Segment 14
Flight: LH418
Route: FRA-IAD
Date: 9/15/16
Equipment: Boeing 747-8
Registration: D-ABYK
Cabin: J

Boarding for LH418 started 15 minutes late at 12:45pm, but thanks to a very light load (more on that below), wrapped up ahead of schedule. Nevertheless, pushback was delayed until 1:45pm due to slot congestion.

I was seated in 84C but ended up having the entire row to myself.



In fact, only 14 of the 32 seats on the upper deck were taken. Taking a walk through the plane later, I realized that the entire flight was very empty across all classes (though I'm not sure about F, which I didn't visit).

Given the empty upper deck and the delayed departure time, I was presented an opportunity to visit the beautiful cockpit of the B748.



The entire crew, both cockpit and cabin, for this flight was fantastic. Astrid Laske, who was responsible for my part of the cabin, was a particular pleasure to deal with. She was friendly and professional, and patiently humoured me as I practiced my broken German.

As part of the safety briefing, we were reminded that Samsung Galaxy Note 7s are now prohibited from usage on all LH Group flights.

At 2pm, we finally took off. A few minutes later, Astrid came around with hot towels and the tea I ordered to go with the pre-meal almonds. The lunch menu for this flight featured:

Appetizers
Smoked marinated black Angus beef with arugula salad, Pecorino cheese, pine nuts and olive oil;
Filet of salmon with sauce remoulade and potato salad; or
Bell pepper salad with feta cheese and seven herb pesto

Salad
Seasonal leaf lettuce with yogurt lime dressing

Main Courses
Braised beef roulade with Brussels sprouts and sautéed spätzle;
Cod with apple and leek stew, enhanced by basmati rice; or
Ravioli filled with ricotta and truffle oil, herb sauce and rapeseed

Cheese and Dessert
Cambozola, Borgond and Lenggenwiler cheese served with date sesame honey chutney;
Bavarian cream with marinated strawberries; or
Fresh fruit

The wine list was identical to that of LH797 from HKG:

Champagne
Castelnau Brut Réserve, France

White
2015 Schloss Vollrads Riesling Kabinett Trocken, Weingut Schloss Vollrads, Germany
2015 Viognier Réserve Spéciale, Pays d‘Oc, Gérard Bertrand, France

Red
2012 Château Maison Blanche, Cru Bourgeois, Médoc, France
2013 Mendoza Malbec Reserva, Bodegas Norton, Argentina

I went with the bell pepper and feta salad (which was fantastic) and the cod entrée (which was alright). I also had the fresh fruit with tea after lunch.

The rest of the flight was uneventful. Astrid and team came around frequently with drink and snack offers. I did some reading and napping to pass the time. 90 minutes before landing, dinner was served:

Hearty crayfish stew;

Chef’s salad with thousand island dressing; and

Plum crumble cake with almonds and whipped cream

Since I would be eating again on my next flight to SFO, I chose to skip the second meal. We arrived just after 4pm local time.

Note to self: Connecting at IAD is not fun. Even with Global Entry / TSA Pre✓ and Star Gold status / F ticket, I had to re-clear security at a mess of a checkpoint. There was no Pre✓ line, and the Star Gold line was actually moving slower than the regular lines. In any case, I got through and am now sitting in the United Club, waiting for UA712 to SFO.

Mileage Tally: 46,895/49,313