BANGKOK to FRANKFURT (BKK-FRA) on Lufthansa 744 in first
I reached the gate just as they were closing boarding and made my way upstairs to the upper deck exit row. The cabin was full, well 8 out of 8 sold seats (for 16 physical seats); and I was the last one onboard.
While there was a theoretical possibility of getting the modified seats I knew that hell would need to freeze over before Bangkok would get it. Still, there was a minor change from my previous Lufthansa first class flight shortly after sold seats were reduced to 8 - a little card on the arm rest.
Window or aisle!
Both!
Enjoy even more privacy : in the Lufthansa First Class Boeing 747-400 you now have twice as much room to stretch out on every flight.
On request we will gladly turn your second seat into a full bed with comfort mattress. Just ask us.
I enjoyed some pre-departure bubbles and nuts. Pajamas, rimowa amenity kit and slippers were handed out.
After take off menus were handed out, and I opened up the two PTVs - movie for the closest one and flight show for the other. Unfortunately during the flight there were intermittent problems with the IFE. It would sometimes freeze and only switch back on after lots of pressing. After a while I gave up fiddling around with it and having to fast forward to resume the movie and left it on flight show. It was about all the IFE could handle.
After the brief chat from the purser I was served a G&T. That's not what I ordered.
By now I'd kind of woken up as you sometimes do when really tired, so I opted for the full meal service instead of the sleeper service. Maybe a few more drinks will help with the sleep.
Several hours and drinks later. Hmmm - this isn't working. Eventually I ran out of thirst and managed to get an hour of light sleep before breakfast, or in my case, coffee.
With only 8 seats occupied at least the late flight bathroom rush is no more.
While on descent I was handed a survey to complete. It has been a while since I've done one onboard (Air NZ does them electronically and thus after landing).
We touched down on time and even managed to avoid a remote stand with a nice, close in, gate in area B of the terminal.