I flew home from Frankfurt aboard a Lufthansa A340-600 in first class, my first flight on this aircraft in many years.
Very little has changed on Lufthansa in 2019. Service was excellent as usual and the meals onboard very tasty. Internet functioned and I enjoyed a five-hour nap during the flight to San Francisco.
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The “wow” factor of flying Lufthansa is not there, but that’s not because the product is lacking but rather because I have flown it so many times. But Lufthansa continues to offer an exceptional first class product that is simply always worth the premium over business class as far as I am concerned.
Rimowa amenity kits remain out of the rotation, which is disappointing, but the amenity kits are still stocked with La Prairie skincare products. I was also very disappointed to see that Lufthansa no longer has real towels in first class, just paper towels. This has been true on my last two flights.
Despite four engines, the A346 is very quiet in the front. The 8-seat first class cabin is arranged in the same way as the A380, with two rows of 1-2-1 seating. Privacy dividers can be raised and the seat is comfortable in all positions.
I experienced two highlights on the flight. First, I was able to converse with the crew exclusively in German. As I have mentioned before, I can speak German, but have an American accent. Sometimes when I speak German and my accent is picked up on, flight attendants will transition to English. My (German) wife Heidi and I are trying to speak much more German at home these days so that little Augustine (2 years old) is bilingual from an early age. The onboard exchanges were a validation of my efforts.
Second, Lufthansa makes a heckuva good guacamole cheeseburger. That’s the subject on upcoming edition of Matthew’s Meal of the Week.
CONCLUSION
As I mentioned yesterday, I will publish a full review of this flight, then offer a comparison between Lufthansa, Air France, SWISS, and British Airways.
The bottom line is this: for 70,000 Aeroplan miles a Lufthansa First Class flight between Germany and the West Coat of the U.S. remains a remarkable deal. Although I may get used to it, the product remains something very special.
Wow! That burger looks fantastic! You could easily add food photographer to your resume. You do an excellent job.
Thank you!
Out of curiosity what was the fuel surcharge on the Aeroplan redemption? I am trying to decide it it makes more sense to book through Avianca or Aeroplan for an upcoming trip
About $300 flying westward. Ridiculously higher the other direction.
I wonder myself why would you use aeroplan when you can buy lifemiles for so cheap? 87,000 @0.0135 and $70 taxes v 70,000 miles + taxes of $1k now? Interested in your thoughts.
Only because my business generates AMEX points, so I did not have to buy any. If I was buying points, it would be LifeMiles.
Understood. But even so flying east would be tough to justify even if you had squllions of points?
Yes, flying east is a whole other story. Usually I will just totally avoid LH because it is not worth it.
Aren’t you still better off transferring the Amex points to Avianca? 17k more points, but you save a bunch in taxes + fees.
Getting rid of cloth towels in the First Class lav is a stingy move. Are they going to start stocking silk red roses instead of real ones from now on?
“My (German) wife Heidi and I are trying to speak much more German at home these days so that little Augustine (2 years old) is bilingual from an early age.”
well about that, please don’t do it to Little Augustine, yet… I have a nephew that have speaking problem, like only reply with crying or screaming, and he around 2,5 years old. I think is due his parents do speak bilingual to him everyday. After They go to the doctor, they found out that my little nephew is confused to reply in which language. So, the doctor suggest the parents & teacher to speak in 1 language first before. Now he is 5 years old and just able speak Indonesian in (almost) complete sentence. The doctor & teacher planned to teach him english next year.
So My suggestion, let him understand 1 language first until he can speak 1-2 full sentences regularly, either German or English. you can teach him other language in later years, But you can teach him simple expression like “thank you” or “sorry” on early years, but make sure you only use 1 language for talking or telling story to Augustine.
this hurt my brain to read… don’t try to parent others’ children when you’re this obtuse… one experience is not the rule and the vast majority of children are NOT like this
The interesting thing is that he can already respond to me in English and Heidi in German. He talks up a storm–he talks, talks, talks…sings, sings, sings. Our problem is keeping him quiet! 😉
Lufthansa didnt get rid of the towels in First, they always were exclusively on the A380, nothing has changed. Check your facts first, then write.
Thank you for that datapoint. It is rare that I stray from the A380 so I wasn’t aware it was an aircraft-specific policy, which is a stupid policy.