Braniff

This flight had very good aspects to it - as well as very poor aspects!

(I recently did a review of an OS flight in similar format. I'll post a detailed comparison between the two products shortly.)


----Seat/Cabin---

This was an Airbus A340 with the new business class seat. I think Lufthansa has one of the best “lie-flat” business class seats. I also enjoy the fact that it’s done in a very open design (it’s not like the cabin is filled with tiny individual cocoons) and a light, airy environment overall – including a window in the bathrooms!

The thing that shocked me was the poor level of cleanliness of the cabin. It appeared to have been only vacuumed and new pillows/blankets put in. There were old candy-wrappers in the seat pocket, bread-crumbs in the AVOD control compartment, and drink and food stains on the tray table. In my experience, Lufthansa planes have in the past been immaculate, so this was very unexpected.


---In-flight Entertainment---

The plane was equipped with AVOD and the selection of video and audio programming was stellar. I was able to watch 4 full length movies and wished I’d had time for more! In my opinion, LH is giving Singapore Airlines real competition in this field.

The controls to operate the AVOD were very frustrating with a difficult mouse you had to move around and click several times before you could do anything. I think LH has updated this on some of their planes – but definitely not on this one.


---Cabin Service---

The crew was very efficient and courteous throughout the flight. The flight left at 2 in the afternoon and there was no attempt made to have all the passengers pretend it was nighttime and go to sleep. In fact, there was never a moment where you felt the crew had disappeared. They walked frequently through the cabin at a slow pace so passengers could ask for drinks, etc. without having to ring the call button.

I was especially impressed by the fact that throughout the flight they came with trays of orange juice and water at about 15 minute intervals to keep everyone healthily hydrated. (For some reason, they served them in plastic cups however rather than glassware.)


---Food and Beverage---

This was a major disappointment. The menu from Seoul to Frankfurt was:

LUNCH

Hors d’Oeuvres

• Marinated sea bass, smoked Salmon, sautéed Mushrooms and Mango Salsa
• Parma Ham and Honeydew Melon


Salad

• Seasonal Greens presented with Dressing

Bread, rolls and butter


Entrees

• Grilled tenderloin of beef with mushroom sauce, bok choy, pumpkin and mashed potatoes
• Deep-fried prawns in Doobanjang Sauce accompanied by Straw Mushrooms, Bell Peppers and Vegetable Fried Rice Grilled red snapper with sautéed mushrooms and tomato basil risotto


Cheese and Dessert

• Emmental, Brie and herbed Goat Cheese
• Vanilla Bavarian Cream with Raspberry Coulis
• Seasonal Fruit Salad

SNACK

• Sandwiches, Noodle Soup and Fruit

DINNER

Entrees

• Cold Gourmet Plate – Beef Tenerloin with Pepper Crust, Salami, Gruyere and Danablu Cheese
• Hot Specialty – Spicy Monkfish offered with Bok Choy and steamed Rice


From the bread basket: A selection of breads and rolls


Dessert

•Fresh fruit




• Champagne Joaquart Brit Mosaique, France

• 2005 Riesling Spatlese trocken, Mosel-Sarr-Ruwer, Wingut Albert Kallfelz, Germany
• 2005 Riesling Spatlese trocken, Nahe, Wingut Kruger-Rumpf, Germany
• 2005 Central Valley Chardonnay, Baron Philippe de Rothschild, Chile

• 2001 Chateau Reysson, Cru Bourgeois, Haut-Medoc, France
• 2003 Stepping stone Padthaway Shiraz, Stonehaven, Australia


The quality of the food was very poor. It was without exception tasteless. (The beef was so dry that I doubt many airlines would serve it! – and there was no mustard or anything on offer to try to “mend” this.) A great number of people left most of their meals on the plate.

The brightest spot was their bread and rolls – which were excellent. (During the first round, they offered garlic bread but then stopped bringing it out.)

The food service was uninspired - trolleys and trays used throughout.

The wine list was fine, crowded with the typical classics. The champagne served was very unusual however due to its intensely fruity taste. I’m not sure it was to everyone’s liking. I had no complaints however.

I don’t know how to explain the poor quality of LH food. I’ve had many excellent meals leaving Seoul on Singapore Airlines so it has to be with LH choice of caterers or the amount of money they’re willing to spend on the food – similar to the fact that they apparently aren’t willing to spend money to have their planes properly cleaned at Seoul! In my opinion, this is deplorable performance.


---Amenity kit---

The amenity kit comes in what appears to be a shoe-bag, although I’ve never seen anyone use it for that in-flight. Its contents were very limited – eyeshades, socks, toothbrush and toothpaste. There was moisturizer and mouthwash available in the lavatories. (LH does not offer pajamas.)

The amenity kits had been pre-stowed in a rear side area of the seat and were very unnoticeable. I think LH should either tell people explicitly where they are or, or distribute them individually. I think many people did not make use of them because they simply did not know about their existence!


---Lounge---

LH uses the Singapore Airlines Silver Kris lounge, which doubles as the Star Alliance lounge there – despite the fact that this is Asiana’s home base!

The lounge is huge and divided into a first class and a business class section. The first class section was closed off when I was there – presumably none of the departing airlines had a first class section.

The quality of the lounge was excellent with very good offerings of food and beverages. It did become a bit crowded – which was somewhat annoying knowing that there was a huge first class space not being used at all!

Regardless, having been able to eat some quality food in the lounge was invaluable for enduring the LH catering on the 12 hour flight that was to come.


---Pet Peeve---

The in-flight entertainment was shut off 45 minutes prior to landing – “we've commenced landing…” The monitors are built into the seats in front – so it’s not like you have to stow them. Why do they do that???

Fliar

Great report and interesting observations. I too hate it with a passion when they turn off the AVOD. On a recent TG flight they didn't turn it off at all and I kept watching until we stopped at the gate - great!

Falco Peregrinus

Thanks for all the details. ^ They could do better. AF serves the Jacquart Mosaïque on their shorthaul flights within Europe in C and... Y+.

Did they really offer 2 rieslings on the same flight?


The vanilla ice cream seems a bit ordinary too...

Braniff

Thanks for your comments. Yes, they indeed offered 2 Rieslings on the same flight. Yes, the champagne and the desserts were "nothing to write home about."

mag

lovely.

OP: thx for the report, valuable points.
i think they serve the "aisle-drinks" in plastic to minimize their load and to make it easier during night flights when it occasionally happens that you drop a "glass".
if you keep your real red wine glass, they happily do refills, too...

Rejuvenated

Thanks for the report. I have yet to sample LH J myself.

Paella747

I did this flight last summer from Frankfurt to Seoul in the new biz finishing off an around-the-world trip. I had switched from Asiana becuase of the in-flight internet. Well.... the internet didn't work , but the flight itself was fine. Of course the seats were nice, but I would have had no problem with Asiana's 747 upstairs, along with unbeatable service! But the service on Lufthansa wasn't horrible (nobody beats Asiana in my book). Had my laptop loaded with movies and such, so I didn't use the IFE, but it looked like it offered a lot.

sftrvlr

Thanks for the report. Very surprised about the state of the cabin. I've always found that flights departing from Asia seem to be the cleanest. Maybe LH is skimping. Agree w/ you on the lounge at ICN. Very nice. I think the LH ameinity kit in first class sucks, too. Very much looking forward to trying the lie flat business class seat one of these days.

brahms77

I think the main reason most of *A carriers designated SKL in ICN as *A lounge (though you can certainly go to OZ lounges on *A boarding pass in premium class or your *A gold card with *A boarding pass) is because OZ lounge is on the opposite wing of the terminal. OZ departs from gates around 4-16 whereas most *A departs from 33-50 gates @ ICN.

Recently OZ opened a small business lounge near 33-50 gates. From what other say, it's a small lounge with good assortment of food items. I think most would prefer going to SKL despite this new lounge.