flysurfer

No worries. It's just that every year, I'm kind of working for one week. Well, this is the week.

It's not that bad, though, as it's basically sitting in a open air lounge with free WLAN, enjoying drinks and canapes, talking to old friends, going to receptions and partys and talking with some more or less famous directors (this week: Jonathan Demme, Barry Levinson, Mike Figgis, Terry Gilliam, Davis Guggenheim). Since today's my self-declared "no party" night (despite being lured by the opening party for the Fantasy Filmfest in the P1 and the Polizeiruf 110 party), so I have time to catch up on FT.

flamboyant 1

Enjoy the Filmfest, flysurfer. Glad you and your friends enjoyed the Zidane headbutt interpretations .

flysurfer

We sure did. I'll make sure to show it to Terry Gilliam on Thursday.

weero

Glad to hear you alive. Even though being an engineer is providing my excuse for
not knowing any directors (are you sure the last one is not a museum?).
Anyway, those blokes let you live. Probably you wisely haven't told them how
much you enjoy their and anyone's movies on the IFE ...

icebird

I have to admit that I am a bit confused. I'm trying to figure out whether my F flight might have AVOD - and there have been conflicting stories whether planes with the newly fitted C configuration have AVOD in F. I am flying FRA-MIA in F on a 744 next week. Does anybody know if I can expect AVOD in F?

Many thanks,
Ice

SleepOverGreenland

If there is no miracle, then FRA-MIA is still old C, --> no AVOD in F.

icebird

Thanks for the info! :-: I suppose that without the AVOD I will be able to concentrate better on my Champagne intake

virtualtroy

Very late to contribute but my to pfeniggs worth... LH ground handling at FRA and MUC head and shoulders above anything any other carrier has to offer (though this is slowly evolving with enhanced ground facilities with some of the Middle Eastern long-haul carriers and BA's proposed development at LHR T5).

As for in the air, I too was curious as to why LH had chosen the upper deck for F over the traditional front on bird layout on the 747. I have to say that BA has the edge, when it comes to individual travellers in F, the herringbone layout provides for the kind of privacy which you wouldn't expect on a commercial airliner. The consistency of its service remains patchy though.

For me, SQ remains the standard-bearer for solus travel: who can beat one seat at the front of the cabin surrounded by nobody else. You're also assured of fantastic service.

Sitting next to someone else feels alot like a J experience, which to my mind depreciates the LH F product. However, the overall attention paid to maintaining professionalism of service more than makes up for this. And despite initial reservations about the apparent 'old' F product, the flights I've taken have been incredibly comfortable.

Give me an airline which combines SQ/CX's service philosophy, BA/SQs approach to F cabin decor and comfort, SQ/LH's approach to food/drink and a ground service which, currently, LH is currently the front-runner for providing at its major home ports and... you're there.

As a footnote, should say that I have my first Airbus F experience on LH coming up and I remain deeply skeptical: for some reason I can never get a comfortable night's sleep on an Airbus in any class. So should hardly lay the blame at LH's door for this, so let's see how it goes...

divjan

try to get seats 2A or 2k...when traveling alone you can not beat those seats.....
my few pennies.... when traveling alone airbus is the choice becuase of the single seats and I usually get better sleep on airbus than the 747....
when traveling with someone I would agree with the 747 preference....the upper deck really feels comfortable and exclusive.....one thing that I do not like 2 lavatories for 16pax and for some reason I always travel when the F is full....u could wait sometimes for your turn especially when arriving in the morning to FRA....(from US)

marco_polo73

I think several people will agree that the difference between C and F is more significant than between Y and C.
However if you are on a night flight and sleep through the whole flight in "new C" - there is no real advantage in flying F. Thats why I usually upgrade to F during day-time flights.

But in the end it depends how much money or miles or upgrade vouchers you have. I am ready to pay 2,500 Euro for a long distance D-Class ticket but I would not pay 6,000 Euro to fly the same distance in F, just because I know better things to do with 3,500 Euro difference (e.g. I could add that money to the food&hotel budget during the trip and that makes a difference on most travel budgets.).

marco_polo73

I think several people will agree that the difference between C and F is more significant than between Y and C.
However if you are on a night flight and sleep through the whole flight in "new C" - there is no real advantage in flying F. Thats why I usually upgrade to F during day-time flights.

But in the end it depends how much money or miles or upgrade vouchers you have. I am ready to pay 2,500 Euro for a long distance D-Class ticket but I would not pay 6,000 Euro per person to fly the same distance in F, just because I know better things to do with 3,500 Euro difference (e.g. I could add that money to the food&hotel budget during the trip and that makes a real difference on most travel budgets. - in particular if I also need to pay for my wife ;-) .

DFW-SEN

I do not agree...... I think the difference between C and Y is what makes flying bearable.... Even for all my personal travel I will happily pay the difference. The difference between C and F, while significant, does not addd as much comfort. I enjoy F but would not be wiling to pay a significant premium for it .

Cheers, S

SleepOverGreenland

I disagree, in particular new C is far far far away from Y and even old C is far better, than Y. Remember, we are talking LH Y.
If I can't get paid F tickets anymore I would still be okay with flying in C. But I would never agree to fly in Y for business.
Which long distance D fare is just 2500�? That sounds more like a Z fare. And 6000� for F sounds cheap too. Usually a F RT is ~3000-3500� above C fare, that's correct.

flysurfer

Exactly. F service is "nice to have", a flatbed seat with power ports (like in LH C) is a "must have", and LH Y is simply a no-go for overnight flights.

So those EUR 2500 for MUC-LAX-MUC in Z are pretty much the limit of what I'm willing to pay for that product. I can't see any rationality in paying more than 3 times of that amount for an "guaranteed upgrade" to F. Actually, it's already pretty hard to justify paying 3 times of a V fare for a guaranteed seat in C. It would definitely be more reasonable to book V and use an upgrade instrument, however, the prospect of ending up in LH Y on an overbooked nightly LAX-MUC flight is so terrifying that I pay that so much higher price in exchange for peace of mind. It appears that maintaining a horrendous, appaling, uncomfortable and inhuman Y product is a great revenue generator for LH.

SleepOverGreenland