I love Lufthansa. Have I mentioned that yet? After being driven from my connecting Air Dolomiti flight to the terminal, I was escorted up to the First Class Lounge. Once there, the lounge attendant greeted me and informed me that my flight would be leaving from a gate, so I wouldn’t be driven to the…
Continue reading: Review: Lufthansa First Class A330 Munich To Washington Dulles
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@lucky I flew Munich to Boston 3 weeks ago and had the exact same experience. I even have some of the exact same pictures (the first one of the lounge) haha. Only person in first class and same menu. The crew was also amazing.
Great report.
Couple of things: The menu on your MUC-IAD flight was identical to the menu on my FRA-IAD flight last week, which I suppose makes sense.
The LH ground experience at IAD is unparalleled for IAD and for many airports globally for that matter. We had several in first on my flight (747-8) and we were scooped up on disembarkation, placed on a small bus, taken to the terminal and entering through a side door (LONG lines for those without Global Entry), I went to the loo, came out, and my bags were being pulled off the conveyer as I walked up. They plunked them on my cart and I was out of customs in 30 seconds. Door open to exiting the airport was < 10 minutes. Just terrific.
Oh, and I should point out that I had a CX flight the week before last where I was the only one in first on a 744. I had nine pillows. That was the best flight ever. 🙂
Did you happen to notice that QR code on the piece of chocolate that was on top of your dessert? Did you try to scan it?
Ben -- great trip report as always, and am really looking forward to all the new ones coming this month. I'm particularly excited by your upcoming trip on Jet -- do they offer first class anymore at all? If so, why aren't you flying that as I think you said you were flying business.
One tiny nit -- did you mean to say the pre-arrival snacks are "purely" executed or "poorly" executed? I suppose either could work but tend to think you meant the latter.
@ django -- Good catch, fixed, thanks! As far as first class goes, Jet Airways only offers first class on a couple of routes operated by their 777-300ER, none of which they operate to North America, unfortunately.
So they apparently provide every portion of food on the menu just for the single passenger. I assume they throw the remaining food items away after the flight is completed? I'm amazed at the excess of first class at times. I am, however, excited to fly them soon.
@ Romer -- The first class cabin was catered for four passengers. Don't worry, I don't think it went to waste -- the crew simply ate well. 🙂
Was it within 10 degrees F of freezing at take-off? Some airlines' procedures require spooling the engines up to eliminate the possibility that there is any ice in the engines.
You missed the bit about LH Flynet being 6 Mbps, plenty fast for Skype video conferences! The purser can tell you how many are connected at one time. 20 euros is cheap for this kind of access.
You're right about having the F cabin to yourself, I had that FRA-BOM 747/400. A nice aspect is you can ask that all announcements are shut off from the upstairs except incase of a water landing or once we arrive. No bs announcements from the flightdeck, no meal info via pa, no duty free, no stow your footrest blah blah. I wonder how LH is doing with so much open F seats these days.
It's amazing when it happens though
There were some truly beautiful photos. It looked like a potentially stormy day in Munich; was there much chop on takeoff? And where was Tiffany? I must say that I enjoyed her take on LH First. Finally, out of curiosity, do you usually converse with the flight attendants entirely in German or do you switch between German and English?
Wonder if they have felt the departure of UA frequent fliers (like myself) in having lighter C loads and less upgrades to first. Not one 1K on a business fare into a United hub with a GPU to spare?
@ Imperator -- Was surprisingly smooth on the climb out, despite how the weather looked. Tiffany stayed in Sicily. On Lufthansa I usually exclusively converse with the crews in German.
@ danny -- Nope, redeemed Aeroplan miles. More details on that here:
https://onemileatatime.com/waiting-space-open-doesnt-work/
Wifi on my recent United FRA-SFO flight was $17, so 20 euros seems a bit steep.
While at EWR they deplane at a jetbridge I also had an agent waiting for first class passengers who walked to baggage claim in January. FC bags were also out in maybe 5 min with someone else waiting to take them off the belt Since I had global entry I was told I would be even faster than first class escort.
I don't think its just IAD they are stepping up their game...I don't remember their being an escort at JFK 3 years ago.
Somewhat silly question, I know the FCT in Frankfurt has a great whiskey/scotch selection, does the FCL in Munich have anything similar?
Nice report! I would like to have first to myself one day! I wonder if days of the week matter and as well as route to determine first class load. This route, MUC-IAD, would seem to be less full in first than say MUC-JFK, eh? or maybe even IAD-NRT vs ORD/JFK-NRT
Don't you find it a bit awkward to have a cabin all to yourself? I've never had the opportunity to try that, (un)fortunately, or even first class, for that matter, but even in a business class cabin that has too few passengers, I find that the flight attendants become too 'free' and give me too much attention for my liking. I guess the ideal for me would be ~50% occupancy.
Had a similar thing happen with only one other pax aboard LH F to YVR - got more than a double dose of caviar and food that day! Awesome.
Also agree that LH catering is so odd sometimes, but in this case you should have had the white asparagus and Black Forest ham - a classic from my childhood.
I'm concerned about the empty F cabins. Doesn't bode well for future predictions. I'd like to hear about a fuller cabin to feel more comfortable about future viability.
Any idea why Gary Leff hasn't had a great flight with Lufthansa? I've heard that it matters whether you are German or not.
Lucky, does the ground staff at Dulles offer any special services for people in first/HON departing from IAD? Do they at least escort people to the LH lounge?
I don't suppose you could make higher-res pics of the dessert available? I, too, would like to know what the QR code says.
How do you like the champagnes on offer this month? How do the Tattinger and Veuve compare?
Hey Ben, Andy here (we emailed re light aircraft flight) From my airline flying days, and current flying experience.... With what looked from the photos like convective conditions in the area (storms) there is often windshear possible, reported, or forecast. This is when the wind changes direction or speed rapidly over short distance or time, with the potential on take off for a performance enhancing headwind dropping off dramatically or switching to a tailwind, very hazardous for a heavy jet on take off. In extreme conditions the departure would be delayed (if I was up the front anyway!) But probably Lufthansa would have SOP (standard operating procedure) mandating when any windshear possibility, no reduced thrust take off (less than full thrust is normal when not super heavy, in high temperatures) and perhaps max performance take off which would call for full thrust which can take up to 10 seconds on a huge engine, before releasing the brakes. Overkill but safe and a one size fits all type procedure. My geek answer and an educated guess sir. Let me know if you want to fly one day!
@ Aeroman380 -- There are definitely some routes that are more consistently full in first class than others. For example, generally I find Munich flights have lighter loads in first class than Frankfurt flights. That being said, getting a "private" cabin really comes down to sheer luck as opposed to anything you can plan.
@ Charlie -- There are some flight attendants that do make it awkward, but I find others are able to make it pleasant, and this was one of those good crews.
@ wwk5d -- Haven't done it in a while, though I do believe they escort you through security.
@ Digital01 -- They're not quite as good as Krug, but still really enjoyed them. In particular the Veuve La Grande Dame.
If I purchase a full price Z fare business class ticket on LH, will I have lounge access in all cities I fly? CLT-MUN-DEL
The long runup at takeoff may be due to the plane's first flight after maintenance and the log will require runup and observation of pressures, temps, etc.
" We must have had the engines at near full throttle for 15 seconds before the brakes were released and we began our takeoff roll. Anyone know why that would be? "
This is because you had two air crafts taking off before you.
When an airplane takes off it generates "wakes" from their wings. It is a rotating column of air that is generated due to the difference in air pressure which is responsible for lifting the airplane.
Flying into a wake is extremely dangerous because it will flip the airplane upside down. Hence the pilots wait for it to dissipated before they can take-off. Hence the delay.
woo we. ..my English is bad, but I saw your pages , it's amazing, your expirience, you are open my eyes, y think exists and other "world"..Thanks you are incredible, I love to travel, the best for you
I wonder if Lufthansa gives you appropriate spoons for caviar? I mean, one of the very fundamentals of genuine caviar eating is to not handle it with metals of any kind, because it alters the taste. But I can't see any bone spoon, or even a plastic spoon in any pictures from the caviar service.
A private F cabin is truly wonderful. Last month the other half and I had a TG 744 F cabin all to ourselves on a day flight from BKK-SYD. It was bliss!