New York John F. Kennedy

I arrived at the airport around 13:15. I was not sure how long the ride with the E train to Jamaica and then on the Airtrain would take and planned a bit more time than necessary. It worked out I was a bit too pessimistic, but that was okay.

I headed straight for the First Class Check In, as there were longer lines at Economy and Business Class. Both agents at the check in counter were busy checking in passengers. It seems the passengers in front of me was a HON, he was brought to the lounge by the agent. Meanwhile the other agent had finished the checking in of two passengers and so I moved lines – there was no other passenger at this time. She printed me all boarding passes for the flights and confirmed my seat reservation (exit row on the 747-400). We chatted a bit about the refurbishment of the lounge and the load of the flight. She told me the flight was fully booked and it seems they needed to upgrade a few people and there were not many SEN’s in Y.

I headed for the lounge, which is before security. Luckily, this will change after refurbishment. I was greeted in the lounge and the boarding pass was checked. The lady told me to leave the boarding pass with her, it might happen she had a better seat for me. So I took a seat in the lounge, got me something to drink and to eat and a paper to read. The lounge is indeed basic and since the refurbishment began with the SEN lounge one has to sit in the FTL part of the lounge. Not an issue to me, snacks and foodis limited, but if you are traveling in First Class or being a HON, you have a separate room.

Our plane was visible through the huge window in the lounge. To me, it’s always nice to see the plane one will be flying in from the lounge.

Being an hour in the lounge I was paged and I god a new boarding pass – my first international upgrade since I have been SEN. It seems it pays back to credit miles to LH, although it is a lower fare class which earns only half the miles.

I headed for security a bit earlier as I wanted to make a quick visit in one of the duty-free shops. The lines at security were long and the agent was showing wrong directions for the line of Business / First Class passengers. And then again, shoes off, belt off, laptop out of the carry one – same procedure as every time at an American Airport, only it took some more time, since some crazy tourist had not put the laptop out of the backpack. How stupid has one to be to forget this. It caused a huge delay, as the laptop was at the bottom of the backpack. Several people were annoyed about his behaviour, because he blocked the whole checkpoint and the x-ray machine of two lines.

I bought the things I had to buy and headed for the gate. Boarding had not started yet, but there were already passengers from the lounge and so I assumed the boarding announcement was made in the lounge.

After a couple of minutes wait, boarding started with First Class Passengers and Star Gold / Senator. The TSA agent checking boarding passes had no clue about Senator / Star Gold and only let First Class passengers pass. The desk seems to realize this and called also Business Class passengers to board the plane.

31 March 2008
JFK - FRA
[New York John F. Kennedy - Frankfurt]
LH 401 (Lufthansa); Boeing 747-400 (D-ABVR / 'Köln')
Gate 004
15:50 – 05:40 [effective 16:10 – 05:32]
Business Class
Seat 10 G

I boarded the plane and was greeted by a female flight attendant and shown directions to my seat. I stored my belonging in the overhead bins. Seat 10G is in the first row of the middle section, so you have no one in front of you, but also a bit less space to store things. I always fear to forget something in the storage part in the back part of the seat, where the amenity kit etc. is placed. A – or the so-to-say – famous bottle of water was placed on the seat.
While I stored my belonging a flight attendant approached and asks to hang my coat in the closet. The cabin filled with passengers and I took some magazines of the rack to read during the flight – I was happy to see the latest edition of “Global Traveler Magazine”. I have subscribed to this magazine, but usually it takes two to five weeks until I get the latest issue in Europe.

The cabin crew began the offering of pre departure drinks not until the most passengers in Business have boarded the plane. One could choose between sparkling wine, orange and apple juice and water. I took a glass of sparkling wine to celebrate my first international upgrade to Business since I have been Senator with Lufthansa.

The Safety video was shown just before we were pushed back at 16:10. While the video was running we were pushed back but had to wait on the tarmac a few minutes before we rolled to the runway, where we had to queue for some more time before it finally was our turn. At this time quite a few European bound planes were on the runway, the first to arrive in the early morning in Europe.

Finally at 16:44 the captain made the well know announcement “Cabin crew prepare for takeoff” and seconds later we accelerated and climbed into the rainy sky above New York.

As the seat belt signs were turned off the cabin crew distributed the menus for the dinner service and app. half an hour later the tables were laid with linen. App. 45 minutes in flight the first beverage service started. I opted for a glass of sparkling water and got it together with a packet of assorted nuts, followed by a hot towel service.

The cabin was full in all three classes I was told and I skipped through the magazine and listened to the Entertainment System. Having the opportunity to compare this one to the touch screen in Economy on my way to JFK, I am still not sure, which is the better one. From the handling the touch screen has some advantages but the reaction is slow. The mouse / joystick use of the Business Class system is although not the best one to use and I could imagine many passengers have difficulties to use it. I prefer the Business Class system over the touch screen in Economy, but just for the reason that the reaction of the touch screen in Economy is slow.

I chatted a bit with my seat mate and explained the entertainment system to her as well as the function of the seat. She was flying for the first time on Lufthansa in Business Class.

Round about 90 minutes after we left JFK the dinner service began. I thought this was a bit late considering the flight time off only 06:30 hours to FRA. But anyway, I had not planned to sleep on this flight as we would arrive in FRA around midnight New York time.

 Here is the menu for this flight.

I opted for the smoked tuna as hors d’oeuvres, which was not bad but also not outstanding in size and quality. I decided to go with the South African Chardonnay for the dinner together with a glass of water. Rolls were also distributed during dinner service. The crew was attentive and though one had to wait a few minutes, they refilled glasses quite frequently. I have had worse crews in Business and it seems that I had on the out- and inbound flight good crews. I was addressed by name during meal service quite a few times. I did not really expect this, but of course it is nice if it is done.

As usual the first choice was distributed on a tray and the main course was served on the separate plate later.
I decided to take the Spinach and Cheese Agnolotti as Entrees, which were really good. I have experience quite a wide range of pasta meals in planes, ranging from barely eatable (greetings to US Airways) to really good (surprisingly on United Airlines) in Economy and Business Class. This agnolotti were for sure of better quality and at the upper end of the scale. My glass of wine got refilled thrice during meal service before I finally decided it was enough wine.
Trays were collected after roughly 50 minutes and dessert was served. I went for the Apple Cobbler with a cup of tea.

After the tables were cleared the crew dimmed the cabin light and some passengers called it a night. Considering the remaining flight time of less than four hours, I lowered my seat and watched a movie and listened to some music and read in the magazines. I was not in the mood of continuing in writing my trip report, knowing this would for sure cause a major delay in publishing it on my homepage.

The remaining flight time passed quickly and after five hours in flight the lights were turned on and the cabin crew distributed the breakfast. We got this time only a tray with all items. It was a cold breakfast and as I was not really hungry I went for the fruit and the croissant together with two cup of coffee and orange juice and skipped the rest. The breakfast service was fast and it seems many passengers skipped it or only had a cup of coffee.

Trays were collected and since we had passed the Irish coast and were crossing the channel and entering the Belgian Airspace the captain came over the microphone for the second time. He told us the remaining flight time with 45 minutes and gave us a weather update. He expected to arrive in FRA a bit ahead of schedule making up our delay out of JFK. We could expect clear weather in Frankfurt with 4°C.

Cabin crew began to prepare the cabin for the final approach as we began our final descend into FRA. We touched down at 05:25 and reached our gate at 05:32.

We had to wait nearly five minuts before the jetbridge was ready. They jetbridge for the rear door was ready earlier causing a bit of a chaotic situation for the passengers in the rear who had not noticed this and heading for the first door which was not ready blocking the way to the back. Anyway I made it through the back door before the first door was ready.

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