NewbieRunner

LH (at FRA) treats departing F passengers more favourably than arriving F passengers. If a shorthaul feeder flight (without F) arrives at an apron position HONs almost always get a limo waiting for them and passengers connecting to F get a limo subject to availability.

When a longhaul flight arrives at an apron position they send a First Class bus for F passengers. It will be the same Fraport bus that other passengers get but the First Class bus departs without waiting for other passengers. This leads to an interesting anomaly whereby HONs in Business or Economy get their own limo while HONs in First must ride on a bus.

rufflesinc

No I mean UA can't get the space from LH for some reason. The agents always say they can't get a confirmation number from LH when they pull my seats.

54austin

Booked earlier today DEN-FRA-PVG-TPE with first two segments on LH/F (744 and 380, respectively) for two people. Itinerary starts on Dec 21.

DEN-FRA has been F8 for a while. One seat opened up on Dec 17, second opened up today. Same for FRA-PVG, although it was F7.

FWIW, it seems that Lufthansa (according to ANA's search tool) is releasing F seats shortly after 3pm E.T. And, it does not happen all at once, so I would check repeatedly for at least 5-10 minutes and then more infrequently until 6pm-ish.

FlytheTail

Success! I had MUC-ORD booked in LH business with F=8. This afternoon (within 2 weeks of departure) one F award seat opened up per UA's website. Called United and confirmed in F within 5 minutes. Two hours elapsed and then 2 more F seats opened up for my companions on separate reservations. Now we're all three up front. It will be my first F experience on LH and am pretty stoked.

augias84

I flew FRA-EWR a few days ago, on the 747-400 - the first class seats with the separate bed next to them.
It was totally amazing. It is the most comfortable bed I've seen, and it's great to have so much space. I would have liked more privacy, so I expect I would like Singapore or Asiana first class even more.
The only quibble I have with LH is the entertainment system, the screen wasn't great and the selection quite poor. It's just as bad as in business class. United has much better IFE.
The first class terminal in Frankfurt is also wonderful, it's better than just about any other lounge I've ever seen. They have a great buffet, and an extensive menu you can order from - perfect if for some reason you have to spend an extended amount of time there (I was there for 5 hours). But I recommend not eating much there, and save room for the flight, as they serve a ton of food on the flight and it's all amazing (the caviar and the appetizers are the highlights in my opinion).
I got a walnut-cracker as a gift, which is quite weird... as well as a ton of chocolate, really nice pajamas. I'm not a fan of the amenity kit however, and don't like the rubber ducks. I'm probably in the minority there!

rufflesinc

Got it ticketed correctly the third time I called. Flew LH F on 330 then TG F on 747 twice. The food left something to be desired. Also did not get offered caviar until I asked about it. I do not speak german.

First time I've been asked to wait to board after Y and J, because F was not yet done being cleaned.

54austin

That's really odd about not being offered the caviar. Although I don't find LH F service to be consistently great, I would never expect such a mistake(?).

Also different from your boarding experience, my partner and I were called to board by name during a recent DEN-FRA flight. They said the plane was late arriving and boarding would hence be delayed. I guess they prepared the F cabin first in our case.

SFO777

Just booked two DEN-FRA F seats for this weekend (using Aeroplan)

FWIW, next summer First Class has been pulled from the following markets:
• YVR–FRA
• YYZ-FRA

The following cities will continue with just two class service:
• DEN-FRA (although DEN has seasonal winter F service)
• DFW-FRA
• DTW-FRA
• ATL-FRA

Of note SEA-FRA has been upgraded to a three class 744 from the current 333.
And despite being the easiest F award market, PHL-FRA is currently showing three class service.

greenythebeast

When is the DEN-FRA F service going to end? I'm looking to use my UA miles to take that route in the next month or so. Trying to wait for some availability as close to T-14 as possible (trying to give my boss the most advance notice as possible)

SFO777

Looks like April 19th is the last three class 744 for the season.

greenythebeast

Alright, just have to find a date with MSP-DEN and DEN-FRA and FRA-TXL saver F availability so I can get MSP-DEN-FRA-TXL for 110k and I'll be good to go; as close to T-14 as possible. Everyone's prayers would be appreciated

SFO777

From experience, you are unlikely to get all three segments available at the same time. Just concentrate on finding your LH flight. You may have to buy a positioning ticket or pay a change fee to make it all work.

Don't forget about YYZ-FRA which is an even easier F award ticket than DEN and, with PHL is the most likely to open at T-14.
And surprisingly ORD-FRA can also be reasonably easy (inside 7 days) even in the summer when LH adds a 2nd daily FRA flight.

greenythebeast

I should have clarified, I want to experience the top deck on the 744 so from what I can see PHL-FRA isn't going to work since it's a A340. Finding FRA-TXL in saver business is really easy. There's availability pretty much every day for months. So the trick is finding some MSP-DEN and DEN-FRA saver space in F. I'd be fine flying WN from MSP-DEN if needed, but obviously it'd be ideal to find MSP-DEN on UA as well. YYZ-FRA would be a good backup option if I can't find anything in the upcoming weeks. I was just hoping to experience the 744 for as long as possible! Getting from MSP-YYZ is going to be annoying as well but I think I can do that with UA miles as well.

Edit: YVR-FRA would also be an option, although getting from MSP-YVR directly would be Delta only which sucks.

Happy Hour

Nice Christmas present from Lufthansa today: 2 first class award seats opened up for IAD-FRA on the 747-8i on December 28th.

Nothing at T-14 even though the seatmap showed only 1 seat taken. Nothing again this morning, but I checked again a little before 3pm ET and space had opened up.

greenythebeast

So I just found out that LH flies the 744 out of MCO to FRA as well. Other than DEN, MCO, YVR, and YYZ does LH fly the 744 out of any other US/CAN cities regularly. Just want to figure out what all my options are.