Lufthansa Flight LH796
Saturday, February 4, 2017
Origin: Frankfurt (FRA) Gate: Z66 Dep: 22:15 (22:20)
Destination: Hong Kong (HKG) Gate: 15 Arr: 16:20 (16:00)
Duration: 11 h 5 min (10 h 40 min)
Aircraft: Airbus A380 Reg: D-AIMJ
Seat: 24K (Business Class)
While I entered the aircraft at a quick pace, a female flight attendant raised her hand up and told me to “stop”, before looking at my boarding pass. I found it almost comical on the flight prior, though by this point I was getting slightly confused. Is this how passengers are greeted onboard a flight on Lufthansa?
After pointing me towards the right aisle, I asked if I could take a few pictures. The purser said “well you’re first onboard, so go ahead”.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Cabin
Lufthansa’s A380 business class cabin features 78 B/E modified Aerospace Diamond seats, split into two cabins and arranged in a 2-2-2 configuration. The massive forward cabin features nine rows of seats, while there are just four rows in the rear cabin.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Seatmap
Much like their lounges, I found Lufthansa’s A380 business class seats to be sterile and gorgeous at the same time. I didn’t find them to be homey by any means, but the cabin was uninvitingly stunning. I found this to be my general impression of the airline as a whole. The cabin wasn’t drab, as the pillows provided a pop of colour, but it still feels pretty corporate as far as the blue and brown hues go.
The forward cabin, while massive, featured several partitions in an effort to make the cabin seem less cavernous.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Cabin
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Cabin
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Cabin
However, I decided to select seats in the mini-cabin. This way, I knew basically half of the people in the cabin, as we were traveling with a large party of people. There’s also virtually no foot traffic in business class mini-cabins between meal services, which I always appreciate on longhaul flights.
A further perk is that upper deck economy class passengers board through the rear stairs, so there isn’t foot traffic during boarding either. That’s great, since the disadvantage of sitting in business class mini-cabins on smaller aircraft is eliminated on Lufthansa’s A380.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Mini-Cabin
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Mini-Cabin
As is my preference, I decided to choose the right window seats at the very back of the cabin. My dad took the aisle seat, and offered me the window.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Seats 24H and 24K
Interestingly the middle seats angle towards one another, though the angle doesn’t seem to be as severe as it is on the 747-8.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Seats 24D and 24G
I had a quick peek at the economy class cabin, which seemed reasonably comfortable. Since these seats are technologically more advanced and have a much better entertainment selection than Lufthansa’s A340 seats, in this configuration and with this privacy I’d call these seats the best economy seats in Lufthansa’s fleet.
I asked the economy class flight attendant working these seats before taking these pictures, and she said “of course!”.
Lufthansa A380 Economy Class
Lufthansa A380 Economy Class
Lufthansa A380 Economy Class
Meanwhile the business class mini-cabin was still filling up, so I took the opportunity to snap a last few cabin pictures before moving on to exploring my seat.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Seats
The seat itself was comfortable, well-padded and reasonably wide, though I would prefer a seat with direct aisle access. While I didn’t find much of a problem with the seat as my dad was sitting next to me, I’m not sure how I’d feel when traveling alone.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Seat 24K
As you’d expect in a forward facing fully flat seat, legroom was plentiful.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Legroom
While the ottoman may look small, I can’t emphasise how spacious it was, as there wasn’t a ceiling to it (as you see in reverse herringbone and most staggered products). This way, I could sleep comfortably in any position.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Ottoman
The middle seats basically share a larger ottoman, though there’s a partition in the middle. I can’t imagine it’d do much separation, so it’s still prone to awkward footsie between strangers throughout the flight.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Middle Seat Ottoman
In theory the ottoman could double as a buddy seat, though this was emphasised not to be on our flight. Bummer…
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Ottoman Sign
The seat controls were located to the left of my suite, and were intuitive.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Seat Controls
The tray table was a little hard to push out of its shell.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Tray Table
Once I managed to get it out of the shell, though, it was of a decent size, and folded into two different positions. I should note, though, that it wasn’t adjustable, so I couldn’t just slide it forward.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Tray Table
The IFE screens are touchscreen, though there’s a remote control if it’s a bit too far for your shorter arms.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class IFE Remote Control
The screen can technically pop out so you’re looking straight at it, though I didn’t realise that until later in the flight. The touchscreen was responsive.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class TV Screen
One thing I always appreciate about upper deck cabins are the the side bins that they provide, so the lack of seat storage was definitely made up by the three huge side bins that we had to ourselves throughout the flight.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Side Bin Compartments
They were deep, too, and easily fit my camera bag, as well as many other bags that my parents had from shopping. I’m pretty sure I had my backpack in there as well, which made getting my laptop a very easy task.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Side Bin Compartment
In terms of small details, I liked the coat hook and glasses nook, even if neither ended up being used during the flight.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Coat and Glasses Nook
There’s also a reading light, which I occasionally used to photograph meals and do work throughout the flight. The strength of the reading light isn’t amazing, but passable.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Reading Light
I also noticed a very small storage compartment to the right of my seat, between it and the window.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Side Storage Compartment
The compartment mainly seemed to be there for holding my headphones, and could only be accessed with the armrest down. It was a smaller compartment and was harder to open, so I wouldn’t suggest putting something important there unless you have great memory.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Side Storage Compartment
The headphones themselves were Bose, which should speak for the quality. I didn’t use them throughout the flight, though my parents recognised its high quality.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Bose Headphones
I like amenity kits, though I can’t judge when they’re expensive and when they aren’t. My mom could tell that the Jil Sanders amenity kit was good, though, as she collected all of ours after the flight.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Jil Sander Amenity Kit
The contents of the amenity kit were basically what you’d expect, including a dental kit, hand cream, earplugs and an eye mask.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Amenity Kit Contents
In terms of other amenities, flimsy slippers were provided on the ottoman.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Slippers
Overall I found the seat to be well appointed, though I guess I would be disappointed about the lack of storage if I came across this seat on an A330 or A340. You can’t get much better than this for a forward facing fully flat seat, though as I noted earlier, it isn’t my favourite configuration.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class View from Seat 24K
I loved how large and squishy the pillow was, easily one of the best business class airline pillows I’ve had.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Pillow
I tried to photograph out the window, but I struggled to get great pictures of how rainy it was. It also didn’t help that it was nighttime and the A380 windows are really thick.
View upon Parking Frankfurt Airport
Soon we were offered pre-departure beverages. My dad chose water, and I chose orange juice, which was served in a wine glass.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Welcome Drinks
I believe the load in business class was completely full, and the load in all other cabins seemed to be full as well, though I neglected to check ExpertFlyer before my flight.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class View from Seat 24K
Shortly before takeoff I visited the lavatory, which is as sterile as lavatories get, though in Lufthansa’s polished way. The lights gradually glowed whenever I locked the door, which was a nice touch, especially during the middle of the night.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Lavatory
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Lavatory
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Lavatory
In terms of amenities there was hand cream, though that was about it.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Lavatory Hand Lotion
We were soon passed out menus, and in one of the compartments of the seat I found myself a bottle of still Elisabethen water.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Menu
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Water
By the time we pulled back at 10:20 PM, the lights were dimmed, and the safety video played, which was pretty boring as far as safety videos go. The pilot soon came on to introduce himself, and explained that he was thrilled to have two first officers onboard with him, as well as giving a flight time of 10 hours and 5 minutes. A flight attendant further came back and made sure that all our seatbelts were securely fastened.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Safety Briefing
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Safety Briefing
I once again admired Airbus’ overhead panels, though it’s worth noting that there aren’t overhead nozzles aboard this aircraft.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Overhead Panels
We had decent views of Frankfurt Airport as we left, and I sure do want to visit the city in the near future.
Taxiing Frankfurt Airport
Taxiing Frankfurt Airport
One thing about most A380s, including Lufthansa’s, is that they feature a tail camera. Lufthansa’s A380 features a great tail camera, which was nice to watch during the entirety of the flight. They also have a nose camera and a wheel camera, though I was most compelled to watch the nose camera.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Tail Camera
We rolled to the runway and soon took off, and I admired the night scenery of Frankfurt from above, though couldn’t capture any good pictures.
Takeoff Frankfurt Airport
After we were airborne I decided to quickly tour the aircraft, starting with the economy class cabin on the upper deck. If flying Lufthansa A380 economy class I would try my best to grab a seat here.
Lufthansa A380 Economy Class Cabin
I then went down the rear stairs to visit the lower deck.
Lufthansa A380 Stairs
The lower deck features a few massive A380 economy cabins in a 3-4-3 configuration. The seats seemed wide, though they didn’t seem extremely well padded.
Lufthansa A380 Economy Class Lower Deck Cabin
Lufthansa A380 Economy Class Lower Deck Cabin
I wanted to photograph the premium economy cabin, and the flight attendant there offered to walk me through the premium economy cabin and through business class (before realising I wasn’t seated in economy class after seeing my slippers). However, she said that I needed “special permission” to take pictures of the premium economy cabin. I wasn’t sure what she was on about, but I was too tired to argue and had better things to do – the premium economy cabin looked decent, with modern seats that looked well padded.
I returned to my seat and tried to connect to the WiFi, and had difficulty, though I quickly realised it was a fault of my computer and not the WiFi itself. The WiFi is priced at ~US$18 (~HK$142), which is an absolute steal, especially since I needed it desperately to clutch my science assignment. One issue with the payment is that if paying with PayPal, a code would be sent to your mobile phone. The flight attendant said that there was mobile service in the air which your phone could connect to, though that was, unfortunately, non-existent. Fortunately, my dad also had his credit card on him, though I’m wondering where the flight attendant gets her mobile data from in the air.
Due to my constant frustration I forgot to screenshot the prices (and therefore forgot the exact price of WiFi on my flight), though I got to connect in the end. The WiFi was faster than I expected, probably since it was a night flight and no one was using it. After slow WiFi at the chalet I stayed at in Courchevel, what I got was actually much faster in comparison.
Dinner service began with a hot towel, which was nice.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Hot Towel
We were once again offered a round of drinks. My dad had an orange juice, while I had one of the great bitter lemon sodas that Lufthansa offers.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Drinks
In case you’re interested, the entire menu read as follows:
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Menu
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Menu
Meanwhile, the drink list read as follows:
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Drinks Menu
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Drinks Menu
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Drinks Menu
Soon our tables were set. I do like the salt and pepper shakers that Lufthansa uses.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Table Set
The appetiser consisted of prawns, sea beans and tomato jelly on top of some cold mashed potatoes. The dish was pretty bad – the prawns tasted off, the mashed potatoes were cold and you can’t make tomato jelly sound appealing.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Appetiser – Prawns with Sea Beans, Potato Salad and Tomato Jelly
I did like the bread that we were offered, which tasted good.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Bread
For the main course I chose the herb and curry crusted grouper, as none of the options sounded appealing. Holy crap. The curry crust was just confusing, and left a weird overpowering perfume in my mouth. The fish was dry and overcooked, and while the rice was loose and fluffy, it tasted off. The snap peas were nothing to write home about, though the “salsa” wasn’t great by any means either, so for the first time I can remember since reviewing on the blog, I called it quits.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Main Course – Herb and Curry Crusted Grouper, Snow Peas, Tomato Fennel Salsa and Long Grain Rice
I know that the grouper looks fine from the outside, but the weird herb and curry crust just overpowered the entire fish, and I’m sure either the herbs or the fish were the cause of the food poisoning that I had for the entire week after.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Main Course Grouper
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Main Course Snow Peas
My dad selected the veal steak for his meal, which he didn’t seem to enjoy very much either.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Main Course – Veal Steak with Pepper Sauce, French Beans and Potato Gratin
For dessert, I chose the cinnamon mousse with plum compote and whipped cream. The elements fit together, I guess, but it definitely wasn’t the most cohesive dessert I’ve ever had. It wasn’t as bad as some of the horror stories I’ve heard regarding Lufthansa desserts, such as elderflower soup – this dessert was just fine.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Dessert
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Dessert – Cinnamon Mousse with Plum Compote and Whipped Cream
Dinner ended with some pralines, which were probably the best part of the meal.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Chocolates
I knew I’d be up for a while, so when the tea and coffee cart rolled around, I elected to have tea, which was strong and well suited for the night.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Tea
Overall the meal service was bad – I was rather forgiving during my first impressions, but I had food poisoning for the entire week after. I’m pretty sure that the food poisoning came from the main course, as it was the only dish I had the entire trip that no one else traveling with me did. Fish and dried herbs are both common transporters of salmonella, so by the time I was done with feeling queasy, I wasn’t feeling great about the prospect of eating on planes at all. The service was just fine – the flight attendant was friendly, though she did nothing to personalise the meal service.
I worked for around four hours, then called it quits as I was getting really tired and I knew I had completely messed up my sleep schedule. I went to brush my teeth, and saw that it was already light outside, due to the window in the business class lavatory in front of the main cabin. I took my camera there and took some pictures of the stunning A380 wing, where I was able to capture both engines.
Lufthansa A380 View of Wing
Lufthansa A380 View of Wing
It was also cool to see the sunlight seep through the window and make arcs of red light glow throughout the sides of the cabin.
Lufthansa A380 Sunlight Seeping Through Window
The bed itself was comfortable, as you could control the hardness of the seat. The blanket Lufthansa offers is also quilted, so it was really comfortable for me. I slept extremely well until the lights came on for the meal service.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Bed
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Bed
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Bed
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Bed
Another hot towel was offered before breakfast.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Hot Towel
For breakfast I had heard great things about Lufthansa’s scrambled eggs, and thought it would transfer to the business class cabin as well. The eggs were okay. The tomato sauce wasn’t great, though the eggs themselves were moderately fluffy and I could live with them. The ham was also fine, though I didn’t touch the alp cheese. As far as soggy muesli goes, that was fine too. I had orange juice to accompany breakfast, though I wasn’t feeling great after so little sleep.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Breakfast
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Breakfast – Scrambled Egg with Chives, Sweet and Spicy Cocktail Tomato Compote
My dad had the Chinese fried rice, which he didn’t seem to particularly enjoy either – he still finished about half to three quarters of it before giving it back.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Breakfast – Chinese Rice with Chicken and Shrimps
After another half hour of working the WiFi stopped working over southern China. We had been flying over China for quite a while, so I’m surprised it took so long for the WiFi to stop working. Soon after that the pilot came on describing that we’d be landing soon, and the cabin was prepared for landing. I put my seat upright and my window open so I could enjoy the back of the A380 wing.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class View of Wing
Shortly before descent I browsed the entertainment selection, which was fine by my standards. It seemed to be moderately extensive and include a good range of entertainment.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class IFE Selection
Lufthansa A380 Business Class IFE Selection
I admired the Lufthansa cabin in daylight, before we started our descent.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class View from Seat 24K
I also tried to take a good picture of the Rolls-Royce engines and the Ground Support Equipment logo on the engines. I was probably feeling pretty tired at that point and regretting not leaving my assignment to the day after.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class Engine View
I took a few more cabin pictures before landing, including of the storage bins by the side of the aircraft.
Lufthansa A380 Business Class View from Seat 24K
The views upon descent were decent – we found ourselves descending over the city, though there isn’t usually much to see when on the right side of the aircraft.
View upon Descent Hong Kong Airport
View upon Descent Hong Kong Airport
View upon Descent Hong Kong Airport
It was cool to see the condensation on the camera after we went through a patch of clouds.
View upon Descent Hong Kong Airport
View upon Descent Hong Kong Airport
View upon Descent Hong Kong Airport
View upon Descent Hong Kong Airport
View upon Descent Hong Kong Airport
We touched down at Hong Kong Airport at around 3:45 PM, and started making our way over to our gate.
View upon Landing Hong Kong Airport
I saw some interesting traffic upon our taxi, including an Etihad A330 and a Cathay Pacific A340, which will be retired really soon.
Etihad Airbus A330-200 Hong Kong Airport
Cathay Pacific Airbus A340-300 Hong Kong Airport
Unfortunately we just taxied past the midfield terminal. As much as that was good news to most passengers as we wouldn’t have to take an extra train ride, I was pretty sad that I didn’t get to experience deplaning through the midfield terminal for the first time.
Hong Kong Airlines Airbus A320 Hong Kong Airport
American Boeing 777-300ER Hong Kong Airport
Cathay Dragon Airbus A320 Hong Kong Airport
We eventually taxied past a few more heavies, including British Airways and Emirates A380s.
British Airways Airbus A380 Hong Kong Airport
Emirates Airbus A380 Hong Kong Airport
We also taxied past a Korean Air 747-8, which brings back bad memories of the equipment swap I had at around that time the year prior.
Korean Air Boeing 747-8 Hong Kong Airport
Finnair Airbus A350-900 Hong Kong Airport
Qatar Airways Boeing 787-8 Hong Kong Airport
Cathay Pacific Airbus A330-300 Hong Kong Airport
Cathay Pacific Boeing 777-300 Hong Kong Airport
We eventually parked next to an EVA Air A321.
EVA Air Airbus A321 Hong Kong Airport
Before I deplaned I asked if I could take some pictures of the first class cabin, and was promptly admitted. I made sure to take as many pictures of the cabin as possible.
Lufthansa Airbus A380 First Class Cabin
Lufthansa Airbus A380 First Class Seat 2K
Lufthansa’s A380 first class product looks pretty industry leading and the padding seems generous, so it’s definitely a great step up from business class.
Lufthansa Airbus A380 First Class Seat 1K
Lufthansa Airbus A380 First Class Seat 1K
I was also excited to photograph the first class lavatory, as I knew it was big and featured a few amenities, including a sofa and a urinal. Ultimately these are all gimmicks, but this is what makes flying as fun as it is.
Lufthansa Airbus A380 First Class Lavatory
Lufthansa Airbus A380 First Class Lavatory
I did love how stylish the first class sink was.
Lufthansa Airbus A380 First Class Lavatory
The urinal itself was as extra as airplanes get, in the best way possible (well, aside from a shower, but at least that’s somehow practical).
Lufthansa Airbus A380 First Class Lavatory Urinal
I took one last picture of both cabins before I left the aircraft.
Lufthansa Airbus A380 First Class Cabin
Lufthansa Airbus A380 Business Class Cabin
Soon we were on our way back into the terminal, and I was sad to say goodbye to the airport – it’d be almost a month before my next visit.
Bottom Line: Lufthansa’s A380 Business Class
Lufthansa’s A380 hard product is pretty solid as far as forward facing seats go, though I would’ve appreciated the extra privacy or a seat with direct aisle access. I found the privacy and comfort of the seat to be exemplary, though waltzing over seatmates’ flat beds isn’t something that airlines should be looking towards into the far future.
On this flight, I managed to stay productive due to the WiFi, and the amenities were great as well. However, the food and the service were both lacking – while I appreciated the friendliness of the crew, I did a Lufthansa survey at the end of the flight through the inflight internet, and the crew failed to hit most of the criteria that Lufthansa had set up. The food was both illness-inducing and unpleasant, so I’d avoid it at all costs and would fill up before my next Lufthansa flight.
I was still impressed by the flight, though, and wouldn’t hesitate to fly Lufthansa again, though I’d say for now that their business class product ranks below Swiss.
