Review: Lufthansa First Class Frankfurt to Miami

Hatred of beer and bacon... Are you trying to get BOTH of your passports revoked?! 😉

"So the purser had a lengthy conversation with my dad, and then addressed me as “junior” and handed me the menu without saying much else."

Wow, that's pretty rude. Glad the rest of the service was much better than that.

I can understand the beer hatred, after all, you're basically still a kid and you tend to only drink alcoholic beverages that have some sweetness to them (champagne, baileys, etc)... but BACON?! How the hell can you hate bacon!

Question Lucky - when you book your LH F segments (and your *A trips as a whole), are you using UA MP miles and/or US DM miles (and thus you likely have an "alternate" option booked from the start before switching at T-15), or are you collecting in a LH M&M account (in which case you can book as early as you'd like)?

Nicely framed shot of Miami on approach!

Another great trip report Lucky and I looking forward to your Dad's Thoughts. What you were saying about being treated as a second class citizen rings true for me too - whenever I'm flying with my parents and one of the crew comes round to say hello (because of my EK Gold) they always assume it's my mum and dad that have the status, not me 🙂

I'm curious why you prefer A380 First class over 747-8i? If the sneakiest flight is IAH FRA I'm planning to grab one between Fra Iad or Fra IAH which one would you take?

Lucky, I started reading Boarding Area blogs a few months ago and find yours to be consistently the most informative, entertaining one available. You really have a flair for writing and you obviously make a great effort not to complain or offend - and I think you handle questions with empathy and tact. (I would still be steaming over the "Junior" remark that you passed on with just a bit of irony!) So, with all due respect and no agenda, I wonder what difference the age of the flight attendants make. Is it better or worse to have a middle aged crew? Thanks!

"It’s interesting to note that the safety video was played in German and Spanish, with English only available in subtitles."

Well, you were flying to Miami...;-)

@ UA-NYC -- In this case I redeemed Aeroplan miles. All the details can be found in the introduction post. 🙂

@ Goofy Foot -- Thanks! 🙂

@ Orlando Corp -- I slightly prefer the A380 because the plane is much quieter than the 747, and also I love how big the lavatories are.

@ Ben -- Happy I'm not alone. Thanks for reading!

@ Mairi -- Thanks so much for the kind words, I appreciate it! I think you're absolutely right, it has a lot to do with the age of the crew. I know with some US airlines where all flight attendants on longhaul flights seem to be 65+, anyone under 40 is considered to be a child.

Conversely on the outbound flight with the really young crew, they were really excited to be able to offer such a "premium" product, and it showed.

Ben, I have the same problem whenever I'm traveling with some "senior" to me (UA 1k @ 22 years old). The first few times it happened on United I couldn't believe it, but now it's comical.

FYI, and if I am not mistaken, it is against German law to take pictures of people and publish them without their consent. (the man sitting in that FC seat)
Technically you were still in Germany on a German carrier.

Just wanted to let you, and the readers know so that you don't get in trouble over there.

( if he is Herr Schläppig then ignore my sincere advice )
🙂

Lastly, Lucky, it is BOGNER kits in LH F.
http://en.bogner.com/
not Boegner
http://www.wolfmountainvineyards.com/about/the-boegner-family/
or
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Boegner

Sorry, the typo police are watching for you, especially when you are going on about LH F.

@ ffi -- Whoops, fixed. Thanks!

Datapoint: in August I took a taxi from the Hilton to the FCT. I highly advocate it.

No, the taxi driver didn't audibly grumble.

😉

Lucky. Am i seeing right. They served Champagne in a wine glass? Really?? I have refused to buy champagne before in a pub or restaurant when they have run out of flutes. I know first world problem.

@ john -- Yep, they do indeed serve champagne in wine glasses. I've always found that odd as well.

I might have gotten the wrong impression but I always get the feeling that international flights to or from Miami never have the same level of quality as flights to or from NYC for example. Maybe there is less competition but I always found service, food, beverages less amazing then other international flights. You just mentioned that food was just OK, amenity kit wasn't Rimowa, PJ was ok. I also don't see Krug champagne and looking at the wine list it is just OK in my opinion. Again, it might be me but Miami never wowed me in either business or first class.

"the two most vile substances on earth are beer and bacon" - GASP!

Great report as always! I had to laugh at the part where the purser treats you like a kid-funny how people can have preconceived notions like that-probably thought your Dad paid for and got the tickets!

"then addressed me as “junior” and handed me the menu without saying much else. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not in desperate need of socialization, though I do always find it a bit puzzling."

An involuntary DYKWIA moment, if you ask me 🙂

"some exotic Eastern European country"

How would you rank these Eastern European countries, from most exotic to least exotic?

Russia
Czech Republic
Poland
Hungary
Romania and Moldova
Croatia
Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia
Slovenia
Slovakia
Bulgaria
Ukraine and Belarus
Serbia
Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Albania, Kosovo, and Macedonia

Great report as ever. Looks like a very spacious cabin. However I must say the choice of food iisn't that appealing to me and seems quite fish-heavy! The beer and bacon would be fine though!

"two most vile substances on earth are beer and bacon"

Sacrilege! Heresy! Gott im Himmel, Lucky, are you trying to get your German passport revoked?

That was a LOT of caviar! Very generous indeed! I saw that First Class butter... I was wondering why that wasn't in German (or is First Class in German also called First Class?)

@john @lucky

Actually, sparkling wine served in traditional wine glasses isn't particularly wrong, per se, everyone usually just uses flutes because the lines of bubbles are more pronounced. A sommelier friend of mine actually preferred sparkling from normal white wine glasses because she could nose it better than from a flute.

Pretzels and a pretzel roll on the same service? Living large!

They charge first class passengers for wi fi?

Will your Dad's post be in German or use "zie" and "zey"? Any guesses to the number of "Benny" references? 😉

@ Joey -- It seems that they market it as "First Class" and not "Erste Klasse" to be more international. Even the bulkheads of their planes say "Lufthansa First Class" or "Lufthansa Business Class."

@ Peter -- Yep, they do indeed. The only airline I know of which waives the cost of wifi for first class passengers is Etihad.

Hey Lucky:

I'm just curious on your thoughts about many global airlines shunning the 747-8 for long rang twin jets.

I have been reading articles that sales for the new model at Boeing have been very lack luster, kind of makes me sad that such an icon of travel is heading to the wayside. I know Lufthansa has said they are committed to the 747, but lots of other airlines have been retiring their -400s for the 777/787 or A350. Also that apart from Emirates sales for the A380 aren't hot either.

Do you see this trend continuing?

@ chris -- Yep, have been noticing the same thing. I think the conclusion is basically that it's tough to turn a profit on a four engine plane due to the extra fuel burn. Singapore is retiring their A340-500s because they can't make it work, and that says a lot in my opinion.

Ultimately it's tough to compete with the economics and schedule flexibility of planes like the 787, so sadly that seems to be the way of the future.

Makes me sad, because the 747-8 is probably the most beautiful plane out there...

Any other impressions on the 748 itself? The seat actually looks a bit worn out for a brand new plane, were those taken off another aircraft type that got upgraded or something?

I booked on the same flight in F in June and they changed from 747-8 to 747-400 the last minute... I was sooooooo mad!

But finally went on IAD-FRA-HKG both on 747-8 F. I prefer 2A over 1A (1A you can hear 1K when he wakes up while you were sleeping)

Great shot of my office!! (Norwegian Cruise Line). I'm fortunate enough to have a corner office with view of all of the runway traffic!!

@ Lucky - just curious, did you eat separately from your dad just to take photos for us or is the table too small for two people? I liked that LX allows for two passangers to eat together so if you don't get seats together in the middle, you can still have a meal together.

@ Ivan Y -- There's no way to dine together in Lufthansa first class. The tray table is too small and the ottoman doesn't double as an extra seat.

@ Lucky - interesting. I noticed that the ottoman doesn't have a seat belt like I saw on LX but it looked big enough.

Lufthansa's new business class and the new business class is awesome but they are tooooooo slow to upgrade their fleet. Especially to the US. I am based in Orlando and would like to fly only direct to Frankfurt but because of the old business class on the A340 or 747-400 …. I sometimes rather fly to Washington to get on the 747-800 or fly United via Chicago or Washington. I really hope Lufthansa would also take care of their smaller destination airports like Orlando 🙂

sorry had an error in my previous comment… I meant to say: Lufthansa's new first class and new business class of course. I wrote: business class twice…. sorry 🙂

Hi @Lucky,
I really enjoy your reports.
Do you know if Lufthansa offers any meet and great service for a quick entry in the US?
Like Thai do in BKK, fast track through security or the like?
I'm flying LH F MUC-ORD and as a non US citizen I dread the migration lines and wonder if flying LH F speeds things up during arrival.

@ Eric -- They do offer a meet and greet service. However, the agents can't escort you to the front of the line at immigration, so they simply wait in line with you. Not all that useful.

I wonder if LH will start serving rare vintage aged wines in First Class. Maybe like $200-$300 bottles. Your thoughts on this? Second question, why does Cathay and LH serve Krug over Dom?