Lufthansa First Class 747-8 Frankfurt To Boston Review

Lufthansa First Class 747-8 Frankfurt To Boston Review

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We had an early morning flight from Vienna to Frankfurt, which I won’t be reviewing given that intra-Europe flights are mostly the same. We had a roughly three hour layover, so on arrival we walked to the First Class Terminal, a process that took about 20 minutes from the time we arrived at our gate.

We hung out there for a couple of hours, until the PA fetched us at 10:15AM and told us our flight was ready for boarding. The three of us were being transported alone from the FCT to the plane (if there are other first class passengers or HON Circle members, they’ll typically transport everyone together) in a Mercedes van. The ride took about five minutes, and as usual, I was like a kid in a candy store driving across the tarmac.

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Transfer from First Class Terminal to plane

While I love the A380 from a passenger comfort standpoint, the 747 will always be the queen of the skies, so as an aviation geek there’s not a plane in the world I’m more in awe standing next to.

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Lufthansa 747-8 taking us to Boston

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Lufthansa 747-8 taking us to Boston

Once we got out of the car we walked towards the jet bridge, where we took the elevator up a level, and then the driver introduced us to the crew. Before I get onto the flight review, let me say that I reviewed Lufthansa’s 747-8 first class a bit over a year ago, so I’ll keep this review mostly about the soft product rather than the hard product.

Lufthansa 422
Frankfurt (FRA) – Boston (BOS)
Thursday, December 15
Depart: 10:55AM
Arrive: 1:10PM
Duration: 8hr15min
Aircraft: Boeing 747-8
Seat: 3D (First Class)

We boarded through door L1, where the friendly purser handed us over to the first class crew. Lufthansa 747-8 first class cabin is pretty special, as it has just eight seats in the nose of the plane. There are three rows with one seat on each side, and then there’s a single set of two seats in the center of the third row.

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Lufthansa 747-8 first class

Since the three of us were traveling together, I figured we’d sit in row three, as it was likely we’d have the whole row to ourselves (meaning that one of the seats would stay empty).

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Lufthansa 747-8 first class, seat 3A

I sat in 3D, which is the left-side aisle seat in the center section.

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Lufthansa 747 first class cabin

While seat 3C doesn’t feel as private as some other seats given that you sort of feel like you’re “in” the aisle, it’s nice to be able to sit immediately next to someone.

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Lufthansa 747 first class, seat 3C

I wasn’t impressed by the crew on the outbound flight from Dallas to Frankfurt. It’s not that the flight attendant serving us was rude, but rather she just wasn’t especially warm, and didn’t seem like she wanted to be there. Conversely, this crew was incredible, probably one of the best I’ve ever had on Lufthansa. The two ladies working first class were so indescribably sweet and professional.

Once settled in, the crew first offered us the typical amenities. The slippers were placed by my feet, and the pajamas and Rimowa amenity kit on my ottoman.

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Lufthansa first class slippers

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Lufthansa first class pajamas and amenity kit

We were also offered pre-departure beverages. I had a glass of champagne, while Ford was being good and had sparkling water. Both were served with tasty macadamia nuts.

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Lufthansa first class pre-departure beverages

We were then offered a warm towel.

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Lufthansa first class pre-departure warm towel

By 10:45AM it was announced that boarding was completed, and there were a total of three other first class passengers, meaning there were two empty seats. There was an American couple in row two, and then a German guy in row one.

At this point Captain Hans added his welcome aboard, informing us of our flight time of 7hr20min to Boston. He said the weather in Boston was “nice,” and followed that up by saying it was -15 degrees and the winds were 50km per hour. Hmmm….

At 11:05AM we began our pushback, at which point the purser added his welcome aboard and the safety video was screened.

Our taxi to the runway was lengthy, and once at the runway there was a queue for takeoff, so it was 11:30AM before we were airborne.

The seatbelt sign was turned off less than 10 minutes after takeoff, and about five minutes after that purser Alexander came through the cabin to introduce himself and distribute menus. He highlighted some of the holiday dishes on the menu, and highly recommended the roast goose, which he said was rich but delicious.

As usual on Lufthansa, you can dine whenever you want, though we decided to have lunch right away. The menu read as follows:

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Service began with the amuse bouche, which consisted of shrimp with carrot. I had another glass of the lovely Laurent-Perrier Grand Siecle to accompany it.

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Lufthansa first class lunch — amuse bouche

Once that was cleared my table was set. There was an extensive selection in the breadbasket, and I selected a piece of garlic bread and pretzel bread.

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Lufthansa first class lunch — table setting

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Lufthansa first class lunch — pretzel and garlic bread

Once tables were set, the caviar trolley was rolled down the aisle, and I was offered a generous portion.

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Lufthansa first class lunch — caviar service

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Lufthansa first class lunch — caviar service

After that the appetizer trolley was rolled through the cabin. Much to my surprise, all three appetizers that I had were excellent. This included beef carpaccio, goat cream cheese with avocado, and spiced salmon with cucumber.

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Lufthansa first class lunch — appetizer course

After that I was offered a kalamansi sorbet as a palate cleanser. I don’t remember ever being offered a sorbet on Lufthansa before.

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Lufthansa first class lunch — sorbet

For the main course I had the fried sea bass, which they gladly prepared without bacon, per my preference. It was good for what it was, even though the preparation as such wouldn’t be my first choice.

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Lufthansa first class lunch — fried sea bass

Ford had the roast goose, which he really enjoyed.

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Lufthansa first class lunch — roast goose

For dessert I had the hazelnut chocolate cake with with mango and ice cream. It was really good.

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Lufthansa first class lunch dessert — hazelnut chocolate cake

To finish off the meal we were offered cute Christmas cookies.

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Lufthansa first class Christmas goodies

The entire meal service was done just under two hours into the flight, which was a pretty good pace. I can’t say enough good things about the flight attendants serving us. Both of them were so sweet and professional. They genuinely gave the impression that they wanted to be there to a degree that you don’t often see on a western airlines. They were a class act.

I asked to have my bed made in seat 3K, and while they did that, I quickly headed to the lavatory. There are two lavatories located behind the first class cabin on the 747-8. They’re both quite spacious and have windows.

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Lufthansa 747-8 first class lavatory

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Lufthansa 747-8 first class lavatory

Once back in the cabin my bed was already made, and the privacy partition was up. While Lufthansa’s first class seat ins’t the most private in the world, the bedding is excellent, and it offers enough private thanks to the shield you can raise.

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Lufthansa first class bed

I managed to nap for a couple of hours, which is all I hoped for, since I wanted to be able to get a good night of sleep in Boston on arrival.

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Lufthansa first class bed

Within minutes of waking up, the flight attendant appeared in the cabin to see if I wanted anything. I ordered a cappuccino, which was served with a cute santa chocolate.

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Lufthansa first class cappuccino

I connected to the Wi-Fi and worked for a couple of hours. Lufthansa’s inflight Wi-Fi is among the best out there, as it’s reasonably priced and has no data caps.

About an hour before landing it was “last call” for food. I wasn’t especially hungry, but figured I’d have something since I was hoping to sleep just a couple of hours after landing.

The pre-arrival snack menu read as follows:

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I had a mixed leaf salad with eggplant and feta, which hit the spot.

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Lufthansa first class snack — mixed leaf salad with eggplant and feta

For dessert I had the apple pie with cinnamon crumble, which was also very good.

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Lufthansa first class dessert — apple pie with cinnamon crumble

After the meal I had a coffee with milk.

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Lufthansa first class coffee

About 25 minutes before landing we began our descent, and moments after that the captain turned on the seatbelt sign.

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View approaching Boston

Our approach was rough, as you’d expect with 50km per hour winds and below freezing temperatures.

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View approaching Boston

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View approaching Boston

So while there was a lot of side to side swaying, we had a gorgeously smooth touchdown on runway 33L at 1PM.

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View approaching Boston

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Final approach into Boston

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Taxiing Boston Airport

From there we had just a very short taxi to our arrival gate. It was so windy in Boston that you could feel the plane swaying in the wind even as we were parked at the gate.

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Arrival gate Boston Airport

We bid farewell to the crew, cleared immigration quickly thanks to Global Entry, and were off to our hotel.

Lufthansa 747-8 first class bottom line

This flight was flawless. The 747-8 is a gorgeous plane with an intimate first class cabin, the crew was exceptional, and the food was among the best I’ve had catered out of Germany on Lufthansa. What a fantastic flight.

Conversations (30)
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  1. Vanessa Guest

    The roast goose looks pretty tasty! Seems like the meal service was pretty good, although could do with a bit more privacy for the bed.

  2. Ken Guest

    How did you book? Points from Aeroplan?

  3. Justin H Gold

    That was a huge serving of caviar .

  4. Sir Jim Guest

    Lucky - How do I find a flight using the 747-8? I spent 30 min looking at different days and different flights and did not find a 747?

  5. CJ Guest

    @Donald - And don't forget the pretzel bread and garlic bread. That can be predicted 100% of the time!

    Sorry Lucky - just giving you a hard time. Keep up the good work and I love reading your reviews!

    Don't keep us in suspense - did you wear your "sneakers" on this flight in F on Lufthansa? Wearing "sneakers" and eating caviar seem to go hand-in-hand.

  6. Donald Guest

    Thank God you travel with Ford more often now, otherwise we'd never see or hear in your reviews about any dish except fish! LOL...to each his own, but looking at the menus, I can predict correctly 99% of the time which items you will select.

  7. MB Member

    I had the same goose dish flying business from FRA-JFK, same dish, different presentation
    Really very good

  8. J Dee Guest

    @RobPHX Agree 100% & I'd give the sorbet a miss, too. Give me SIA's book the cook any day

  9. Christian Guest

    Pity the poor Patagonian Toothfish. Just living leisurely life as most fish do, when some marketing type renames it as Chilean Sea Bass. As a result, the market explodes and the overfishing begins. Of course, I suppose I shouldn't talk, since I've been eating offered caviar on planes since the days of Pan Am.

  10. CM Guest

    Spewin, no airshow photo and no offend-able item. Usually each report has at least one point that someone takes offense at which generates discussion in the comments.

  11. RobPHX Guest

    Ugh! The dinner menu sounds awful other than the bread, sorbet. and dessert. Remind me to order up a steak from United the next time I fly LH in a premium cabin. Sounds way more appetizing to my simple palate.

  12. Nicky Guest

    Ben, in your intro, why not include how you got the ticket: paid for it, used miles, combination of cash/miles, etc.

  13. Bob Guest

    @ Dan
    Ben rarely eats pork. He said, a few months ago, young porks are cute so that he is not keen to eat them.
    I can understand.

    @ Credit
    It is lemon. The green one here probably. The cloth gives you the juice and restrains the pips.

  14. Jason Guest

    Ben,

    When you transferred from GA to LH at LHR did you have checked in baggage? If yes did GA in CGK check you in all the way from CGK to BOSTON?.

    I'M in a situation where I have to connect from :
    GA F CGK AMS
    LX J AMS ZRH ORDER
    Can can my bags interline GA to LX?.

  15. Steve S. Guest

    Flying the 747-8 is one of my next redemption goals.

  16. Nate New Member

    Great shot of Cape Ann, lucky.

  17. Joediver Member

    What!?!? No new Ducks?

  18. Aditya New Member

    Ben, I was eagerly waiting for a detailed review for this sector as you were flying on B748 on LH!!!

  19. Alex Guest

    Ben, was this the second flight on Lufthansa where you had the first class cabin to yourself and/or who you were traveling with (the first was on the FRA - IAD on LH in 2014)?
    Also, does LH First still cater Wiener Würstchen as it did in 2010?

  20. Shashank Atreya Guest

    @Ben the link to the review of Aloft Boston seems broken. Is it out? I don't see it.on the homepage. It is hyperlinked on the list though

  21. Matthew Member

    Haven't been able to fly LH in December in a few years. Do they still have the "Lufthansa Christmas" CD in the audio section of the IFE? I have always wanted a copy of that - great music from around Europe.

  22. Marko Guest

    Thanks for the review though I wish it was for business class. I grabbed one of their mileage bargain deals and am flying to boston from zurich via frankfurt in business in may. (55k miles)

    Any clue what kind of food amenities are available in business?

  23. Angel Member

    @Speedbird747: 1A or 1K IMHO

    @Credit: it is half a lime. The cloth catches any seeds when you squeeze it.

  24. CJ Guest

    Great review!! Thank you for not showing us a picture of your "sneakers".

  25. Stuart Guest

    Where's the wine list?

  26. Credit Guest

    How come no photo of the crew this time. Why only for Garuda and no other flights?

    What's the cloth thing with the caviar?

  27. Speedbird747-236RB21delftbluedaybreak Guest

    I enjoyed the roast goose as well a few weeks ago to GRU. Pretty damn good. Flying to EZE on 748i next week; what's the best seat in the nose if you are flying solo?

  28. Josh Member

    Why would below freezing temperatures cause a rough approach?

Featured Comments Most helpful comments ( as chosen by the OMAAT community ).

The comments on this page have not been provided, reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser, and it is not an advertiser's responsibility to ensure posts and/or questions are answered.

Vanessa Guest

The roast goose looks pretty tasty! Seems like the meal service was pretty good, although could do with a bit more privacy for the bed.

0
Ken Guest

How did you book? Points from Aeroplan?

0
Justin H Gold

That was a huge serving of caviar .

0
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