“When we fly a 787, we at least are on a plane that actually looks like this!” an in-tears Sennen said pointing to the airplane icon on the display screen at his seat. It followed a rant that included how Lufthansa isn’t on time, the seats are too packed, the plane is too old and the entertainment system is slow and unusable.
“They say this is a luxury airline, they advertise they’re so great – they’re not. They’re probably worse than Nepal Airlines!”
It was a low blow. I told him when I flew Royal Nepal, they had lost the Boeing-issued metal serving cart for their 757 and were using an old, used wooden TV cart instead to serve beverages. He smiled, but then asked what a TV cart is. After explaining something that made me feel old, Sennen laughed hysterically and brightened up – at least through take-off which was displayed on screens throughout the aircraft. The 747 has a camera at the front of the plane to actually show passengers takeoff and landing. That was probably the highlight of the flight for Sennen.
Ailyn didn’t quite trash Lufthansa as being as bad as a Nepali carrier, but didn’t have much nice to say. “These seats are hard as rocks! It’s not just that they’re so narrow – they’re hard as rocks!”
The entertainment system and food didn’t help much either and in the end, she concluded succinctly, “It was just a bad flight overall”.
Lufthansa has lost a lot of street cred in my kids’ eyes. However, it has redeemed itself a little with its business lounge. Comfortable, clean, organized and offering a nice spread, the kids are happy enough to spend our roughly four hour layover here. But I don’t think the lounge is enough to keep them from bitching up a storm should I ever book Lufthansa again.
“Why do they use such old planes for flying to Los Angeles?! I like the 787. The A350 is nice too. They have these planes! That’s what I’m used to flying. The 787 is my favorite,” Sennen said as if Lufthansa should take note and do better next time.
As Steve Miller once sang, “You know you got to go through hell before you get to heaven…”
Thankfully, we have United – from whom we bought the code-share ticket – for the return trip and in the future, I’ll try to make selections that don’t involve Lufthansa for our trans-atlantic journeys.
In better news, everyone got sleep on the plane and woke up reasonably rested. The cookies from Vanilla Bake Shop were well received in dark moments of despair on the torturous flight. So we’re in Frankfurt and relatively fine.
While I agree this was the least impressive Lufthansa experience I have yet had, I enjoyed the 747 more than the kids did – if for no other reason that nostalgia. After all, the 747 was once King of the Skies – THE plane of choice connecting countries and continents. I could remember my first and amazing Thai Airways flight from Los Angeles to Bangkok; the long and hellacious first flight from Los Angeles to Taipei; returning from my Birthright trip on a day with enough empty seats that a friend and I could each claim a middle row in economy and lay down flat on the 14-hour El-Al flight home; the sadly short 1.5 hour flight from Taipei to Hong Kong on which my friend Jesiah and I were upgraded to first class on the upper-deck of a China Airlines 747; and the seemingly endless Cathay Pacific flight that took me home to my dying grandfather.
That said, after flying my first 777-200, I knew I could never love the 747 again. The high ceilings of the 777 make it feel open and spacious, while 747 ceilings are low by necessity – that upper deck that’s delightful to be on and sub-par to be sit below. Sure, the early versions of the 777 had lower seating capacities than the giant 747, but with two instead of four very powerful and more fuel-efficient engines, it was only a matter of time until Boeing figured out how to extend the length of the 777 to increase capacity while maintaining or improving fuel efficiency. Add in the efficiency breakthroughs of the 787 which made the per-passenger cost of carriage much lower than either a 747 or an Airbus 380 and suddenly, jumbo aircraft found themselves in “check” on the chessboard of aviation.
In my opinion, it’s no loss. The 777, 787 – and their Airbus counterparts, A330 and A350 – are much nicer planes on which to spend a long flight. And of course, Sennen and Ailyn are growing up accustomed to their high performing entertainment systems from which there’s no going back.
So we’ll leave behind the doldrums of our 11-hour Lufthansa 747 flight and embrace the quick 1:10 flight from Frankfurt to Venice on what will be an inevitably pleasant A319. We’ll then find our bags and our water taxi and sail to our canal-side Airbnb apartment which will be home for the next week. I’m generally happy with any situation that involves sailing to my destination.
Until then, we can take comfort and refuge at the Lufthansa Senators Lounge with its eclectic mixture of haute cuisine and Bavarian pretzels – and most importantly, numerous power outlets and WiFi.
