kluau88
Nov 11, 04, 12:38 am
Notes about this report....Sorry the formating isn't the greatest, but you can see the full report here (http://www.kluau.com/bcn.htm) with links to photos. It took me long enough to write everything up and I don't have the time to add a ton of UBB code.
Background
The wonderful folks at Flyertalk always come up with interesting places to meet up. In my daily check of the Community board the Barcelona event over Halloween caught my attention. Fares were pretty steep due to the intra-Europe segments so still with a boatload of United Miles, I checked with the Awards Desk. After a few calls and a few days of deciding I was able to secure a *A First Class Award on United and Lufthansa. I decided to go through Chicago as it would give me an opportunity to visit the newly opened Hard Rock Hotel and also meet up with some friends in the area.
SFO-ORD (UA 744 F) / ORD-FRA (LH 744 F) / FRA-BCN-FRA (LH AB C) / FRA-SFO (UA 744 F)
10/27 San Francisco Chicago (United #150)
Check-In / Security
I arrived at SFO around 1 PM for the 1:50 departure. I headed over to the First Class Check-in counters, but the line had about 20 people waiting so I figured I better use Easy Check-in. Easy Check-in was able to find my itinerary and within seconds I had my boarding pass in hand. There were only a few people waiting at the Elite security lines. It seems as if it's a standard now that if you refuse to take your shoes off you will automatically be selected for a secondary search.
United Red Carpet Club San Francisco
I made my way to the Red Carpet Club to get a quick drink. The Red Carpet Club in San Francisco is decent size. They offer fountain sodas and heavily watered down juice. They have a minimal selection of fruits and packaged mix. So happens there was a repesentative from Tenzig promoting email connectivity in-flight. They were handing out connectivity kits that included a free trial. From what the representative said the costs is $3.99 for every 2 hours.
Onboard
Prior to departure, water and orange juice were offered in plastic cups. The First Class cabin checked-in full. We departed ontime at 1:50 PM from runway 1R. We flew over Sacramento and Lake Tahoe towards the east. Following takeoff, drinks and warm nuts were offered. Once drinks and warm nuts were distributed another flight attendant came through the cabin taking meal orders. The offerings were a turkey deli salad or an oriental chicken salad. I decided to go for the Oriental Chicken Salad. About an hour after we left there was hot towel (more like cloth) service. The salad was okay and satisfied my hunger needs. Along with light lunch a package of Starbucks Guatemala Antigua ground coffee was also included. One of the flight attedants came throught he cabin with roughly one hour remaining to offer drinks again. Other than that the flight was pretty uneventful, but it was nice to try the United First Suite again! For those wondering about the loads, First was full, Business was full at least downstairs, and I'd say Economy was probably 95% full! Arrival was at gate B16.
W Lakeshore, Chicago (10/27)
Room Booked: 1 King Wonderful Non-Smoking Room With Signature Bed. City View, CD Player, High Speed Internet Connection, 12 X 26 feet. City View Room with Oversized Desk, Duvet Chaise Lounge, Armoire with 27" Color TV, Cotton Pique Robe. Rate Paid: $159.
I arrived around 9:30 PM and check-in was pretty efficient. I was assigned to room 1008, a spectacular lake view room with 2 double beds. Apparently they didn't even have any King Lake View rooms. I was not offered a room similar to what I booked. The rooms start on the 8th floor and go through the 33rd floor. It's hard to say if this was a downgrade from what I booked, but it's a toss up. The room has an Asian inspired theme. From what has been posted on Flyertalk, Aveda bath ammenities are supposed to be replaced with the Bliss product line. They were still using Aveda. I inquired with the front desk as to when they expect the Bliss product to be in place and was told Spring 2005. Ironically they were selling the Bliss products in the W Store.
10/28 Chicago - Frankfurt (Lufthansa 431)
Check-In / Security
Check-In for the Lufthansa flight took quite a while. There were 2 first class counters open for the Lufthansa flights at ORD. When i arrived at the Lufthansa counters there was only a couple of us in line. The line didn't move fast as it seemed like the people being helped had some problems with their tickets. Check-in took roughly about 10 minutes. I then proceeded back to the other end of the terminal where I used the United Elite Security line. Security lines weren't too crowded and security took about 5 minutes.
United First Class Lounge Chicago
The United First Class lounge in Chicago is right near gates C18 which is connected to the Red Carpet Club. The First Class lounge isn't large, but it isn't small either. There's a small selection of food consisting of sushi, sandwiches, fresh fruit, vegetables and dip, and instant noodles. There's also self serve non-alcholic and alcoholic beverages. There's wireless internet access available for a fee via T-Mobile.
Onboard
The Lufthansa flight departed from gate B17 and boarding began at 3:05 PM for the 3:45 PM departure. The first class cabin on the Lufthansa 744's is located in the upper deck. For this flight I decided to choose seat 82A, which was one of seats recommended on seatguru. Prior to departure, drinks were offered in real glassware and warm nuts were also offered. The flight attendants then proceeded with distributing amenity kits, socks, and sweaters. From what I was told slippers have been discontinued on all flights except those to/from Japan. Scheduled flight time for the Chicago - Frankfurt flight was 7 hours and 30 minutes. The upstairs cabin is pretty spacious but then again I wasn't surprised. Most of the 744's (Singapore, United, and Lufthansa) I've been on upstairs have some sort of side storage bins. These are nearly non-existent on Lufthansa's 744's. At best there is a small tray where you can store headphones, pens, and small stuff like that. While they may be lacking the side storage bins they do have drawers under the seats in front of you where you can store a laptop, bath tote, and magazines. The drawer is too small to hold any baggage. I didn't check to see what the options were for the passengers in the bulkhead or the exit row.
Drinks were served again about 30 minutes after departure. The purser then came through the cabin and greeted each passenger and distributed the wine and meal menus for the flight. The purser informed guests of the meal procedures for Lufthansa first passengers. In Lufthansa first you can eat when you want. From what I witnessed most passengers just ate when meal service started. A little while after the purser came through the cabin, meal orders were taken and warm towels were distributed. About 1 hour and 20 minutes into the flight, meal service proceeded. Table cloth and hot towels started the meal service. Following the distribution of hot towels and meal service, roses were distributed which was a nice touch to the meal service. The flight attendants then offered a selection of warm bread. Following the bread appetizers were then offered. Appetizers were served off a cart and were featured on a three-tiered serving dish. You could choose from one or all of the appetizers. Caviar was also an option. Initially I decided to try a couple of the appetizer offerings and the caviar. After appetizers were served, bread was offered again. As passengers finished with their appetizers, the flight attendants picked up the plates. Much to my surprise, they went around and offered more appetizers! This time I decided to try a couple of the other appetizers that I passed on during the first offering. I did get another serving of caviar. Following the appetizers, salads and new metal untensils were distributed. Entrees were then served which was followed by dessert. After dessert, coffee, tea, and liquor was offered throughout the cabin. The meal service ended with chocolates. Overall the meal service was enjoyable and the selections were filling and tasty.
Lufthansa First Seat
I found the Lufthansa first seat comfortable and had no problem sleeping for a few hours. The pillows could be a little more plush, but other than that I had no complaints about the seat. While it's not as flat as the United First Suite it was flat enough in my opinion. The Lufthansa first class configuration on the 744 is 2-2. The pitch was great enough that I had no problems getting out of my seat even when the passenger in the aisle had their seat fully reclined.
In-flight Entertainment
There is in-seat 110V power that doesn't require any special adapater. I had a few issues getting it to work, but for the most part it worked as promised. I don't know if the issues applied to all the seats or just mine. There are personal video players located in the arm rest of each set. From what I recall there were about 10 movie selections to choose from for the PVP. Besides these offerings there was the standard audio/video offerings. The video screen comes out of the side of the seat. I didn't really try much of the offerings as I wanted to get some sleep after the meal service as I would be arriving in Barcelona early in the day and activites weren't scheduled to start til 10 PM.
Arrival at Frankfurt
Arrival at Frankfurt is rather painless and there weren't many people around the terminal. I arrived at gate A36. From what I saw they let all the First class passengers disembark before any of the Business and Economy passengers. I was greeted by a friend who had arrived earlier in the morning on a United flight. From there we made our way to the United First Class lounge as we had some time to burn before our 9:55 AM Lufthansa flight Barcelona.
Frankfurt Lounges
United First Class Lounge
The First Class Lounge is average size. In the morning there was some cereal, pastries, and cookies. They also had some bagel bites with pizza toppings. There is a self serve fridge here and they also have alcohol if you need that. There is no wireless access in the lounge and there aren't many phones either. It should also be known that this is a smoke-free lounge. The lounge wasn't very busy and I'd say at most there were 7-10 people in there at any given time. While I was there, only 2 flights were departing (UA FRA-ORD / SQ FRA-JFK). There are showers in the connecting Frankfurt RCC for those who need to freshen up.
Senator Lounges
We visited a few of the Senator lounges throughout the Airport. They were larger than the First Class United lounge and much more busier. Finding a space to sit can be a challenge in the Senator lounges we visited. It seemed as if most of the Senator lounges offered beverages and snacks. There is wireless access Internet service in the Senator lounges and if I recall correctly service is provided by Vodafone. If you need to smoke, these lounges allow it. If you don't like cigarette smoke these lounges probably aren't for you. There were showers in the Senator lounges for the most part.
10/29 Frankfurt - Barcelona (Lufthansa #4450)
Boarding / Onboard
If I could use one word to describe the boarding process for the intra-Europe segments at FRA, it would be chaos. There is no pre-boarding for elites or premium fare passengers. Having been on an intra-UK flight on BMI earlier this year in Business class thanks to an operational upgrade, I knew not to expect much in this case. For those who've never done intra-Europe business class, it's not much more than Economy plus on United or More Room Throughout Coach on American. They do block the middle seat for you.
The flight time was a shade under 2 hours. The seating configuration in business on the A300 was 3-4-3. As the flight path took us over the Alps there was some heavy turbulence at times. Since I was in 2A I had a pretty good view of the snow-capped Alps. Predeparture drinks were served and meal service was also offered. I don't quite recall what the meal offering consisted off, but I do have to say it was interesting.
NH Calderon, Barcelona (10/29 - 11/1)
Since there are no Starwood properties in Barcelona, I decided to stay at the NH Calderon as the 110 rate was decent and many others that came to Barcelona were staying here. The room was pretty basic, but it did have a TV and desk. The bathroom was decent size. Overall the hotel wasn't bad but it wasn't the W either. Anyhow it was very convenient to Plaza Catalunya and if I returned to Barcelona, I probably would stay here again until the W Barcelona opens up in 2006.
Background
The wonderful folks at Flyertalk always come up with interesting places to meet up. In my daily check of the Community board the Barcelona event over Halloween caught my attention. Fares were pretty steep due to the intra-Europe segments so still with a boatload of United Miles, I checked with the Awards Desk. After a few calls and a few days of deciding I was able to secure a *A First Class Award on United and Lufthansa. I decided to go through Chicago as it would give me an opportunity to visit the newly opened Hard Rock Hotel and also meet up with some friends in the area.
SFO-ORD (UA 744 F) / ORD-FRA (LH 744 F) / FRA-BCN-FRA (LH AB C) / FRA-SFO (UA 744 F)
10/27 San Francisco Chicago (United #150)
Check-In / Security
I arrived at SFO around 1 PM for the 1:50 departure. I headed over to the First Class Check-in counters, but the line had about 20 people waiting so I figured I better use Easy Check-in. Easy Check-in was able to find my itinerary and within seconds I had my boarding pass in hand. There were only a few people waiting at the Elite security lines. It seems as if it's a standard now that if you refuse to take your shoes off you will automatically be selected for a secondary search.
United Red Carpet Club San Francisco
I made my way to the Red Carpet Club to get a quick drink. The Red Carpet Club in San Francisco is decent size. They offer fountain sodas and heavily watered down juice. They have a minimal selection of fruits and packaged mix. So happens there was a repesentative from Tenzig promoting email connectivity in-flight. They were handing out connectivity kits that included a free trial. From what the representative said the costs is $3.99 for every 2 hours.
Onboard
Prior to departure, water and orange juice were offered in plastic cups. The First Class cabin checked-in full. We departed ontime at 1:50 PM from runway 1R. We flew over Sacramento and Lake Tahoe towards the east. Following takeoff, drinks and warm nuts were offered. Once drinks and warm nuts were distributed another flight attendant came through the cabin taking meal orders. The offerings were a turkey deli salad or an oriental chicken salad. I decided to go for the Oriental Chicken Salad. About an hour after we left there was hot towel (more like cloth) service. The salad was okay and satisfied my hunger needs. Along with light lunch a package of Starbucks Guatemala Antigua ground coffee was also included. One of the flight attedants came throught he cabin with roughly one hour remaining to offer drinks again. Other than that the flight was pretty uneventful, but it was nice to try the United First Suite again! For those wondering about the loads, First was full, Business was full at least downstairs, and I'd say Economy was probably 95% full! Arrival was at gate B16.
W Lakeshore, Chicago (10/27)
Room Booked: 1 King Wonderful Non-Smoking Room With Signature Bed. City View, CD Player, High Speed Internet Connection, 12 X 26 feet. City View Room with Oversized Desk, Duvet Chaise Lounge, Armoire with 27" Color TV, Cotton Pique Robe. Rate Paid: $159.
I arrived around 9:30 PM and check-in was pretty efficient. I was assigned to room 1008, a spectacular lake view room with 2 double beds. Apparently they didn't even have any King Lake View rooms. I was not offered a room similar to what I booked. The rooms start on the 8th floor and go through the 33rd floor. It's hard to say if this was a downgrade from what I booked, but it's a toss up. The room has an Asian inspired theme. From what has been posted on Flyertalk, Aveda bath ammenities are supposed to be replaced with the Bliss product line. They were still using Aveda. I inquired with the front desk as to when they expect the Bliss product to be in place and was told Spring 2005. Ironically they were selling the Bliss products in the W Store.
10/28 Chicago - Frankfurt (Lufthansa 431)
Check-In / Security
Check-In for the Lufthansa flight took quite a while. There were 2 first class counters open for the Lufthansa flights at ORD. When i arrived at the Lufthansa counters there was only a couple of us in line. The line didn't move fast as it seemed like the people being helped had some problems with their tickets. Check-in took roughly about 10 minutes. I then proceeded back to the other end of the terminal where I used the United Elite Security line. Security lines weren't too crowded and security took about 5 minutes.
United First Class Lounge Chicago
The United First Class lounge in Chicago is right near gates C18 which is connected to the Red Carpet Club. The First Class lounge isn't large, but it isn't small either. There's a small selection of food consisting of sushi, sandwiches, fresh fruit, vegetables and dip, and instant noodles. There's also self serve non-alcholic and alcoholic beverages. There's wireless internet access available for a fee via T-Mobile.
Onboard
The Lufthansa flight departed from gate B17 and boarding began at 3:05 PM for the 3:45 PM departure. The first class cabin on the Lufthansa 744's is located in the upper deck. For this flight I decided to choose seat 82A, which was one of seats recommended on seatguru. Prior to departure, drinks were offered in real glassware and warm nuts were also offered. The flight attendants then proceeded with distributing amenity kits, socks, and sweaters. From what I was told slippers have been discontinued on all flights except those to/from Japan. Scheduled flight time for the Chicago - Frankfurt flight was 7 hours and 30 minutes. The upstairs cabin is pretty spacious but then again I wasn't surprised. Most of the 744's (Singapore, United, and Lufthansa) I've been on upstairs have some sort of side storage bins. These are nearly non-existent on Lufthansa's 744's. At best there is a small tray where you can store headphones, pens, and small stuff like that. While they may be lacking the side storage bins they do have drawers under the seats in front of you where you can store a laptop, bath tote, and magazines. The drawer is too small to hold any baggage. I didn't check to see what the options were for the passengers in the bulkhead or the exit row.
Drinks were served again about 30 minutes after departure. The purser then came through the cabin and greeted each passenger and distributed the wine and meal menus for the flight. The purser informed guests of the meal procedures for Lufthansa first passengers. In Lufthansa first you can eat when you want. From what I witnessed most passengers just ate when meal service started. A little while after the purser came through the cabin, meal orders were taken and warm towels were distributed. About 1 hour and 20 minutes into the flight, meal service proceeded. Table cloth and hot towels started the meal service. Following the distribution of hot towels and meal service, roses were distributed which was a nice touch to the meal service. The flight attendants then offered a selection of warm bread. Following the bread appetizers were then offered. Appetizers were served off a cart and were featured on a three-tiered serving dish. You could choose from one or all of the appetizers. Caviar was also an option. Initially I decided to try a couple of the appetizer offerings and the caviar. After appetizers were served, bread was offered again. As passengers finished with their appetizers, the flight attendants picked up the plates. Much to my surprise, they went around and offered more appetizers! This time I decided to try a couple of the other appetizers that I passed on during the first offering. I did get another serving of caviar. Following the appetizers, salads and new metal untensils were distributed. Entrees were then served which was followed by dessert. After dessert, coffee, tea, and liquor was offered throughout the cabin. The meal service ended with chocolates. Overall the meal service was enjoyable and the selections were filling and tasty.
Lufthansa First Seat
I found the Lufthansa first seat comfortable and had no problem sleeping for a few hours. The pillows could be a little more plush, but other than that I had no complaints about the seat. While it's not as flat as the United First Suite it was flat enough in my opinion. The Lufthansa first class configuration on the 744 is 2-2. The pitch was great enough that I had no problems getting out of my seat even when the passenger in the aisle had their seat fully reclined.
In-flight Entertainment
There is in-seat 110V power that doesn't require any special adapater. I had a few issues getting it to work, but for the most part it worked as promised. I don't know if the issues applied to all the seats or just mine. There are personal video players located in the arm rest of each set. From what I recall there were about 10 movie selections to choose from for the PVP. Besides these offerings there was the standard audio/video offerings. The video screen comes out of the side of the seat. I didn't really try much of the offerings as I wanted to get some sleep after the meal service as I would be arriving in Barcelona early in the day and activites weren't scheduled to start til 10 PM.
Arrival at Frankfurt
Arrival at Frankfurt is rather painless and there weren't many people around the terminal. I arrived at gate A36. From what I saw they let all the First class passengers disembark before any of the Business and Economy passengers. I was greeted by a friend who had arrived earlier in the morning on a United flight. From there we made our way to the United First Class lounge as we had some time to burn before our 9:55 AM Lufthansa flight Barcelona.
Frankfurt Lounges
United First Class Lounge
The First Class Lounge is average size. In the morning there was some cereal, pastries, and cookies. They also had some bagel bites with pizza toppings. There is a self serve fridge here and they also have alcohol if you need that. There is no wireless access in the lounge and there aren't many phones either. It should also be known that this is a smoke-free lounge. The lounge wasn't very busy and I'd say at most there were 7-10 people in there at any given time. While I was there, only 2 flights were departing (UA FRA-ORD / SQ FRA-JFK). There are showers in the connecting Frankfurt RCC for those who need to freshen up.
Senator Lounges
We visited a few of the Senator lounges throughout the Airport. They were larger than the First Class United lounge and much more busier. Finding a space to sit can be a challenge in the Senator lounges we visited. It seemed as if most of the Senator lounges offered beverages and snacks. There is wireless access Internet service in the Senator lounges and if I recall correctly service is provided by Vodafone. If you need to smoke, these lounges allow it. If you don't like cigarette smoke these lounges probably aren't for you. There were showers in the Senator lounges for the most part.
10/29 Frankfurt - Barcelona (Lufthansa #4450)
Boarding / Onboard
If I could use one word to describe the boarding process for the intra-Europe segments at FRA, it would be chaos. There is no pre-boarding for elites or premium fare passengers. Having been on an intra-UK flight on BMI earlier this year in Business class thanks to an operational upgrade, I knew not to expect much in this case. For those who've never done intra-Europe business class, it's not much more than Economy plus on United or More Room Throughout Coach on American. They do block the middle seat for you.
The flight time was a shade under 2 hours. The seating configuration in business on the A300 was 3-4-3. As the flight path took us over the Alps there was some heavy turbulence at times. Since I was in 2A I had a pretty good view of the snow-capped Alps. Predeparture drinks were served and meal service was also offered. I don't quite recall what the meal offering consisted off, but I do have to say it was interesting.
NH Calderon, Barcelona (10/29 - 11/1)
Since there are no Starwood properties in Barcelona, I decided to stay at the NH Calderon as the 110 rate was decent and many others that came to Barcelona were staying here. The room was pretty basic, but it did have a TV and desk. The bathroom was decent size. Overall the hotel wasn't bad but it wasn't the W either. Anyhow it was very convenient to Plaza Catalunya and if I returned to Barcelona, I probably would stay here again until the W Barcelona opens up in 2006.