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Nimish

Pictures/ videos - https://plus.google.com/113545629936677931828#photos/113545629936677931828/albums/posts

Here's the link to the photos and videos of my first LH 380 flight - on a fully booked/ sold out flight on the FRA-SFO sector.

While the BLR-FRA sector had very light loads (though still about 80% full, however LH was still selling the cheapest economy seats on this flight), the FRA-SFO was heavily booked even 2 months in advance, and was sold out about a week in advance of the flight (only offering something like Y3 instead of the normal scenario with seats in V, Q or H being sold).

Hence I knew what to expect on the flights. On BLR-FRA - I went to the lounge, and got my colleague in as well - though he was flying CX to SFO (he flew east 30 minutes after me and was to reach 30 minutes before me, and I flew west - both from and to the same airports Smile

). As his was a last minute booking, he was not able to be on the same flights as me, but managed to get onto CX at about INR 1.15L!!!

I boarded the BLR-FRA 747 (low-J config, with Y seating extending much beyond normal), and managed to find a 3 seater with a free middle and window - and promptly moved to the window. My neighbor was an interesting chap - 18 year old med-student from the UIUC of Hyderabadi Muslim origin, moved to the US when he was 7 - fascinating to chat with him and get his inputs on a number of things. I was surprised to find for instance, that Bieber is a massive flop at his age group (I thought all kids love bieber, but he said the main demographics is 10-14 year old girls)...

Anyway - as I'd tucked in at the lounge (chicken biryani + namkeen - standard combination), I just crashed on board, and skipped the first course - which was some type of a stuffed roll. It's the standard fare on LH India sectors these days, they've done away with the full dinner service. The flight was pretty uneventful, and we were lucky to get an actual gate at FRA - B22, instead of the remote parking which has been the case the last couple of trips. I skipped the breakfast as well, probably slept through it. Woke up just as the descent started, and watched the plane do a couple of loops over Bad Homburg before the final landing on the "new" runway - 25C - I guess it's new only in the numbering though Smile

At FRA - the information counter did not know about the massive new lounge location, neither did anyone else. Besides my connecting flight was from C15, so I decided to find my way there - it's a 15 min walk at a brisk pace. At C15 - I decided to check out the "senator" lounge - decent place, good seating/ lighting/ amenities and a view to die for - 3 LH 380s parked side by side!!! I was sitting and sipping my drink just above my next aircraft - a nice feeling to watch it get refuelled, catered etc. Smile

Boarding was direct from the lounge, and entered the massive 380 lower deck - from the door right next to the flight deck. As the flight deck door was open, I checked with the FA if I could take a picture of the deck, and she went to check with the captain. He waved me in - and I proceeded to take a picture with my phone. He asked if that was my first 380 ride, and I had to tell him that it was actually my 3rd, only the first on LH's version of it Smile

. He looked visibly surprised for a second (after all which sane person would want to click snapshots on the 3rd ride on a type?), but quickly recovered and wished me a good flight.

The seats on LH's Y in 380 are massively improved from the old ones on the 747 or even the 346. The seats have a different texture/ feel, the fabric is really nice, and the head support is better. The PTV system is quite responsive, and the camera options are really superb (refer the videos of the camera views). What sealed the deal for me was the USB charging port, though I must admit the Germans did a great job of hiding it below the armrest. I would never have known/ looked, were it not for the kid (my neighbor) who had to plug his gameboy joystick thing in there (compliments of LH - for kids on the flight). My neighbor kid was super cute - when he saw me using the phone, taking pictures and so on, he leaned over and asked me to prove it's in Airplane mode!!! Luckily it was, otherwise I'm sure I'd have been reported to the FBI Wink

.

A lot of the pax on this flight were Europeans seeming to head on a vacation to the US, with lots of Americans heading back home from a break as well. Hardly any Indians on this flight.

The service on board this a/c was really nice, the crew was extra-enthu (for LH) and friendly. I got my drinks requests (delivered 10 minutes after the service as she did not have Bacardi on the cart the first time, and Cognac the 2nd) without any further reminders, and both with a smile. Surprising for LH, as they're typically quite cavalier about this stuff from random desis...

The food options were chicken or pasta and then beef or Pasta - I eat both meals on this sector - and went for the pasta option for both meals. Absolutely delicious - and vegetarian too!!! Though I never order the AVML, I realize that folks probably don't need that option any more on LH as one option is always a veggie pasta.

Unfortunately for us, the route display was not configured on this flight, so was missing throughout. When I checked with an FA in the galley, she said the ground crew "forgot" to enable/ program it, and they remembered too late to make the settings. So they decided to depart on time, but without this set up. When asked about how she likes the 380, she raved about the aircraft and the spacious galleys. She pointed across the large galleys like this was a palace or something Smile

. She was really excited about this (and worked on the 346 before). Her only regret was that MUC will not get any 380s, because she wanted to move to MUC, but now decided to continue in FRA because of the 380 experience Shocked

!

The flight was very comfortable, the take off absolutely silent - you could not notice a difference in noise between taxi vs. take off roll!! The tail camera was brilliant - watching a behemoth gracefully fly and flit through clouds on a sunny European morning - amazing fun to watch. I was suddenly envious of pilots - for the superb views they probably get every single working day...

Landing was equally smooth, and quick taxi got us to gate 100 in the international Terminal G.

As i was in the nose section of the plane, I was one of the first off at SFO, and a fast walk to immigration ensured that I did not have to queue up too long. The immigration officer was extra nice, and they had almost all counters open. I asked him if that was done due to the "380 effect", and he indicated party yes due to that, and also partly as their recent hiring was finally paying off. He had even heard about my company name and seemed happy to let me enter his beloved country Smile

.

LH uses 2 belts for the 380 - one belt for all bags tagged priority - F/J and *A Golds ,and the the other bag for the rest of the pax. The priority bags kept rolling off for almost 10-20 minutes and yet the regular belt did not even start. No surprises as this was an oversold flight I guess - so about 100+ F/J pax, and probably another 50 *Gs in Economy... Luckily both my bags made it out pretty quickly, and I was out in no time.

Now the CX flight from HKG was supposed to land 30 minutes before my flight, and I had asked my colleague to meet me at the arrivals of Intl Terminal G. But when I came out, he wasn't waiting there. So I trundled over to Intl terminal A (non *A carriers, though OZ landed there as well for some strange reason) - a quick 50 meters away, and found that the CX flight was delayed by about an hour and was yet to land. It ultimately turned out that the CX a/c on HKG-SFO went tech, and they had to switch a/c and gates at the last minute - leading to a 90 minute delay on departure.

The pax coming off the CX flight were largely desis - families coming home type of thing. Quite a contrast to LH and it's predominantly white pax base. Looks like most VFR desis have deserted LH en-masse by now, probably the different hardware/ service and also the pricing/ availability. Ironical though, my friend is a vegetarian, and the agent forgot to request an AVML. So this guy had to go hungry on the 14-hour HKG-SFO sector due to both meal choices being meat based! LH's vege pasta option would have been right for him, and an asian meat choice would have worked very well for me, but we were on the other side of the globe!

So all in all:

Loved the LH 380
Can't wait to fly it again . Definitely brought the excitement back around flying LH
Loved the 20K miles (due to 100% bonus) I was able to earn on this one-way alone - on UA/ CO's FFP. Each round trip gets me a free one-way - pretty amazing if you think of it. All in regular Y...
Found FRA disappointing - I thought there would be big signs to the "swanky" new lounge
surprised (pleasantly) by the crew on the flight

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We miss you Nalini!

me111993 · Member Joined: 04 Sep 2009 Posts: 3225 Location: MAA/AMD

Superb Nimish! Thanks a lot for posting the TR! Very Happy

It's very rare to get a good LH review at home, both my mum and dad loathe most of their previous experiences and mostly avoid LH!

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

Superb trip report, Nimish! Amazing level of detail. IT would have been nicer if you had linked the pictures/videos to the report itself. This allows viewing the pictures/videos in the right context, instead of in isolation. I guess you may not have found time for the same - since few know this forum and its formats better than you!
A small question: were there power-ports on your seat in Y?
Yes, the LH FRA-SFO leg was surprising with regard to the food, and the service, from the shoddy reports some of my friends give me on other legs. 20K miles one way - AI should join *A soon!
Cheers, Sumantra.

AKLDELNonstop · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 1066 Location: Auckland

Those Y seats actually look very good Nimish
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Geniuses are always misunderstood in their lifetimes.

Nimish · Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2011 9:53 pm Post subject:

PAL@YWG · Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 8:26 pm Post subject:

Nimish,
Sorry that I reading your lovely TR late...but it's very smooth & detailed.

Nimish · Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 9:33 pm Post subject:

For the photos - try this link instead:

https://picasaweb.google.com/113545629936677931828/July262011
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We miss you Nalini!

sri_bom · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 2365 Location: Singapore

Great report and good to know you enjoyed the A380.

I liked the idea that they had seprate belts for priority and non-priority passengers, kind of creative.

Sri_Bom

stealthpilot · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 2325 Location: BLR, DXB

Nice TR, I did BLR-FRA-MIA return a month ago 744+380 had more or less the same experience. Everything worked on my PTV though Smile

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