Round The World and other travels

Flight Log: LH453

Los Angeles (LAX) - Munich (MUC)

Brief background: This Miles & More redemption was originally booked as an Austrian Airlines flight to Vienna, to allow me to sample that airline's seemingly superior hard product (compared to Lufthansa) and its reputation for good food. The plan was foiled when a timetable change destroyed my connection in Vienna, resulting in a move to parent Lufthansa and a connection in Munich. At least I got to fly an A380, this time with the airline's updated (but still not state-of-the-art) version of Business Class.

My first Lufthansa experience for several years began at the impressive Star Alliance Lounge in the striking Villaraigosa Pavilion of the Tom Bradley International Terminal (see panel on right). I made my way to the gate in good time and managed to be one of the first passengers to board. More importantly, when the passageway split I was only the second person to take the jetty for the upper deck, and the first to occupy the Business Class cabin, which meant that I could get some decent photos without being a nuisance to other people. My chosen seat was 24A, located in the last row of Business Class and just forward of the final left-side door. I had occupied the same spot on my previous Lufthansa A380 flight, as far back as September 2014. 25A (as it was then) had been my final experience of the previous-generation business-class product and at that time the rearmost part of the upper deck had also been Business Class; it was now an additional Economy section.

As I settled into my window seat, my first impressions were that my neighbour was going to be far closer than I had imagined, and that the footwell initially looked tiny. Storage bins were provided along the cabin walls, as previously, and these helped enormously by providing convenient storage for personal items. In front of me I had a viewing screen that was much larger than before, then some magazine storage, and then a drawer that was already loaded with an amenity kit and a water bottle.

I accepted a glass of sparkling wine as my welcome drink. Orders were taken for post-take off drinks and I requested more sparkling wine and some ice water. My seatmate eventually appeared and thankfully, I could tell from outset that he was going to be a good neighbour. The captain gave us an estimated flight time of 10hrs 20 mins.

We pushed back from our stand precisely on schedule, but it took nearly half an hour to get airborne. Take-off was over the ocean, following which we turned to fly over Long Beach and set an initial course for Las Vegas. Service began with a round of hot towels, and I started watching a couple of episodes of The Big Bang Theory to keep myself amused while service proceeded from the front of the cabin section. In due course I received the drinks that I had ordered prior to take-off, together with a small dish of cashew nuts.

The full dinner menu was as follows, but an alternative Express Service was also available for those intent on getting to sleep as quickly as possible.

DINNER
Appetizers		Cheese and Dessert
Hot-smoked salmon with toasted Macadamia nuts, daikon		Coulommier, Morbier, Beecher's Smoked Flagship and
sprouts and Yuzu Miso vinaigrette		Pecan
Pecan & Molasses roasted beef, Hominy salad, Cotija		Sea-salt brownie and crème anglaise
cheese and red pepper vinaigrette
		Champagne
Watermelon radish with black sesame seed, Wakame		Piper-Heidsieck Brut
salad and ginger vinaigrette, green tea noodle salad
		White Wine
Salad		2016 Blanc de Blancs Alte Reben, Weingut Wirsching,
Seasonal salad with Jicama and tomato, presented with		Germany
dressing
		2016 California Chardonnay, Donovan-Parke, USA
Main courses
Grilled bison chopped steak with petite filet and green		Red Wine
peppercorn sauce, baby carrot, seasoned baby yellow		2013 Château Croix du Rival, Lussac Saint-Émilion, France
beets, and haricot vert enhanced by polenta and wild
mushrooms		2014 Valle de Aconcagua "Max Reserva", Viña Errázuriz,
		Chile
Seared halibut with lemon chive beurre blanc, sugar snaps,
green peas, Lima beans and yellow-wax piperade		Port
accompanied by butter bean potato purée		Graham's Late Bottled Vintage
Mascarpone sun-dried tomato ravioli and wild mushroom
ravioli, with toasted pine nuts and feta cheese

Heading eastwards at 550mph, it was no surprise at all that the day seemed to proceed towards its conclusion with increasingly indecent haste, so that the fall of darkness was well underway as the dinner service started. I had the salmon starter accompanied by a couple of slices of German Schwarzbrot (rye bread) - an acquired taste, admittedly, but one that I like very much. I chose to drink the Chardonnay. For the main course, I stayed with the fish theme and enjoyed the halibut. This was followed by cheese and port, then a final cup of tea. (Perhaps a caffeine-free infusion would have been a more sensible choice.)

After all that, it was time to settle down and try to get some sleep.

*  *  *  *  *

The lights came on at 1150 (Central European Time) on Wednesday morning, immediately followed by a round of hot towels. We were over the Irish Sea and heading directly towards Preston in NW England - so near to home and yet still so far! I felt that I'd had a reasonably good sleep, albeit necessarily short. Contrary to initial impressions, I hadn't found the footwell to be too small after all, but then I'm probably not the biggest or clumsiest of adult males.

BREAKFAST

Fresh orange juice

Fresh fruit

Ham, turkey breast, Cheddar, cream cheese

Scrambled eggs with chives

I had assumed that the breakfast items listed on the menu were choices, and was therefore surprised to find that my tray had everything on it. The cold meat and cheese selection was reassuringly Germanic, while the egg was an equally welcome concession to American (and British) tradition. Although it didn't seem very long since the previous evening's dinner - for good reason - I scoffed the lot, including a bread roll and a croissant. I drank apple juice and coffee. As I finished with breakfast, we were passing through Belgian airspace, heading for the German border.

An announcement was made to advise passengers that as there was no upper-deck airbridge available in Munich, disembarkation would be via the forward stairs and the lower-deck door. We made a parallel approach with a Lufthansa short-haul Airbus, touching down at 1323 local time. Considering that the flight had left its stand in Los Angeles exactly on schedule, it seemed almost beyond belief that arrival on stand at the destination was similarly precise.

Thinking over the experience as whole, I detected an improvement in the 'soft product' since my previous LH long-haul flight. I used to say that the food service in LH long-haul Business Class was similar to BA's: nice starter and nice dessert, separated by a dodgy main course. On this flight, the main course was both well presented and tasty. I also felt that there was a new warmth and friendliness from the crew. On the other hand, while the new hard product at last features fully flat beds, the current offering must surely have been out of date from the day it was installed. '100% seat pairs' just doesn't cut it any more in Business Class, and enforced close proximity to a stranger (as well as climbing over him/her to go to the washroom) are just so old-hat.

Date: Tue 17 Apr 2018

Aircraft: Airbus A380-800

Scheduled dep: 1720

Actual departure: 1720

Scheduled arrival: 1330+1

Actual arrival: 1330+1

Cabin: Business Class

Seat: 24A

Star Alliance lounge at TBIT

I made a tour of this facility (including the substantial outdoor terrace), had some lunch and tried out a variety of seating areas and types, with the aim of keeping it interesting. This was one of my longest lounge visits of recent times, and very pleasant it was too. In particular, there were no 'masters of the universe' barking into cellphones!

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