Lufthansa Flight 712
Frankfurt to Seoul Incheon
Boeing 747-8i
May 6, 2014
Scheduled: 17:45-10:45+1
Actual: 18:38-11:13+1
Seat 2A (First Class)
Load: 8/8
Good to be back in Lufthansa First Class, where I reviewed for the first time here: (
link)
2014-05-06 18.56.58 by
jurastudent, on Flickr
Though there's no separate bed this time. The new 74H First Class is in the nose and not the upper deck. Would it be just as good I wondered.
2014-05-06 17.15.43 by
jurastudent, on Flickr
The seat was still ridiculously spacious. And having 4 windows to myself was great.
2014-05-06 17.15.56 by
jurastudent, on Flickr
It was very comfortable sitting upright. More so than the one on the 747-400.
2014-05-06 17.17.57 by
jurastudent, on Flickr
The seat controls are also much easier to work with, more adjustable and less buggy than those on the 747-400. I also liked the presence of the privacy screen, which the other product lacks.
2014-05-06 17.21.02 by
jurastudent, on Flickr
I liked the subtle differences in the colours of the new cabin. On the 744, the general background is an duller off-white, whereas here it is a light beige through out, which provides a warmer feel for the most part.
2014-05-06 17.19.07 by
jurastudent, on Flickr
2014-05-06 17.24.34 by
jurastudent, on Flickr
There was also no shortage of storage spaces. Huge overhead bins, lockers in the back, a spacious ottoman and a perfectly sized side compartment. The overhead bins on the 744 were tiny by comparison and the drawer underneath the bed was tiny too. With the lockers though, I probably would have preferred the overhead bins to be removed to make the cabin even more open and spacious.
2014-05-06 17.24.46 by
jurastudent, on Flickr
Soon on boarding, the attendant came by to introduce herself and offered a glass of champagne. Today's champagne on offer was the Taittinger Grand Cru Brut Prelude. Not bad.
2014-05-06 17.18.55 by
jurastudent, on Flickr
The only problem with 2A was the placement of the beverage service area beside the seat. There was lots of activity and noise before departure and during the meal service. Otherwise, it was probably the best seat in the house (with 1A having the closet to deal with and row 3, the galley) with the most privacy and distance between seats.
2014-05-06 17.28.22 by
jurastudent, on Flickr
Lufthansa now offers a leather Escada amenity kit, instead of the Rimowa kits. In terms of brand name, the Rimowa one is great, but really of limited utility for me (I have two I use for electric cables and miscellaneous items while travelling), while the Escada one was designed to store a tablet - just what my iPad needed.
2014-05-06 17.30.34 by
jurastudent, on Flickr
The contents were disappointing, as always.
2014-05-06 18.02.49 by
jurastudent, on Flickr
The cabin filled up rather slowly. I was the first one in the cabin for a good 10 minutes before 2 more passengers came. Closer to departure time, the remaining 5 passengers were on board. 3A and 3D were loudly talking away on their cell phones and across the aisle from each other (thankfully, they were really quiet during the rest of the flight.)
The purser also came by during this time to introduce herself, and we made some conversation about the 744 vs. the 74H product, and she promised to come back at the end to find out how the 74H stacked up to the 744 as it was going the way of the dodo bird. We also cutely exchanged conversation in 3 languages - German, English and Mandarin (she was learning Mandarin very well, which I thought was impressive.)
The service this time around seemed awfully slow though. I sat with an empty glass for well over 10 minutes, before the attendant came to pick up my glass without offering a refill, though I asked for a glass of water. She was seemingly frazzled when collecting all the glasses and putting them back in the storage drawers (beside my seat) to get ready for departure.
Right on time, we pushed back from the gate.
2014-05-06 17.49.47 by
jurastudent, on Flickr
About a minute out from pushing back, I noticed we were immediately going back towards the gate. The captain came on and told us that there was an incident on board and that we had to turn back immediately for medical attention.
Turns out that an older lady in the back had collapsed just as we pulled back, and we had to wait for paramedics to come on board and provide medical attention before we could continue. Captain came back later and updated us that she and her travelling companion were going to be offloaded, which required ground staff to pick out their luggage before we could continue.
So we sat there and waited. I was half expecting that we would be offered a drink in between, but nothing. The attendants came by to check up on us and apologize for the delay. Thankfully it appears that the woman had just fainted, and it was more than likely she was going to be okay.
Unfortunately, the bags of both passengers were in separate containers, so it took some extra time to offload their bags as well. Once the offloading was complete, we had stood on the ground for just about 45 minutes. Captain came on and apologized for the delay, but that we would recoup most of that time from today's shorter flight (just about 9 1/2 hours.)
Taxiing out again, while the safety video was played. I found it interesting that Lufthansa had Korean as the second language on their safety video with only English subtitles (I presume that they adapt the second language to their destination, which I've rarely seen an airline do.)
2014-05-06 18.31.50 by
jurastudent, on Flickr
The new 748i is noticeably quieter. The engines don't have quite the same "oomph" that its older sister has.
Lufthansa 74H Takeoff at FRA
Next part: Dinner