sriegert

Initially, the terminus of this trip was supposed to be Fiji. In July of 2012, I booked HKG-ICN-SYD-AKL-NAN & NAN-AKL-SYD-SIN-HKG departing May 28 on OZ/NZ/SQ in J (taking advantage of UA's rather generous Oceania award chart rules). Though I had no clue how to actually get to Hong Kong, I had a year to devise some elaborate scheme (which might have involved Vanilla Reloads). As a law student, I don't exactly have a huge disposable income. About four months ago, I found out that job/family commitments would not permit me to take as much vacation time as I had hoped. As a result of having only 14 days to burn on vacation, I decided to cancel the Fiji portion of the trip and instead go all out (for me, at least) on an Asian itinerary with a foray in Copenhagen to visit a bunch of friends. Due to summer demand and capacity adjustments made by UA, I ended up booking the following initial itinerary, knowing all along I would change to LH F at T-14:

EWR-DCA UA J
IAD-AMS UA F
AMS-FRA UA F
FRA-BKK TG F
BKK-HKG TG F
HKG-BKK TG F
BKK-FRA TG F
FRA-CPH LH J
CPH-FRA LH J
FRA-EWR UA F
While I am interested in sampling United’s Global First product at some point, it’s definitely not on an item on my ‘bucket list,’ plus I’m still waiting for more “changes [I’ll] like.” Worst case scenario, I would still get to experience 4 lounghaul F products, which isn’t too bad.

I have probably spent the majority of my life on the phone with reservation agents. Why does time go by slowly when listening to hold music, but oh-so-fast when guzzling Krug over the Arctic circle? As mentioned in a previous FT post, I actually prefer the UA Indian Call Center to the Premier Desk agents in the US. This is mainly because the Indian Call Center agents tend to be more kind and willing to help. I mention this because I’ve been basically shouted at by domestic call agents recently. This is one of those stories. I mean no disrespect to UA or it's employees. UA has many dedicated employees. I truly believe that it's just the bad apples that give UA customer service a bad rep. Anyways, after chatting with “Debby” about my proposed itinerary, she informed me I had to wait while she “checked all the flights” to “make sure it was legal” (as opposed to just trying to ticket it). Thereafter, “Debby” informed me that some of the proposed flights “did not offer” the class of service requested. While I realize UA search engine displays phantom availability sometimes, claiming there is no F cabin on TG is quite a fib. After kindly informing her that TG does, in fact, offer an F product, she kindly informed me that she had “lots of knowledge” about partner airlines and had been working for UA “since 2007.” There was a “you’re young and stupid” remark thrown in the mix as well. I couldn’t decide whether she was being willfully ignorant or lacked the necessary motivation to ticket the reservation, and delights at the opportunity to insult the people who pay her salary. HUCA time! The next agent was quite helpful, recognizing TG does have an F cabin.

T-14 days from departure, (and unfortunately during finals), I called up to change the outbound portion from UA to LH F. I generally check LH availability once a day, so it was shocking to me that LH 405 opened up, given that it is one of the more popular US LH routes.
Final itinerary:

Friday, 24 May 2013: Lufthansa 405, seat 84C, Depart New York-JFK 21:55, Arrive Frankfurt-Main 11:35 (+1 day)

Saturday, 25 May 2013: Thai 921, seat 2A, Depart Frankfurt-Main 14:45, Arrive Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi 6:25 (+1 day)

Sunday, 26 May 2013: Thai 600, seat 3A, Depart Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi 8:00, Arrive Hong Kong 11:45

Thursday, 30 May 2013: Thai 601, seat 1A, Depart Hong Kong 13:25, Arrive Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi 15:05

Friday, 31 May 2013: Thai 924, seat 1A, Depart Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi 13:35, Arrive Munich 19:50

Friday, 31 May 2013: SAS 1660, seat 1A, Depart Munich 21:50, Arrive Copenhagen-Katstrup 23:25

Wednesday, 5 June 2013: Lufthansa 823, seat 1A, Depart Copenhagen-Katstrup 9:20, Arrive Frankfurt-Main 10:55

Wednesday, 5 June 2013: Lufthansa 422, seat 2K, Depart Frankfurt-Main 12:10, Arrive Boston 13:55

Wednesday, 5 June 2013: United 1116, seat 4A, Depart Boston 20:47, Arrive New York-Newark 22:29

Hopefully I'll be able to crank out the rest of the report in a reasonable amount of time!

sriegert

Lufthansa First Class Lounge
JFK Terminal 1

Hooray! Embarking on this trip signifies in part that I completed my first year of law school. It’s not easy to manage the miles junkie hobby & law school, but somehow I managed. I finished my Contracts exam May 23 at ~10:30, then made a beeline for the bar (yes, it was 10:30AM…I’ve done worse). I suppose the logic behind spending all day at the bar was that I had the entirety of May 24th to recover, as LH 405 doesn’t depart until 22:00. Anyways, I left my apartment in the village at about 17:00 May 24th, knowing full well it would take 2+ hours on the metro to get to JFK. After a somewhat boring/anxious metro & airtrain ride, I entered Terminal 1. T1 is my favorite terminal at JFK, chiefly because it is newer and was designed specifically to accommodate the A380. If my memory serves correct, it was built as a joint venture between LH, KA, and other strange bedfellows. They lease gates to really strange airlines as well, with the likes of Aeroflot, Royal Air Maroc, and Saudia pulling in during my visit.


The LH lounge at JFK is broken up in the following way: Level 1, Business Class Lounge, Level 2, SEN Lounge (* G too I believe), Level 3, First Class Lounge. It is important to note that the ‘First Class Lounge’ is more of an ‘Area,’ given that there are not independent showers or bathrooms, and the dining room/buffet area takes up the most square footage. There is a small lounge area, but even then, it is located adjacent to the open bar.
The staff in the lounge are extremely helpful, and go out of their way to take care of you. Typical LH. Every request was accommodated immediately. Which reminds me, I find the quantity of staff in the First Class area gratuitous. There were at least three chefs and two waiters in the ‘Area.’ Given the spacing between flights, and the exclusivity of LH access policy, I can’t imagine more than 10 people in the lounge at any given time. Not that I’m complaining, though!


As for the food, LH has the same protocol as in Germany, whereby they have an open buffet in addition to an a la carte menu. The waiter comes in handy when requesting a la carte items, but I found that he was almost too pushy when I was trying to check out the buffet spread.
Anyways, I ordered dinner, accompanied by an excellent pinot noir, the name of which escapes me.


Later, I absolutely went overboard with desserts. I don’t even like desserts, but I felt obligated to sample everything. This was accompanied by Remy Martin XO cognac, which is nice.


Shortly after I was finished being a fat kid in the lounge, I was escorted to the gate by a LH agent, accompanied by a new friend (also F passenger) I befriended in the lounge. Once at the gate, we were quickly separated upon encountering what I can only surmise was either a lynch mob or 4839849 gate lice. Not to be judgmental, but I find LH gate lice to be the worst, with a bunch of Americans proudly displaying J boarding passes, noses held 10 degrees above the horizon, the typical DYKWITIA looks on their faces. Nevermind, the gate agent found us & quickly dragged us from the sea of the plebeians. Between the pinot noir and cognac, I was pretty buzzed, so the boarding experience I have just recounted is probably not completely accurate.
.

sriegert

Friday, 24 May 2013
Lufthansa 405
Seat 84C
Depart New York-JFK 21:55
Arrive Frankfurt-Main 11:35 (+1 day)


Once aboard, we were escorted up the staircase to the exclusive First Class Cabin, leaving the gate lice far below. Also, God must have been listening to my prayers because he sent us the NEW FIRST CLASS PRODUCT. That’s right, not just a seat, but a seat AND a bed. Oh, you fancy, huh! For those that have not been reading LH FC news for, I don’t know, 5 years, LH has been steadily replacing their cute albeit antediluvian cabin with 16 seats to a cabin that has 8 seats. While the seat reduction is not a good thing long-term for award redemption opportunities, they did give us a bone. And by bone, I mean a bed.

I was offered a pre-departure champagne, Taittinger. It’s a decent champagne by any measure. My measurement is in comparison to the ‘champagne’ available on UA, which retails for ~$6. In law school, I’m used to Andre and whatever they put in mimosas at bottomless brunch. Needless to say, I was pleased.



On the bed were an amenity kit, pajamas, slippers, socks, a blanket, and sheets. The amenity kit contents were laughable. A shoe horn, toothbrush, comb, and random lotion. Seriously, LH? I can get all of that in a lounge.
The pajama top & bottom are van laack. The pajama bottoms suck, but the top is really soft and comfortable. Not that I used them on the flight. I prefer to sleep naked on LH flights, given how warm the cabin is.

After a harrowing takeoff from JFK in the rain, menus were distributed. The Menu read as follows:

Lufthansa 405 JFK-FRA

Choice of Appetizers
--Caviar with the traditional Garnishes
--Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail with Thai Chili Jam
--Thai Beef Salad with Chili Vinaigrette
--Asparagus and Mozzarella with Watercress Dressing
--Seasonal Salad with dried yellow Tomatoes and green Bell Pepper presented with delicious Dressing

Night Special
As an alternative to our hot main dishes, we are pleased to offer you a selection of different cheeses. Bring the evening to a relaxing close with our Night Special and a delicious glass of red wine.
Choice of Main Courses
--Grilled Tenderloin of Beef with Date Chimichurri and Watercress Barley Salad
--Miso Bass with Shiitake Mushrooms and Udon Noodles
--Thai Green Vegetable and Pumpkin Curry with Rice Cake
--Chicken Vegetable Stew
Selection of Cheese and Dessert
--Variation of Cheese with Grapes
--Hazelnut Cruch Bar
--Berry Short Cake
Breakfast
Fitness Breakfast
--Coffee or Tea
--Fresh Orange Juice
--Yogurt with dried Fruit
--Turkey Pastrami, Cheddar, Brie and Cream Cheese
American Breakfast
--Coffee or Tea
--Fresh Orange Juice
--Fresh Fruit
--Farmer’s Frittata with Mushrooms, smoked Bacon and Tomato Olive Ragout

The cabin was full, and I’m pretty sure 6 out of 8 were on paid tickets. There was a German family of four, and two businessmen. As it was a late flight, the two businessmen passed out immediately after takeoff, which was awesome as it meant a more personalized service.

I was still pretty full, so I just ate several tins of caviar & then more steak.

Four windows over Germany

Stay Tuned for Arrival in FRA & on to HKG!

quirrow

Looking good so far with F routes on some of the nicer Star carriers! Waiting for the next installment!

1P

Taittinger is of course delicious. UA's current champagnes are Nicolas Feuillatte, which is not bad and retails in the US for about $25, and Pommery which is also quite drinkable and retails in the US for a couple of dollars less.