Round The World and other travels

Flight Log 8: LH779

Singapore (SIN) - Frankfurt (FRA)

I boarded the 747-400 through Door 1L and was at my seat just a few steps thereafter. In Lufthansa's 747 fleet, the nose cone area forms part of the Business Class cabin. This section has 17 seats altogether, with four seat pairs arranged along each of the two converging side walls, and a solo seat (4D) right in the centre, close to the bulkhead at the back. Although I normally prefer a window seat, this was the one that I'd chosen. Given its position, with everyone else facing forward and looking at a screen on the front bulkhead, it's hardly surprising that 4D has become known as 'the Captain Kirk seat'. I was looking forward to trying it out.

Boarding of the nose area was quickly completed, so the crew quickly went to work distributing welcome drinks. The usual selection of Champagne, water and orange juice was on this occasion supplemented by a version of the Singapore Sling cocktail, so it seemed only right to give it a try. Everyone was on board by 0057 and we were ready to go! The Captain made a short announcement apologising for the delay, which had been caused by earlier snowfall in Frankfurt, and stating that the expected flight time was 12hrs 25mins.

We pushed back from our stand at 0104 and spent nearly twenty minutes taxiing out to our allocated runway. As the engines spooled up to take-off thrust and the great bird was itching to go, I imagined myself calling out in a firm voice: "Warp factor 6, Mr Sulu!" I didn't do it, of course, but the thought put a grin on my face at this ungodly hour. Shortly after take-off, the sense of calm was disturbed by the sound of front wheel retraction, coming from directly underneath. I didn't recall the Starship Enterprise ever behaving in such a manner. And as we started to turn, shouldn't at least one person in the cabin have been gripping their armrests and leaning to one side?

I snapped out of retro sci-fi mode when cabin service got underway with a round of hot towels, quickly followed by menus and tablecloths. As I perused the menu, I had already adjusted my watch to Central European Time as an aid to convincing myself that there was nothing odd about eating dinner at this hour. 

DINNER		WINES
HORS D'OEUVRES		CHAMPAGNE
Persillade with tuna, salt-cured salmon and king prawn with lemon dressing		Jacquart Brut Mosaique
Cooked turkey ham and horseradish parfait with orange and lettuce garnish		WHITE WINE
		2009 Riesling Qualitätswein trocken, Reichsrat von Buhl
Mixed field greens with arugula salad, croutons, Parmesan cheese and cherry tomato
		2008 Casablanca Valley Chardonnay Reserva, Ventisquero, Chile
ENTREES
Braised beef Sauerbraten with Spätzle and red cabbage		2008 14 Hands Chardaonnay, Washington State, USA
Tiger prawn ragout in tarragon cream sauce with saffron rice, baby carrots and snap peas		RED WINE
		2006 Chateau Lestruelle, Bordeaux
Potato gnocchi with sage cream sauce and vegetables
		2005 Chateau Barreyres, Cru Bourgeois, Haut-Médoc
CHEESE AND DESSERT
Edam and Gorgonzola cheese		2005 Saurus Select Malbec, Familia Schroeder, Argentina
Gourmet cheese with garnishes
Lime and Chocolate tart with lime and orange zest
Fresh fruit

I started off in the customary manner with a glass of Champagne and some water, these being served with a bag of roasted almonds. After a further top-up drinks round, the trays were delivered with the selected starter. In this instance, the cheese course was also on the tray, there being no salad. I had the turkey ham option and thought it was light and refreshing. The usual Lufthansa practice of collecting the trays was followed, with subsequent courses served by placing the plates directly onto the tablecloth. I had the prawns and again thought it was a nice light choice considering the local time at the point of departure. Although the cheese had already been delivered to all passengers, everyone was additionally offered dessert, fresh fruit and liqueurs, all of which I declined. I drank the Washington State white wine with my main course and cheese, and finished off with a coffee, which was delivered with a couple of Tuscan almond biscuits.

I managed to get through Rise of the Superchefs, a BBC Money Programme offshoot, and Mozart's Piano Concerto No 20 while enjoying the food and drink. However when the service and my selected entertainments both came to an end, I wasted no time in settling down for the night, feeling grateful once again that I was in a solo seat with no clumsy or fidgety strangers at close quarters. As previously, I had no real issue with the angle of the seat and managed to sleep solidly for 4.5hrs, then on and off for a considerable while after that. I do recall having a bizarre dream in which some Vietnamese traders were setting up a stall marked 'Business Class Food' on board the aircraft!

When I reached the point where further sleep seemed unlikely, I made for the washroom and had a partial change of clothes so that I would be better prepared for the European winter. It turned out that my timing was perfect: I had just settled into my seat again when the cabin lights came on with exactly two hours to run, and a round of hot towels signalled the start of the breakfast service.

BREAKFAST

Granola with fresh fruit

Havarti cheese, Cheddar cheese, smoked salmon, turkey roll

or

Crepe with cream spinach and cheese sauce, accompanied with buttered green asparagus and new potatoes

I had the continental-style cold option which was reminiscent of my starter course at dinner, but enjoyable nevertheless. There were no fewer than three rounds of drinks during breakfast - impressive! Fiddling around with the IFE system, I managed to find some worryingly ancient-looking video recordings featuring Leonard Bernstein. First he was at the Royal Albert Hall in London performing Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris, these short programmes having been produced by the former London Weekend Television company in 1976. Finally, he played and directed Mozart's Piano Concerto No 17 with the Vienna Philharmonic, at the city's famous Musikverein concert hall in 1982. I felt as though I had stumbled across a little collection of musical gems.

As we got closer to Frankfurt, it looked as though we'd managed to make up around 30 minutes, but this still clearly meant that we were going to be late. It didn't matter to me, as I had another long layover before my next flight. Those who were adversely affected had already been rebooked onto the next available flights and the details were announced. Touchdown was at 0637 local time, on a quiet and chilly-looking Sunday morning.

My overall verdict: a thoroughly enjoyable flight that didn't feel at all like 12.5 hours. The Captain Kirk seat rocks. (Erm, not literally!)

Date: Sat 27 Nov 2010
Aircraft: Boeing 747-400
Scheduled dep: 2359
Actual departure: 0104+1
Scheduled arrival: 0555+1
Actual arrival: 0643+1
Cabin: Business
Seat: 4D



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