SFO777

With another hall pass from my sweetie, I'm off today for nearly four days of flying around the world... Chicago, Frankfurt, Brussels, Dubai, Amman, Cairo, London and JFK before getting home four days later. The genesis of this trip was BA's ridiculously cheap CAI-HNL Business Class fare that lets me earn BA Executive Club Gold and second One World Emerald status in one roundtrip. But how to get to Cairo. Why not Emirates new 77W First Suites which Emirates operates once a day to both Brussels and Geneva? Without the time to reposition to CMB, fellow Flyertalker batmandds and idea decided on the cheapest ex-BRU which was much cheaper than ex-GVA. The cheapest fare we found was to Amman. Close enough to Cairo and it gave us most of the day in Jordan with enough time to drive down to Petra and back for flights out that evening.

Saturday morning just before 6am is a great time to drive to LAX. And easy parking on the lower level of the T4 garage.











LAX-Chicago O'Hare
American 362
737-800
7:00a-1:10p
February 17, 2018
Seat 5A

I picked this flight as it was cheap ($18 after my free $100 AA Gift Card from Amex) and pretty much guaranteed that my EXP upgrade would clear.








AA's 738 still has excellent leg room although the slider seats that I detest.



Need prood that AA doesn't clean the blankets before they repackage? No idea what was caused that to stick together, but I didn't really want to investigate too closely.



It's been months since I've flown an AA midcon but today's flight was excellent, the blanket thingy notwithstanding. Cabin crews can make or break a flight and today's crew and especially our First Class FA Nicolo was terrific, starting with PDBs.













Another gorgeous SoCal morning. See you in three and a half days.













Today's choices were steel cut oatmeal or omelet.



Surprisingl, my omelet was very good.









Heading out over a frigid Lake Michigan before turning back to land.













And into Gate H17 and the lovely Chicago decor.



Heading out for the long trek to the C concourse of Terminal 1.

SFO777

Getting closer... the attractive connector from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1.



With some cool art on the benches and windows.













At the top of the escalator in the C concourse is United's new Polaris Lounge with lounge dragon posted well outside to police access.





Nice decor.

























The lounge features a reasonable selection of serve yourself options.
























But the highlight is the full-service dining area with separate menu and respectable Business Class wine list, although I completely forgot to take pics. My bad.





Ferrari-Carano Chard.



...to go with my delicious seared ahi starter.



We both had the fabulous rib-eye, with a glass of very nice Daou Cab.

SFO777

At around T-50, we headed out for the tunnel and back to the B concourse. Looks like a full flight today.



Chicago ORD to Frankfurt FRA
Lufthansa LH 431
747-8
4:20p-7:40a +1
February 17, 2018
Departed 6/8
Seat 1K

Fortunately, First and Business Class boarding had already started so we were able to board right away.



Back home again in one of my favorite First Class cabins. We had 1A and 1K.











Pre departure Henriot and macadamia nuts.



Flurries continued and are now starting to stick to the ground.











Ten minutes later, yikes!







Today's menu.











Today's singularly unimpressive wine list. Seriously, this is First Class? Even American gets it much better rhan Lufthansa.





OK, this is starting to get serious.





Definitely a de-icing day.





This is one butt ugly day in Chicago.











Yay, we are outta here.



Once in the air, our wonderful crew sprung into action. Another glass of Henriot with our amuse bouche.



Even though we had just eaten in the Polaris Lounge, we continued to drink and eat. LOL.





More champagne and a glass of vodka with our caviar.





The starter trio with a glass of... I can't even remember which white I had. Wasn't that memorable anyway,



Nothing on the menu was that exciting so we both went with the burger.



And wine tasting of all the reds. Whoa Nellie. batmandds' impressive wine glass collection.







The burger was quite good despite being well done.



Our cheesea and dessert cart. For the life of me, I can't remember what I had but pretty sure I did have some cheese. Memo to self, time to stop drinking because the hangover will inevitably follow.











No mas, no mas.



Time for some shut-eye before we land in Frankfurt, a short 7 hours after deparing O'Hare.







The long meabdering taxi is not good news at FRA, as we headed to the far end of the airport and possibly the most remote remote stand. I guess we know how LH feels about Chicago.















Our limo to the terminal although I have no idea why we waited 5 minutes for a non-F pax.





Cool retro livery, but let's get a move on.



Unfortunately, our driver seemed to believe that there was a 30 km/hr speed limit.







Finally.





Unfortunately, German efficiency was sorely lacking as passport control with only two agents. An arrival from Delhi did not help the process.



Fifteen minutes later, we were out and heading for the First Class Terminal, with 45 minutes before our departure for Brussels.

theshaun

Looking good so far!

For what it's worth, there usually is a speed limit on the ramp. If memory serves from my rampy days, it was 30 KPH at the airport I was at.

offerendum

Obvious difference to new Emirates product.

fotographer

great pictures, just wondering when do you get time to actually enjoy yourself

SFO777

Thanks very much theshaun. Interesting as this would have been the first driver I've ever had that adhered to the limit. One guy in Munich wanted to impress us with how fast the Porsche could go. LOL.

For sure, although I still like the LH 748 First cabin. Understated elegance. Thanks offerendum.

Thank you fotographer. I appreciate it. I'm one of those crazy people that just enjoys the flying, especially on new and/or great products.

roadwarrier

Excuse my ignorance, but what car is this? Porsche Cayenne?

zip10001

^

Fun review as always, can't wait for the following parts.

offerendum

SFO777

Thank you zip1001 and pointing out the vodka typo.

Good question. I was going to say Mercedes but it was more hatchback-like that the Vito.
But looking at the wheel, could that be a (upside down) Bentley logo?

S.R

The vehicle SFO777 was in was the Mercedes Vito van, however the vehicle wheel pictured above is the Bentley Bentayga. I believe it is used for FRA VIP services, not LH F.

SFO777

LOL. OK, that's pretty embarrassing that I couldn't even remember which vehicle we were in.

farbster

Would you go out of your way for this suite? How to you balance the new suite against the A380 and the shower? Asking as I've never been on Emirates...

SFO777

In a heartbeat... and I would pay more.

The A380 suite is nice, but it is quite small and not very exclusive, as there are 14 suites in First.
The shower is nice but you only spend a few minutes each flight.
Thanks farbster.