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When I was a kid growing up between Austria and Thailand, one of our go-to airlines was always Lufthansa. I remember going to school in Innsbruck with my suitcase and head straight to the airport after to take the Tyrolean Dash-8 to Frankfurt to connect to Bangkok on Lufty.

I have very fond and not so fond memories of that time. One of my favourite memories is flying on a 747 in Condor colours and being upgraded to Business. I believe this plane was used for flights to Taiwan a là KLM Asia and Swissair Asia.

My worst Lufty story involved 3 other passengers in Bangkok having the same seat number as me when I was about 6 years old. Ground staff really cocked up that day. This resulted in me and my mom being relegated to the smoking section which was anything but fun as a little kid.

Anyway, Lufty has always had a special place in my heart and I have been flying with them regularly on European short haul over the years. Thanks to my miles and some good deals, I got to fly them in Business long haul a few times over the past 5 years. However, I have not travelled Lufty down the back long-haul since my teens – until last Christmas!

Part of me was extremely excited about this prospect, the other was dreading it. I just didn’t know what to expect. With this race to the bottom across the industry I really had no clue what to expect.

>> WATCH THIS TRIP REPORT ON YOUTUBE<<

Airline: Lufthansa
Flight: LH772
Aircraft: Boeing 747-400 (D-ABVS)
Date: December 2016
Seat: 30A

THE SEAT/ CABIN/ AMENITIES

The 747-400 isn’t a spring chicken anymore. However, thanks to Lufty’s maintenance, the cabin looks more retro-cool than old and drab. It was as clean as a 20+ airliner could be.







The seat I thought was great. It looks extremely narrow due to the relatively high seatback but at no point did I feel cramped. The legroom was good as well. Having the magazines in the rack higher up really does make a difference.



The seat had everything you needed, a plug socket under the seat and a USB port in the seatback. The headrest was extremely flexible and can be adjusted to your needs.

It is one of those seats that when you recline, the seat bottom moves forward. I know that this is an ergonomic thing but I can never get confortable in these seats when I recline them. Maybe it’s got something to do with my short legs….



I am so used to cheap pillows in economy with paper cover so I was taken aback when I saw the pillow that was waiting for me on my seat. It was a decent size and a proper cloth pillow case. It was a really nice touch and gave it a touch of luxury (as luxurious as economy can be).

THE FOOD

With a 10pm departure time, by the time dinner was served it was 11pm.

I was pleasantly surprised that we were handed hot towels before dinner – very Emirates-eque!

I’ve had some really good food on Lufty Business and some really appaling ones so I had no real expectations for this. So when it came to it, I went for the safe(r) bet – pasta and tomato sauce.



Safe bet or not, it was good! And on top of that, the portion was very generous! And rather than having bock standard Penne, we had some small spirally pasta which was really nice. It even had a bit of a bite to it. Very tasty and filling.

The other option was chicken with Spätzle (small pasta like dumplings) and cream sauce. According to my other half, this was very tasty as well.

The main was accompanied by a leafy side salad, an apple sponge cake, roll, and a cute Lufthansa-branded Ritter Sport chocolate.







Breakfast was served 1.5 hours before landing. As with dinner, we were handed hot towel just before food was served. This was very much appreciated, especially in the morning.







I love it when airlines are being creative when it comes to food presentation. Lufthansa serves breakfast in an adorable box which contains all cold items – roll, yoghurt, butter and jam. The hot item sits on top of the box.

Again, breakfast was really tasty and a good portion. We had scrambled eggs, potatoes, cherry tomatoes and creamed spinach. Together with the roll and yoghurt we arrived in Bangkok well-fed satisfied.

THE IFE



The screen is not the biggest but it was extremely responsive and the picture was very clear as well. It is about twice the size of an iPhone6. The menu was user-friendly so it was easy to navigate around.

The choice was good but not great. I didn’t really find anything I was particularly keen to watch so slept for most of the flight.

Wifi was offered but it unfortunately didn’t work (not for me anyway).

THE CREW

The crew on this flight consisted of both German and Thai crew. I didn’t count but it seemed like nearly half the cabin crew was Thai. There were so many of them. There was also a really refreshing mix of younger and older flight attendants.

It seemed like this was the first long haul flight for one of them who looked like he was fresh out of high school. The more senior flight attendants kept giving him tips and telling him how to do things. It was really sweet.

All in all, the crew was friendly, efficient and professional.

VERDICT

With all this talk in Europe about the race to the bottom I was more than pleasantly surprised about this trip. With the exception of the IFE, I think it was very much on par with Emirates (which has become my benchmark for inflight service in economy). I am already a Lufthansa fan-boy and this trip has reaffirmed my love for ze Germans.


>> WATCH THIS TRIP REPORT ON YOUTUBE<<


Like this one? Read/ Watch my other trip reports:

>>Emirates DXB-BKK A380 Economy Class<<

>>Emirates GLA-DXB 777-300ER Economy Class<<

>>Air Canada LHR-YVR 777-300ER Economy Class<<

>>Air Canada YVR-YYZ 777-200LR Economy Class<<

>>Air Canada Rouge YYZ-GLA 767 Economy Class<<

Thanks for the interesting TR. Flying on the B744 seems like such a rarity these days! Did the crew not ask you to remove your GoPro from the cabin windows? Did you get any strange looks from the passengers around why you have a camera stuck to the window?!

I thought LH safety videos also provide an audio in the language of the destination as well...?

Never flown with Lufty, I would like to check out their A346 with the toilets one level down seems interesting.

What kind of snack do they serve mid flight after the first meal service?

Thanks for the TR, also enjoyed the YouTube video edition too!

Toby

Thanks for the report.

The second time I ever flew on a 747 (first time I was too young to remember properly so it's kind of the first) was BKK-FRA on LH in 2010. It was awful. No IFE, really hot, 100% full cabin. When we departed I felt like asking for a wheelchair, and I was only 18!

Looks like things have improved on the 744, a lot.

toby25 wrote:

Thanks for the interesting TR. Flying on the B744 seems like such a rarity these days! Did the crew not ask you to remove your GoPro from the cabin windows? Did you get any strange looks from the passengers around why you have a camera stuck to the window?!

Thanks, glad you liked the TR

I know, it is not often these days you get to fly on a 744! I was glad I got fly on one again, especially down the back. I flew on the upper deck last year JFK-FRA which was nice (except for some snooty flight attendants). Mostly flight attendants don't seem to bother anymore re. the GoPro. It has been a while since someone asked me to take it down. Other passengers don't really seem to bother either. I only had one lady on a Eurowings flight who got all worked up. She was in my seat (I had paid for) so she wasn't happy about not being at the window (should have paid for it!) and then gave me the stink eye and told me "to behave" when I put up the GoPro. I am 34 so thought that was quite funny.

toby25 wrote:

I thought LH safety videos also provide an audio in the language of the destination as well...?

No, not on this flight, Just in English and German. Announcements were made in Thai but not the video.

toby25 wrote:

Never flown with Lufty, I would like to check out their A346 with the toilets one level down seems interesting.

I have not flown on the 346 either...would be interesting to see, yeah! I've only been on the 343 (I think).

toby25 wrote:

What kind of snack do they serve mid flight after the first meal service?

No snack. It was a 10pm departure so everyone was asleep. Well, maybe there was one but I slept for most of the flight.

toby25 wrote:

Thanks for the TR, also enjoyed the YouTube video edition too!

Thanks and thanks for watching the video

345tas wrote:

The second time I ever flew on a 747 (first time I was too young to remember properly so it's kind of the first) was BKK-FRA on LH in 2010. It was awful. No IFE, really hot, 100% full cabin. When we departed I felt like asking for a wheelchair, and I was only 18!

Looks like things have improved on the 744, a lot.

Yeah, a lot has happened in the meantime. I know it took Lufty absolutely forever to add video screens in economy on the 744s! They are not known for being a leader in the industry, are they? This is one reason why I haven't flown them in economy for a long time.

Thanks for reading the TR and commenting

You're right, both the dinner and the breakfast look really good - in fact they look better than the Business Class meal I had on them on FRA-NRT last year - which was quite a disappointment (stale salad, way-too-salty food, and overall quality). Their Japanese breakfast was good though.

I wouldn't proactively choose to fly their Business again but after reading this report I'd like to try their Economy product now.