Düsseldorf International

After a quick visit in my office on this Saturday morning for some last minute work related things, which I was unable to finish the day before, I drove to the airport and returned my rental car around 10:00 at the Sixt outlet in the airport, which was not very busy. I walked over from the rental car return to the terminal where I met with my two colleagues, who arrived a few minutes after me. We approached the check in desks, where one agent was serving the First Class / Senator Line while two agents were serving the Business Class counters. As the Senator / First Class Counter was busy, we used the Business Class counter as nobody was queuing there despite holding Star Gold Status. The check in procedure was quick and efficient and our luggage tagged through Newark. There was no explanation of the facilities in Düsseldorf given, but as frequent flyer using Düsseldorf for our most trips, this was not expected.

We walked over to the empty priority counters for security and passed it quickly without need to be padded down. After a quick visit at the duty free shop we walked to the Senator Lounge where we spend the next 40 minutes. The lounge was not very busy and we had no difficulties to find an empty table close to the buffet. In the lounge the breakfast items were still available as we entered but changed the dished to the lunch selection with salad and hot soup. After some sparkling wine and last minute work on the laptop and blackberry, we left the lounge ahead of boarding time and walked towards immigration which was empty. It seems the most passengers had already passed immigration at this time and there were no lines at the counters. An ID check followed.

Boarding had not started as we reached gat A 77, where our Airbus A 340-300 D-AIGV named after the city of Dinslaken were waiting to fly us over the Atlantic Ocean to Newark. While we waited for the boarding announcement I did my usual research for the plane history.

D-AIGV is one of the two Airbus A 340-313 planes stationed in Düsseldorf; both A340-313 (D-AIGV and D-AIGT) in Düsseldorf are equipped with the new Business Class but have no First Class Cabin anymore. The Airbus A 340 was delivered to Lufthansa as new plane on February 25, 2000 and later named after the city of Dinslaken. It is powered by four CFM56-5C4 engines by CFMI, the joint venture of US General Electric and the French SNECMA. The engines had a thrust of 34,000 lbf.
The Airbus A 340-300 went into service with Air France as launch customer on February 26, 1993 shortly after the Airbus A 340-200, whose launch customers was Lufthansa. The maximum possible range of the A340-300 is 8,500 miles or 13,700 kilometres. With the higher fuel costs, the four engine-powered Airbus A 340 had much higher operating costs compared to Airbus A 330 and Boeing 777. Therefore sales began to slow in the late 2009 and 2010 resulting in the announcement by Airbus in November 2011 to end the production of the A340.

Boarding started a few minutes ahead of time for passengers who needed assistance and families traveling with small children while a few minutes after scheduled boarding time passengers in Business Class and those holding Hon Status, Senator Status or Star Gold Status were invited to board.  Before we were allowed to enter the jetbridge boarding passed were checked again and a few passengers randomly selected for an additional check of the hand luggage.  At the entrance to the plane our IDs were once again checked

23 August 2014
DUS – EWR
[Düsseldorf International – Newark Liberty]
LH 408 (Lufthansa); Airbus A 340-300 (D-AIGV / “Dinslaken”)
Gate A 77
12:05 – 14:35 [effective 12:06 – 14:01)
Business Class
Seat 03 H

We were among the first passengers to board the plane and walked down the jetbridge to the plane. The A 340 was configured with the new Business Class Seats and the standard Economy Class seats. There was only one jetbrigde used, but as the jetbridge was attached to the second door, no Economy Class passengers were passing through this part of the cabin as our seats were in the larger front part of the Business Class.

The crew welcomed us on board and I took the opportunity to make a few pictures of the new Business Class seats. We stored our hand luggage in the overhead compartment and took everything we needed out of it and stored it on the seats. A member of the crew approached us and offered to hang our jackets. Pillow and blanket were placed in the seats, while amenity kit and a small bottle of water were already placed in a small box at each seat.

Pre-Departure Drink

Champagne Jacquart Brut Mosaique

Pre-departure drinks were offered by flight attendants and we could choose among water, orange juice and champagne. It was announced as champagne and a look at the menu later revealed that it was indeed champagne, not sparkling wine. Later a refill of the pre-departure drink was offered and the safety video was shown on the in seat screens. The captain had already welcomed us on board and gave us some information about our flight path and the flight to Newark. While we were at the gate, the purser introduced himself and welcomed me on board and also wished me a happy birthday as my birthday was the day before. A nice personal touch …

We pushed back in time at 12:06 and taxied to the runway. At 12:17 the captain powered the four engines and we took off in Western direction before we made a turn to the North followed by another turn to the Northwest heading towards the North Sea. While we climbed, the purser informed us about the service on this flight to Newark’s Liberty Airport.

After ten minutes in flight the seat belt signs were turned off and the crew began to prepare the service on this flight. Service started 20 minutes after we left Düsseldorf with a hot towel service. The towel was really hot, but also refreshing. Later the printed menus were distributed and the tray tables were laid with linen soon later.

As usual the service started with an aperitif which was served with a small packet of cashew nuts, we decided to take the offer of a glass of Kir Royal as aperitif. The layout of the printed menu had slightly changed since my last flight with Lufthansa in Business Class. It has now more pages but since Lufthansa does not partner with Michelin stared chefs anymore, the part where the restaurant the chefs are introduced is now missing.

Time to finally have a look in the menu (click on icon, opens new window).

Approximately 15 minutes later the first course was served. Although Lufthansa is changing its service and moves to an individual service rather than using the cart, at this time the standard procedure was done using the cart. Together with the first course, we were asked about our choice of accompanying beverage. Like my colleague I went with the roast beef as first course. My aperitif was still half full, so I asked only for a glass of sparkling water. Plates of the first course were cleared individually after a passenger had finished the first course by the flight attendants passing through the aisle. Business Class was not very busy and the load was only 80% which means there was not rush and the crew took their time and offered refills of wine and other beverages throughout the meal service. The salad was okay, though the walnuts went somehow missing and appeard only as one walnut as decortation on the potatoe salad.

A couple of minutes later the main course was served. I went with the dumplings while my colleague decided to take the Beef Stroganoff, which was served only in August. I went with the Italian white wine for the main course. Service was attentive, selected wine were remembered correctly and they made eye contact and addressed the passengers by name whenever it was appropriate.

Refills of water and wine were offered during the second course as well. The food was not bad, though the dumplings a little bit dry. The plates were again cleared by the flight attendants individually. We were now flying over the Irish Seat towards the Atlantic Ocean. Last course of the first meal service was either cheese or dessert. I went with the dessert while one of my colleagues asked for cheese. One of the nice things of the new Business Class is that now Espresso is also available in Business Class, though I received an espresso a couple of times on earlier flights made in the First Class galley by one of the flight attendants as an special offer.

Linen and plates were cleared later and I started my laptop. Inflight internet was available and I had to need to download and research a few things on my server for which required an internet connection. But I wanted to limit my time using the internet and only used a voucher for one hour which I had received earlier as a gift by Lufthansa.

We were now flying over the Atlantic Ocean towards Newark. The crew does not enforce the lowering of the sunshades as done on earlier flights. After working for round about 90 minutes I decided to try the new seat and discover its features.

The seat features a flat 1.98-metre bed. The configuration varies from aircraft type to aircraft type and either configured as “V” (where two seats are angled towards one another along a central axis meaning there is more space at head and shoulder level than in the foot area), or “H” (where the seats are positioned parallel to one another but angled towards the cabin wall). So let me give first some general information about the seats and the possible configuration.

If you fly on the 747-8i all seats will be in V, while the H configuration is available on A/C and K/H seats on A 340-300, A 340-600 and A380-800 with the middle seats of those planes configured as “V”.
The older 747-400 will not be retrofitted with the new Business Class while the newer one will be retrofitted but not have First Class after re-configuration - this means there will be Business Class in the upper deck arranged as “H” while lower deck is also “H” shaped with rows 11-12 or 11-14 a mix of “H” and “V” (“V” for G/E and H for D/E).
According to Lufthansa a research among customers revealed that they want to fly in direction of travel unlike on British Airways or United Airlines. Of course no one saw the results, but this implies also that they are listening to customers while the airlines mentioned above force their passengers to have seats against direction of travel. I have to admit, I have no preference.
Features of the new seats of B/E Aerospace include a 15-inch TV screen (previous Business Class had 10.4 inches), with the IFE available to passengers immediately after boarding. There is an additional storage compartments at the bottom of the seat, which I find a bit small. The seat is “ergonomically optimized” according to a press release of Lufthansa, and the seat adjusts to the body while being in flat position or making individual adjustments. The new seats have no massage function anymore, which at least one passenger on this flight disliked.

I find the seats comfortable. They are upholstered in grey wool with leather armrests. Like many seats there are three pre-set positions: upright for start and landing, reclined and fully-flat. There is however not comfortable Z shape position anymore, which I disliked. The seats offer a 78 inch flat bed if put in a fully flat person. The seat pitch is 64 inch with the seat pitch 20 inch, which I find a bit of the narrow side. The footrest is also narrow; at least there is not risk of touching the foot of the passenger in the next seat in the “H” configuration. There are also slightly differences between the sizes of the footrest depending on the seat. The H configured seats have an average footrest, which is okay if lying on the back but sub-optimal if one is sleeping on the side. The footrest in the middle seats (G/D) is narrower than those of the seats at the window side and have only a small divider; however the middle seats on the lower deck of the 747-8i have a larger footrest than those seats at the window or especially on the upper deck. But in general, foot proximity is an issue in V configuration. Also from my personal and subjective impression, the footrests at the first rows are even smaller than those in the following non-bulkhead rows.

I dozed in flat position for 45 hours just relaxing and trying it out and listened to music. The headphones jacks are also at different positions, depending on the location of the seat. Of course all seats have power outlets and USB adapters.

Unfortunately, I did not find anything worth to listen or watch in the inflight entertainment system, so I read in the magazines I brought with me from the lounge. A member of the crew passed the cabin a few times and offered water or juices. In was an uneventful and very smooth ride of the Atlantic Ocean without any turbulence. The seat belt sign was turned off during the whole flight on cruising altitude.

Flight time passed quickly and approximately 70 minutes prior to our expecting lading time, which was according the inflight map round about 30 minutes ahead of schedule, the second meal service started. Again the tray table was laid with linen. We had no choice this time, unless you ordered a special menu in advance.

Time to look at the menu (click on icon, opens new window).

Second Meal Service

Tomato Soup
Mixed Leaf Salad with Porcini Marinated Beef, Tomatoes, Cucumbers and Zucchini
Shortbread Cake with Chocolater and Vanilla Sauce

I declined the offer for a wine this time, as I had to drive after landing in Newark and later that day. The soup, which I rarely see offered on Lufthansa in Business Class, was quite good.

The flight deck was updating us about our arrival time at Newark as well as the weather forecast for the evening and the next day. We already had begun our descend into Newark as the tray from the meal service were cleared. We were asked for coffee and tea though.
Finally it was time for the crew to prepare the cabin for our arrival into Newark. We got nice views towards the skyline of Manhattan during our approach.

The approach was also quite smooth like the flight in general and I have to admit that this was one my smoothest if not the smoothest transatlantic flight I experienced since my first flight to the US nearly ten years ago.

We touched down at 13:53 and had a short taxi to our gate at the B terminal where we arrived 8 minutes later over 30 minutes early. We could quickly disembark and walked to immigration, but with two longhaul flight ahead there were long lines and it took around 45 to 50 minutes before we finally were allowed to enter the US. Our colleague traveling with a diplomatic passport was of course much quicker and already took care of our luggage down at carrousel 3. After passing customs, we took the train to the rental car outlets.

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