plastus

Thank you! I missed the thread when searching earlier.

Kacee

Also interested in recommendations for J seats on the 346 (SFO-MUC). Particularly interested in row 3 vs elsewhere in the forward cabin, and how bad the "footsie" effect is in the middle seats. I've flown the 380 and 748 so generally familiar with the seat itself, just not this aircraft/configuration.

Please forgive me in advance for not reading all 21 pages of the thread

mverdoni

Flying from Chicago to Munich, what is the recommended business class seat? Currently in 3C, I have read that there might be a magazine rack or snacks are set up on that bulkhead. Is that true? Any suggestions are appreciated!

UAPremExecflyer

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/lufth...e-reports.html

ToddSpam

I was in that seat a few months ago. THere is a magazine bulkhead there. There were no snacks setup on it, and I dont' believe there woudl be since this buts up against first class which they block off during the flight.
There is a little less storage space in front of you when sitting here. I guess you can claim the space on the magazine rack. If you want to sleep during the flight, then this is a good place since there should be minimal traffic aroudn you once they close the curtain/door to 1rst class. If not, I think it offers slightly less than the other seats due to a little less storage space.
Before take off, there will be a bunhc of traffic by you because the coats are stored there.

mverdoni

Thanks!

Kacee

On the 346?

I just flew 3H, which is the same seat on the other side. It's a good seat, possibly the best in the cabin. Very quiet up there at the front. The small shelves in front of the bulkhead seats were not used for anything (and I have a hard time seeing them used for snacks).

Note that these seats felt narrower than on the 748 or 380.

Dhamal

Im flying next EWR to FRA onB748 5k and FRA to DEL 11k on A380 , FRA toDEL is a night flight, should I move to aisle seat? I'm a solo flyer.

thebakaronis

I couldn't find a consolidated review thread, so I'm starting one. Apologies if my searching skills or patience are lacking. And I apologize in advance for being blunt in my assessment.

I flew 4 8+ hr segments on LH in the last 10 days in business class in 747s (2 different versions) and 340s and my experience on all these flights was consistent. Consistently disappointing. Especially in comparison to recent similar experiences on UA, AC & SQ.

So what did I not like?

- seats are downright uncomfortable compared to other airlines. Even non-Polaris UA lie-flat seats are a lot more comfortable, particularly when it comes to lower back support and the right balance between firmness & softness. USB ports are located in an odd, unintuitive & hard to reach location. One flight attendant even impatiently pointed me to the wrong place (near the power outlets, far away from where the port actually is) when I asked for help locating it.

- significantly less privacy than on other comparable airlines. The layout is archaic compared to newer offerings.

- the most frustrating part was the extremely slow meal service on every one of these flights. When you have 8 hour flights, and the meal service starts 1.5 to 2 hours into the flight and goes on for at least 1-1.5 hours and then the pre-landing meal service starts 1.5 hours before landing, you end up having a window of barely 4 hours in the middle and would be lucky if you can fall asleep during that time on demand. When you have itineraries of around 24 hours of flying, including connections, quality of food and sleep become big factors. These are the main reasons I pay for a business class ticket when traveling long distances. There is no conceivable reason why the meal service has to be this interminably long and slow. Not that LH serves more courses than others. They don't. Not that the meals are better prepared: they aren't. The flight attendants are all busy, but busy doing what, I have no idea. Whatever they're doing, it's terribly inefficient. Compare that with the service on UA, AC & SQ that I experienced recently. Fast meal service, and they leave you alone to read/sleep/whatever you want to do.

- Food: I've had better meals on other airlines. In fact LH's business class food is not much better than their economy offering (which I find to be better than the UA counterpart). Business class meals on other airlines are better in my experience. In addition, UA and AC have unlimited snacks available during flights which you can help yourself to. Not so in LH. Nothing available. When you ask, they search around a lot, make a big drama out of 'helping' you and finally fish out a slice of over-sweet (and unhealthy) pound-cake.

- Quality of service is barely adequate. I've flown LH a lot over the years. FRA is my most visited airport besides SFO, my home airport. The one thing I have noticed is how many of their flight attendants are polite, but robotic and lacking a human quality that I can only characterize as grace. There are exceptions, of course, but why are so many of them -- men and women -- awkward, photonic, abrupt and staccato in their mannerisms and speech? And, frankly, some are downright rude and/or lacking empathy even under normal/stress-free situations, more so than any other airline I've flown. Being a flight attendant is not an easy job, particularly in these days of low pay, over-crowded flights, & cramped layouts. But, still, how they behave when nothing is going wrong is an indication of what they are really like. (As an aside, the best experience I've had with an LH flight attendant was with one who was flying UA off-duty in a seat next to mine. We had a long and interesting conversation about her experiences traveling in Europe & North America.)

UA & AC aren't known to be the best in class. But when they are consistently better, it says something about LH.

I'd be very reluctant to spend my money on them again, unless I have no choice or I get unbeatable business class deals on LH.

Nic33

To my view, it makes sense to have a long meal service, as there is not much else to do in an aircraft. An extended meal service does not prevent passengers from working on a laptop or watching the IFE. For those who wish to sleep, there is a so-called "express service" that is available.

There are snacks offered in between meals in the galley.

My experience is consistently good on long haul flights. While maybe not displaying grace, the FA are service oriented.

oliver2002

Most importantly all flights (are supposed to) have the restaurant/signature service where you can tell the FA what you want to eat when. If you make it very clear at first contact what you want to do when (eg: "i want to maximise sleep on this flight") they usually comply. I November I had a night flight to BKK and a day flight from PVG in the A380 (aka the 'dormitory') where FAs handle 10-12 guests each and even there the FAs managed to do what I asked for. On A330/A359/A346 ex MUC this is never an issue as they only take care of 8 pax each.

ToddSpam

For this, your opinion is your opinion so if LH sucked for you, then there is no arguing that LH sucks for you.

My experience in business is pretty limited to US carriers, but for the topics you spoke about:
Seats - way better than Delta and arranged better than United. I have never been uncomfy on an LH flight. You can control the firmness/softness of the seat on the armrest. THe USB ports are in AWFUL locations...locations that almost make them unusable unless you have a long cord

For privacy, I'm not sure which airline does better unless you are flying the Turkish or Arab airlines or up in F. To be frank, when I am in an alumunium tube with hundreds of others, my expectations of privacy pretty much are limited to the bathroom.

For meals and times - I have only waited 1.5 h+ when there was turbulence that prevented the meals from being served. Usually shortly after hitting cruising altitude, the meals come in my experience. Maybe the time of the flight plays a role. I also usually eat and have my table cleared in under 45 minutes. Now the quality of the food....I have never been unhappy with a meal, but they aren't great. Again, in a plane, my expectations are lower. I do agree about hte lack of snacks between the meals. Some of have said they are setup in the galley, but I find this rarely happens.

As for the service, I think LH is top notch. Sometimes I wish the FA's were less cheerful and friendly. I really prefer just to give my food order, and then have minimal contact and discussion...just like with whomever is sitting next to me...I don't care about their lifestory, and I am not looking to make friends on the flight. I enjoy solitude. LH attendants do pretty well as far as I am concerned.

At my company, most people fly UA, Delta, or LH in J, and overwhelmingly people prefer LH. I am one of them.

SK AAR

The views stated above do not correspond to my impressions after my flights in C, FRA-CPT/JNB-FRA last month which I thoroughly enjoyed. As I recall it there was nothing to complain about and I had a decent sleep on both flights,

lefrid

Hi, I am 2m tall and I have a flight PTY-FRA on the Cityline A343 and travelling with my wife. Looking at the best seat (length/size of footbox) in that bird.
Any recommendation?
Kind regards

capedreamer

This is very good to know. Thanks!

On a related note, do you know how LH prioritizes meal orders? As a *G but not M&M member, I presume I won't get any "special treatment" and am concerned about running out of options (as I'm a somewhat picky eater but generally haven't been impressed by airline SPMLs). Does LH take orders front to back or back to front? Trying to decide between the smaller (but further back) cabin vs. the larger (and less private) cabin on the A359.