Lufthansa First Class A340 Munich to Los Angeles

Completing the Lufthansa First Class Collection – Introduction

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Lufthansa 452
Munich (MUC) – Los Angeles (LAX)
Airbus A340-600
05 January 2016

The Lufthansa flight to Los Angeles was scheduled to depart at 12:05 and I left the Lufthansa First Class Lounge at around 11:30; I made it to the gate around 11:45, after a few additional security and boarding pass checks. Part of the H concourse is blocked off for US-bound flights and therefore leading to the additional, unnecessary, checks. Several Lufthansa and United flights were departing at the same time and therefore there were massive amounts of people near the gate areas.

This flight completes my Lufthansa First Class “collection”, I’ve now flown Lufthansa First Class on every aircraft Lufthansa has First Class on:

Lufthansa First Class A380 Frankfurt to San Francisco
Lufthansa First Class A330 Munich to Dubai

Lufthansa First Class B744 Seattle to Frankfurt
Lufthansa First Class B748 Chicago to Frankfurt

Lufthansa’s Los Angeles flight from Munich is operated by an Airbus A340-600 (A346). Lufthansa’s long-haul operations from Munich consist of only A333s and A346s; meanwhile the LAX flight from Frankfurt is operated by an A380 or B748. The flight was actually a bit delayed since as I arrived, the aircraft had just arrived at the gate. Boarding was delayed by about fifteen minutes, at which point a massive queue formed by the gate.

Boarding was announced a few minutes late, beginning with First/Business Class passengers, HON Circle Members, Senators, and Star Alliance Gold cardholders. Some people seemed to not understand “Priority Boarding” and thankfully, the Lufthansa agents explained it to them 😉

The Lufthansa First Class cabin on the A346 is virtually identical to the A330-300 First Class; Lufthansa’s A343s don’t feature First Class anymore. The A346 is one of the longest aircraft in the world, it actually held that record for a few years.

Since I had booked the flight literally a few days before departure, the only seats available were middle seats. However, with Lufthansa First Class, there isn’t a bad seat. At booking, all four window seats and one middle seat were taken. Two passengers were upgraded at the gate and therefore the cabin was full; I was in seat 2D.

The two First Class flight attendants (shown below) welcomed me on board and asked me what I would like to drink before we take-off. I, of course, asked for champagne; it was served with delicious macadamia nuts. The purser also welcomed me to the flight and she couldn’t have been friendlier, we talked for a few minutes and I told her how much I love Lufthansa and she told me Lufthansa loves me back 🙂

A pillow and comfortable blanket were waiting for me at my seat. I was also offered Lufthansa’s signature rose, along with a pyjama, slippers, and a Rimowa Amenity Kit. Rimowa amenity kits are awesome – they’re just so cool and I’m happy they are back on Lufthansa flights.

Legroom is virtually infinite in First Class and the ottoman can be adjusted and moved forward if your legs can’t reach it. There are no overhead bins above the centre seats in First Class – this leads to a more spacious cabin, but reduces storage; however, flight attendants can store your bags in a closet and some items can be stored in the ottoman.

The seat controls are built into the seat’s armrest and feature all sorts of different ways of adjusting your seat. The IFE remote control is also located in the armrest; headphones are located in a stowage compartment near the seat. The Lufthansa magazin, inflight shopping catalogue, and safety card can be found in a compartment next the ottoman, you can also store your menus here (or additional reading material).

Two power ports (that accept plugs from various countries) and two USB ports can be found below an armrest.

While the pyjamas and slippers have the same colour from flight to flight, the amenity kits are available in different colours. On my last flight, I was given a grey Rimowa amenity kit and on this flight, blue was for men and white for women.

The amenity kit contains socks, eye mask, comb, earplugs, toothbrush/toothpaste, lotions, and a shoehorn. There was also some information regarding Rimowa’s cool digital baggage tagging.

The champagne was Laurent-Perrier Grand Siècle, which is one of my favourites. The macadamia nuts were also quite tasty.

We pushed back about fifteen minutes behind schedule, at which point the safety video began to play. We made it to the runway about five minutes after leaving the gate and waited for about another two or so minutes and then began to take-off. Lufthansa’s First Class cabins feature additional noise-cancelling material and curtains, therefore you can barely hear the engines and the whole cabin is overall very quiet compared to the rest of the aircraft – this makes it perfect for relaxing and sleeping.

Once we reached a few thousand metres, the purser once again welcomed us on board and a menu and wine list was distributed. Shortly thereafter, one of the flight attendants presented the passengers with hot towels. I should also note that the service was significantly, significantly better than my last Lufthansa flight. Both First Class flight attendants were awesome and genuinely enjoyed their job and meeting the needs of every passenger.

One of the flight attendants asked the passengers what we would like to consume for the main course, if we would like to have the sorbet in between the appetisers and main course, and if we would like to be woken up for the pre-arrival meal. The flight time was estimated to be 11 hours and 35 minutes. The meal service began about thirty-five minutes after take-off.

Lufthansa’s First Class cabin provides so much comfort and relaxation – it’s amazing. Literally, I don’t think any other airline provides such great service whereby it’s so attentive yet privacy and relaxation is maximised.

I decided to ask for another glass of champagne to go along with my meal, I couldn’t resist not drinking one of my favourite champagnes. While I enjoyed most of the meal and most of it was tasty, the amuse bouche wasn’t the best. It consisted of a single prawn on a salad leaf and some sort of cream. I generally don’t like seafood and this amuse bouche definitely didn’t increase my love for seafood.

The meal setup consisted of some bread (I went with garlic and grain bread), butter (yes, stamped “First Class”), olive oil, and salt/pepper shakers. Lufthansa’s meal setup is so elegant and simply beautiful. My favourite bread is the garlic bread since it is usually freshly prepared and tastes excellent (especially with the butter and olive oil).

The multi-course meal began with appetisers. There are three courses to Lufthansa’s appetisers – the caviar, the appetisers, and a salad. The menu was as follows:

Menu

 

Choice of Appetizers

• Caviar with the traditional Garnishes
• Smoked Cod with Horseradish Ice Cream, Turnip Cream and Radish
• Beef Tartare with Hay Mayonnaise and Vinaigrette
• Topinambour with Sunflower Seeds and Bergamot
• Mixed Leaf Lettuce with Red Radish, grilled Bell Pepper and Olives accompanied by Grape Seed Oil Vinaigrette or Mustard Herb Dressing

The caviar was, as usual, excellent. The three appetisers were edible, but nothing overly delicious; the salad, however, was very tasty. The caviar is served with onions, a lime, egg whites/yolks, and sour cream. Toast is provided with the caviar service.

The smoked cod was alright, however it was paired with “Horseradish Ice Cream”…!? The beef tartare wasn’t good at all and I tried just a bit of it for a sample. Then the final appetiser, Topinambour, was the best one out of the three.

The caviar and the salad were my true two favourites from the appetisers. The caviar is always excellent and I find that Lufthansa has great salads also, so I sampled some of the three appetisers and enjoyed the salad and caviar fully.

A sorbet was served between the appetisers and the main course… why? I have no clue.

Sorbet

• Ice Wine Sorbet with iced Grapes and Chutney

It was ok, but I’ve never had a non-sweet sorbet, especially one with wine.. so trying that was an interesting few moments. The grapes were totally rock-hard and almost inedible.

Choice of Main Courses

• Lamb Chops with Herbs, Turkish Cabbage, Medlars and Lebanese Couscous
• Fried Halibut with Mustard Sauce, Kale and Savoy Cabbage
• Breast of Guinea Fowl with mixed Artichokes and grilled Herb Mushrooms
• Udon Noodles with sautéed Porcini Mushrooms, Soy, pickled Sweetheart Cabbage and Japanese Omelet

All of the main courses sounded appetising and I decided to try the fried halibut, it was excellent and mouthwatering.

Selection of Cheese and Dessert

• Rock Salt Cheese, St. Agur, Goat Cheese with Honey, Explorateur and Langres Cheese with Apricot Mustard Chutney
• Pear Helena Nordic Style
• Everything orange: Pumpkin, Parisian Carrots and Soured Milk Ice Cream

The dessert consisted of cheese, ice cream, and “everything in orange”. I went with the pear and chocolate ice cream, which was delicious and the ice cream wasn’t rock-hard.

After finishing my n-th glass of champagne, I had some English Breakfast tea and multi-fruit juice.

The whole meal service lasted around an hour and a half and I rested for a while between some of the courses as I wanted to try as much as possible. The main course was the real highlight (as it should be), and definitely my favourite part of the meal. The appetisers are usually good on Lufthansa flights, however these weren’t all that good.

After finishing my drinks and dessert, I asked one of the friendly and charming flight attendants for the turndown service. The only place I could look out the window was in the lavatory and the view outside was beautiful. It also felt a bit weird to not sit by the window, as I normally do.

Lufthansa’s First Class lavatories are gorgeous and feature additional amenities such as refreshing towels, shaving razors, mouthwash, deodorant, and make-up removal tissue. Additionally, expensive la prairie lotions are available.

My bed was ready shortly thereafter and I should say that I sleep better in Lufthansa First Class than I do in my own bed. Seriously. Lufthansa’s bedding is just so comfortable and along with the noise-cancellation in First Class, you can truly sleep for a long time, especially to the soothing motion the aircraft makes. Some water was also included with the turndown service… though no chocolate! A partition extends between the two middle seats for privacy and another partition extends between the seat and aisle.

I woke up twice from my sleep and decided to eat some chocolate and look out into the beautiful world below. I mean how can you not love flying… especially with such gorgeous views!

We are pleased to serve you a selection of canapés, biscuits and fresh fruits during the flight.

The Munich to Los Angeles flight is one of Lufthansa’s longest, and usually the flights longer than ten hours offer a mid-flight snack. The snack consisted of canapés, fresh fruit, and delicious dessert. The canapés tasted fresh and the dessert was equally tasty. I ordered some iced tea to go along with my snack.

For another dessert, I asked one of the FAs for some pralines and she told me that unfortunately most of the passengers ate all of the pralines and she was very apologetic. A few minutes later, she comes to me with a large box of pralines and says “look what I found!”, with a huge smile on her face. The service was truly awesome on the flight, both flight attendants were super professional, charming, and attentive – they were also just super friendly.

About an hour and a half before landing, the “mood” lights were turned on in the cabin and the pre-arrival meal service began with a hot towel. My table was set with the same items as for the dinner service – however, no garlic bread or olive oil was available.

The pre-arrival meal consisted of cold and hot items along with dessert. The hot choices were composed of meatballs and ragout. The menu was:

Classics

 

Cold and hot Specialties

• Marinated Salmon with Dill Mustard Dip
• Fig and Foie Gras Praliné with Pistachios and Macadamia Nuts
• Waldorf Salad
• Marinated Prawns
• Salade niçoise
• Königsberg Meatballs in Caper Sauce with Snow Peas
• Ragout fin with buttered Green Peas

Dessert

• Chocolate Tart
• Fresh Fruit

For the meal, I skipped the hot choices because I was still a bit full from the main dinner service a few hours prior and went with the marinated salmon and niçoise salad. I also tried a few additional items from the menu and everything was delicious – usually the pre-arrival meals aren’t the best, however on this flight, it was actually better than the main dinner meal.

As I finished my meal, the captain announced we had begun our initial descend into Los Angeles. He also thanked us for flying with Lufthansa/Star Alliance and hoped we had an enjoyable and comfortable flight. I had the airshow turned on for most of the flight and I browsed through the IFE for a short while, however I didn’t find anything worth watching.

We touched down in Los Angeles a few minutes before our scheduled arrival time and made it to our gate about seven minutes after landing. The purser and flight attendants came by once more to thank all of the passengers for flying with Lufthansa and the purser asked how the flight was and if everything was alright. I told her everything was amazing and that the flight attendants were wonderful. She once more thanked me and wished me a safe and comfortable onward journey.

A Lufthansa agent met all of the First Class passengers at the gate and informed us where our baggage would be arriving. I had a pair of skis and she told me she would meet me by the main baggage claim area and would guide me to the oversized baggage claim.

All in all, a very enjoyable and comfortable Lufthansa First Class flight. My collection is now complete and I’m super excited and happy to have been able to fly every Lufthansa First Class cabin possible. The crew was awesome on this flight and truly went the extra mile to ensure the passengers had everything they needed.

Lufthansa continues to show greatness and professionalism and truly exceed expectations in all areas of travel. I continue to be loyal to Lufthansa and look forward to future Lufthansa flights!