Lufthansa First Class Lounge
JFK Terminal 1
Turkish Airlines 777-300
Hooray! Embarking on this trip signifies in part that I completed my first year of law school. It’s not easy to manage the miles junkie hobby & law school, but somehow I managed. I finished my Contracts exam May 23 at ~10:30, then made a beeline for the bar (yes, it was 10:30AM…I’ve done worse). I suppose the logic behind spending all day at the bar was that I had the entirety of May 24th to recover, as LH 405 doesn’t depart until 22:00. Anyways, I left my apartment in the village at about 17:00 May 24th, knowing full well it would take 2+ hours on the metro to get to JFK. After a somewhat boring/anxious metro & airtrain ride, I entered Terminal 1. T1 is my favorite terminal at JFK, chiefly because it is newer and was designed specifically to accommodate the A380. If my memory serves correct, it was built as a joint venture between LH, KA, and other strange bedfellows. They lease gates to really strange airlines as well, with the likes of Aeroflot, Royal Air Maroc, and Saudia pulling in during my visit.
A380 model in the entrance...I want one!
The LH lounge at JFK is broken up in the following way: Level 1, Business Class Lounge, Level 2, SEN Lounge (* G too I believe), Level 3, First Class Lounge. It is important to note that the ‘First Class Lounge’ is more of an ‘Area,’ given that there are not independent showers or bathrooms, and the dining room/buffet area takes up the most square footage. There is a small lounge area, but even then, it is located adjacent to the open bar.
The staff in the lounge are extremely helpful, and go out of their way to take care of you. Typical LH. Every request was accommodated immediately. Which reminds me, I find the quantity of staff in the First Class area gratuitous. There were at least three chefs and two waiters in the ‘Area.’ Given the spacing between flights, and the exclusivity of LH access policy, I can’t imagine more than 10 people in the lounge at any given time. Not that I’m complaining, though!
Table Setup
As for the food, LH has the same protocol as in Germany, whereby they have an open buffet in addition to an a la carte menu. The waiter comes in handy when requesting a la carte items, but I found that he was almost too pushy when I was trying to check out the buffet spread.
Anyways, I ordered dinner, accompanied by an excellent pinot noir, the name of which escapes me.
Lufthansa First Class a la carte menu, JFK
Lufthansa First Class a la carte menu, JFK
Potatoes Au Gratin, boiled shrimp and asparagus--Lufthansa First Class Lounge, JFK
Petite Beef Tenderloin, Sweet Potato Puree, Roasted Patty Pan Squash, Bacon Gastrique
Pinot Noir... It was delicious.
Here are some classy cheeses, no idea what they are
Pecan Tart, Panna Cotta, Raspberry Cheesecake
Later, I absolutely went overboard with desserts. I don’t even like desserts, but I felt obligated to sample everything. This was accompanied by Remy Martin XO cognac, which is nice.
Shortly after I was finished being a fat kid in the lounge, I was escorted to the gate by a LH agent, accompanied by a new friend (also F passenger) I befriended in the lounge. Once at the gate, we were quickly separated upon encountering what I can only surmise was either a lynch mob or 4839849 gate lice. Not to be judgmental, but I find LH gate lice to be the worst, with a bunch of Americans proudly displaying J boarding passes, noses held 10 degrees above the horizon, the typical DYKWITIA looks on their faces. Nevermind, the gate agent found us & quickly dragged us from the sea of the plebeians. Between the pinot noir and cognac, I was pretty buzzed, so the boarding experience I have just recounted is probably not completely accurate.
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