...continued...

I had previously emailed the United 1K help line and they had replied that the Red Carpet Club would be open at 5.30am. Perfect. I've always wanted to compare the RCC showers with the Lufthansa showers. I trooped over to the RCC, passing through supplemental security for the C gates, and found the RCC open as promised. They took my name down for the shower list, and I made myself compfortable in the first class side of the lounge.

After about 15 minutes, they paged for Mr. Buster CT1K, and off I went to take my shower. The showers are not the spa style shower suites you find at NRT - they do not have WCs in the suites, although they do have sinks.

After a refreshing shower, I returned to the UA first class lounge, periodically checking on which gate my flight to JFK would depart from. Finally the gate was announced: C6! This meant that I was in the best lounge for waiting for the flight and would not have to go through security again.

During my time in the lounge, I had a broccoli puff and some hot tea but bypassed most of the rest of the food selections - there were German liverwurst spreads and other meat spreads, some hot pastries, and a few other minor snacks. Overall, a fairly well-stocked lounge for a non-hub location. Best of all was the quiet - very few people used the lounge during the five hours I was there. Worst of all was the cold - the air conditioning must have been set to 12 or 15 deg C. I put my Lufthansa Bogner sweatshirt to good use, but I was still somewhat cold.

Lounge: 3/5.

Sep 2, 2002
LH 400 FRA-JFK
A340: D-AIGR(?) ("Langen"/"Leipzig")(?)
sched dep 1035
sched arr 1305
(actual dep 20 min late; actual arr on time)


Boarding time soon came and I trooped over to C6. The C pier is not very well decorated - it was a simple and merely functional 70s or early 80s design. There was a line of about 20 people at the gate, subject to questions from guards about who they were and why they were going to the United States. One Spanish student headed for the United States to begin college was being given a particularly hard time by a German guard who insisted on calling some security service. Since all my papers were in order, I faced few inconvenient questions, but it was still a 15 minute wait before boarding, and there was no premium passenger line. Beyond the questioning was also a blue lane passport scan for information to be sent to the INS, which further held things up.

Security: 2/2. Boarding: 0/3. Security & Boarding: 2/5.

Upon boarding, I was offered a drink. I also helped myself to the Bogner sweatshirt in the drawer under my seat. Amenity kits, slippers and duty free catalogs were soon distributed.

As a side note, I had been checking checkmytrip.com to see which other seats in F had been taken. The entire cabin had only a single reserved seat - mine - with the exception of 1K which is always blocked off on the day of departure. But the entire F cabin was full.

I asked for a couple of tapes. Unlike the preceding flight, the September schedule had been loaded on this flight. Also unlike two of the preceding flights, my in-seat tape player functioned flawlessly. I started watching Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone while on the ground. It turned out to be a very good movie, and I wished that I had seen it on the big screen. I also asked for Y Tu Mama Tambien and managed to see some of it later in the flight but it did not really catch my interest.

After take-off menues were distributed by the purser, whom I asked to close the curtain behind me. She was very quick in doing so, and I was pleased that Lufthansa was keeping its curtains closed when possible.

Drinks were served, and I was the last passenger to be served - on the A340, the FA always comes down the left aisle first, then the right aisle. But before I got my drink, the aircraft encountered moderate chop, which caused the FA to station herself in front of the drinks at the front of the cabin to keep the drinks upright.

Our route was very southerly - at no point breaking 51 deg N, said the pilot. Indeed, we exited Germany westwards into France and flew westward north of Paris, past the town of Rouen, with nice views of the Seine, channel shore and the Channel Islands.

Lunch was served soon after we left the continent:

Menu

With great pleasure, we present to you two true masters of the trade. Today, Pierre Buess and Chef Jean-Claude Wicky will pamper you with their kitchen artistry. [According to attached pamphlet, Buess is the owner of and Wicky is the chef at Restaurant Bruderholz in the Swiss city of Basel.]

Hors d'oeuvre
Caviar with the traditional garnishes
*Halibut roulade with smoked trout filling
Rabbit broccoli terrine and carrot emulsion
Wild mushroom mousse and marinated vegetables

Salad
Frisee, radicchio, oak leaf, lamb's lettuce and cremini mushrooms presented with meaux mustard dressing or herbed tomato vinaigrette

Bread, rolls, toast and butter

Entrees
Venison medallion in a creamy juniper berry sauce with savoy cabbage timbale and sunchoke puree
Red snapper with mustard crust accompanied by tarragon seafood fond, carrot and leek julienne and basmatti rice galettes
Eggplant piccata with basil tomato coulis served with artichokes and asparagus
*Breast of guinea hen in balsamic jus complemented by seasonal vegetables and roesti potatoes with apple

Cheese and dessert
International cheese: French soft cheese St. Andre, appenzeller, bleu d'auvergne, gruyere and morbier served with grapes
*Lemon quark mousse and tropical fruit
Gingerbread parfait basel-style with poached figs
Fine chocolates

*For our guests who value a light and balanced nutritution, we have created a new selection called "Flight Line". Developed together with our Star Chefs, these particularly light meals are indicated in the menu by this logo.

I had all four appetizers: I had the caviar and the halibut roulade to begin, and when the cart came around the second time, I had more caviar, and one of each of the rest. Now those in the know will tell you that there is not enough space on even a first class table to put four appetizer plates. Lufthansa solves this problem simply and effectively with a three-tiered structure that holds three plates on the footprint of one.

The caviar was good, but the only memorable dish was the fish. The trout filling was perfect for the roulade. The wild mushroom mousse was good too: I always have a soft spot for interesting preparations of fungi. To choose a wine, I had a taste of the 2000 Yarra Valley Chardonnay, Yaldara Farms, Australia. However, I went for the 2000 Schloss Johannisberger Riesling trocken, Goldkapsel Deutschland, by now an old favorite on this trip. In hindsight, I should have asked for the Chardonnay to replace the Riesling after the caviar, but the Riesling was adequate for the job, and I would have hated to consume too much alcohol anyway.

For the entree, I had the Guinea Hen, which lived up to Lufthansa's promise of being perfectly prepared: tender, juicy, and flavorful. The balsamic jus added a surprisingly lift to the composition. This month's featured red wines were the same Bordeaux and Burgundy as last month, but with the added selection of the 1998 "Fiore" Sangiovese di Toscana, Castello di Meleto. I'm beginning to think that my tastes in red wines may simply be too expensive for Lufthansa to keep up with in First Class. The Sangiovese was adequate and had a wonderful bouquet, but like the other reds I've had on this trip, did not fulfill with taste the promise made by fragrance.

I skipped the cheese and went straight for the mousse with fruit and the gingerbread parfait. The mousse with fruit was definitely a light option, and the flavors danced on the tongue, bringing a final echo of summer to this Labor Day, the end of cultural summer in the United States. The parfait had a sweet taste of, well, gingerbread, which was a thoughtful reminder of the Germanic countries I had passed through twice in a week without really stopping. The chocolates rounded off the meal nicely - United could learn from its Star Alliance partner and bring chocolates back to its premium cabins.

Lunch: 5/5.

I finished watching Harry Potter, and then set my seat to the full flat position. The FA brought me a blanket and I went to sleep. The rest of the cabin seemed to go to sleep as well - all eight seats were in their full-flat positions.

I awoke near Nova Scotia, having had a most pleasant sleep. It was mostly cloudy over the U.S. eastern seaboard, so views were unremarkable. Lufthansa prior to landing served a

Snack

Cold Specialties
Char galantine with coriander ginger cream and fennel salad
Chicken salad served on couscous tabbouleh with mint

Bread, rolls and butter

Entrees
Cod fillet with almonds accompanied by curry sauce, mango salsa and wild rice
Choux pastry gnocchi with herb sauce and shiitake mushrooms
Hot pot: potato soup

Dessert
Fruit plate: apple, kiwi, melon, mango,pineapple and blueberries
Chocolate tartlet served warm with amarena cherries

I had the char galantine, the cod and the fruit plate, all of which were good, but none of which was memorable. It made for a nice light meal.
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Snack: 3/5.

The rest of the flight was routine. I used the washroom, which is smaller than that on the 747-400, does not have a window, and is less well-illuminated.

Arrival at JFK terminal one was fine - a fairly long walk followed by immigration at which no one was in line. I was among the first several people off the plane, but because they unload from both doors, some business class passengers got off before I did. Most of the first few people getting off were Europeans. One business class individual arrived with me at about the same time in the line... we were toe-to-toe all the way to the front of the line, at which point I turned to him and said, "excuse me" and thus he paused and allowed me to proceed ahead. This turned out to be a good move on my part, because the immigration officer I got was a very nice young man who asked barely a question or two and sent me quickly on my way. No checked bags, so I was out very quickly at customs, and straight to a taxi for midtown.

Normally, I'd end my trip report here, but for the fact that the taxi ride was... interesting. A few miles from JFK, the taxi driver insisted on pulling into a gas station to reinflate his tire. I was peeved that he had not seen to it. Another cab pulled into the gas station and I got out to see about switching cabs. As I got out, the tire being reinflated EXPLODED. Well, at that point I just had to change cabs, and the rest of the trip went smoothly.

Intangibles: 5/5.

LH 400 total score: 18/25. Lounge improvements in Frankfurt and boarding process improvements would have raised the score significantly. Onboard service was perfect - everything you'd expect in F on a major carrier.

I hope you've enjoyed reading this trip report, JFK-FRA-SIN-FRA-JFK. A European trip report (in which I actually do spend some time in Europe) may be on its way in a month or two.

[This message has been edited by Buster CT1K (edited 09-21-2002).]

[This message has been edited by Buster CT1K (edited 09-27-2002).]

[This message has been edited by Buster CT1K (edited 06-28-2003).]

Lynch-Bages is still served by CX in F, which should meet your standards (aside from the name, it is an excellent wine for flying as it stands up well to the rigours of the trip). LH does have some well-chosen cheap wines and I applaud them for that, but they also have a Nuit St. Georges that is abysmal and clearly chosen because they got a good price. An equally bad Nuit St. Georges was carried by BA for a while, the distributors must love to do business with the airlines.

Very true, but it could stand a few more years in the cellar.


[This message has been edited by B Watson (edited 09-22-2002).]

I also feel that LH has a superb F product. I took thhe A340 from MUC-NRT in March and it was fabulous. Great amount of room. The service was excellent, with three FA for just two of us in first.