Miles & More (Lufthansa, Austrian, Swiss, and other partners) - Mildly disappointing business class from Frankfurt

I flew business class with a colleague from Frankfurt to Boston the week before last. I was a little surprised at a combination of service and technology issues that were OK but not great. [I flew the BA day flight on the way over to London and then BA to Zurich.] I would say that service was very workmanlike -- only one flight attendant smiled at all. Another flight attendant said, "I only have one ravioli and the rest is cold fish. You'll have to decide who gets the ravioli." Good that we got the choice, but a little brusque in style. And, it was very hard to get sparkling water refilled. So, service and food OK but definitely nothing to write home about. Both better on AA and BA, I would say.

Worse, from my standpoint was the power. I fly business class to work and had brough my transformer rather than an extra battery as seatguru said there were Powerports. There was inseat power, and AC rather than DC. However, my colleague and I found that the power was intermittent when we both had our computers plugged in. This which may have been because two computers exceeded the maximum wattage. However, later on, neither computer could draw power even if the other was not plugged in. I was able to switch seats with someone I knew on the other side of business class and the power worked fine in his seat. But, I think our side of the plane lost power. Without the seat switch, I would have been really disappointed.

All in all, an OK but somewhat disappointing experience in Lufthansa business class. Is this unusual or par for the course?

I guess it's no rocket science - it mostly depends on the crew... Service can be FC level and service can be cattle class... My ultimate service test is the time it takes between take-off and when the FA asks for your first drink... Have seen anything from 35 to 90 minutes on longhaul to and from Tokyo... Service thereafter usually is in line with the result of my service test :p

LH Food was worse than BA and AA? Well...

I've received indifferent service in BA as well. AA I won't even try longhaul.

Seat power is limited to 70-110 W per pair of seats. Did you ask the FA? Because if both of you drew power you probably tripped a circuit breaker which could have been easily reset by a FA.

LH Food was worse than BA and AA? Well...

I've received indifferent service in BA as well. AA I won't even try longhaul.

Seat power is limited to 70-110 W per pair of seats. Did you ask the FA? Because if both of you drew power you probably tripped a circuit breaker which could have been easily reset by a FA.

With respect to the food, I wasn't suggesting that BA/AA business class was a high threshold to jump over -- I was surprised. Agreed on BA/AA that service can be indifferent. With BA, I find that the FA's disappear in between meal service and are actually hard to locate. With AA, the good ones are constantly available, but the less good ones can be a bit surly. I fly both to London regularly and don't see that big a difference between BA and AA. I don't think the LH flight attendants were bad, but just somewhat perfunctory. It did take quite a while to get drinks and was very hard to get refills. But, really, it isn't that hard to smile.

On the power, we did ask the FA. We had the same diagnosis as you did. She didn't seem to know what to do and brought over another FA who also didn't know what to do. Fortunately, I knew someone on the other aisle and was able to switch.

...assuming here you were in 'new' business class with motorized seats. FA's (and some pursers) don't know how to reset breakers that are under the seats. Both the seat motors and power port are driven off these breakers. Had a trip IAD > FRA a few weeks back where the seats didn't work until I convinced the FA to get the Purser who knew exactly where to crawl, how to pull a panel off, reset the breaker and bring the seats back to life. Perhaps the *next* redesign could put these right on the aisle; had to get the folks behind my seat to move bags, etc.

In a sentence, I'd say that your LH "new-C" experience was par for the course.

Folks,

As per a FA a couple of weeks ago, there's some laptop power adapters that are incompatible with the AC plug in new C. She named both IBM and Dell. It seems they make for a "nasty" load, and the circuit breaker operates immediately, thus making you unable to charge your battery. My laptop is an IBM, and I can confirm that 9 out of 10 times, it doesn't work in new C. Surprisingly enough, it works in F (I'm writing this now in F, US-bound, battery being charged).

It seems I should ask my IT guys for a less demanding laptop, as mine only aceepts flights in F, or ask my company to re-consider travel policy?;)

I'm mostly a UA flyer, but recently took four longhaul flights in the LH new C. As I posted here earlier, I had 'mechanical' issues with the new seats on two of those flights, and was not the only one. As someone pointed out here, the circuit breakers under the seats seem to be at issue, and the FAs on my flights used knives to 'repair' the seats.

As to service, each time I found it courteous but not overly friendly - just like I would expect from my countrymen and women, frankly. :D And yes, sometimes it IS hard to smile!

I would also add that on my last flight I had great difficulty sleeping due to a lapbaby and mother who were upgraded, then subsequently snuck HER mother into C from economy, generally caused commotion for several hours (the mother and the grandmother, not the baby, no never made a sound!), changed dirty diapers on the seats, etc. When I finally had had enough and found an FA, he did a very good job of dealing with the situation and finding me an alternate seat.

So I would say that service is acceptable if not overly friendly, product is excellent when it works, and if there is an issue usually the FAs have tried to resolve it as soon as possible.

Can someone explain to this newbie if I need an adapter to power my laptop or ipod in C on a 747?

If so is it an automobile adapter (like AA) or empower adapter (like UA)?

Can someone explain to this newbie if I need an adapter to power my laptop or ipod in C on a 747?

If so is it an automobile adapter (like AA) or empower adapter (like UA)?

You do not need an adapter for laptop or IPod power; there is a multi-pupose power outlet. There are USB outlets as well, but those do not work anymore since www access was discontinued (I asked FAs about that on several flights and always got the same answer).

Compared to AA, Lufthansa is heaven on earth ! AA simply sucks in every service an quality aspect !

Folks,

As per a FA a couple of weeks ago, there's some laptop power adapters that are incompatible with the AC plug in new C. She named both IBM and Dell. It seems they make for a "nasty" load, and the circuit breaker operates immediately, thus making you unable to charge your battery. My laptop is an IBM, and I can confirm that 9 out of 10 times, it doesn't work in new C. Surprisingly enough, it works in F (I'm writing this now in F, US-bound, battery being charged).

It seems I should ask my IT guys for a less demanding laptop, as mine only aceepts flights in F, or ask my company to re-consider travel policy?;)

The power ports are always a pain. They randomly work or not for my second generation MacBook Pro. The same seat in different planes of the same fleet might work or not, but different seats (if there are any to spare) might work. Quite often the power supply at the purser stations works if you ask the purser nicely, and once they even brought my laptop into the cockpit to recharge.

Quite often the power supply at the purser stations works if you ask the purser nicely, and once they even brought my laptop into the cockpit to recharge.

hey, this is the captain speaking. As we have to recharge a HON's laptop, we can not use the cockpit computers but we are certain that our paper maps from 1985 are pretty accurate. We certainly ask for your kind understanding in case we fly off track :D ;)

hey, this is the captain speaking. As we have to recharge a HON's laptop, we can not use the cockpit computers but we are certain that our paper maps from 1985 are pretty accurate. We certainly ask for your kind understanding in case we fly off track :D ;)

They assured me they have a spare power plug. And I certainly wasn't asking for it - I was just it actually was in the cockpit after I nicely asked the purser to recharge it at his station and when he I asked if I can have it back two hours late he mention it actually was in the cockpit which shocked me a little bit..

They assured me they have a spare power plug. And I certainly wasn't asking for it - I was just it actually was in the cockpit after I nicely asked the purser to recharge it at his station and when he I asked if I can have it back two hours late he mention it actually was in the cockpit which shocked me a little bit..

Yes, I knew you would not "misuse" your status to ask for the cockpit power plug. I just thought it's funny.

Why were you shocked? Security? Wouldn't have happened on an American or Israeli carrier ;)

Yes, I knew you would not "misuse" your status to ask for the cockpit power plug. I just thought it's funny.

Why were you shocked? Security? Wouldn't have happened on an American or Israeli carrier ;)

I just felt strange, after hearing about all these measures about a clean cockpit. But it also felt strange that they went all that way to help me, but it was a very good crew in all other aspects too! (FRA based :))

Compared to AA, Lufthansa is heaven on earth ! AA simply sucks in every service an quality aspect !I have had mostly the *opposite* experience! :p (C/F only though...)

Folks,

As per a FA a couple of weeks ago, there's some laptop power adapters that are incompatible with the AC plug in new C. She named both IBM and Dell. It seems they make for a "nasty" load, and the circuit breaker operates immediately, thus making you unable to charge your battery. My laptop is an IBM, and I can confirm that 9 out of 10 times, it doesn't work in new C. Surprisingly enough, it works in F (I'm writing this now in F, US-bound, battery being charged).



I know that i am responding to a two-year old comment but since my experience is current and directly related to the overall thread content I thought I would put it here. I find that I cannot run my Dell laptop and charge the battery at the same time. However, if the laptop is turned off, I can charge the baattery using the seat power. So I charge the battery during the meal and then I am off to the races.

AA simply sucks in every service an quality aspect !

Intercont AA F ain't that bad... and AA's flagship lounge in LHR is quite OK IMHO.