The Lounge

Part 1: Asia the really long way – in F, 25,624 miles
Part 2: YYC-YXE on AC in Y
Part 3: My stay in Saskatoon
Part 4: YXE-YYZ-YUL-YSJ on AC in Y
Part 5: My stay in New Brunswick
Part 6: YSJ-YUL-BRU on AC in J/Y
Part 7: My stay in Brussels
Part 8: BRU-ZRH on LX in C
Part 9: ZRH-IST on LX in C
Part 10: The IST experience in F
Part 11: IST-NRT on TK in F
Part 12: My stay in Tokyo, including Japanese-style suite
Part 13: HND-KIX on NH in Y
Part 14: KIX-FRA on LH in F
Part 15: Frankfurt First Class Lounge A-gates (Schengen)
Part 16: FRA-GDN on LO in C (and LH Sports Corner!)
Part 17: My stay in Gdansk
Part 18: GDN-CPH on SK in C
Part 19: CPH SK (SAS) *G/*S lounges
Part 20: CPH-YYZ on AC in J (767 pods), YYZ-YYC on AC in Y

A quick arrival into KIX, and we were the last people off the aircraft. Which meant that we were stuck behind that crowd on the long journey of moving walkways that followed…

What amazes me is how clean everything is – the railings of the walkways are actually shiny!

We proceeded to go to the LH F check-in counter, where they already had our boarding passes pre-printed, a nice touch. I confirmed that there would be 2 other F pax on this flight as well. And then I asked them to print out the boarding pass to GDN for my mom – and that’s when the problems started. They couldn’t somehow get that BP printed – it wasn’t even in the system. Luckily I was prepared, and I had the itinerary printed, together with the e-ticket number, and I presented it to them. After a while, they couldn’t figure it out, and said that they would contact us upon boarding. My mom was quite worried by this point, as we were visiting her parents in Gdansk, and this was very important to her. I told her to relax, which in turn stressed her even more… Uhhh…

Unfortunately, it seems that in Japan, the F agents have no power to get you through security, so we had to wait in a regular line-up, there wasn’t even a priority security line. That was slightly disappointing, I have to say. After that, we had to wait in another line-up for customs, which didn’t take any time and we were into the terminal soon.

Next we had to take the train to our gate and the lounge.

Inside the train

We then went to find the lounge, which was very near. By the way, we had been given invites to the lounge earlier at the check-in desk.

Lounge reception

The lounge was a great big disappointment – but at least it had free wifi, and since our connection time had been decreased because of the boarding pass troubles, we didn’t have to spend that long. We called my dad, and we went to our gate, where boarding had already commenced, as per the lounge announcement.

The Asuka Lounge

It was very crowded

The beer machines – it was still morning, so we couldn’t try them out. Next time!

We then passed by the smoking room, which many people were using, but luckily the smell didn’t penetrate into the terminal.

Then we went to board, which was very LH-like, even the signs were LH stock:

Indeed, we were stopped at boarding, and an LH agent told us that it was something to do with Air Canada and some problems with unpaid taxes. I gave her the Super Elite desk number, told her to tell them to shut up, because I had called to ask twice if the taxes had been paid (I wasn’t sure initially), and they said that ‘yes, the taxes have been paid for and processed’. She took down the Air Canada priority number and my Aeroplan number, and we then boarded. Needless to say, my mom was still very stressed…

We were greeted by the F FAs, and were presented with menus. We initially both sat in window seats, but later moved to the middle to sit together.

A pre-departure drink.

Some beautiful cloud reflections – yes these are only reflections:

We were given the menus after take-off. There were two menus, one special for Oktoberfest, and the other the normal F menu:

Then there was the normal menu:

This was the cover page – the Menu was just indented on white paper, and therefore, there was no way to pick it up with my scanner…

After having moved to the centre seats, we were offered an hors-d’eouvre. I accepted but my mom declined.

The refreshing towelette

Ahhh – this was bliss. A started immediately at depleting this flights’ bitter lemon supply, and pretzel bun supply as well. Since both me and my mom were unsure what time it is (a late night and early wake-up), we ate lightly. And lots of pretzels buns was perfect as far as I was concerned!

The first pretzel bun

As you can see, more pretzel buns

Then we opted for some dessert, which was very well presented, and tasted good too!

I then asked for some fruits:

To conclude some Mozart-Kugeln:

And that was inside the little box

We were presented with these chocolates (remember these for later!) – the mango ones were especially good

I then went for a trip down to Y and to go down the stairs (the 340-600′s that LH employs have a lower-deck galley, including washrooms).

Downstairs, the washroom have lots of room, and it’s a brilliant solution in my opinion:

I wouldn’t, however, like to be sitting near them… Not fun!

Strolling back I went through business class:

The irony is that LH has larger monitors in C than it does in F…

The washroom had a window

The tiny LH screens

The lovely salmon presentation (and more pretzel buns)

I didn’t really sleep on this flight, I felt no need to, and since I was flying F, might as well enjoy every minute of it!

My mom ordered the sausage with sauerkraut, and I wanted the same, but they didn’t have the option available… Thumbs down for that!

My moms apple strudel dessert

My beef

And my apple strudel

Still, my mom wasn’t especially hungry, but she ordered her fifth (I think?) tea with lemon (which was, by the way, extraordinarily presented) and asked for some chocolates. The FA returned with the chocolate box, which was now half empty! I can promise that the other two pax did not even touch these chocolates earlier. And of course the ones that were gone were the very best – the mango ones… I assume that the FAs ate them, at least I hope they shared them with the pilots!

It was now time to take some pictures of the cabin:

I can barely reach that divider, and I have very long legs (pants’ length is 36 cm)

The seat controls

The power plug – at the beginning I asked the purser and he immediately turned it on

The reading lamp, with an innovate iris system (like the one used on camera lenses)

A sure sign of approach into FRA!

Wow! An LH A380!

We parked right next to one of the LH A380′s, which was a thrill indeed!

A last look at the F cabin

The LH slippers, the amenity kit was equally ‘spartan’, I missed the Rimowa amenity kits