Boarding

Just after 3 pm I left the first class lounge to head for the gate.
I had already been “travelling” for over 7 hours that day, but so far only spent about 30 minutes in the air. What a day!

Stepping out of the first class lounge into the regular terminal was like going into a different world. The transit hall just felt like such a lousy place compared to the lounge. Quite a contrast!
And Munich airport itself is definitely one of the better airports out there...



The gate for the flight to Tokyo had been changed from H44 to H48, at the very end of the large terminal building. However that lengthy walk wasn’t really a disadvantage after all the food I had consumed in the lounges during the day.

Boarding started about the same minute as I arrived at the gate.
There was a separate line for first class, business class and Star Gold passengers which was significantly shorter than the regular line and I was among the first few people to be processed.

Settling in onboard

First and business class passengers were supposed to board the aircraft through the forward passenger bridge leading to door 01L.
I was warmly greeted at the entrance by a nice female FA and directed to my seat 02K, my home for the next 12 hours.
I ended up being the very first person to board in first class, which is always an advantage if you want to take some photos of the cabin before departure.



The aircraft used for flight LH 714 to Tokyo was an Airbus A340-600.
There are only two rows of first class on the A346 in a 1-2-1 configuration, which makes it eight seats in total.

Although the cabin isn’t the latest version, and can probably be beaten quite easily by some of the competitors, I thought it gave an excellent first impression.
It was in fact very stylish, spotlessly clean and tidy, and in a flawless condition.

There is a small bar counter in front of the cabin where the crew had made an excellent effort displaying some of the newspapers and magazines they had onboard.
There was also a bottle of champagne in an ice bucket as well as some nice red roses.



As I settled in my seat the friendly female FA at the door came to greet me again.
She addressed me by name, warmly welcomed me onboard, and offered to take my jacket.
A moment later she was back again and asked me if I wanted anything to drink before departure. Didn’t have to think too much about what to answer to that question...
Within a minute a glass of chilled Piper Heidsieck was delivered to my seat together with a bowl of warm nuts.

A few minutes later she was back again and offered me a refill of the champagne.
I was also given a pyjamas, amenity kit and slippers.
The amenity kit was OK but a little underwhelming, I guess I have been too spoiled by the ones handed out by competitors like Emirates and Singapore Airlines.



Eventually more passengers started to arrive in first class, 6 out of 8 seats ended up being occupied on the flight.
Rather interestingly all passengers in first class were Westerners. There was one American man in seat 02A and all others seemed to be Europeans. Not a single Japanese or Asian passenger...

When most passengers had arrived the captain came on the PA to welcome us onboard.
He was a nice and funny guy, quite proud of his job, and given that he competes with the A380 used on the Tokyo flights from Frankfurt he specifically pointed out that “his plane” was in fact longer than the A380.
Expected flight time to Tokyo was 11 hours and 15 minutes.

Before departure the purser also passed through the first class cabin, shaking hands with all the passengers and welcoming us onboard. A nice man!

Munich-Tokyo/Narita, flight LH 714 operated by Lufthansa
Departure: 15:35
Arrival: 11:20
Aircraft: Airbus A340-600
Class: First Class
Seat: 02K

We pushed back right on time at 3.35 pm.
A safety demonstration video was shown on the monitors and the information was later repeated in Japanese by one of the crew members.
We finally took off at 3.50 pm from runway 08R.



The A340 has a very slow rate of climb and I think it took nearly 20 minutes before the seatbelt sign was switched off and the inflight service could start.
The curtains between business and first were closed and the crew started setting up the bar counter with some of the bottles they had onboard.



Hot towels were offered, placed on a small black plate, and a first drink order was taken.
Since I had already had something like 8 glasses of champagne during the day I decided to go off the beaten pattern and try something else. It ended up being a gin & tonic.

The menu

The menu and drink list were handed out. Quite sizeable ones with a really nice and attractive design. I was impressed!



The contents were not particularly bad either...

Here is the menu and drink list for the dinner service to Tokyo:

The meal service

Quite an impressive menu, especially if you look at both the western and the Japanese options.
The drink list was certainly not bad either, lots of goodies there.

The first dish arrived as I was still sipping gin and tonic.
The amuse bouche was in the shape of an eggshell and contained a mix of different herbs in the shape of a jelly. Can’t remember exactly what it was, but it was really tasty!



About one hour into the flight, after the amuse bouche had been finished, the table was prepared for the meal service and a white table cloth was laid on the table.
A selection of breads was offered from a basket and I decided to have some slices of the nice garlic bread.
Finally a red rose was nicely placed on the table by the FA, which should be put afterwards in the armrest of the seat.



Next the FA passed through the cabin with a cart, nicely decorated in white linen, with the different appetizers on display.
Lots to choose between and I decided to try the foie gras which was an excellent choice.

To drink I asked for a glass of the German Riesling.
It seemed to have been a very popular choice in first class and in fact I got a last glass before the bottle was empty. Fortunately they had loaded more than one bottle of the wine onboard...



Next the salad which contained oyster mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, bell pepper and pine nuts.
It was served with vinaigrette or French dressing. I went for the latter.

More breads were offered and I asked for another glass of the nice white wine.



All the wine and champagne bottles were very nicely displayed on the bar counter in front of the first class cabin.
As passengers ordered other drinks, cocktails or speciality wines, these bottles were also added to the selection on the counter (subject to space, of course...)

A really nice feature onboard and it really created the atmosphere of a proper restaurant.
It also meant most drinks were elegantly poured right in front of you.



There were two choices of main course for the western dinner and I went for the “Lufthansa Classic” with German meatballs. It was superb!

I asked for a glass of red wine with the main course and decided to try the Italian Eclissi del Sole 2006.
The red wine was really nice and complemented the main course excellently. The FA told me this combination had actually been especially tasted in the air by Léa Linster, the woman who had created the western menu for the flight.
She mentioned she had actually had Léa onboard one of her flights and found it a very interesting experience.



After the main course the lovely female FA who did most of the job in the cabin passed through the cabin with a cheese and dessert cart which also contained fresh fruits, port and dessert wine.





I asked for some Comté and Livarot cheese as well as some grapes and a glass of the dessert wine.
As the dessert wine was very sweet the FA recommended me to wait a little bit with the dessert, which I did.



Finally, after having finished the cheese and dessert wine, I couldn’t resist trying the dessert and ordered the crème brûlée with macadamia nut ice cream.
Absolutely delicious! Fortunately it was a rather small portion, I was starting to feel very full.

I declined coffee and tea as it was getting a bit too late.
But seeing they had the very nice Johnnie Walker Blue Label it wasn’t very hard to decide what I needed to round up the meal properly. In fact it ended up being two glasses...



Chocolate pralines were also offered in first class from a large box, but I actually had to decline.

The service

I have just one thing to say about the service onboard: Brilliant! Brilliant! Brilliant!

There were two female FAs taking care of first class and the young woman who did most of the work in the cabin was the nicest, sweetest person ever.
She went to a great length interacting with the passengers, in a truly natural and unforced way, taking every possible chance to make people relaxed and feeling at home onboard, without ever taking it too far.
On top of that she was incredibly professional and knowledgeable. I discussed the food and wines with her, what wine would best complement what dish, and she had lots of input and also did not mind telling if she disagreed.

Also she really had full control of everything going on in the cabin. When she had spent a great bit of time chatting and serving the passengers in the other aisle, and had a rough idea that one of my glasses might be empty and in need of a refill, she actually apologised for the wait when she arrived at my seat. She completely read my mind...
But best of all, it was all genuine! There was a genuine warmth onboard that just can’t be faked.

The meal service was also incredibly well coordinated. I have taken quite a few first class flights by now and I have realised how a good coordination can really make a difference.
This was a long meal service, I think nearly three hours passed from my first gin and tonic after take-off until I had finished my dessert. Still the service did not feel slow or too long, and of course it did not feel rushed either.
But more impressively, despite the number of courses and glasses of alcohol consumed I did not feel very full afterwards, and I did not feel overly intoxicated either.
On some flights I have been close to bursting after the meal, the stomach is so full you can hardly fall asleep because of it, but after this meal I was just feeling incredibly satisfied.

In short the service just blew me away!
If I had just noted down the name of the female FA I would have written a letter of compliment to Lufthansa giving my full praise to her, and naturally also to her colleagues, as it’s all about teamwork and they all did an excellent job together. Well I do have some photos...
I have taken a fair number of flights on Lufthansa over the years and I am more than familiar with the airline, and this was by far the best crew I have ever encountered on Lufthansa.

Just a wonderful wonderful experience! ^ ^