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Review: United Airlines 787-9 Polaris Business Class Los Angeles LAX to London Heathrow LHR
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Review: SAS Plus 737-800 Business Class London Heathrow to Oslo (LHR-OSL)
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Review: Lufthansa A320Neo Business Class Helsinki HEL to Frankfurt FRA
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Review: Lufthansa Business Class 747-8 Frankfurt FRA to Los Angeles LAX
YOUTUBE: United Airlines: Los Angeles to London
YOUTUBE: SAS: London Heathrow to Oslo
YOUTUBE: SAS: Oslo to Stavanger
YOUTUBE: Finnair: London Heathrow to Helsinki
YOUTUBE: Lufthansa: Helsinki to Frankfurt
YOUTUBE: Lufthansa: Frankfurt to Los Angeles
After spending about an hour in Lufthansa’s spacious Senator Lounge, it was time to get on an 11-hour flight back home to Los Angeles.
Boarding began with group 1 which is for HON Circle Members and first class passengers and group 2 is where we boarded for business class and Star Alliance gold passengers.
FRA-LAX
Boeing 747-8
Once we boarded, I turned right and found my seat 4A which is the first business class seat on the right side of the aircraft.
Lufthansa is soooo behind the curve when it comes to their business class product, its about time these 747-8s are getting retrofitted with Lufthansa’s Allegris product. If you told me these seats didn’t go lie flat, I would’ve told you this is a premium economy product.
Theres’s 2 lower deck cabins with this product in a ridiculous 2-2-2 layout.
and then an upper deck with a 2-2 layout.
The seat front had a coat hangar and a fairly unresponsive TV screen. You can also see the foot cubby which is narrow as well and the bedding was kept there for use later in the flight.
Between the seats you had fairly intuitive seat controls.
There was a center console for drinks and smaller items.
The storage space directly in front had a water bottle and headphones.
The middle flap opens to reveal more storage for phone-sized items, the remote control, and the tray table.
As much as I bash on Lufthansa for their seating, they do usually have good food and beverages.
The crew eventually came around with 3 different pre-departure beverages: water, orange juice, or champagne. I went with champagne. The lovely crew member working our aisle was Jess and she was fabulous. I was absolutely blessed that she was working our side for the flight.
The bedding seemed sufficient for this daytime flight, but we’ll see later in the flight how this actually pans.
And here’s a look at the foot cubby which was quite narrow as you can see. One would expect that even being in the bulkhead row that that would open opportunities for some more space but that clearly wasn’t the case here.
The seat also had a light over your shoulder in case it was dark and you needed some extra immediate light. The overhead lights are still very much there, but in case you need some more pointed light.
And Looking back at the screen, it was old, tired, and in need of a refresh.
At least there was a camera which I always appreciate.
We had a 45 minute delay due to cargo that couldn’t lock in place and we know how dangerous of an issue that can be, but the ground staff figured it out and we proceeded onward with our journey.
We had an excellent, scenic takeoff and climbout from runway 7C.
Here’s a look at our menu for the flight:
Lufthansa has never let me down with their wines and drinks in the past, and I don’t think they are about to start today.
The crew started out with the usual hot towels.
Our trays were then set for lunch.
Lufthansa brings a cart around for their beverage service and I always get a laugh when airlines do this because it feels a bit procession like as a business class traveler. Many airlines prepare everything in the galley and bring you the glass or plate directly.
They gave us a mix of nuts, and for my drinks I went with champagne and sparkling water again. If you couldn’t tell, I love drinks that have bubbles. The nuts weren’t too warm, but were still a nice start with the champagne.
For the starter I went with the salmon option.
The presentation was beautiful and the flavors were quite delightful. The salmon went well with both of the purees.
The salad was refreshing and not the dry, dehydrated nonsense that US carriers serve out of the US.
This time I switched over to a white given that I was having fish. Lufthansa is very good about handling their wines. If they see you ordering a new wine, they will swap your glass out and ensure that you have a fresh glass as to not contaminate tastes.
For main I went with the halibut which was the wrong choice. The halibut was ok; it did not have much flavor on its own but the tomato sauce it came with was nice and so was the cous cous.
For dessert I switched over to a port wine which was quite nice.
For Dessert I wanted to sample cheese and the dessert.
Now the menu advertised the sweet item as a lime pie and this surely is not that. This was a mis-cater, and they told us they had the chocolate cake instead. The cake was tasty so I had no problems.
As for the cheese, I’m a sucker for a good cheese plate so unless the cheese is rotten, which it wasn’t, I was bound to enjoy this.
I took a quick visit to the lavatories to see what they had in there, not food wise of course. We just had lunch so I had to clarify that.
We were crossing over Greenland, which gave some excellent views.
At the end of the meal, we were given a box of pralines.
Lufthansa did have wifi, and unfortunately it was not free for business class passengers, the rates were as follows:
- Messaging: free
- Premium Wifi for 2 hours: 19 Euros
- Premium wifi for full flight: 35 euros
Unfortunately, the wifi was really slow for the flight.
Given the early start to the day, I decided to get some sleep. So I created the bed. Lufthansa’s old seats do go fully flat, but they are incredibly narrow. Germans are tall people, so I wouldn’t want to find out how they fare in this seat when it’s a tight squeeze for me.
I got a few hours of rest in and I woke up to the crew coming around with mid flight snacks which consisted of sandwiches, cakes, and fruits. I just wanted some fiber, so I went with the fruits.
Also, at any point, if you felt like having something else, they set up the galley with mid-flight snacks.
I had a few more broken naps and finally woke up a little bit before second service to get some work done, and then eat.
The pre-arrival service started with another hot towel.
For the second service, I wanted smoked salmon like the menu had, however they didn’t have that and it was a prawns dish instead. I have no clue what’s going on with Lufthansa but that was the second miscater. The crew were at least funny about it and completely accepted the reality.
Now I know some of you people are going to cringe at the sight of me having a red wine (or 2) with prawns claiming the red wine will completely overpower the prawns, but hang on a second. Just stay with me for a minute.
Lufthansa has a great wine selection, and I hadn’t tried the reds yet. So when Jess brought the beverage cart around, I asked her for a glass of Bordeaux. She boldly told me that’s not a good choice in a fun way. So then I told her to suggest for me. She came back with 2 small tasting portions of 2 different red wines for me to try with my shrimp, but didn’t tell me what was what. I eventually chose the other glass which was a shiraz, and she smiled and told me I made the right choice. So we’re drinking Shiraz it seems. That was a fun interaction and I appreciated little personalizations like that.
The prawns were quite nice. The dish was served chilled but that didn’t take away from anything.
Jess came back with breads and I went for a traditional german pretzel this time around.
Dessert was a Mascarpone Cream with Raspberry Coulis and it was light and flavorful.
Don’t mind me as I sit here and enjoy 2 different reds.
At the top of our descent, Jess came back and even offered us a bottle of Shiraz to take home which was a super nice gesture which I appreciated.
Our descent continued over Central California
Here’s the deal with Lufthansa. It’s hilarious to me that they got a five-star Skytrax rating on the basis of a business-class seat that wouldn’t enter service for many years. They do have a lot of other good things going for them though. I’ve usually had good food and drinks onboard, Service is usually pretty good. The bedding could use some work, but it goes without saying that the seat that you get for business class is nowhere near the level it needs to be to be considered a five star airline by skytrax. It’s a good thing that the seat is on its way out, and I cannot wait to experience Lufthansa in the era of Allegris seating. Lufthansa needs to make their wifi cheaper or discounted for business class passengers, change their seats, improve their in-flight entertainment usability, and get rid of these ancient seats. And only maybe then can 5-star ratings enter the conversation for Skytrax.