I flew from New York to Frankfurt in Lufthansa First Class earlier this week, which was a fairly typical (great) flight overall, but there was one element I particularly appreciated that showed special attention to detail and great customer service: a candlelight breakfast.
Candlelight Breakfast In Lufthansa First Class
Breakfast is a challenge on LH401. The flight leaves New York JFK at 4:10pm and is scheduled to arrive into Frankfurt at 5:45am, which is currently before sunrise. That itself represents a fairly padded schedule and my flight arrived almost 40 minutes early.
I had enjoyed a hearty dinner after takeoff and planned to skip breakfast onboard to get an extra hour of sleep (the entire flight was only 6.5 hours), but about an hour before landing I woke up and was no longer tired.
It was too late for the full eggs and bacon breakfast (I was not hungry anyway), but flight attendant Mark quickly appeared and wondered if there was anything else I wanted. I ordered an espresso, smoothie, orange juice, croissant, and berries (nothing like a “light” breakfast before landing…).
But there was a problem. I was the only passenger awake at the time. The gentleman across from me had woken up earlier and had already eaten his breakfast. He had now gone back to sleep. The entire cabin was sleeping.
Turning up the lights, even the ambient lights, would have created a disturbance and on a flight that short, I was not looking to rob anyone of their sleep.
But Mark had a great idea and presented something I had never seen before: an electronic candle. These are apparently located onboard in some compartment and reserved for special occasions celebrated onboard.
Look familiar? These are also part of the service on Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines in their premium cabins.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and this really was a cool way to allow me to see what I was eating (even if my photos do not do justice) while not disturbing others.
I’d like to see these on every Lufthansa flight…
Well done, Mark!
But you already seem to have a light on above the rose…
Well, I had to turn that on or else it was simply to dark for the iPhone to capture the image.
Stuart and I just wanted to thank you for being the most humble and least entitled blogger out there.
LOLOLOL OMG Chivas
Paragraph 3: “but an hour before takeoff I woke up” would have made for very early boarding.
Fixed. Thanks.
For someone who gorges all the time you are fairly thin. I’d metabolism high naturally or do you work out a lot or take supplements?
*is your
No supplements, but I work out hard six days before per week and observe a strict diet at home.
Unsure why a whole article was need to explain everything before the candle. Just a headline LH F finally has the candle that Turkish and Qatar has in business would have worked.
Hear Hear!
This article was more to rave about LH about anything they do including when an attendant manages a smell-less fart!
I would be delighted to receive that candle on my next LH flight as a way of celebrating the special occasion of being served a signature Tasting Heimat mystery sandwich ‘meal’.
LOL
I wonder if it was the same Marc who served me last year on my FRA-ORD flight. Such an amazing asset to LH!
Was his last name one letter away from mine?
Why JFK-FRA? I thought you always fly LAX-FRA? How did you end up at JFK?
Maybe there wasn’t space available from LAX but there was from JFK? Or he had business in NYC.
Correct and correct.
How did you find award availability? It’s been near impossible to find premium award availability this summer
Much better this month going from U.S. to Europe. Still nearly impossible coming from Europe to USA.
BA has started to open up quite a bit for this month, ironically just as they inflate fares to reduce demand
I like how you pick one straightforward but interesting topic, write about it, get some pics, no excess, no tangents. It’s refreshing in a time when every blog is drama and strife. It’s like reading Hemingway – seriously. You have a great blog.
wow
Food and flying: I can’t eat all that food sitting down for more than 3 hrs. But enjoy if that’s your thing, you foodie.
More impressive is the fact that they wouldn’t cook him the scrambled eggs due to lack of time…. But there was enough time to prepare aaaaall of those things he ordered 😀