Round The World and other travel

Flight Log 2: LH728

Frankfurt (FRA) - Shanghai (PVG)

ABOVE: Three airbridges are in place for boarding the A380

To my surprise and delight, I was first to arrive on the upper deck of the A380, the handful of people in front of me in the premium line all having veered off towards Economy. I knew that this would give me a precious few seconds in which to take some photos without annoying anyone. In fact it would be several minutes before anyone else appeared!

Just like last time, I had chosen a seat towards the rear of the upper deck, this section being itself sub-divided into two smaller segments. A small group of Chinese passengers appeared and seemed a little put out when they were firmly directed downstairs to Economy. I couldn't decide whether they had made a genuine mistake or were trying it on. Early indications were that the flight wasn't going to be busy at all on the upper deck, but at this stage it could still just have been a case of premium passengers maximising their lounge time. Following the lengthy debate at check-in, I had a reassuring chat with one of the cabin crew regarding transit arrangements at Shanghai Pudong. She reckoned that all I needed to do was go to the transfer counter on arrival, give them my baggage tag and they would carry out the baggage transfer. (As we shall see in the main trip diary, however, this was not the end of the matter!)

The captain made an announcement saying that we would be taking off towards the west and then making a long left turn to head towards Poland. Most of the flight would be in Russian airspace, before finally crossing Mongolia to reach China. The expected flight time was 9hrs 45mins. Meanwhile, the final position in the rear section of the upper deck looked like being 8 single passengers in my part of the cabin and a further 5 in the small part at the very back. If a similar pattern applied towards the front, I reckoned that the Business Class load factor was around one-third - all well and good from a passenger comfort point of view, but a bit of a commercial disaster for the airline. To put it into context, I couldn't recall ever having been in such a lightly-loaded long-haul Business Class cabin ex-Europe; then again, this was one of the largest such cabins in existence.

'Boarding complete' was announced at the scheduled departure time of 1710, but it only took a further four minutes to start push-back. Twenty minutes later, we were powering along the closest runway, 25C. Once airborne, we began a sharp turn to the left just after passing Runway 18, but this proved to be short-lived. A series of right turns then allowed us to take up the promised heading towards Poland.

Cabin service got underway relatively quickly, with hot towels, menu booklets and tablecloths following in rapid succession. (In line with previous practice, an amenity kit and a bottle of water had already been put in place as part of cabin preparation, but in a welcome new development, a pair of in-flight slippers had also been supplied.) The initial round of drinks followed and I had champagne and ice water with the customary packet of roasted almonds.

AFTER TAKE-OFF MENU		WINES
Appetizers		Champagne
Savory salad of poulard 'Szechuan style' on cucumber		Besserat de Bellefon, Cuvée des Moines, France
slices, garnished with fresh cilantro and red chilli
		White wine
Filet and rillettes of smoked trout with lime sour cream and		2013 Hallgartener Mehrhölzchen Riesling trocken, Vineyard
cucumber relish		Bernhard Mehrlein, Germany

Cottage cheese with dried tomato and basil, artichoke		2013 Doña Paula, Estate Chardonnay, Luján de Cuyo,
mousse, onion confit and citrus, served with spice bread		Argentina

Salad		Red wine
Seasonal leaf salad with tomato tarragon dressing		2011 Terremore, Maremma Toscana IGT, Marchesi de
		Frescobaldi, Italy
Main Courses
Filet of pike-perch presented with creamy chive sauce and		2008 Château Mazails, Cru Bourgeois, Médoc, France
Chanterelle potato mash
		Port
Pork belly with barbecue sauce, Asian vegetables and		Graham's Late-bottled Vintage
jasmine rice

Tenderloin of beef and beef cheek with Kohlrabi and
pretzel dumpling

Cheese and Dessert
Alp cheese, Chaumes and Bavaria Blu with apricot chutney

'Bieramisu': Tiramisu Bavarian-style with Weißbier sabayon

Fruit salad

I had the trout starter, accompanied by a bread roll, a slice of Schwarzbrot and of course a top-up of champagne. Keeping to the fishy theme, I followed up with the pike (served with freshly ground black pepper) and a glass of the dry Riesling. I thought this was easily the nicest main course I had ever eaten in Lufthansa long-haul business class. The meal was then rounded off with some cheese and port, followed by coffee and the usual little two-pack of chocolates. Having been watching Grand Budapest Hotel while eating, I followed this up with a re-run of the highly relevant Up in the Air. With the sky reddening outside as our 500+mph eastbound course speeded up the process of nightfall, I reckoned it was time to settle down for the night.


	ABOVE: Our A380 heads eastwards, into the night. Time for bed, said Zebedee!

I had a reasonably good sleep. While Lufthansa undoubtedly missed a trick in allowing the A380 to enter service with a previous-generation Business Class seat, letting its latest product make its debut in the Boeing 747-8 alone, I have personally never found the older seat to be as bad as some people make it out to be. Following a round of hot towels and with 1.5hrs left to run, brunch was served.

BEFORE LANDING: BRUNCH

Elderberry Yogurt with almond sticks

Edam, cream cheese with vegetables, filet of turkey ham, Prague bay-leaf ham, cherry tomato, carrot stick

Scrambled egg with chives, fried pork sausage, potato Rösti

I chose the eggs option and selected a couple of croissants from the bread basket. I still had plenty of apple juice available from 'night service'. And then, turbulence - the first of the entire flight! As one of the flight attendants remarked: "It was such a smooth flight, and as soon as we start serving ..." Fortunately I was able to have a coffee after a few minutes, when some semblance of normality had returned. I was offered further supplies of bread and hot and cold drinks, but contented myself with a second coffee as I didn't feel all that hungry following a relatively short night. I passed the remaining time by listening to Canadian pianist Angela Hewitt giving a delightful rendition of Mozart's Piano Concerto No 22.

Touchdown at Pudong Airport was at 0921 and arrival at the allocated gate came 7 minutes later, nearly half an hour ahead of the published schedule. I had enjoyed this lightly-loaded flight so much that I felt a little bit sorry to be leaving!