Lufthansa A380
Frankfurt - Seoul
Depart: 5:45pm
Arrive: 11:00am
Class: First Class
Lufthansa Business Class has to be one of my least desirable Business Class seats out there, so it could be a surprise that I was incredibly excited to try Lufthansa's First Class seats on the A380. Originally I had wanted to go to Hong Kong and stay at the Ritz Carlton - but since I was using Lifemiles to book, my options were limited by which seats were available - and unfortunately Hong Kong was note. So I did some searching and saw Japan and South Korea were other less popular destination Lufthansa had for First Class - but only Frankfurt - Seoul featured the A380 (modern planes do it for me) as opposed to the A340 to Tokyo (on that day). The other issue was that most Lifemiles routings were through Munich, where I would lose out on the chance to try the Lufthansa First Class Terminal (a must do!). so I changed my entire plan and routed it through Seoul. It was only a night, but it also gave me a chance to reconnect with my old school friend whom I hadn't seen since 2002! Lufthansa First Class is one of the most desired First Class seats, even by celebs, so I suppose I had been wanting to try it for quite some time!
Having said that, I was greeted by an all female First Class crew, including the flight attendent who was looking after my side Katherina G (now it's been so long since I've flown, I can't recall if it was Kathrina, Katherina or Katherine G, which is a shame since she was absolutely amazing). Since there were only going to be 3 guests including myself, and we were still awaiting 1, I took the time to take some photos of the cabin. It wasn't big like Etihad's First Class Apartments or stylish like Qatar's First Class Cabin - but it has it's own respectable charm and vibe. It was a very two tone color setup, but it made the cabin feel warm and inviting - though it was certainly showing it's aged with the thorough lack of privacy on the seats (apologies for the pic quality - it had a smudge on the lens).
I decided to stick with seat 2K - so I would remain on the window, and the only person on the right side of the cabin. In the main cabin, I just loved how the 'Lufthansa First Class' logo was so prominent at the front.
In terms of the seat - they didn't exactly ooze luxury with the same kind of feeling you would get from other top First Class Airlines, but the seat was quite comfortable - and wide enough not to feel to constricted. It was as plushy as Qatar's First Class seat - but it wasn't terrible either. You could tell is was looking a little worn on the fabrics, but only if you were looking out for it.
I settled into my seat to take a look around at my area. It featured an ottoman large enough to put my carry on and shoes away in, while Katherina brought out my amenity kit along with my pyjamas and slippers. While I don't have a pic of the amenity case insides, I loved how it featured a 3 x sample of La Prarie lotions, one of the most expensive lotions you can buy, and there were La Prarie face and hand lotions to use on the bathroom as well!
Each passenger also got a lovely rose at their seat before we sat down - a nice touch as always. I believe Cathay is the only other airline to do this (though with an Orchid instead). I asked for a champagne, which was Cuvée Grand Siècle by Lauraunt-Perrier, which is a very nice champagne, but maybe not quite as nice as Krug. It arrived with some nuts as well, which I left alone to continue taking some photos.
Lufthansa also provides Bose noise cancelling headphones, a great choice on a plane, though I also head my B&O headphones if I wanted to swap to music on my phone.
The plane took off without much delay, and once up in the air, I decided to change into the PJ's and check out the Bathroom, which was enormous. In terms of size, it was designed exactly like Qatar First - though with a more neutral tone. As mentioned previously they featured La Prarie hand cream and face cream (which I certainly used luxuriously - the cream was amazing mind you). There were also some other amenities like hand towers and face wipes, and so on.
The PJ's were okay - not the best, but they were snug on the top, loose at the bottom which did the trick. I headed back to my seat and ordered an amuse-bouch to start with (which I can't recall what it was, but it was fairly nice), along with another glass of Champers!
I decided to jump straight into the caviar, and get my fill while I enjoyed a few tv shows (a big fault here was that the tv screens were quite small, and even some business class seats have bigger screens. Another fault - the screen was old, and it showed in the quality). Katherina meanwhile got to laying out 'table' and offered a pretzel along with some garlic bread, along with butter and olive oil. The coolest thing about the butter was that it was stamped 'First Class' - another small touch I was immensely enjoying. Lufthansa had really decided to go with pure German perfection rather than extravagance, and I was agreeing with most of the choices.
I was starting to get a little hungry now, despite having stuffed my face at the FCT earlier, so I immensely enjoyed the caviar - which was one of the better brands I had tasted.
In terms of Presentaiton, Lufthansa was definitely behind Qatar in this regard, as you can see below - but it was delicious nonetheless:
By this time, the privacy screens had been pushed up to give us more privacy. Since I was the only one on my side, I kept mine down. It gave me a chance to have a chat with Katherina. She was not only professional, but one of the friendliest flight attendants I think I've ever come across (partly due to the lack of numbers, so she had more time to chat), and we discussed things like First Class flying, her thoughts on Lufthansa vs Etihad (shocker: she says Lufthansa are better), and a few other things. I love to chat to flight attendants, they always have so many interesting stories to tell and it really does increase the experience for me, and Katherina went above and beyond (pretty sure she stood next to me for 30 mins while we had a chat). I sneakily asked if they had any more Caviar as well, and luckily they had a little more - which I gobbled up right away (it's scary how quickly I've developed a taste for caviar). One weird thing I noticed was that I couldn't adjust the seat or the foot rest unless the table was pushed all the way to the back - weird and annoying.
With the lights being dimmed, Katherina asked if I wanted to move onto the main course, which I did. I stuck with the Asian cuising, to get me in the mood for Seoul, and I turned back to Family Guy while I ate. Katherina also suggested a beer for me, one of her favorites she said (franken something), and it was a dark beer, which went down surprisingly well with Asian food.
I had the Beef with mushrooms and rice. Amazing? No, but good enough considering beef can be a hit or miss on the plane. I did eat most of it, so I suppose I must have liked it enough.
Once that was done, and mind you Katherina was extremely efficient, peeking in every now and then to check how I was going, while not being too excessive. I moved onto the mango cheesecake, and while I was quite full, I had about half - it was quite good, but as mentioned, full!
At this point Katherina asked if I would like to have a calming tea if I wanted to sleep - I really didn't as I was enjoying the First Class experience on Lufthansa - but I knew I would struggle the next day, so I asked for her to just pick one. I can't recall which one it was, but it was quite soothing, and headed to the bathroom. Once back, the bed was made and ready to go. Funnily we had a very long discussion on which seat I wanted to sleep in, since I had 3 other seats to pick from - but I decided to stay in mine for comfort and window views.
Keeping in mind the flight wasn't extremely long, coming it at just under 10 hours (although they advertise it as 11-12 hours), I managed to grab around 3 hours sleep. The bedding was fairly comfortable, and did knock out quite quickly, but I also wanted to grab some breakfast pictures so I forced myself up. I decided to start with a little of everything - a cappuccino, bread rolls with jam, fruit, and yogurt. It was all simple, and I enjoyed it all. The cappuccino was quite good as well, considering we were 40,000 ft in the air.
I decided to move onto a mango juice as well, as I ate some cold cut meats and cheeses. They all tasted fresh, and it was just the light start I needed. Again, I can't compliment Katherina enough - she brought out everything before I had to ask, and whisked things off as soon as I was done with it.
I finished up and decided to change into my clothes, as we were on descent - and to no surprise, everything was cleaned and the seat was back to normal when I got back. I took a few more pics of the cabin on our way down, but the one below was the only one worth sharing.
We landed shortly before 11am, and reached the gate fairly quickly. I wanted to grab a few more pics and I knew that I had to get out quickly, but was delayed before my wallet had fallen into the gap between the window and side storage - a real annoyance as it was blending in and it took a little bit of searching. Nevertheless, I thanked Katherina for her amazing hospitality and service, and said hoped to see her again - she was probably the best flight attendant I have ever had (it's worth noting she was quite a bit younger than her older couter part - and it really showed since her counterpart hardly smiled or interacted with me). She in turn did say that I was one of the better passengers she had.. well had. A nice compliment, but I'm sure it was just the training. And with that I took off, as I knew I had a considerable distance still to go to the hotel.
My overall thoughts? The Lufthansa First Class experience, from ground to flight to ground was one of the best I have ever had, if not the best. It's not perfect - but Lufthansa has really managed to fine tune every aspect of the experience - and it really puts a lot of other airlines to shame in certain departments. It also helped that Katherina was one of the best flight attendants I have ever had - and the First Class Terminal was a grand experience. I look forward to my next Lufthansa flight, though sadly I don't think it will be till 2018 - as I don't plan to travel back to Europe anytime soon (twice in 2016 is more than I was actually expecting) - and now that I have moved to Australia, it makes getting Lufthansa flights even trickier. I believe Lufthansa has now stopped the A380 to Seoul, but there are always plenty of other routes!