Segment 3
Flight: LH572
Route: FRA-JNB
Date: 8/29/16
Equipment: Boeing 747-8
Registration: D-ABYT
Cabin: J

Having taken thorough advantage of LH's fantastic Concourse Z Senator Lounge, I made my way to Gate Z69, located at the very end of the concourse, for the scheduled boarding time of 9:30pm. LH's boarding process begins with families traveling with "small" children, which was interpreted rather liberally by a few parents on this flight. Nevertheless, priority boarding for F and J passengers commenced shortly thereafter, and I soon found myself settled into seat 84A on the upper deck of this beautiful aircraft.

A few words on LH's "new" business class cabin here. The cabin stylings and aesthetics are fantastic; very classy and "on-brand" for LH IMO. The seats themselves, however, are rather disappointing, especially for a product that was only rolled out in 2012. Being so late to the lie-flat game in business — BA introduced the first fully lie-flat J seat in 2000 and VS pioneered the herringbone layout with direct aisle access for every J seat in 2003 — one may have expected LH to announce its long-overdue "arrival" to this market with a bang. Instead, the German carrier decided to opt for a product one (and arguably two) generations behind many of its competitors, ostensibly to keep its much-lauded F product sufficiently differentiated. In addition to not providing direct aisle access at every seat, this J product also has the dubious honour of being the most "footsie"-friendly seating arrangement flying today. While I had previously wondered whether other reviewers were being somewhat hyperbolic in their ridicule of this "feature", I can now put those doubts to rest — the threat is real! And one final note of complaint: The IFE system is also decidedly not state-of-the-art, with a screen size and resolution that were noticeably inferior to what I experienced on AC half a day earlier.

But what LH lacks in hard product, it more than makes up for in soft. If I were to overlook the seat, I would rank this flight on par with some of the best J experiences I've had on premium Asian carriers like SQ, NH, and CX. The crew on this flight was absolutely fantastic, working tirelessly to provide friendly and professional service throughout the flight. From the moment we stepped on board, Ernesto and his colleagues serving my section of the cabin sprang into action, greeting everyone with a smile, taking coats and jackets, helping with luggage, and serving multiple rounds of pre-departure beverages — all while maintaining a distinctly German mix of grace and efficiency that one just does not encounter on North American carriers.

After an on-time departure and quick climb out, the crew resumed its beehive of activity with dinner order-taking and beverage and nuts service. I found it interesting that instead of having one (or one set of) crew member(s) dedicated to taking orders and another responsible for serving drinks and nuts to all passengers in a cabin, LH takes a more "individualized" approach. What I mean by this is that Ernesto (in my case) would take dinner and drink orders and then serve drinks and nuts to my seatmate and I in 84A and 84C before moving on to the other side of the aisle, then the next row, etc. I had never seen this done before and found it preferable because it makes for a more personalized and less robotic experience.

Unlike AC, LH apparently does not subscribe to the philosophy that a late-night departure should imply an abbreviated dinner experience. While an "express meal" option is available, the full multi-course service is standard (and seemed to be what most guests seated around me opted for). LH e-mailed the menu for my flight about four days before departure, a very welcome feature I can only hope AC will adopt some day. On this evening, the menu offered:

Appetizers
Sliced tuna with wakame seaweed salad, miso sauce and sesame;
Smoked duck breast with apple celery salad; or
Cottage cheese dressed with sun-dried tomatoes and basil, herbed oil, toasted pine nuts and arugula

Salad
Seasonal leaf salad with wasabi dressing

Main Courses
Veal steak with pepper sauce, green beans, carrots and potato gratin;
Salmon steak served with dill sauce, romanesco and kohlrabi stew and mashed potatoes with herbs; or
Rigatoni pasta with Mediterranean vegetables and pesto

Cheese and Dessert
Rock salt cheese, hay cheese and goat cream cheese with onion chutney;
White and dark chocolate mousse with marinated strawberries; or
Fresh fruit

Although I had previously ordered a DBML for this itinerary, I quickly cancelled it upon landing in FRA after witnessing AC's interpretation of what a diabetic should eat (apparently, mostly white rice). I wasn't sure if my update would be processed in time for this leg, given it was less than 12 hours away. Apparently, it was! Another point to LH's IT and operational capabilities.

Since the original intent behind my DBML experiment was to avoid starch and carbs as much as possible, I asked Ernesto if it would be possible to have all three appetizers in place of an appetizer and a main. Ernesto indicated no problem provided there was at least one of each appetizer left after accounting for everyone else's orders. That turned out to be the case, and I was able to enjoy three refreshing and surprisingly filling salads — tuna, duck, and goat cheese and tomato (plus the regular side salad of mixed field greens) — followed by some fresh fruit. My neighbour ordered the veal steak and told me it was very good, too. I had previously heard pretty mediocre feedback regarding LH's J catering, but at least compared to AC (my benchmark for most things, as must be evident by now), this meal was leaps and bounds superior.

After dinner, I went to wash up for bed. I was glad to see that in addition to individual amenity kits, LH keeps its bathrooms well-stocked with shaving kits, mouthwash, and sanitary facial wipes. As an aside, I was (literally) taken aback by the toilet seat on the B748, which closes automatically when flushing. This has not been my experience with AC's B787s, which I would have assumed uses the same technology. Does anyone know why?

After watching an extremely boring first half of The Meddler, I fell asleep for a few hours and woke up to the sound and smell of breakfast being prepared. The breakfast menu for this flight comprised:

Fresh fruit;

Parma ham and Alp cheese;

and

Scrambled egg with chives, sweet and spicy cocktail tomato compote; or
Belgian waffles with cherry compote and homemade vanilla sauce

Of course, LH being a European carrier, both dinner and breakfast came with a fantastic selection of warm breads and baked goods. No AC Viagra bread here.

Because I planned on having my regular breakfast of yogurt and cereal in the lounge, I just opted for some black coffee. But both the eggs and the waffles my neighbours ordered looked and smelled quite delicious.

After completing breakfast service, the crew prepared the cabin for landing. We soon arrived in JNB on schedule, and thus concluded my first time on the B748 and in LH J.

Given the length of this post and since I experienced them less than 12 hours apart, I thought I'd prepare a quick summary comparing LH and AC's J products. Given that both flights were 1) late-night departures, 2) international red-eyes, 3) roughly equivalent in length, and 4) on each carrier's newest aircraft and in each carrier's newest J cabin, I believe the comparison is quite relevant and fair.

Seat: AC
IFE: AC
Food: LH
Crew/Service: LH
Overall Experience: LH

While some may argue that at the end of the day, the most important element of a business class product is the sleep it provides (i.e., the seat), I would take LH over AC in J any day based on this flight (admittedly a very small sample size). My general takeaway is that like many Asian and Middle Eastern carriers, LH still strives to make flying J a "special" experience — a small but illustrative example being the bright yellow sunflowers that adorn each breakfast cart — whereas AC (and its North American peers) seem to take a much more pragmatic and transactional approach.

While deplaning, I thanked Ernesto and his colleagues for a fantastic flight, and will be submitting an online comment after this.

Mileage Tally: 11,592/49,313