Frankfurt Rhein-Main

This time, we had a gate in the A 40 ‘s – I do not remember the exact Gate number any more – and it was a long way to the tunnel to terminal B.
After I passed security and customs without problems and nobody in front of me, I went to the Business Class Lounge / Frequent Traveller Lounge near my Gate B 42 in Terminal 1 B.

The Lounge was this time very full. I spend the time by relaxing, drank some tea, eat some cookies and read “Die Zeit”. I left theLounge at 20:00 (five minutes prior to boarding time) and went to thegate to find this place crowed with passengers. Boarding had not started, but the announcement was made some minutes later.

08 April 2004
FRA – NRT
[Frankfurt – Tokyo Narita]
NH 210 (All Nippon Airways); Boeing 747 – 400
20:35 – 14:40 [20:40 – 14:30]
Business Class
Seat 83 A

Boarding began 20:10 with First Class / Business Class / Star Gold and families and then by row numbers.
I was one of the first passengers boarding the plane and greeted by a female flight attendant. I continued my way to the stairs to the upper deck. And there it was the feeling of something new, the Upper deck of a 747 – 400. This was the first time to me, sitting in the upper deck ob a 747. LH has the First in the Upper deck, but most other airlines have a Business Class Cabin there. And my impression is, you do not feel like sitting in a big plane, is has the feeling of a small plane. Oh well, one can get used to it ….

ANA New Business Class

After I reached the Upper Deck I was greeted by another flight attendant. Seat 83 A was the window seat in the last row of the left side and I put my carry on in the overhead bin. My jacket was taken by another flight attendant just after I put if off. Impressed by this service, I discovered the functions of my seat. While I was pressing buttons, a flight attendant asked me, if I need a cardigan for the flight and gave me one.
Also the menus were distributed. I do not remember, if pre departure drinks were offered; at least I did not drink anything on the ground.
Once airborne, there was a hot towel service, soon followed by a drink service (I started with water). Some minutes later, the flight attendants asked about my choice for dinner.
The tables was laid with table cloth, but the knife was only a plastic one.

Time for a look into the menu , which had also the menu for the flight NRT - FRA (a click on the icon will open a new window).

I had the “A la Carte” Dinner and took first the duck, which tasted very good. Also not in style, I choose the Bourgogne Blance; but I prefer in a plane a white wine over a red wine. The Beef, which I choose as main course, was good, but partly a bit dry. The portion was not very large. The dessert tasted very good an were in my eyes the best part of the menu.
Refills of wine were frequently offered, but I had only two glasses of wine as I do not drink very much and especially not in a plane.

First Course

Second Course

I like, that all course were served individually, so that one had either not to eat in a hurry or had to wait until the next course was served. One was individually served by the flight attendants, who were friendly and efficient in working. There were three flight attendants working in the upper deck. Something quite different to a flight in Business Class of Lufthansa some years ago and also something quite different to many of my Economy flights in the past years. So must be a flight every time, but this would be – to me – a dream.
I had a coffee after my desert and began to discover the Entertainment system. But – it does not work, as there were several problems. Being not the first person noticing that malfunction, as at the same time a call was made, that the Entertainment System had to be restarted in some minutes. Meanwhile, I play with the function of my seat (I do not know why, but to me it is always nice to press buttons and everything is operated electronically). The seat is quite impressive and the nearly flat position could be nice, but I prefer a position like a “Z”. And I do not find a position, which I were convenient to me, also I missed the food rest. But on the other side, I like the massage function of the seat. Also, I think, I have not discovered all possible functions at this seat, so I would not say, that the seat is not good.

But I was able to get a few of sleep – something about two hours altogeher. I wake up only twice. This is very good, as I normally could not sleep on planes; so the seat was not as bad as I might have thought first. After this time, went downstairs, to have a look at the snack bar and drink some water. Also I had some words with one flight attendants downstairs. She told me, that the flight was nearly full and asked me, if everything was o.k. and if it was my first flight with ANA (yes) and if I stay in Tokyo or connect to another city in Japan (No). I told her, that I will connect to Taipei with United. She told me then, that I had to change terminals (which I know thank flyertalk) and that there was a Star Alliance Bus running just beside the arrival gate of this flight and opposite the Start Alliance Transfer Counter, where I get a voucher for this bus.

I again went upstairs and start the Entertainment system. This system is impressive. The AVOD system is fantastic, as you could decide a which time you want to see the film. But for someone like me, who is not familiar to this system, is something difficult to operate in the first minutes. But after some minutes, I found the feature I was looking for.

I skipped the snacks, which were available during the night, as I was not hungry and prefer to hear to some music. The thoughtful flight attendants noticed, when the bottle of water, they distributed after dinner, was empty and brought me a new one.

I do not remember the exact time, but round about three hours prior to landing, the next meal were served

Time for another look into the menu .

The omelette tasted good and the flight attendants made several rounds offerings warm rolls and croissants and refills of coffee and tea.

I visited the lavatories to refresh myself, everything one needs to refresh were available (like toothbrush, razor, etc.).

After we reached Japan, the cabin crew began to prepare the cabin for landing and gave back the jackets and coats. A little surprise to me, that they did not collect the headphones.

We landed in Narita a little bit before scheduled time. Being in the upper deck, we could disembark through the second door (if I remember correctly). In the terminal I head to the Transfer counter, where I get the gate number for my following flight and a voucher for the bus. After passing a security screening I headed for the waiting bus, which soon drives on after I boarded it.

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