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New Years in Rome and Malta via Lufthansa and BA First Class

New Years in Rome and Malta via Lufthansa and BA First Class

Old Jan 1, 2017, 9:18 am
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New Years in Rome and Malta via Lufthansa and BA First Class

Mrs. SFO777 and I are off to Rome for New Years and then a couple of days in/on Malta. The original plan was to go with our SoCal travel buddies but an illness and doctor's orders to not travel for a month grounded them. As I told Mrs. SFO777, looks like a romantic couples weekend in Rome. She laughed. OK, not sure what that meant??

Today we're back on Lufthansa and the same LAX-Munich nonstop that I took last month, and hoping for a better experience.





First stop is the Star Alliance First Class Lounge. Small and uninspiring but we were the only pax there most of the time, so Mrs. SFO777 decided that we would stay here instead of going to what I consider a much nicer Business Class Lounge.



















Same weak selection of serve yourself food as last month.















Yeah, that really looks appetizing. Yikes.



And yuck.



There is a made to made to order menu with more interesting options, but neither of us were hungry at that point. Not to mention the stains on the menu being a major turn off. Jeez.





Then there was this strange bench with dirty towel by our seats. We both guessed footrest.





Some pics of the nicer Business Class Lounge from last month...





... with open spaces overlooking the shopping concourse.









The Lounge includes a really cool outdoor terrace.







Even the serve yourself food offerings were better.








Last edited by SFO777; Apr 13, 2017 at 1:00 am
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Old Jan 1, 2017, 9:21 am
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Sadly, another disappointing Lufthansa flight as this airline continues its slide to the ranks of mediocre.

Although Lufthansa has joined the group of airines participating in PreCheck, your self-printed OLCI or mobile boarding pass doesn't say TSA PRECHECK. LH requires you to stop at check-in to get a boarding pass that says TSA PRECHECK. So we did, where our stop was a little bizarre with the First Class agent acting like he was doing us a favor. Perhaps it was the award ticket but that has never mattered before. We declined counter to lounge escort but I did request lounge to gate escort, mostly to test the service, since last month the escort was a no show. We indicated our desire to board first and the PA confirmed our desire when she visited us in the lounge about 30 minutes before boarding. At T039, boarding was announced and she was AWOL, like last month. As we gathered our things to head to the gate, she arrived claiming that they were about to board. Uh huh, first to board my butt...



... especially since our gate was far away Gate 157.



Naturally, by the time we arrived, boarding had been underway for 10 minutes.



Lufthansa 453
LAX-Munich
A340-600
5:15p-1:40p (sked)
5:25p-1:35p (actual)
December 28, 2016
Departed 4/8
Seats 2DG


Despite the attractive and comfy cabin, there were tell tale signs that this was not going to be good flight. The senior seasoned cabin crew ignored service protocols and was simply mailing it in tonight. No idea whether 1DG were friends or family, but they was part of the problem, with lots of loud chatter in German and laughter with them and between the crew from the galley. The crew yapping continued during taxi and take-off. Definitely Bose moments.

















Back to the Romena amenity kit tonight...



... with the same old, same old meh.





Once at cruising altitude, the crew finally finished their gossiping and started service. Yo, how about closing the curtain to the galley??









One of the battle-ax attendants finally came around and asked if I wanted something to drink. I asked to see the wine list to which she responded "oh, did I not give you the menu? Sorry."

Today's menu, same as last month as LH runs two month cycles.




And wine list...















I went with another glass of the always excellent Laurent Perrier Grand Sicle.



The disgusting amuse-bouche which I forgot to warn Mrs. SFO777 about. Flight attendant seems surprised when I declined. Not Mrs. SFO777 when 1 bite was more than enough for her.



Showtime, LH style. Very nice, but it was all downhill from here.







I passed on the caviar again tonight.



Serving 1DG. And still no use of the curtain to block light from galley. Obviously, that would involve too much work opening and closing each time.



Mrs. SFO777 accepted the starter trio and the salad, despite my warning.



I took 2 of the 3 starters and the salad. I use the word "took" as our lazy attendant reached over Mrs. SFO777 and handed them to me. I think she got the message when I hesitated to take them and rolled my eyes.





Still no galley curtains. Seriously?



We both had the beef as it was delicious last month. Tonight was terrible. Tough cut, undercooked and the au gratin potatoes had no au gratin.



Not even close to the same dish I had last month...



Perfectly prepared. And the potatoes were amazing!



And still no curtain.







And still no curtain, prompting me to finally ask "are you ever going to close the galley curtains?" I obviously caught her off guard, as in busted as she muttered "oh, uh, we usually do it after service." Maybe you do it that way, but that is not the way any other crew does it or the manual says.



With only 4 passengers, we each had our own "seat and a bed" as I moved over to 2A and Mrs. SFO777 to 2K. Ambien was again my friend tonight and I slept for nearly 6 hours.



I didn't want to eat much as I was planning on waiting for the Weiner Schnitzel in the MUC Lounge, so just a little scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast.

















We arrived on time which was one of the few bright spots about this flight. Mrs. SFO777 declined Ambien and didn't sleep well as the bed/mattress was not that comfy. Add in the mediocre service and we decided that we've both pretty much had it with Lufthansa. You were once great, but you've regressed and the world has passed you by.

Last edited by SFO777; Jan 3, 2017 at 11:23 pm
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Old Jan 1, 2017, 9:31 am
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I've been waiting for this one!! Headed to Rome soon and no doubt will take some leads from your report !!

Last edited by glasman19; Jan 1, 2017 at 9:51 am
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Old Jan 1, 2017, 10:52 am
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At least you avoided BA on the outbound, LHR has been plagued by fog with the usual impact on flights.....
I think there is a very different level of service on LH Frankfurt services.
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Old Jan 1, 2017, 10:59 am
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Originally Posted by glasman19
I've been waiting for this one!! Headed to Rome soon and no doubt will take some leads from your report !!
Thanks very much glasman19. The holiday crowds here are insane. Our guide said that if you come between mid-January and the end of February, all the touristy sites will be empty.

Originally Posted by Skipcool3
At least you avoided BA on the outbound, LHR has been plagued by fog with the usual impact on flights.....
I think there is a very different level of service on LH Frankfurt services.
Thank you Skipcool3. Still hoping to come up with an alternative to BA though. Was excited to discover that EK flies MLA-DXB with a 4x weekly 3 class 77W. After a bottle of wine last night, I was momentarily tempted by the relatively attractive $3,500 one way MLA-DXB-LAX First Class fare. Alas, I'll probably like take one for the team and the entertainment value of what might go wrong this time on our LHR-SAN flight.
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Old Jan 1, 2017, 2:02 pm
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OK, not this time. There will hopefully be better flights on LH in the future
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Old Jan 1, 2017, 5:27 pm
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Wow - disappointing ground services out of LAX. It's hard to take them seriously having had your past experiences.
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Old Jan 1, 2017, 8:27 pm
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Originally Posted by offerendum
OK, not this time. There will hopefully be better flights on LH in the future
Thanks offerendum. Don't know if it's just a string of bad luck or if this is the new LH. Granted, inflight catering has never been an LH strong suit, but at least service was usually good enough to compensate.

Originally Posted by worldtraveller73
Wow - disappointing ground services out of LAX. It's hard to take them seriously having had your past experiences.
Thank you worldtraveller73. Twice in 2 months is not a good sign. It was like we were an annoyance. What a stark difference between this and the amazing Air France ground service and wonderful attitude from every employee we encountered at LAX and indeed at every AF station we visited.
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Old Jan 2, 2017, 12:26 am
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Damn, I bribed the LH crew to make sure you would have a fantastic flight and rave about LH again, but it seems I was too stingy. (My bribing experience is limited to a single occasion at the Polo Lounge in LA where I gave the matre d' a ten dollar bill to get a good table and ended up sitting next to the kitchen door). Hmmm.
Here's to hoping LH won't be overtaken by BA on your F ranking!
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Old Jan 2, 2017, 1:47 am
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Originally Posted by JohnRain
Here's to hoping LH won't be overtaken by BA on your F ranking!
Hmm, for more reasons that I can think of, hell will freeze over before that happens.

Very much looking forward to the BA installment. Popcorn is on order.

In fairness, if you get a great crew (and they do exist) they can often gloss over the failings. The Champagne is also the same so you're on safe ground there. I also strongly recommend the beef
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Old Jan 2, 2017, 2:00 am
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Originally Posted by SFO777
Sadly, another disappointing Lufthansa flight as this airline continues its slide to the ranks of mediocre.


Could it just be the flights to MUC aren't as good as to FRA?
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Old Jan 2, 2017, 4:30 am
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Great trip report.
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Old Jan 2, 2017, 10:01 am
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Originally Posted by FlightNurse
Could it just be the flights to MUC aren't as good as to FRA?
Admittedly my data points are few for LH F (3x FRA, 1x MUC) but I noticed no significant difference; four excellent crews (admittedly one helped by me being the only one in F on that day ) across four different plane types if that makes a difference (former 747-400 F, 747-8 F, A380 F, and A330 F) with routes involving three continents in addition to obviously Europe.
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Old Jan 2, 2017, 10:41 am
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1. If I am correct Lufthansa have a lot of problems employee wise. They are not happy and often on strike.

Even in economy they started serving "lettuce" as a starter to cut costs like the US airlines do and Swiss.

2. LOL I also love Wienerschnitzel (veal not pork) with cucumber / gurken salat. With apfel strudel and apfel saft probably my favorite dishes and drink.

3. Thanks for the Rome tip. I went 40 years ago in July and it was awful; unbearably hot.

That's why I want to go back.
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Old Jan 2, 2017, 11:07 am
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[QUOTE=SFO777;27688640]Thanks very much glasman19. The holiday crowds here are insane. Our guide said that if you come between mid-January and the end of February, all the touristy sites will be empty.


We found the crowds incredible in June too - we took one look at the crowd at the Uffizi and said not this trip.

Apparently many people have stayed away from France this year after the incidents - and gone to Italy instead
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