Jasper2009

Sounds like a terrible experience. I would definitely discourage you from getting drunk, as a rule of thumb: never drink more in the air than you would on the ground and make sure your drinking doesn´t affect other pax

Have a great time!

Jasper2009

Both old LX F and old LH F aren´t great, but I´d agree LX probably is better. If you can´t get seats on the A380, you could also fly FRA-ZRH-NRT which would give you access to the FCT in FRA due to the same-day departure in LX F.

t1nt1n

[QUOTE=Jasper2009;14985455]Sounds like a terrible experience. I would definitely discourage you from getting drunk, as a rule of thumb: never drink more in the air than you would on the ground and make sure your drinking doesn´t affect other pax/QUOTE]

Erg. For the record, I generally drink only water + a glass of wine when flying. If I feel like it, I might have the dessert wine. That flight though ... end of a holiday, and I had eaten dinner on the ground and thought, "I can handle this" and started with a pre-flight champagne .. then a cocktail after take-off ... anyway, ended-up running into the galley and the flight attendants were able to give me a container to hurl into (for some reason there was no bags at my seat) .. not my best moments I agree ... what I had forgotten was that my "dinner" on the ground was just a salad and nothing to really buffer the alcohol in my stomach.

I went and read some postings on the "new" LX F which seemed to have started in 2007 but there're SO FEW flights with them and most of them are flying to the US.

Thanks for that tip on accessing FRA FCT. I'll keep that in mind.

t1nt1n

Update:

Been playing around with this for awhile and finally gave it a go yesterday and M&M SEN phone center in AU said there was no availability on FRA-NRT for the dates I was looking for.

I got curious and plugged in PEK-FRA-PEK on M&M's online award booking tools and there I was able to see F availability on the 380. However, when I plug in NRT-FRA-NRT, I was not able to see anything, not even up to the latest possible dates (11 November/355 days in advance).

These are the possibilities I can think of:

1. Somebody snapped up NRT-FRA vv as soon as it became available a few hours ago

2. They've yet to really finalize the FRA-PEK 380 flights

3. They're blocking FRA-NRT award availability

4. Availability for FRA-NRT isn't loaded

Ideas?

oliver2002

M&M requires HON/SEN to WL for the A380 F awards. This is the only way to get an award in F on the A380. You have to call M&M and ask to be put on the waitlist.

NewbieRunner

If the SEN hotline tells you there's no F award availability, call a number in Germany. I found that none of the agents in English-speaking HON call centres knew how to waitlist for F awards on the A380 correctly. After several unsuccessful attempts I called a number in Germany and the waitlist cleared within minutes.

t1nt1n

Tausend dank to both of you!

I'll give it a try.

NewbieRunner, when you said it cleared within minutes, were you waiting on the phone or did you receive an offline notification?

Also, considering it's a waitlist, I'm guessing I'll have to temporarily book an alternative flight which will then be cancelled when the waitlist clears?

NewbieRunner

While I was waiting on the phone.

Waitlisting is purely a technicality. You don't have to book any alternative flight.

t1nt1n

Okay. Called-up the German number, got told that I couldn't waitlist. Hung-up. Tried again but this time I started by asking if she knew how to book an F award for the 380. She said yes ... but then told me the same thing. So I told her that supposedly there's a special process for booking F awards on the 380 ... she goes to check with her supervisor and within a few minutes she came back and asked for passenger names ... submitted it into the request system and ... yeap, within a few minutes it was all set.

I had her confirm the time and date and issue the ticket right there and then.

Danke schon!!!!

NewbieRunner

Glad to hear it's worked out for you. ^

It proves that their call centre agents need (re-)training.

t1nt1n

Or it just means there will be more availability and only a select few will get'em. Cruel, yes but ... I mean ... 2 F awards on the 380. For May! On other popular routes/flights they'd have been snapped-up the moment they become available. At one point I wondered how to ask if it was actually booked or if they hadn't done their special magic yet.

And for the record, I didn't just hang up on the first person. I thanked her and politely hung-up.

But anyway, looking forward to it. And here's hoping there's no substitution on that day!

DownUnderFlyer

Congratulations and enjoy your flights.

I wonder whether those agents are LH or arvato personnel.

NewbieRunner

Just out of curiosity are both passengers SEN? I've heard that waitlisting for F awards (an unpublished perk for HON) is only possible for HON him/herself and not to travelling companions.

t1nt1n

I'm not sure I understand?

I'm SEN, but she's not. I think she was *S with bmi but I haven't followed her account since the whole migration/takeover by LH.