will be a new line though none are new airlines. It will, however, be my first experience in a proper international first class cabin and I get to compare a few different products. At 160,000 points and $175 in taxes it is hard to complain about just about anything with this trip other than that it is so short. It is no surprise that Continental continues to report in its quarterly calls that they are experiencing increased costs related to award redemptions since the move to Star Alliance.
Oh, and why am I going to New Zealand anyways? Some friends are chartering a plane from Air New Zealand and we’re going on some pretty incredible tours. Plus I will get to participate in the Star Alliance annual meeting a bit. Should be a great time.
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Tags: 787, Air New Zealand, Airbus, Auckland, award, Boeing, Dreamliner, Frankfurt, Lufthansa, Munich, New Zealand, Singapore Air, Sydney, Thai Air, Thailand
