Photo trip report and review: Airberlin JFK-DUS in business class
 

Welcome to my first trip report at Flyertalk. I took the Airberlin long-haul flight last week and AB's service exceeded my expectation. So, I'd like to write a mini-report about the flight, with photos:cool:

http://i1280.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1c4201a9.jpg

I took the airtran to JFK. AB flies out of JFK T8, the same as AA.

http://i1280.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6fdc50f4.jpg
Bulkhead seats

http://i1280.photobucket.com/albums/...ps745d1061.jpg
Old-style seat control. The non lie-flat dentist chair wasn't that bad.

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Entertainment control.

http://i1280.photobucket.com/albums/...ps316bf440.jpg
Amenity kit

http://i1280.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9f453dc4.jpg
Red wine selection

http://i1280.photobucket.com/albums/...ps2ecbe723.jpg
White wine selection (sorry it's blurry)

http://i1280.photobucket.com/albums/...psd96a654a.jpg
Appetizer

http://i1280.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9204d02b.jpg
Main course

http://i1280.photobucket.com/albums/...psa8d97ec6.jpg
The lobster appetizer and cheesecake. Both are beyond delicious! Yummy!

http://i1280.photobucket.com/albums/...ps746f29fe.jpg
Seabass. What can I say, yummy!

http://i1280.photobucket.com/albums/...pse54c5ba8.jpg
I still felt a little hungry after I ate my first main course so I politely asked the flight attendant if I could have the chicken as well. The flight attendant brought me the chicken dish happily. The chicken was well-cooked and it was tender and juicy.

http://i1280.photobucket.com/albums/...ps10ed2781.jpg
Chocolate was distributed before landing.

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Almost there!

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Parked in position. What a nice day in DUS.

Here are my reviews:

Service: I found AB's staff are amazing. The check in process at JFK is quite efficient. The FA are quite helpful. They refilled my glass without a break, i.e. whenever they saw my glass is empty, they asked me if I want a refill. score: 5/5

Seat comfortness: The angle flat seat was better than I thought. It's definitely more comfy than the domestic F seats. AB is introducing true lie-flat seat and I'm sure I'll sleep better on those.
score: 3.5/5

Amenity bag: I usually care less about the amenity bag but the contents are suffice.
score: 4/5

Food: Amazing! The lobster tasted fresh. The seabass was well-prepared and the chicken was tender and juicy. I found the quality of the dish is on par with SQ long haul. This definitely surprised me.
score: 5/5

Wow! What a brilliant trip report!! Keep it up the good work. Looking forward for your next flight back home.

Thanks for posting this! Couple of things popped out at me:

-Memories of taking the train to JFK.
-Stretching my legs in terminal 8, looking out the window and wondering what AB was like.
-Looking at the menu it took me a sec to realize I was reading the German part. I am a German linguist, but haven't read German in 2 years. Didn't even notice!

I plan to go to Germany in the next year or two. may have to take a close look at AB as my carrier!

Thanks for the report.

Were these your seats?

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8244/8...81a8bff5_n.jpg


From your pictures it looks like you had the old, recliner seats. I thought AB had gotten rid of them a few months ago. My understanding was that most planes had the above seats (they came from LX) and that at least one plane had their 'new' new seats, fully-flat seats like EY/IB.

Looks like manual controls on those seats. Yuck!! :td:

I don't think I have seats like that. I couldn't find any power port near my seat.

@N830MH
Thank you! Actually I flew back on BA. Nothing special about that. I found although BA's seats are lie-flat, their service are kinda mediocre.
@Gamecock
Thanks!
@Far Siren
Yeah the manual controls are definitely showing its age.