Flying | Eating | Sleeping

Lufthansa First Class: Dusseldorf to Miami

There are endless online reviews of Lufthansa's First Class product - principally because, of all the Star Alliance members, they are amongst the most generous when it comes releasing first class seats for purchase with miles. And so it came to pass that, after cancelling a long-planned trip to Japan, British Midland's call centre were able to offer two Lufthansa Fist Class tickets from London to Miami at a couple of week's notice.

The flight was via Dusseldorf, so we didn't have a chance to use Frankfurt's First Class Terminal or the private car service that shuttles your from the First Class Lounge to the aircraft in either Munich or Frankfurt. Consequently, this starts a little differently from most reviews of Lufthansa First - there is no gushing homage to world-beating ground service. Rather the opposite in fact.

Lufthansa Senator Lounge, Dusseldorf
To be honest, away from the rarefied First Class facilities at Lufthansa's larger hubs, the ground experience isn't the best. First Class passengers use the Senator lounge, which is also open to Star Alliance Gold members. In practice, this means that, in the hours before the bank of US flights depart, the small lounge is overrun. To make matters worse, on the morning we visited, there seemed an incredible number of unpleasant individuals exercising their right to freedom of expression.

We managed to locate two free seats, then very quickly realised why they were empty. Sprawled (and we're talking spread-eagled, legs over arm-rests) on a neighbouring chair was an unconscious drunk, snoring like a train, with his 44G seat assignment poking out of his breast pocket. Thank you Star Alliance and the North American members who hand out Gold status like sweeties. Everywhere there were groups of people having incredibly loud conversations and children running wild. Hardly the relaxing First Class experience Lufthansa promise.

Not wishing to be "that guy" in a crowded lounge, I decided against snapping any pictures of the food and beverage selection, but let's just say it's not great, warm pretzels aside. More galling is the hefty charge for WiFi - some of the people in this lounge (granted, not myself) have paid several thousand Euros to be here, an internet connection seems the least they could expect in 2011. I hear rumours that Lufthansa is about to start providing free lounge Wifi - about bloody time.

And yes, before anyone comes at me with the old "why are you complaining you ungrateful misery" angle, I will give you that being in the lounge is (almost) always more comfortable than being outside, I'm just saying that I don't think this facility represents value to people paying for a First Class ticket.

Given these inadequacies, we headed to the gate as soon as there was a whiff of boarding.

First Class Service, Dusseldorf to Miami, Airbus A330-300
Once through the aircraft doors, all lounge-related grumbling was fast forgotten. This was an absolutely excellent flight.

 

 

 

True, the seat itself, on aircraft that have yet to be refurbished (so, the vast majority of Lufthansa's fleet), is rather old and lacking in privacy with a pitifully small screen for in-flight entertainment. On the other hand, it is extremely spacious and comfortable – perfect for a day flight with a companion you want to hold a conversation with, rather than shout at over the wall of some wretched “suite”.

 Service throughout the journey was exemplary, there's really not much more to say.

 Drinks service started before take-off, with an excellent Champagne - “D” de Devaux Brut. I'm sure serving the product of so unsung a house has all the FlyerTalk kids up in arms with their “I drank a case of Dom on Singapore” vulgarity, but the wine was clearly, and mercifully, selected by taste rather than brand. Well done Lufthansa.

I seemed to be the only person in the cabin drinking red wine, and the stewardess was more than happy to keep my glass topped-up as I nursed my way through the bottle – 2004 Chateau Dassault Grand Cru for those remotely interested.

Immediately after take-off, the Champagne flutes were replenished and the crew served an aubergine amuse-bouche before laying out the dinner service.

Meal service began with caviar, a touch offered by fewer and fewer airlines in first class. My one gripe, if it can be called that, is to ask why Lufthansa go to the expense of serving caviar but offer it alongside nasty Smirnoff Red vodka? It seems like an odd example of penny-pinching.

Lufthansa has something of a signature style of serving starters, with each passenger asked to select what they'd like from a tower of three offerings. Many people go with all three, but one of them was very similar to the main course I'd ordered, so I restrained myself and only took two:

Lobster Terrine with Baby Leek, Curry Cream and Papaya Relish

Beef a la Mechoui presented with Carrot Pesto

Without anything to provide scale, the photos don't really convey how small these dishes are. Both items were fine and, while I appreciate the novelty value of offering several small plates, I think I'd prefer one more substantial choice.

A seafood and shellfish bisque followed, which, in contrast to the previous dishes, was substantial and delicious. A salad was offered as an alternative.

For a main, I opted for Lufthansa's seasonal classic selection of white asparagus with Hollandaise sauce, boiled ham and parsely potatoes. This is perfect airline food – it's not too adversely affected by the vicious cooling and heating that it's, inevitably, subjected to and, particularly in these gargantuan quantities, has wonderfully soporific qualities.

Dessert was a spicy chocolate delice with cherry sauce and mango sorbet.

Having woken at an unearthly hour to catch the original flight from Heathrow, I dosed off and enjoyed a couple of hours sleep. By the time I'd woken up and watched a few sitcoms, it was time for the pre-landing meal.

As a starter, a trolley bearing a selection of salads and cold cuts was wheeled through the cabin. Once again, the food was all very tasty and excellent by airline standards.

I followed this with a steak which was a little over-cooked and covered in a heavy pesto sauce, but still perfectly edible.

Overall, an absolutely excellent flight and a great start to the holiday. While there is often an abundance of Lufthansa First Class seats available for reward tickets, they, unlike other Star Alliance carriers, do not allow bookings through BMI's, very generous, cash+miles scheme. Combined with the 10,000 mile surcharge BMI apply to each Lufthansa First Class segment, this is a reward that eats a lot of miles, but I can't think of a better Star Alliance option for trans-Atlantic journeys.

The Commonwealth Kitchen, London

Or Searcy's at The Commonwealth Club, or whatever else this venue may be calling itself.

I'm trying my best to remain polite as I write this, but apologies in advance if this post should deteriorate into a barely coherent rant - seldom has a dining experience left me so angry. Also, lest it be overlooked in the froth, let me state form the outset that the few staff we encountered here were very polite and clearly trying hard with limited tools. With those provisos out of the way, let's talk about the most frustrating meal I've had in London for some time.

Actually, let's not. Let's pause to identify the key issue here - Searcy's apparent belief that the level of staff training they provide to people working their station Champagne bars and museum canteens is appropriate for some vague approximation of fine dining.

The story starts a few months back when one of Keynoir's daily deals was a £50 Commonwealth Kitchen voucher for £25; not somewhere I was itching to visit, or had actually heard of, but close to Waterloo and a chance to try something different. Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago; we called Commonwealth Kitchen and had no problem making reservations for this week.

From the first moment, things went badly. A pre-dinner drinks order included one gin martini, slightly more challenging than the standard G&T, but surely commonplace here on the borders of Soho and Westminster? Indeed, the restaurant clearly expects to serve them - it's an identified item within their till system, as evidenced by the receipt. From the table it was clear that the barman had no notion of where to start and the head waitress seemed to be staring in bafflement at what he'd created. Some minutes later we were asked if we'd like ice in the Martini, the negative response clearly unexpected.

Eventually, after we'd ordered food, the drinks appeared. The martini glass was, perhaps, a third full of warm gin with an olive floating in it. After a sip, we suggested to the head waitress that, on second thoughts, a gin and tonic would be perfectly fine and the offending drink was spirited away - only to return five minutes later. I'm going to guess that the enterprising staff had used some sort of smartphone to Google “martini” as the glass was now slightly fuller of cold, if watery, gin. It seemed only sporting to accept the drink after so much effort.

A complimentary amuse-bouche arrived soon after. It was fine, but we were never really sure what it was – I'd guess a small fillet of beef.

My starter was a duck terrine served with some inedible bakery product, curiously fashioned into a spear. The terrine itself was actually pretty tasty. Tasty enough to remind me of something I'd been served at Bar Boulud a few months ago; an unfortunate comparison to start making. A quick glance at Bar Boulud's online menu confirms that there isn't much of a price differential between the two venues – the “what on earth am I paying for” voices started drowning out all the other people living in my head.

The arrival of the main, beef fillet with blade of beef and braised white beans, almost provoked a stroke. It's hard to see from the poor quality photos, but the portion of fillet served was absurdly small. A shame really, because the rising bile ruined a pretty decent dish – the braised beans were excellent and, while the addition of the blade seemed unnecessary, it was a deliciously moreish morsel bulking out the meagre serving of fillet.

There was an inordinate delay between ordering dessert and it's actual appearance, something which the, again charming, head waitress apologised for with a complimentary round of dessert wine. When it arrived my eucalyptus parfait was a disappointment – not really tasting of anything and topped with a round of poor quality chocolate sponge. We'll not dwell on the £7 charged for the other half's plate of half a dozen strawberries.

Together with coffee, a bottle of water and one bottle of wine (£24), this meal topped £120. Booking through Kenynoir meant that I paid only £95.

I could run on for another five hundred words about the many ways that this evening angered me, pointing out the many better places I could have eaten for £60 a head. Instead I'll just say that Searcy's show utter contempt for their staff by not providing the training or support needed and complete disdain for their customers by charging what they do – the beef fillet, in particular, is an affront to decency. 

Lufthansa Business Class: London Heathrow to Dusseldorf

Lufthansa is refurbishing many of the older short-haul aircraft they own, including the 737-500s that cover some of the rotations between Heathrow and Dusseldorf.  A Flight International article on the refurbishment notes that the new seats are so much lighter than those being replaced that they enable significant fuel savings.  As if by magic, Lufthansa has also managed to fit additonal rows into the aircraft...

The seat's Germany-based manufacturer Recaro replaced almost all conventional foam padding with an elastic polyester netting material, which made the seat-back profile much thinner. With the literature pocket moving up from the knee area to a position above the tray table, it became possible to achieve approximately 4cm (1.6in) more legroom while reducing the seat pitch from 32in to 30in.

Lufthansa installed additional seat rows and increased capacity on, for example, its Airbus A320s from 150 to 168 seats. With around 2,000 surplus seats, fleet-wide capacity has been increased by 8% - equivalent to a dozen additional A320s.

Weight has been reduced by around 30% to 11kg (24lb) per single seat due to the absence of foam, a new armrest and larger hole in the seat-belt buckle. The new passenger accommodation has slashed around 300kg off a Boeing 737's empty weight. Across the entire fleet, savings total 131t.

While all of this sounds fantastic, there is one minor fly in the ointment: the seat is incredibly uncomfortable.  It's simply awful, even for the brief flight to Dusseldorf.

As usual on European flights, an empty middle seat is the only difference between the hard products offered in business and economy.  In addition to the bad seats, another "enhancement" included in this refurbishment project is the removal of the wardrobe from business class.

All this is part of an effort to stem losses on Lufthansa's European network, but the new cabin surely only serves to narrow (or, arguably, reverse) the competitive advantage they had over easyJet.