FRANKFURT to BANGKOK (FRA-BKK) on Lufthansa 747-400 in first class
At the gate they weren't quite ready so I had a short wait. The end of the pier was moderately busy with flights headed in all directions. The red eye to Istanbul was boarding at an adjacent gate.
As is usual when confronted with dual airbridges when seating upstairs I took the "economy" one. I just can't see the point of the hassles of boarding at door 1 only to have to force my way through the second cabin to get to the stairs. The only time I make an exception is when priority boarding has been disbanded and there are large queues in the economy airbridge. The crew manning door 2 were a bit surprised I'd done this but I was up the stairs before anyone else who'd taken the first + business airbridge.
I took out from the bag the few things I wanted and put them in the large cubby hole inside the armrest, before stowing the bag in the closet at the rear. I grabbed a magazine from the shelf on the way back to my seat. I was seated with drink in hand in no time.
As well as the pre-departure drinks, pajamas, slippers and an amenity kit were handed out. No more rimowa kits, back to the bogor ones. The load tonight was light with about 5 passengers - so a whole row of 4 seats to myself. Not quite flying solo but if I ignore the couple in front I can pretend it is since the 2 passengers behind slept the entire flight.
With a low load there was ample top-ups of the drinks. I remember watching the safety video and handing back my glass. Next thing I recall I was waking up from a nap and we were well into the air. A menu had been placed beside me and the meal service was about to begin. I grabbed my carry on from the closet and placed it on the floor by an empty seat for easier access. I was allowed to keep it there the rest of the flight.
The Lufthansa first class meal service is always long and slow. I considered taking the express meal option but, since I'm travelling for another couple of days figured I could catch up the sleep later and chose the full meal service. Despite the light load, tonight was no exception to the languid pace. While I rather like eating slowly I do think they overdo it a bit on overnight flights as most passengers would not want dinner/supper to take over 2 hours and only finish more than 3 hours into the flight. Fine for a daytime flight, a bit long for overnight, I reckon.
By the time the meal had finished I'd seen both movies that were worth watching on the IFE. The selection on Lufthansa really is small. While sometimes there are several worth seeing, other times like tonight the options are bad. This is why I so like airlines with large IFE selections (50+ movies) - even though most people will not get to see them all, there is at least a big enough range to keep everyone happy.
After dinner I was given a water bottle and asked if I wanted to be woken for breakfast. I gave my usual answer of no, but I'll have breakfast if I'm awake. A last nightcap for me and I drifted off to sleep for the second time.
I awoke a few hours later and much earlier than I intended. Perhaps it was the gentle tinkle of cutlery and crockery as crew prepared for breakfast in the galley trying hard not to disturb the tranquility of the cabin, or perhaps it was the glow around the closed window shades as we flew through mid-morning sun, or perhaps it was my body clock in chaos through the rapid changes of time zones and disrupted sleep patterns of the previous few days. Whatever the cause I was grumpy I hadn't slept for longer and annoyed that I couldn't get back to sleep.
After a while I gave up trying and scrolled through the programs trying to find something interesting. The monitor on the adjacent seat I set to flight path so I could track progress while I watched something else.
Breakfast started 2 hours before arrival, so that makes over 40% of the flight time taken up with meal services! I had some fruit and a couple of coffees and finished up quickly to use the bathroom before the rush. A force of habit of mine to do this, the result of hundreds of longhaul flights, which really I didn't need to bother with given the light load in first class.
We arrived on time and got a gate in the middle of the terminal.