tng11

Lufthansa Flight 779
Singapore to Frankfurt
Airbus A380-800
June 10, 2014
Scheduled: 23:05-05:40+1
Actual: 23:46-05:49+1
Seat: 2A/2D
Load: 8/8

So as I briefly alluded to in the first post, I was super, super excited for this flight. One of the reasons was that it seems Lufthansa A380 F space has been getting tougher and tougher to score. SIN is one of those routes where award space is rare as hen's teeth, and to score two seats on this route into an F5 cabin was disproportionally satisfying. Having tried the 747-400, 747-8i New LH F products already, having the A380 to round it off was absolutely perfect.

I was tracking tail numbers the night before the flight and noticed it would be D-AIMA ("Frankfurt am Main"), the first A380 delivered to Lufthansa on May 19th, 2010. At 4 years old, I was kind of curious to see how well the cabin was holding up, considering that I noted the use of light colours on in the 74H. Well, the cabin was extremely well kept and looked brand new despite being 4 years old.

Me and my mother were the last F passengers to board tonight. That morning, the flight still had 3 empty seats, but it was going to be a full house tonight. We both had seats 2A and 2D. I agonized for a good few days whether I should have grabbed the centre pair 2D/2G for us, but I do like window seats even though it was too dark to see anything outside.


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I love being on the upper deck, even though the lower deck does have more space. The lack of overhead bins make it feel more spacious. Again, I will say that I love Lufthansa's new First cabins for the warm tones, textures (the suede walls and leather armrests), lighting and contrasting dark colours. Of course, there was less privacy than the likes of SQ or QF A380 F.


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I exchanged a warm "Guete Abend" with both attendants tonight and decided on a glass of orange juice with the buttery macadamia nuts. I let the attendants know that it was okay to communicate with me in German for the flight, but that my mother would be communicating with them in English (there were a few slip-ups through the flight, but it was impressive how fluidly they were able to handle switching between both languages.) I do love how I frequently send LH attendants for a double take, being ethnically Asian, Canadian while speaking German with a Viennese accent.


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I love how comfy the chair is for lounging. It is arguably more comfortable than SQ Suites in the upright position, with the support and plushness in the right places.


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Mom was in awe.


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I was ecstatic.


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When the purser came around to do her introductions and greetings, I told her about how excited I was to be on this flight, and we made some talk about the 744 and 74H products vs the 388. Like the last purser on my 74H flight to Seoul, she promised to come back and hear my thoughts on the product. She told me about the humidifier in the cabin and that it should be a very pleasant flight because of that.

Amenity kits were distributed (a his & hers Escada amenity kit, the white one being the female one), along with pyjamas (I took a set of L pyjamas for my Dad - I prefer just wearing a pair of loose shorts to sleep.)


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With some time until takeoff, I explored the cabin for a bit more.


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The lockers were giant and impressive - more than enough space for a rollaboard, suit and more.


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The washroom was awesome! I knew LH had a huge lavatory on the A380, but this was just, "Wow!". Much cooler than Thai's with a urinal, admittedly.


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Our captain came on to announce that because of ATC, we would be a little delayed in leaving Singapore tonight, and that we might be slightly delayed into Frankfurt because of some headwinds. No problem - the longer the flight, the better.

The safety video was played and the cabin was dimmed soon after.


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I love takeoffs on the A380, with the gentle purr of the engines and very smooth lifting. Just like that, we were into the night sky over Singapore and Malaysia.


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Next: Dinner

tng11

Once we were at cruising altitude, the attendants were quick in getting dinner started. Surprisingly, everyone in the cabin was partaking in the meal service (I was expecting some to request turndown service immediately.) For that reason, I found it odd that they left the cabin dark for the entire meal service, whereas in J/Y they have the lights on during dinner.


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Tonight's menu sounded good, much better than the last one I had out of Frankfurt, courtesy of Bastian Mantey of the St. Regis Bangkok.

I asked one of the attendants if we could dine together in the seat, and they said it was fine, but that we would have to go back to our seats if the seatbelt sign came on as the LH ottoman's don't have a seatbelt like most other F cabins seem to have. So as not to disturb 2G, we chose to dine in 2A, with Mom getting the seat and me getting the ottoman (which wasn't exactly comfortable)

LH's table is in reality, a bit too small to dine comfortably for two. But the attendants made it work, and they even remarked how "cute" it was, like having those picnics on European trains. Out of the 3 pairs who were travelling together, we were the only ones dining together.


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(Sorry for the bad pictures - it was hard to get good ones considering it was dark)

Dinner got off to a good start with an interesting amuse bouche of watermelon with ricotta, which was refreshing and well-matched.


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I caved and had a glass of the Laurent Perrier Grand Siecle, which is a recurring favourite of mine (I like it more than Dom or Pol Roger), while Mom had a gin and tonic which was too strong for her tastes.


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I love the pretzel bread on LH. I always use it to eat the caviar instead of the toast points.


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My Mom had all the garnishes when I ordered mine plain. She wasn't a fan, she thought it was too salty and just mashed it around with the condiments (I agree, the caviar on LH isn't that good.)


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We opted to order one appetizer plate to share between the both of us. It's good to travel in pairs as you can share and try different things without feeling sick from being overstuffed. They were good and we liked the pastrami salmon the most.


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We each had our own salads.


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Mom had the simmered cod with white wine vinegar which was fantastic. The fish was perfectly cooked and the white wine vinegar provided the right acidity. A very light and flavourful choice.


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While I had the Thai Beef Green Curry, which was excellent too, though a tad on the saltier side and without enough spiciness for my liking. The beef was very tender, but the rice was a little dry.


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I had the double chocolate mousse, which was in the "to die for" category.


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While Mom had the spicy mango mousse which was also fantastic.


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But oh boy, the attendants pushed a giant-sized cheese plate on the both of us. The both of us were already bursting at the seams after that meal. Mom didn't have any of the cheese, and not to be wasteful, I wrapped up the non-moldy cheese to save as a snack later in the flight (the Parmesan and Cheddar were my favourites) and weirdly enough, they used "Khong Guan" biscuits - which I don't really see as going well with cheese.


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Through the meal, service was very efficient, with both attendants working equally as hard and making sure glasses were always topped up and dishes cleared quickly. It was kind of awkward for them to switch between German and English during the service, as the attendants would sometimes forget and ask my mother questions in German, and I would have to reply as I understood what they were saying.

This was definitely one of the better meals I've had on LH F. The dishes were definitely better than those catered out of Frankfurt, and the options were much more "normal" than some of the mutant concotions that you see out of FRA.

Mom was a little scared she wouldn't be able to sleep as she was so full. Nonetheless, seeing as everyone was getting their seats turned down, we both asked for our beds to be made, while I stretched for a bit in the galley.

Next part: Bedtime and Breakfast

tng11

My Mom's first reaction was something like: OMG, look at that bed!


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She passed out almost immediately (I could hear her snoring lightly from across the aisle!) 1A though was winning in the noise game though.

I also passed out for a very solid 7 hours, and as I tossed for a bit and opened my eyes, an attendant came by and asked if I needed anything - to which I ordered a pot of green tea and the chocolates from the dinner service.


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My Mom woke up about an hour after me, took one look at her watch and said "that was 8 hours already?" She was shocked at how well she had slept, as she suffers from the same problem of dry throat and sinuses as I do when flying and can never sleep.

It was at this point where I did realize that LH's claim of humidifiers in the F cabin may not be complete marketing hocus-pocus. I noticed my sinuses didn't have the same dry feeling I typically get while flying which made for the super comfortable sleep.

About an hour and a half outside of Frankfurt, breakfast was served.


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The breakfast menu read as follows:

Ack, this croissant was rather awful. Not flaky at all and soggy.


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I ordered a double espresso, Earl Grey Tea, the Muesli, Fruit and Salmon from the cart. The muesli and salmon were a great start to the day.


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The so-called "Hot Egg Dish" was a huge letdown. I thought that they served fresh scrambled eggs in LH F, but I guess that's been "enhanced" away. It was basically the omelet dish I remember from my days of flying longhaul Y - rubbery and tasteless.


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The beautiful, golden sunrise could be seen from the K side:


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Notably, the purser came and did farewells to everyone while I was in the washroom. A minor quibble.

Landing in Frankfurt

We touched down in Frankfurt just a few minutes behind schedule. One thing that amazes me is the amount of activity in FRA at this time of the day, with an insane amount of longhaul aircraft freshly arriving from different continents - A380s from Johannesburg, Miami, Houston, JFK all lined up beside each other.


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I love the tailcam:


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I really didn't want to leave - it was such a pleasant flight! My Mom said she was absolutely speechless - saying that she never knew flying could be like this and that unlike any other flight she's ever been on, she actually enjoyed it and felt relaxed.

Up the escalators, there was a rather poorly conducted check of passports for all passengers, with them asking everyone without EU passports about where they were going, etc. We were lucky to beat the rush, being the first ones off, but it was starting to become a mess when people were getting off the escalators with no room to move.


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Dad's flight from HKG had also just arrived a few gates down in the Z terminal. We both waited for him at the gate. He actually loved his flight and said it was the best plane ride he's had so far. Well, was he going to be in for a treat (I hadn't told him yet I was planning to switch boarding passes with him for the flight to Toronto.)

Conclusion:

Aside from the rather crappy breakfast and the occasional language hiccups (I do think that comparing how they interacted with my mother, cabin crews provide slightly better service to those who speak German), this was the best flight I've had on Lufthansa First Class. The A380 product beats the 74H and 744 hands down (I know this is a controversial view), but I thought the overall sleeping experience was much better with the quieter and noticeably more humid cabin. The feeling of space, atmosphere and the amenities (the giant washrooms) really push it over the top for me.

It was also special because I got to share it with a loved one. Flying F with someone else is really special indeed.

arlflyer

Did you get reservations in advance for trains or walk-up on the day you wanted to travel? Using a JR pass earlier this year I always made Shinkansen reservations the day before and there seemed to always be a lot of Hikari routes to choose from.

Capricorn70

Thanks for the fab report and stonking pix - can't wait for the rest of it!^

karaokequeen3

That is some fantastic food there in Tokyo, thanks for the pics!

Already deliberating whether to stretch the budget and visit the city once more next Jan/Feb! ^

dat4life

I finally caught up with both of your reports, tng11. Both are excellent.

My condolences for the passing of your grandfather. I went through the same thing back in 2003 with my grandmother. I was a high school senior at the time, and it was just before Christmas when we got the call that she had suffered a stroke. The next day was a blur between midterms, packing, and then my mom and I were off. I can imagine you suffered through the same angst I did on the flight over to Hong Kong, albeit I was seated at the very last non-reclining of CI's 747-400. Anyhow, my grandmother managed to hang on until my mom and I arrived, and she too passed with generations of family around her.

tng11

Hmm, good tip! I didn't make any reservations, as I liked the idea of just showing up and picking up any train even though there's no fee to reserve.

Thanks Capricorn70! Most of it's done now, as I've written about the FCT twice before already and rest assured, it was still just as awesome the 3rd time around. The only problem I have now is my parents are absolutely spoiled in terms of lounges, it was the first lounge my Dad had ever been to!

Thanks karaokequeen3! I don't think there is any city in the world that can match Tokyo in terms of food. You have the best of almost any cuisine you can imagine anywhere in the world here, and everything from your cheap ramen booth to the 3 Michelin Star dining experiences can be equally as delightful and memorable.

Thanks for the compliments and condolences dat4life! I think it can be amazing that how psychology can trump physiology, the will to live and love can really keep one alive.

hawklx

Thanks tng11 for this magnificent TR and I thoroughly enjoyed it, particularly the "food of Japan" sections.

The sushi in Daisan Harumi looks truly amazing. And at a relatively small cost of 10k yen? Wow! Would definitely try it out when I go to Japan next time.

tng11

Thanks hawklx! Japan is truly one of the only places where I am always mesmerized and inspired by the food every time I visit.

Daisan is thankfully one of those hidden gems. Even 2 months after eating there, I can still remember the flavours and sensations of that experience. The bargain basement price is just the sweetener on top.

tng11

With our family reunited, I led our way to the First Class Terminal after a surprisingly empty immigration hall considering how many jumbo jets from overseas were arriving at this hour.


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Arriving at the terminal, I was the one calling the shots. I told my Dad that there was the chance to rent a Porsche for 99 EUR and he was getting all excited about it. I asked our personal assistant about the rental, and she promised to get us set up with it, but that Avis didn't open until a bit later, so we should sit down and have some breakfast and she'll come get us back when she set it all up for us.

Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be. During breakfast it was starting to pour heavily, and we decided that it probably wasn't a good idea to rent a Porsche to use on wet roads and during the morning rush hour.

With over 6 hours left, what to do? My Dad wanted to see Frankfurt, and I decided to tag along. Mom just stayed behind and grabbed a nap room. The both of us walked our way back to the terminal train station and bought a day pass for 9.90 EUR each.

In 15 or so minutes, we were at Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof:


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At this time it was actually starting to clear up. It was raining heavily near FRA, but the ground was still dry in the city centre. Nuts!

We walked over to the Eurotower and the giant Euro sign - the only sight I know of in Frankfurt.


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Then over to the old town:


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After a little window shopping and determining that we didn't need a Rimowa, we made our way back to Frankfurt HBF and back to the airport. I stopped by the WorldShop and picked up a 1:200 Lufthansa A380 model (which is shown in the picture beside a duck in the first post.)

tng11

Late last year, I was clamoring to visit the Lufthansa FCT. Spent hours researching award availability trends in the hope of getting to visit the FCT at least once in my lifetime. Well, this was already going to be my third visit this year alone (a lot for a commoner like me.)

This was the first time I've sampled the breakfast menu in the FCT though:


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I fell in love with the fresh fruit and smoothie selection (I wish they would have this the whole day.)


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While Mom and Dad went for the bacon, sausage and scrambled eggs from the buffet. And they ended up not being fans of it. I told them they weren't doing it right, as they could order off the menu as well.

When we came back from our mini-tour of Frankfurt, we all sat down together for lunch in the restaurant and nabbed a bunch of plates to share:


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I am not a fan of the hot buffet items - I always order off the menu fresh.


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Though the porcino - truffle ravioli was absolutely fantastic.


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We all ordered the cream of arugula soup with seared scallops. It was great, but a tad on the saltier side.


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With 3 people, I took the opportunity to order the schnitzel, which would be too much meat for me in one sitting. It was actually very good, but still doesn't beat that awesome potato pancake I had here back in January.


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I made sure to eat lots, as I had no plans of eating on the next leg as I was going to swap 83H for 32B with my Dad.

For most of the time, I took my parents on a tour of the lounge, making sure they got their rubber duckies. My Dad ended up loving the Panasonic chairs at the side of the lounge, while my mother, like me fell in love with the huge brown chairs lining the windows.

Closer to departure time, Dad kept staring out the window at the fleet of cars outside. He was asking me "Can we ask for a Mercedes S-Class ride? Can we refuse to get on if it's not an S-Class?" I said "Dad, don't jinx it. The Cayenne is great. If you don't shut up they're gonna give us a Mercedes van."

When our PA came to get us and we headed downstairs, both me and Dad let out a collective "D'OH!" when we saw these parked at the revolving door:


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There were 2 vans heading to today's flight to Toronto. Us 3 were stuck in one van with a HON who was trying too hard to flirt with the female driver, asking her for her number, etc., so much so she forgot to escort the F passengers upstairs.


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Mom and Dad made their way up the stairs, and I was banished to 32B. But maybe, there's some order back to this family where the parents get F, and the children get Y.


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tng11

Lufthansa Flight 470
Frankfurt to Toronto
Boeing 747-400
June 10, 2014
Scheduled: 14:00-16:40
Actual: 14:41-16:27
Seats: 82C/82H (First Class) + 32B (Economy Class)

I personally don't have much to say about this flight. I had an exit row seat, which was nice, and there was also no one in the seat next to me. Unfortunately a POS moved up to the seat and was incredibly rude (he kept nudging my arm off the armrest.) Also people were clogging up the space in front of me while waiting for the toilet. Oh my, the horror.

The one saving grace was that the cabin crew seemed to treat me really well for the entire flight, though discreetly. A few attendants came by and said how sweet I was for giving my First seat away, and kept checking up on me for the entire flight. The purser greeted me personally and also handed me a World Cup amenity kit from Business Class.

Meanwhile, my parents were enjoying the bliss of this:


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And boy were they lucky. There was only going to be 4 passengers in the cabin today. As the other couple was seated in row 84, they moved to row 82.


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Their menu in F was almost identical to the menu I had on FRA-ICN back in May (with the exception of the Bibimbap option.) Both of them still full from the feast in the FCT, they only had parts of the meal service.


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They had a generous serving of caviar per person. My Dad didn't like it and only ate a bite of it.


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A look of disappointment:


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My mother had the appetizer set and declined the main. She didn't like the chicken appetizer on the right (I didn't either on that ICN flight.)


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While my Dad had the monkfish main, which he thought was just okay.


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Mom had the green shiso sorbet, which she liked.


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While Dad had the dessert which was Marscapone Cream with Green Tomato Confit (umm, yuck?) which he actually said was okay.


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The both of them said the service was incredible, as the attendants were super personable, attentive, friendly and funny (which is why I like LH crews too.) So speaking German is definitely not a prerequisite for good service in LH.

My Dad loved the separate seat and bed combination. He thought it was insane that people get this much space in First, and he said the bed was great.

Mom on the other hand, tried to get some rest on the bed but couldn't. Her complaint was that the bed was a little too hard, and that the 744 was "substantially" noisier than the A380 we had arrived on, to the extent it was all she could hear while trying to sleep. She said the noise was so bad that even at her normal voice, she couldn't talk to my Dad across the aisle (while the both of us heard each other despite whispering while on the A380.)

My parents also chose to decline the second meal service, which they said looked quite good with a bunch of dried meats, smoked salmon and some hot dishes.

At YYZ, we parked next to an LH A330 that had just arrived a bit earlier from MUC.


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The ground handling experience in YYZ was a major disappointment. Bags didn't start to come out for a good 35 minutes after deplaning, and the luggage area was getting crowded. TO make matters worse, once the bags starting come out, they were coming out at a snail's pace.

And what made matters worse was that Priority baggage was ignored. My mother's bags came out almost 45 minutes after the flight had arrived, and the both of them went home. While me, and the other couple who were in F were still waiting for our bags. Almost an hour after my parents had left the airport, my bag had finally arrived along with that couple's bags.