Satureday, December 29
LH459
SFO-MUC
Aircraft: Airbus A340-600
Seat: 1A – First Class
Scheduled Departure Time: 9:50 PM
Actual Departure Time: 10:04 PM
Scheduled Arrival Time: 6:00 PM next day
Actual Arrival Time: 6:02 PM next day

This was a flight I was really looking forward to for more than one reason.

First, the 340-600 is an exciting aircraft. The nickname “silent giant” (at least the worlds longest aircraft) is well earned as I had experienced back in 2006 during my flights from Frankfurt to Johannesburg and back from Capetown on board of South African Airways. Unfortunately these flights were in Economy and (believe it or not) still very pleasant, quite and comfortable. So First Class on this plane should be something near to the seventh heaven.

Second, the flight times of LH459 are really strange. AFAIK this flight is by far the latest Westcoast to Europe service of all significant carriers and due to the time difference of plus 9 hours I was going to lose almost the whole next day. My natural choice would have been the flight to Frankfurt which leaves SFO shortly after 2pm (and was available in First too) but this would have cost me the whole day in SFO and the only opportunity to spend time with an old friend. I was very curious about the possible consequences to my jetlag and had developed a little strategy to fight against it. More of this topic later.

The third reason was the expected load of the flight. I had checked the loads and the seatmaps in the morning and the flight seemed to be full in Economy (Y2), almost empty in Business (C9D9Z9 with only 10 seats preselected) and with me as the only passenger in First (F7). As Lufthansa doesn´t do upgrades if they don´t need to and with very few passengers in Business I was hoping for the jackpot in form of a private cabin.

My shuttle was prebooked for a departure a 7:30pm from the Hilton. The ride was again smooth and fast with only one additional passenger picked up on our way to the airport. At checkin the picture was as expected. A long line in front of the Economy counter, a shorter one at the Business checkin and nobody at the First and HON Circle counter. Checkin was smooth and performed by a nice young American lady who was fluent in German too. I received the boarding pass for my onward flight to Hamburg too and was given the directions to the lounge.

At security their was only one line for all passengers – no premium line. But to be fair, it was short anyway and I was done with my striptease in ten minutes and on my way to the United International First Lounge.

The terminal was very quite, with only four more flights leaving this evening and so was the lounge. I was warmly welcomed by the staff and directed downstairs (the is a lift too) to the lounge where I found a comforable seating area in front of a EVA Air Boeing 747 waiting for their departure to Taipeh. I had a quick look around the lounge to discover potential seat thieves for the LH flight. There was one couple sitting in front of the TV and I saw their United boarding passes (the only United flight leaving this evening was the Sydney service) – a young overstyled lady sitting near to me and I heard from her phone conversation that she was on her way to Sydney too. Nobody else in the lounge? No. Great. Still the chance for the jackpot.

The SFO IFL lounge is one of the better ones in the United network with a good selection of food (sandwiches, cakes, sushi, sashimi, vegetable sticks, fruits and lots of smaller snacks) and the usual selection of drinks at the self service bar/buffet. I helped myself to a Bacardi with Coke, some fruits, vegetable sticks and a German magazine and snaggled in my comfy chair.



At 9pm I decided to go to the departure gate (still nobody else was showing up in the lounge). At gate 100 boarding was in full process with priority boarding for first class and business class passengers on the right sight of the gate. Okay – now the final dices are rolling.

I entered the aircraft and headed to the first seat after the right turn, 1A, and was immidiately welcomed by a FA with the warm words “welcome on board Mr mijugo – please make yourself comfortable and be spoiled by free seating tonight as you will be the only guest in the front on this flight”. YES!

She then asked me for my welcome drink. A glass of Sherry for me please. I know the continued decline of Champagne is a reason for being thrown out of the Flyertalk community but I´m still not into these stuff. The words sparkling and wine simply don´t belong to each other.
My drink arrived together with a bowl of macadamia nuts. A fluffy pillow and the amenity kit were already placed in my seat – a pyjama was distributed shortly afterwards. I took it as a souvenir – IMHO the toilets on Lufthansa planes are to small to change during the flight (at least for me) and I weared comfortable clothes for this night flight anyway. But there are some friends at home (of course only flying once a year to a beach) who are begging for some souvenirs from the world of sophisticated travel like pyjamas, amenity kits and small ducks from the lounge. So these little things won´t get lost.

After this the Captain of the flight came over to introduce himself and to tell me personally some details concerning the routing. He mentioned that we will hardly see any daylight on this flight as the routing possibly is too much northbound. He then told me that our aircraft today is almost brandnew and stayed in full service for only two weeks (wich I might have guessed as the seats, the walls and the ceilings were almost sparkling). Before heading back to the cockpit he mentioned that they don´t expect any major turbulences, thanked me for flying Lufthansa and wished a nice flight. A very nice and formal touch.

Shortly after this the Sherry was topped up and I was allowed to keep the glass as well as the nuts during takeoff.

Doors were closed, followed by the usual security movie during our long taxi to the runway (nice views of the bay – the fog finally disappeared). Almost on time the engines gave their best for a powerfull takeoff roll – and hell were they silent. You feel the takeoff but you hear almost nothing, truly a silent giant, at least in the first row . Although most experienced flyers know that an Airbus 340 is only climbing due to the curvature of the earth we reached our cruising altitude surprisingly fast.

So this was the time, where usually the chief purser shows up to introduce himself and to distribute the menu. So he did and this was the dinner menu:

MENU – Lufthansa First Class / San Francisco - Munich
Selected and created by the chefs of the Peninsula New York

Dreamer´s Delight
Use the time on board to get some restful sleep: in the form of our Dreamer´s Delight, a select meal served in one course.

Cold Gourmet Plate
Barbeque Chipotle Tuna with Jicama Salad and Guacamole

Hot Specialty
Baby Corn Soup with toasted Corn and Truffle Oil

Cheese and Dessert
Sage Derby, Gruyére and Cambozola Cheese

Selection of Fresh Fruit


The Full Dinner

Choice of Hors d´oeuvres

Caviar with the traditional Garnishes
Five Spice dusted smoked Duck Breast, wild Mushrooms and Leek
Pistachio crusted Shrimp with sweet Pea Tarragon Flan and Tomato Vinaigrette
Grilled Vegetable Antipasti with sweet and sour Sauce

Salad

Selection of Seasonal Greens with Balsamico or Potato Dressing

Choice of Main Courses

Horseradish-Pepper crusted Beef Tenderloin, Spätzle, Asparagus and Rosemary Jus

Vanilla Thyme roasted Cod, Baby Bok Choy and Fondant Potato

Pan seared Turkey Escalopes with Sweet Potato Gratin, Cranberry and Orange Compote

Saffron Fettucine, roasted Vegetable with Chunky Tomato Sauce and Garlic Olive Oil

Selection of Cheese and Dessert

Sage Derby, Parmesan, Gruyére, Cambozola and Humboldt Fog garnished with Grapes
Apple Raisin Bread Pudding with Vanilla Ice Cream
Wild Berry Charlotte in its Consommé with Sweet Cream


The wine- and drink selection was exactly the same as on the inbound flight to New York. See post #3 for details.


A nice dinner to look forward to, two motivated flight attendents caring exclusively for my needs – this was going to be a great flight. And to tell you something: promises were not broken!

At this time I was thinking about my anti-jetlag strategy. Passengers in Lufthansa First are “masters of time”, wich means that you are completely free to choose what to eat and when to eat. Regulars on this route often decide for the Dreamers Delight, then head to bed, skip breakfast and enjoy the dinner the next day before landing – wich is of course more “natural”, as the last time I experienced a decent breakfast at 5pm was during my student years. On the other side – who am I to skip a meal offering in first class? So I decided to enjoy the full dinner now, followed by a relaxing movie, three to four hours of sleep and a full breakfast. My goal was to stay reasonably tired to make a restfull sleep the next night possible. It turned out to be the exactly right strategy by the way.

So let the dinner start. First of all I got a hot and lightly fragranted towel, nicely decorated with rose leaves. After this my table was set up with the usual parts: white table linen, cutlery, salt and pepper, butter, a plate for the bread with an extra knife and the red rose.

It is of course a little bit weird to see the two FA come by with a full trolly of nicely arranged appetizers. I decided for a generous portion of caviar first (with everything but the onions), accompanied by three slices of fresh toast and a glass of icecold vodka (served in an iced glass as well). Next were the appetizers – I tried the Duck Breast and the Shrimps and both were absolutely amazing. Tasty, spicy, softly and simply perfect. The salad was fresh and I got a generous portion too.

During this my FA asked if they should prepare the main course immidiately or if they should wait some minutes to make me a little bit more comfortable. I orderd my Beef Tenderloin to be served 20 minutes later wich helped alot to enjoy the great dinner. During this time I sipped on one more glass of the excellent Riesling – a great wine, but not recommended for a meal of red beef. To accompany the very spice main course, the FA recommended the French Margaux of 2001 – a very good choice wich I gladly accepted. She opened the wine (as all wines during the flight) in front of me, let me taste first and then filled up my glass.

The whole dinner was truly celebrated and this was one of the best, no – it was the best meal I ever enjoyed on board of an aircraft. Truly five star with great foods, fantastic wines and a professional as well as friendly and attentive service from the two ladies serving my tonight.

My choice of dessert was the Bread Pudding wich came with a really large bowl of Vanilla Ice Cream. I skipped the cheese, instead I had some of the chocolates served after dinner and a glass of the dessert wine. Man – I was stuffed.

My movie of the day was the third Bourne Thriller. During this I made myself comfortable and had two cups of Yogi Tea as a digestiv. After an hour or so I decided I was too tired to finish the movie now and headed to the bathroom. Coming back I was surprised and delighted that the FA had prepared seat 1D as a bed (fully flat, two fresh pillows, water bottle, another red rose and the large blanket. That is the advantage of travelling in a private cabin. She asked if and if yes, when she should wake me up – three hours before landing should be fine. Lights were turned of and the shades were closed. Good Night!

The seats in an A340 are in general the same as in the 330 or the 747 but nevertheless I felt more comfortable on this new old seat than ever. I found out later that the footrest slips out a little bit more (8cm as told by the FA) than in the older seats wich is great for longer people (I´m 1,90m / 6´20´´) as I was able to fully strech and sleep deeply in every position.

Did I sleep? Suddenly I recognized some light. It was daylight, wasn´t it. In fact it was my wakeup call. The FA opened one and a few minutes later a second one of the window shades on the right side to give me some kind of mood lightening. Surprised to see the sun I had a look at my watch. Wow – I slept for almost five hours. The FA welcomed me with another hot towel and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice and wished a good morning. I really can get used to this kind of wakeup calls.

I made myself comfortable on 1A again, enjoyed one or two cups of cappuccino and finished my movie. Then it was time for breakfast.

Unfortunately I lost the breakfast menu but I contained the usual stuff like a wide selection of bread, bagles, rolls, croissants, toast, muffins and danishes, muesli, yogurt, plates with fresh fruits (one with berries, one with sliced fruits like melons, pineapple and kiwi), a selection of coldcuts, ham, cheese, smoked salmon and the opportunity to order eggs, freshly prepared any style. I ordered two fried eggs wich came a few minutes later (classic style or sunny side up Mr mijugo? Classic style please). Although it was already dark again outside it was a great breakfast.

Shortly before landing the chief purser once again showed up and did the usual goodby routine including asking for my connection flight and confirming the gate.

All to soon we had a rather bumpy decent but a smooth landing in Munich. Time to say goodby to the great crew!

What a flight! Of course the fact I was the only passenger in First made some differences but over all I am from now on Munich-addicted and can definetely confirm the wide spread rumours that Munich based crews are in general more professional and more caring as their Frankfurt colleagues. FRA crews do a great job too and I know it is always a hit or miss but I for sure felt the difference in the small details like presenting and explaining the meals and wines, making recommendations for the meal courses and the drinks, preparing the seat for the night, filling up glasses regularely, building up a lovely decoration in the bathroom, preparing a Yogi Tea with fresh hot milk without needed to be asked and so on. IMHO Munich crews are the better ones on shorthaul flights but this was my first longhaul with them and as told - the next flight will be for sure out of or into MUC if possible.

This was by far the very best flight I have had in my life. A truly five-star-experience.