SEA 2014: Lufthansa First Class Vancouver to Frankfurt (YVR to FRA) 747-400

I’ve flown Lufthansa first class a couple of times before (see A380 trip report; previous 747 trip report; and (gasp!) a coach trip report) and had good experiences. I’m not a huge Lufthansa fan boy, but the separate seat and bed combo on the upper deck of the 747 is my favorite first class hard product. You can’t beat the comfort and convenience of having an actual bed to sleep in.

Load for this flight was 5/8. There was a couple on their honeymoon, and two businessmen who appeared to fly Lufthansa a lot. Like a lot a lot. Like the guy behind me seemed to know more about the service than the flight attendants.

I was given an amenity kit and pajamas. Unfortunately, there were no Rimowa amenity kits in sight. Headphones were already at the seat. While the actual bed can’t be beat, the rest of the hard product is a little old. Like the IFE screen is pretty poor quality and the selection isn’t great.

This is a small thing, but I asked for sparkling water with lemon as a pre-departure beverage and got wellness water with lemon instead. When I brought it to the flight attendant’s attention that my water was minty instead of fizzy, she said that I was wrong and must be mistaken. I offered to let her try my water to confirm that she had served me the wrong thing, but she refused. I don’t think I’ve ever been accused of being wrong in first class, and I can’t imagine that ever happening on an Asian airline.

The purser came around to greet people, which I always find a bit awkward. Like they always seem to happily chat with other passengers and then they get to me and are just like, “I hope you have a good flight. kthxbainao.” Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but I feel like if I were white this wouldn’t be the case.

Anyway, here are the menus for the flight. I pre-ordered a special VGML since I haven’t been too pleased with the meat- and dairy-heavy selections on the menus in the past.

My VGML started with an amuse bouche that was pretty bad. It wasn’t cooked enough, it was cold, and it was unseasoned. The flight attendant even proactively apologized for it when she served it to me.

I did appreciate the attention to detail to serve me margarine and olive oil instead of butter. And of course, I didn’t pass up caviar service (yes, I’m a terrible vegan).

For appetizers, the VGML consisted of more vegetables. Yes, I get that vegetables are vegan, but there are also so many other things that are vegan. I’d hope that first class catering means more than getting some raw or lightly seared vegetables, particularly when the ingredient quality isn’t great.

The entree was fine, if a bit plain. A sort of ratatouille with rice, beans, and squash. This was probably the best part of the VGML meal service, but that’s not saying much. I could also tell that the crew was a bit embarrassed about the quality of the food for a special meal in first class, and the purser encouraged me to write into customer service after the flight.

And since I’m a fatty, I decided to get both sweet desserts off the normal menu. The bread pudding was pretty tasty; the ice cream was ice cream.

I played around with the in-flight entertainment and was mostly just annoyed with the controller. But I didn’t choose this plane for the IFE, so I got into bed and slept well for a couple of hours.

While the bathrooms on the 747 in first class aren’t anything special, I do appreciate that there’s nicer toilet paper in the bathrooms in first class than in other cabins (I’m looking at you, British Airways, for having crappy toilet paper in your first class bathrooms). I also like the La Mer creams, as my skin always feels dry after too long on planes.

I awoke to a hot towel and glass of orange juice. For breakfast, I got the muesli, a fruit plate, and scrambled eggs. I should also note that by this point, my IFE didn’t work at all for video content, so I could only listen to music or watch the air show.

Breakfast was good, and I find freshly cooked eggs to be a kind of novelty on planes.

I love the separate seat and bed combo on the 747. The bed is super comfortable, and it means you don’t have to wait for anyone to make your bed or do awkward things like eat in bed. But the IFE is pretty crappy, and I’m not a huge fan of Lufthansa’s catering (this was my first VGML first class meal in the trip of three, and this ended up being the second best/worst–Thai’s was absolutely dreadful; Singapore’s was pretty good). I’d obviously love to fly Lufthansa again, but if given the choice, I’d take most Asian carriers over Lufthansa given my personal bias.