concorde02

Wow!, your report is amazing! Love the LX F! I was booked for the same flight this Dec LX YUL-ZRH but LX cancelled the flight on the day (they reduce winter schedule) and it turned out that LX does not open any award F seat anymore.. I had to change to LH.

Love your writing style.. especially about "Pour Moi, je déteste les enfants!" I just have to say "Moi, aussi" .... Dogs, on the other hand, I love!.. especially airport dogs, Beagles.

Looking forward to the next episode!

Short hair Francis

I'm sorry if you are offended in anyway.

Here is my viewpoint on it

I have a nephew (from an older sister) that I love very much, he's just about 2 y.o and is very cute and charmful. He certainly flies more now than I was a 2 y.o.
However, I am not one of those guys that have the most amount of patience that would be required for having my own kids (for the time being, whos knows for the future).
With all my flying, the little guy doesn't even know who his uncle is?
I know personally from my lifestyle I can't stay put in one place very long and hence the amount of travel.
I simply don't believe I should be putting a new life into this world unless I can 100% be the best dad possible for him/her and will always be there for him/her
If I don't have those feelings for him, it would be a disfavor to him or her.
And I wouldn't be a good parent either if I let my kids hit other people in the airport with rope dividers

"Merci", Thanks very much, i have been hearing that about LX F, its truly sad since its really great product I think most of us would love to fly anyday of the week.
They didn't allow you to switch onto another day LX F, or were they just unwilling to open a seat up for you?
Never heard people love my writing style, so thank you!
But the person you really should thank is SFO777, my french wouldn't be sounding this if it wasn't for his help.

This would be my type of French below, probably shows I'm a making a fool of myself
"Ma francais est tres mal parce que j'habite en Vancouver avant et les opportunities pour parle francais est petite."

Don't know how to type French on the computer and I barely use French in the last 5 yrs, essentially not much since high school

Short hair Francis

Trying four for four now,

Short hair Francis

Part 3 – Always exceeding expectations, Paris, France

Arriving into the Hyatt Regency CDG at around 10pm, check-in was done quickly as I was pretty tired even with a nice nap on TGV. Apparently my broken French wasn’t that bad as the front desk was able to understand it.

Hyatt Regency Charles de Gaulle




Diamond Amenity unfortunately was a bottle of French Red, which I don’t drink, so had to go back downstairs to swap a bottle of Evian water.


A good 8 hours of sleep had me up around 7:30am the next day for another full day of touring, the Hyatt has a full breakfast for the weekend stays as the club is closed on weekend mornings. Great, I love a good breaky, the Hyatt runs a coach bus service at 10am to Opera with a return trip at 6pm. The RER ride the other day took 1 hour so I took the 5 Euro bus to start the day. I however didn’t take the return bus as I was unsure how late would I be out in Paris.

The most amazing thing I found in Paris was that they don’t expect someone like me to speak any French. Parisians obviously like visitors to speak more French rather than straight going to English, I personally didn’t experience the Parisian Snobbery attitude that I’ve heard from others. That being said, I did get 50 percent response in English and 50 percent in French despite starting the conversation in French. I found that rather amusing, haha.

10:45am, Getting off the bus around the Opera, a quick walk to the Louvre and I was immediately surrounded by people with clipboard. Damn, that took a lot of “Non, SVP” to get rid of those guys. I did buy the Louvre ticket in advance to save some time.
The Louvre


I’ve given myself 60 - 90 mins to cover the museum which is not remotely enough but I have a lot of places to cover in Paris for the whole day










I ended up finish touring the Louvre around 12:15pm which was alright, then off to the Jardin du Royal, soon after that was a lot of Le Metro, which had loads of seating at the station while someone is waiting for the next train. Those seats were savior as I was running around all day it seems.


12:35pm, Opera


1:00pm, La Bastille


1:30pm, Hotel de Ville


1:40pm, Near Notre Dame
I finally found some tourist shops, I collect city magnets of places I visit
No shoppie, I need 1 and only 1 magnet.
Arret! Stop telling me 2 for Five Euros.



Part 3 Continues Below

Short hair Francis

Found some nice ornaments near the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, which unfortunately took a little while to find outside the Metro exit


Around 2:30pm, Jardin des Plantes


2:50pm, Palais du Luxembourg




3:10pm, Pantheon, I would love to come back here but I didn’t realize EU passport under 25 y.o get in for free, would want to come back on another trip


3:40pm, Église Saint-Sulpice, feet was killing by now, walked close to 5 hours non-stop and the food I had the whole day was breakfast at Hyatt and cookies from the Metro station



About 4:10pm when I got to Eglise Saint-Germain-des-Prés, which had a small Christmas market, didn’t found anything I wanted though



Go away cloud cover, I’m still hoping to go to the Eiffel Tower tonight


4:45pm, Musée de l'Armée, was another museum I would love to come back the next time I get a chance


5:15pm, Musée d'Orsay, since I got there so late, the lady gave me a free ticket or was it free, never went to figure it out too much



6pm, Left the Orsay at closing time, it felt pretty good to sit down for 10 mins and to stretch out the toes, boy were they cramped up.
Around 6:20pm, Eiffel Tower, and it was a debate to go up or not, but if I had haul my butt all the way to Paris, might as well see how bad the line was before fully deciding



Surprisingly 1 entrance (South Entrance) was closed, 1 (North Entrance)was packed with a line over 1 hour, 1 (West Entrance)was the stair entrance which I didn’t want, had enough stairs from Cologne and somehow the only one left (East Entrance) didn’t had any wait? The ticket guy did advise the top was foggy but why not chance it?

This was taken on my way down but
The thought of the day “Be led and force-fed like a kettle”

Or “become a leader”


Part 3 Continues Below

Short hair Francis

Night views from the Eiffel Tower, took about 10 mins to get to the 2nd floor




Took about another 30 mins of lines to get to the top, that can’t be avoided unfortunately






Really love the experience but of course going with a girl would be even better
On the way down, the lines were about 5 mins to get back to the 2nd floor but lines down to the ground were horrible so ended up walking down the tower which wasn’t too bad.

Around 7:15pm, I finished at the Eiffel Tower, went back to Centre Georges Pompidou for another snap


8pm, Last stop, what a day it has been, finally at the Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile, Wow I’ve been walking close to non-stop for 9 hours

Debated if I wanted to walk down des Champs-Élysées but was simply too dead tired by then, so I went back to Gare du Nord for some bites


8:55pm, got a RER B train back to CDG, and luckily got on a express train?



Back to Roissypole by 9:40pm and the Hyatt at 10:00pm, what a crazy day at Paris!
Asiana First awaits…

Next Part
Part 4 – Flying Solo, or as close as you can get, Asiana First Class FRA-ICN

AA_EXP09

But keep in mind that going with a girl = more miles and $$$ spent by you.
I am single by choice, not by lack of opportunity.
Great TR!!!
On a side note, I learned French to get the last few points I needed to enter Canada, but the immigration test is trivial and has nothing to do with how the language is really used, because I don't remember verb rules and tenses when speaking French.
My first language is really only used in one place as well, which is HKG.
Even in CAN they spoke to me in Mandarin first .

Short hair Francis

More miles spent on trips yes
More $$$ yes for at home, but on the road, not as much other than airfare.
Things likes hotel are built for more than 1 person. (I'm excluding those Tokyo capsule hotel )
Food and transit there doesn't cost much, I rarely take taxis on the road.
The only place I do was at the YYZ/BUF home and that was because I was heading to the club and wasnt going to drink and drive.
Going to certain places is always better if it can be enjoyed with someone else, Paris and Aruba comes to mind for me.
As someone said on SQ forum saying SQ F was taken over by 4 young-uns girls , it would be cool to go mile high club with a hot girl!

As to spoken Mandarin First, if this was China, understandable.
Anywhere else, ouch
I only remember the easier tenses with French, anything more complicated and I sound like an idiot while talking.
Surprisingly I find Canto to be easier to keep than French.

Thanks for the comment on Great TR, wait until Part 4, I think most would enjoy that section the most

Short hair Francis

Part 4 – Flying Solo, or as close as you can get, Asiana First Class FRA-ICN

Asiana had previously been offering a daily 3 class 747 Service to Frankfurt, but about a month prior to departure, some days including my original date of travel were downgraded to a 2 class 772. Oh well, I had the schedule flexibility, got to chase that Asiana First if I’m burning First Class miles so I shifted my travel day from Dec 11th to 12th. Weirdly, the flight schedule for OZ 542 was also different specifically for Mondays too???

Dec 12, 2011 – Monday
LH 1035 CDG-FRA 1:45pm – 3:05pm (321/J)
OZ 542 FRA-ICN 8:05pm – 2:15pm(+1) [Dec 13] (744/F)

What a good night of sleep, 10 hrs last night, fantastic as yesterday’s trip into Paris was certainly very draining and my left feet was still cramping up and hurting the day after. Guess I need to walk a bit more back home.
Since it was Monday, it was back to the Regency Club for breakfast which I completely missed out on since I was so tired and lazy. Check-out at the Hyatt around 11:30am back to CDG T1.

It took about 1/2 hour with the Hyatt Shuttle back to Roissypole and airport trains back to T1, check-in was speedy with no line-ups

Paris Charles de Gaulle Terminal 1, is it just me or the building is designed to look like dog poop?


I guess there is 1 advantage to all the tunnels in T1, no wait security, no nude-o-scopes



Off to Lufthansa Senator Lounges, I’m not going to argue with the LH forum here
Simply put, it is a windowless dungeon, the food wasn’t bad however, did get a nice breakfast and the wifi was quick too

Paris Charles de Gaulle Lufthansa Senators Lounge






Deutsche Lufthansa 1035
Paris Charles de Gaulle to Frankfurt, Germany
1:45pm – 3:05pm, 1 hr 20 mins flight
Business Class, Seat 1C
Food - Snack
Equipment – Airbus 321-100

No memorable item from this flight, empty Airbus 321-100, but priority boarding lanes in Europe was a bit of a nice surprise

and so was the extra drink table on the 321 which I didn’t notice before in the new LH intra-Euro J seats, seat is still as unenjoyable as ever


Quick boarding, delayed push back til 2:00pm due to traffic on tarmac.

A light snack for the 1 hr 20 min flight


Landing into cloudy Frankfurt was on the new arrival runway, which meant an eternal taxi, arrival at the gate was 18 mins late but I had plenty of time to spread for the connection.

Was planning to visit the LH Schengen Senator Lounge, except it was filled to the brim, hence the leisurely walk over to the non-Schengen side. Leisurely as in 15 min walk via the long FRA A-B tunnel that is.

You know what I miss the most in airport lounges, those small lockers that can store a laptop bag and a rollaboard, luckily, LH lounges tend to have them!

Frankfurt Lufthansa B42 Non-Schengen Senator’s Lounge





With 5 hours to spread out, I found one of those semi-sleeper seats in the far corner near the bar to surf the net, my friend in Seoul was very excited to see me for one then I saw my plane is even later than before. Original Schedule was first 18:40 days prior, then was changed to 20:05 then today delayed until 21:40. Great, now I got more than 6 hrs here. I guess with a later departure makes it easier to sleep but I wanted that 23 hr 59 min turn in Seoul.
About 3 hrs to departure or 18:30, I stored my stuff in the lounge and went landside to get the Asiana boarding pass.
Yes I’m a boarding pass whore, especially 3 Class First bps

Crap, where is this check-in for OZ, nope, not in FRA 1B, then I got stuck in this wonderful amount of people. Sensing this was nice TR material, it’s not everyday you get a protest inside the airport afterall. I went clockwise while the protesters were walking counter clockwise, so I can get a pic from the front, Their marching was from the C>A ticketing counters, then to security lines back out to front.

I guess someone has to hate FRAport, but I didn’t on that day, more on that later…




Part 4 Continues Below

Short hair Francis

Afterwards, I simply went outside to detour around the protesters, and found the OZ counters. Now if anyone wants to figure out OZ business model for FRA-ICN, its not very hard to figure that one out when all they had was 1 counter landside!!! That’s 1 counter for First, Business, and Economy Class.


So yes, I would say they rely heavily on connections from LH.
Going back to FRAport, with the flight delay, the check-in agent gave me a 30 Euro voucher.


K great, but what do I do with this? I already ate plenty in the SEN lounge. Well sticking around landside is no good, might as well go back to the non-Schengen section.
First option, I’m going to see my buddy in Seoul, and since he’s a whale, let’s use that dough to buy some booze..

Duty Free agent - scoops down on me as I browse around
Me - I show them the voucher.
Duty Free Agent - Sir, this doesn’t work here.
Me – What do you mean it doesn’t work here? It saids FRAport
Duty Free Agent – Yes, but we’re the duty-free company, talks in more German to another agent, replies again, sorry sir, but we can’t accept that
Me – Ugh, what do I do with this?
Duty Free Agent – Go eat something
Me – I’m flying First Class, and trust me I’ve ate plenty on Lufthansa’s dime

Back to the Central area in Non-Schengen B, well I don’t want to eat, I already ate in the lounge and Asiana has wonderful on-board food, so definitely want to save my stomach for that.
Haagan Dazs?


Maybe I shouldn’t act so crazy sometimes but I’m the type that likes to hide in the lounge and not be in the concourse.
Me - “How much ice cream can I buy with 30 Euros?”
Ice Cream Girl – “Jaw Drops, 30, as in three-zero euros???”
Me – Yes and shows voucher,
IC Girl – You know you can eat at a restaurant with this right
Me – Ya ya I know, but I already ate

Debates close to 5 mins on what ice cream to get, never knew spending money was so hard.
At the mid-point, a 25-30 y.o girl walks around browsing as I was picking ice cream,
Can’t believe I did that, literally just said, you want free ice cream? Lol
She must have thought was this a pick-up line or am I a pervert or am I insane
More story explaining including showing this girl the OZ boarding pass, and the FRAport voucher.
*If someone can tell me how much each things cost at FRA, I’ll gladly add this into the TR.

“How to spend a 30 dollar voucher at an airport on food and food alone when you’re full and not hungry” #First World Problem
All in all, I bought 7 (5 for myself, 2 for the girl) ice scopes of ice cream, 3 bottles of water, 1 bottle of Coke Zero.
Easily said, this most wasteful of 30 Euros I'll ever spend in my life!!!!


Back to the lounge, the LH lounge ladies were eyeing those ice cream even in December lol and some more computer surfing to take up some more time
Around 8:30pm, I finally made my way to gate B42, I’m not that patient to sit in the lounge for 5 hrs afterall

After walking around the concourse for another 15 mins, I became a gate lice 10 mins prior to boarding. Yes I’m always a gate lice on new equipment so I don’t get someone’s face in my photos

Asiana Airlines Boeing 747-400

*Taken at Seoul Incheon


Asiana Airlines 542
Frankfurt, Germany to Seoul Incheon
Scheduled - 8:05pm – 2:15pm(+1)[Dec 13], 10 hr 10 mins flight
Delayed Departure – 9:40pm, late inbound from ICN
Delayed Arrival – 4:05pm
First Class, Seat 1A
Food – Dinner, Snack/Brunch
Equipment – Boeing 747-400

I was the first one to board the delayed flight,, and was able to get all of the photos I wanted. The Asiana FAs understood immediately that I wanted take photos and they gave me plenty of time to do so. The check-in/gate agent I had before came onboard and wish me a pleasant flight, he also told me I was the only revenue (mileage ) customer on that flight. I’m flying solo, yeah!!!!

Asiana Airlines Boeing 747-400 First Class Cabin



Asiana Airlines Boeing 747-400 First Class Seat







After taking most of the cabin photos, the FA came around to ask me for my drink. Unfortunately, no pre-departure champagne as Asiana can’t serve alcohol on the ground, so I sticked with Sprite for non-caffeinated purpose.
She also gave me the amenity kits and pajamas, I decided to give the pajamas to my Seoul friend as I was completely packed in my rollaboard for the RTW trip.
Later on, she even offered me to try out the old OZ J seat.

Asiana Airlines Boeing 747-400 Downstairs Business Class Cabin


Part 4 Continues Below

Short hair Francis

Asiana Airlines Boeing 747-400 Business Class Seat


Pre-Departure Beverage


Amenity Kit, Slippers, Bose QC 3 Headphones, Pajamas, and no I don’t wear X-Large



I found the seat fairly comfortable and easily maneuverable to whatever seating position I wish to use. Video screen was also a good sized compare to the old BA and LH first Class. Privacy isn’t the greatest, but at least only 1K could legitimately see what was going on.

Boarding was completed within 15 mins. First Class passengers consist of myself in 1A, and the relief flight officer in 4K. The downstairs Business Class Cabin was completely closed, and everyone in J was forced upstairs, and the FA told me economy that night was at 30 percent. As El Chiflero wrote on my facebook after that flight, lets just say Asiana definitely didn’t make any money on that flight

Take-off was at 10:00pm with a flying time of 9 hours 40 mins to cover the 5300+ mile journey to Seoul Incheon, anticipated arrival time of 3:40pm originally.
Service started promptly as I was the only revenue First class passenger. I also had an attack plan on how to eat as much as possible on this flight. As I am partially an environmental major, I do admit it is rather wasteful to cater the entire menu just for myself but hey the 1st class is where big buck is paid.
EXPECT TODAY OF COURSE
I told the FAs what I had planned and not planned to eat so they can eat the food I wasn’t interested so it wouldn’t be wasted.

Sadly, just before the meal service, my entertainment system worked fine but the powerport however didn’t so they had to reset the entire system on the plane for me. Why did I know this? The flight map assumed we started in Poland and not Frankfurt



OZ 542 Dinner

Starter
Grissini with prociutto Ham, Eggplant and Bell Pepper Roll
Caviar
Roasted Veal Saddle and Roasted Prawns
Carrot Cream Soup or Clear Oxtail Soup
Mixed Greens (Yogurt Lime or French Dressing)

Main Courses
Beef Tenderloin
Served with Madeira Portwine Sauce
Sugar Snap Peas, Carrots, and Baked Potato
Or
Johdory Fillet
Served with Peas Puree and Saffron Zucchini Sauce
Grilled Eggplant and Cherry Tomato
Or
Osso Bucco
Served with Gremolata Sauce
Polenta, Carrot and Turnip
Or
“Mixing and harmonizing”
A Famous Korean Cuisine ‘Bibimbab’
Steamed Rice, Various Kinds of Vegetables and Minced Beef
Mixed with Hot Pepper Paste, Sesame Oil
Accompanied by Assorted Side Dishes and Soup

Cheese and Fruit
Goat, Cream Mountain, Herb

Dessert
Passion Fruit=Chocolate Savarin with Strawberry Sauce
Coffee and Tea
Petit Fours

Asiana First Class Dining and Drinks Menu


I went with Sprite, still water and champagne, was trying to avoid caffeinated items so I can sleep later on the flight.


Champagne for the flight, Comtes de Champagne Taittinger blanc de blancs, 2000



Table Set-Up, imitating Lufthansa?


1st Appetizer, Grissini with prociutto Ham, Eggplant and Bell Pepper Roll


Bread Basket


2nd Appetizer, Ossetra Caviar


3rd Appetizer, Roasted Veal Saddle and Roasted Prawns


Soup, Clear Oxtail Soup


Salad, Mixed Green with French Dressing


Part 4 Continues Below

Short hair Francis

Now what did I think so far?
I’m still not a Taittinger or Laurent Perrier person, maybe personally because I like a smooth but not bitter, hard to explain. Dom Perignon on TG has me convinced one that one although Charles Heidsieck 2 years ago QF Business I’ve also kept at the back of my mind.
Grissini, not my type of food, tasty, but just not for me.
Caviar, yummy! I miss you, the only other caviar I’ve liked more was from TK First and that product I presume is history and not coming back.
Roasted Veal and prawns was fresh and tasted fresh.
Soup is soup, maybe should’ve went with the cream instead of water based soup, but best to save the stomach for the good stuff.

Here’s where I should be re-educating myself, don’t eat beef on the plane, rarely does it ever turn out good, I never seem to learn.

Or maybe I’m a really picky person on beef, I don’t freeze my steaks at home even on a college student budget. I wanted it rare and the FA certainly came close to that effect, so probably was just the cut.


The main FA sensed I wasn’t too happy with the steak, so she asked me what else did would I want. Didn’t want the fish nor the pasta so I went with Korean Ramen from the Refreshment. Beware there is a spicy and an extra spicy version, I went with the former.

Ramen with kimchi and ginger for accompaniment

Yum, that’s some good noodle, now I’m close to being full

I’m not a big fan of cheese but the FA lend me one for photos


Had a couple nibbles with the fruit plate


Dessert was very tasty, Passion Fruit=Chocolate Savarin with Strawberry Sauce

And went well with some hot green tea.

Finally, to finish the meal service, I went with Niagara’s specialty, Icewine.
I was dying to try some even if I didn’t particularly wanted more alcohol, I did 1) its expensive and I never get to drink it. 2) it’s a free chance to try so why not try it, I’m not the most open person when it comes to alcohol. 3) Our group research project is based on Wine so here I know personally our wine is known Worldwide.
A toast to Niagara and the End of university


The FAs quickly cleaned out all the catering and soon did the bedding for the night.


I want to become the next Mr. Pillows! Hehe


The bed did the trick as it gave me about 3 hrs of sleep, an optimal amount of sleep considering it was already mid-morning in Korea and hence a short day.
The FA gave me a nice wake-up call as requested before I went to sleep.
They went right back to action after I woke up although I decline the service in lieu of some photo organizing.

OZ 542 Refreshment
Udong
Ramen
Sandwich
Assorted Fresh Fruits

After another 30 mins or so of re-arranging photos, the munchies were back and I was back to eating.

First I had the Udon, which also came with the kimchi and spicy powder


After that I decided to go with something new, ‘Bibimbab’




A very nice change of pace compares to most inflight meals, I used most of the sesame oil but held back a lot on the hot pepper paste. Not the biggest person for spicy food

After the very nice refreshment meal, I went back to nap for another 45 mins or so, then the FA came back again to offer the brunch service. I can’t seem to decline food

OZ 542 Brunch
Fresh Orange Juice
Fresh Fruit
Cereal and Yogurt

Main Course
Saffron Scllaops
Served with Saffron Tomato Fish Sauce
Mushrooms, Cherry Tomatoes and Black Noodles

Chicken Crepe and Leek Quiche
Served with Grilled Tomato, Sugar Snap Peas

Korean Crabmeat Porridge
Served with Assorted Side Dishes

Selection of Breakfast Bread
Croissant, Ciabatta Roll, nut Puff Pastry, Blueberry Muffin
Jam, Butter
Coffee and Tea

Dining Set Up


Brunch Bread Basket


Cereal and Yogurt Selections


Part 4 Continues Below

Short hair Francis

Went with a Danish and strawberry yogurt in the above selections
For main course, I went with saffron scallops
Similar to the beef, I’ve had scallops once before on a plane and it comes out absolutely horrible.
Thinking it might be because of American Airlines catering previous and not the scallops itself, I gave it another try, bad idea.
Seems like airplane scallops, all you tasted is salt water


With that, I was pretty full with about 40 mins to go in the flights, back out of my personal jammies for street clothes. The FA gave me one of their inflight sales plastic bags so I can store the amenity kits and OZ pajamas for my ICN friend.
Finally I ask them to take a personal pictures of the empty cabin with me in it and they gave me a Links business card holder as a First Class passenger gift.


With that, both FAs cleared the duvets and bedding for landing.
Landed at ICN about 4:05pm with a 10 min taxiing

Got to the immigration and Mainland Chinese tourists still haven’t learn the concept of queuing, for Christ sakes, don’t line up in the resident line when you are not from Korea. You’re bound to be sent back About a 15 min wait and I was back in South Korea, first time since 1996.

Next Part
Part 5 - Ugh, Seoul Traffic, Air China Business Class ICN-PEK-HKG

SFO777

More great pics and narrative, Francis. Loved the Paris pics including the ones where photos are interdit. I actually thought you were going to buy/eat 30 euros worth of ice cream.

I had forgotten about the OZ private charter. Man, and I thought I could eat. Remind me not to fly with you. I may go hungry! Looking forward to my first OZ First flights, if the UA mistake award tickets are honored.

Omar84

Great Report Francis,

I gotta ask one (probably stupid) question, it seems your mileage runs are all done on One World and yet you seem to take redemptions on Star Alliance, just wondering how your going about that?

Also what made you choose OZ over LH for first class ex Frankfurt?