Part 1: Outbound Flights – LAX to Munich to Frankfurt
This whole trip was rather last minute.
I was trying to capitalize on my banked miles and a free weekend or
holiday with a trip in first class somewhere.
The difficulty in planning a trip like this is the availability of first
class is hard to come by, until a few days before a flight – Lufthansa and
Swiss are particularly difficult with this.
Thankfully, all the components fell into place the week before the 4th
of July – I found first class availability out to Frankfurt and back which
allowed me to fly on the brand new 747-8 Intercontinental, and try out the
First Class Terminal in Frankfurt again.
The 747-8 is a stretched and greener version of the iconic 747 and
Lufthansa is the first airline to fly it using it on their FRA to IAD
route. In the end, I was leaving LAX at
9pm on a Tuesday and returning home around 10:30pm Thursday – a quick trip with
more time in the air than on the ground at my destination.
I booked Supershuttle to LAX as I would be returning to Orange County
Airport and therefore arrive very early for my 9pm flight to Munich. The International Terminal at LAX has a
decent lounge for business and first class passengers which I knew I could
relax in until my flight was ready to board.
Check-in and security was a breeze and the lounge was nearly empty. Between the holiday and the late hour I
suppose most people were at home or had already departed. You used to be able to look out of the
terminal at the airport but with the expansion of the terminal, the windows
were all boarded up confining the space a bit.
There was a decent selection of alcohol and snacks including butternut
squash bisque and a Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc.
 |
| Star Alliance First Class Lounge |
 |
| Hot Buffet Items |
 |
| Alcohol and Other Snacks |
 |
| Pre-Flight Snack |
I headed over to the gate for my flight about 15 minutes prior to
boarding time. I would be flying on one
of the long-haul workforce aircraft of Lufthansa, the Airbus 340-600. I have flown in business class before on this
Munich bound flight and was looking forward to trying out first class. I was expecting the older style first class
seats, blue and grey motifs which turn into a flat bed but lack some more
contemporary first class comforts like enhanced inflight entertainment and
larger screens. I knew that Lufthansa
had started upgrading their first class cabins to something very similar to the
A380 I flew in February and was hoping I could have that on this flight. Lucky enough for me, I was able to enjoy the
new seats.
 |
| My Seat - 2A |
 |
| My TV |
The cabin feels very airy with the middle section of overhead storage
removes and the materials and finishes used for this section are quite
pleasing. I much prefer the earth tones
over the blue seats they used to have.
The seats do feel a bit narrower and closer together than the A380 due
to the cabin width. The seats themselves
have integrated controls for movement as well as the moveable ottoman. The IFE remote can be pulled out of the seat
as well. There are a number of
compartments on the side for storage of small items like your passport, wallet,
and headphones. One downside is that
there are no air vents for you to control so you have to ask the flight
attendants to adjust the temperature of the cabin.
 |
| Interior Signage |
 |
| Cabin Interior |
Shortly after sitting down and getting settled in my seat I was offered
champagne and macadamia nuts as the rest of the plane boarded. Only one other passenger was seated in first
class even though the cabin accommodates eight.
I was also given an amenity kit with toothbrush, earplugs, hair brush,
etc. along with a pair of pajamas which I changed into before we took off. The bathrooms are the same size of all the
rest on the aircraft although they are appointed with better finished and even
a leather covered bench which folds down over the toilet seat.
 |
| Champagne and Nuts |
 |
| Menu |
Once boarding was complete, we quickly taxied to the runway and
smoothly took off. I explored the IFE
offerings a bit and the movie and television content was decent with several
films I have yet to see. I was surprised
however that there was no Top Gear in the TV section. Almost every flight with on demand
programming has had at least one episode of the show… I decided to watch “Hunger Games” first which
I liked. I don’t know if it I would say
it lived up to the hype around it but it was enjoyable.
The meal service started about 30 minutes after takeoff. Both the food and wine menus for the flight
looked good and I started off with a nice, sweeter Riesling. I was wondering if they would give us the
full first class service as it was a late flight and there were only two of us
in the cabin, but they pulled out all the stops and all of the attendants were
proper yet friendly. I didn’t get any of
the German arrogance which can be associated with Lufthansa staff. An amuse bouche of orange slices and mango
started off the meal. The appetizers
were then rolled out on a cart for our selection and I decided to try it all –
caviar with the traditional fixings, citrus cure scallop with avocado puree,
teriyaki glazed beef skewer, and tomato and cheese plate. Since I wanted to try it all, the attendant
left the whole stacking rack at my seat.
The scallop was my least favorite of the dishes due to the cold
temperature and texture. The avocado
puree was good as well as the beef skewer.
The bread basket also came by
and the garlic bread is amazing – greasy, garlicy goodness.
 |
| Amuse Bouche |
 |
| Appetizer Selection |
The salad was up next with a bit too much arugula and parmesan for my
taste, but I finished it all.
 |
| Seasonal Salad |
The entrée course was next and I opted for the pork tenderloin with
sweet potato and leek with ginger-plum chutney.
I also switched wines to a fairly mellow Haut Medoc / Bordeaux. The pork was a little dry, but overall a very
enjoyable dish. And very filling when I
added in a few more pieces of garlic bread.
The chutney had an interesting sweetness to it and I don’t think I
would’ve guessed plum was the main ingredient.
 |
| Pork Tenderloin |
All of the desserts were brought out on a cart after my place setting
was cleared with a variety of options available including cheese and crackers,
green tea layer cake, and banana bread pudding.
I selected the bread pudding and vanilla ice cream and had a glass of an
excellent 2009 Bacchus Beerenauslese.
The dessert wine I had on my flight to Tokyo in February was better, but
this one was still very tasty.
 |
| Banana Bread Pudding |
As I was eating dinner, the cabin crew set up the seat across the aisle
from me as my bed for the flight. The
seat was lowered into its flat position and a mattress pad was added along with
a comforter. The privacy screens which
wrap around the head area of the seat as well as between seats were raised to
provide a more secluded environment.
Even with all those screens up, the cabin maintained an airy
atmosphere. Once I finished my movie and
another glass of dessert wine, I got into my bed for the night and got about
four or five hours of sleep. The extra
bedding and padding makes all the difference in sleep and being able to sleep
on your side or back.
 |
| My Bed for the Night |
About two hours before landing I woke up and headed over to my original
seat. I started watching “This Means
War” as the flight attendants prepared breakfast. I liked it for an action / rom-com – but
Reese Witherspoon is hard not to like. A
variety of cold options was offered, again on a cart, and I selected some fruit
and asked for some scrambled eggs and bacon which they cook fresh on the plane. The eggs were great and hit the breakfast
spot although the bacon could’ve been cooked a bit longer. Breakfast was served with freshly squeezed
orange juice as well.
 |
| Breakfast |
We landed a little late into Munich and deplaning was easy. Customs and Immigration outside of the US is
so much nicer. There were no lines, the
staff were friendly, and it was just one stop for the passport check. The departure level for my connection flight
was one story down and I headed into the first class lounge there and waited. I didn’t know that I could’ve gone into the
lounge on the upper level and they have their own passport control inspection
station in the lounge. Next time I will
remember that. The lounge has the same
finishes as the first class terminal, but is much smaller. One big plus for the lounge was the glasses
full of gummy bears and gummy colas.
 |
| Arrival in Munich |
I was only in the lounge for about 45 minutes before heading over to my
gate for the flight to Frankfurt. The
distance between Munich and Frankfurt is pretty small and the flight time was
less than 50 minutes. I was booked in
business class on the flight (they technically don’t have first class on
intra-Europe flight) and the seats are the same as economy class but they keep
the seat in the middle open. The plane
was perhaps 75% full as we took off from Munich. I managed to sleep for most of the flight and
missed the meal service which typically is a smaller snack, but much more than
what you receive in US domestic first class on short flights.
Landing at Frankfurt was smooth but we taxied a long way around the
airport and eventually ended up at a remote stand. We had to walk down stairs and board buses
to get to the terminal. While somewhat
tedious, the upside is you get to see a variety of planes from other airlines
up close. The bus ride to the terminal
took a few minutes and then I was outside the airport walking to my hotel.
 |
| Landing at a Remote Stand |
Finding your way to the Sqauire where the Hilton hotels are located is
a bit difficult as you turn and go down numerous hallways until you finally
reach the buildings. The check-in
process was quick and I was headed up to my room which was on the top floor
facing the airport. I could make out the
runways and several aircraft parked in the distance from Qantas, Virgin
Atlantic, Vietnam Airways, and Thai Airways.
I was in a very similar room my last time through Frankfurt and it was
nice to be staying here again. The staff
also recognized that I was from America and left me a muffin with an American
flag in it for Fourth of July. That was
a very nice touch for customer service.
 |
| Perfect for an American in Germany |
No comments:
Post a Comment