A while back, Lufthansa announced that they would be moving 5 A380's from Frankfurt to Munich at the beginning of the summer schedule, as such establishing the first A380 base at MUC airport (in the past, LH only flew A380's on MUC-JFK for some weeks as part of a promotion several years ago, all 380's have otherwise been exclusively based at FRA).

To celebrate this new offering, Lufthansa arranged for a special A380 VIP flight and invited some selected HON Circle and Senator status members, alongside Press, professional travel agents and politicians, to a 90-minutes sightseeing flight around Bavaria, including a circle around Germany's highest peak, the Zugspitze mountain.

As a HON Circle member, I was invited to this special event and since it worked out well with my travel plans, I accepted the invite. At that point, I was not sure what to expect (will they be having a full flight? Will the seat HON's in Business Class? Will there be a special service?) and so I was pleasantly surprised when the day of the A380 VIP flight finally came around.... as I was in for a special treat.


On the day of the flight, I arrived at MUC Airport and LH had prepared selected Check-In Counters for this special flight, including a special lane for HON Circle members - nice



Lufthansa A380 Special Flight - HON Circle Check-In Counter at MUC


After check-in, I walked (and took the train) to the Satellite Terminal, Gate K30, which was prepared for this special flight today and included an area with food & snacks, a stage for speeches etc.



Lufthansa A380 Special Flight - Empty gates in the Satellite Terminal prior to the event



Lufthansa A380 Special Flight - Dedicated gate area, prior to the rush of people


Since it was pretty early, I decided to head over to the First Class Lounge for a while.



Lufthansa A380 Special Flight - Entrance to Lufthansa First Class Lounge



Lufthansa A380 Special Flight - Lufthansa First Class Lounge Hallway

As it was quite busy in the lounge, I decided not to take pictures as not to bother other passengers.
But if you are interested in seeing images of the lounge, check out one of my other my trip reports here: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1367603

Fast forward to 1 hour prior to boarding, the festivities at the gate K30 were now in full swing. A dedicated gate area was setup, there were speeches on the stage by politicians, airport and airline management and the gate area was really busy with passengers, media and employees.



Lufthansa A380 Special Flight - Dedicated A380 Gate



Lufthansa A380 Special Flight - Our plane was visible from the gate



Lufthansa A380 Special Flight - Lots of people at the event


Finally, boarding was called and LH used two gates today, one for First & Business and one for Economy and Premium Economy Class.

I entered the plane on the lower deck and this is where Lufthansa has placed some of the Premium Economy Seats. I then walked upstairs to First Class and Business Class cabins.



Lufthansa A380 Special Flight - Premium Economy Class seats



Lufthansa A380 Special Flight - Entrance to First & Business Class sections


Lufthansa A380 Special Flight - Business Class seats



Lufthansa A380 Special Flight - Business Class seats



Lufthansa A380 Special Flight - First Class



Lufthansa A380 Special Flight - First Class


The crew on today's special flight was wearing the very unique "Dirnd'l" uniforms, traditional Bavarian dress for ladies and Lederhosen for gentlemen. These are usually only used on a few selected flights each year during Oktoberfest in Munich, but they were work today as well. Looks really nice and as someone from Munich, I felt home immediately


Lufthansa A380 Special Flight - Special Dirndl's uniforms


It was then time to visit the First Class bathrooms... while LH does not have showers like EK does, the bathrooms are also very large, nicely decorated and have all the amenities you need.



Lufthansa A380 Special Flight - First Class Bathroom



Lufthansa A380 Special Flight - Signature roses in First Class Bathroom


It was then time to "go flying" and the flight today would take us around Bavaria, visiting some of the most famous sites. However, there were a lot of clouds in the southern part of Bavaria and as such, views were limited. It got better once we flew towards the eastern part. Cruising altitude was a very low 12,000 ft.



Lufthansa A380 Special Flight - Low clouds prevent most of the views



Lufthansa A380 Special Flight - View over Bavarian clouds


Then it was time for lunch. Even on this short sightseeing flight of around 90 minutes, LH did provide catering inflight. In First Class, we received a nice and typical Bavarian "Brotzeit", a popular local lunch option of breads, soft pretzels, cheese, meats, vegetables and some sweets. It was also nicely presented. I am not sure what was served in C-Class, but I did see that they offered lunch as well.



Lufthansa A380 Special Flight - First Class Lunch presentation



Lufthansa A380 Special Flight - First Class Lunch items



We continued the flight and the views got slightly better. After another 30 mins, we were on approach to MUC airport, but were told by the Captain that we would do a low altitude fly-over (250 ft) and make another round any the airport - nice



Lufthansa A380 Special Flight - Inflight views of Bavaria



Lufthansa A380 Special Flight - Inflight views of Bavaria



Lufthansa A380 Special Flight - Inflight views of Bavaria



Lufthansa A380 Special Flight - Doing the low altitude fly-over


After another 10 minutes, we finally landed in Munich again and taxied to the gate.
While there was no dedicated goodie bag, we were given small souvenirs of the flight.



Lufthansa A380 Special Flight - Souvenirs



Lufthansa A380 Special Flight - Our flight route today


I have to say it was a really wonderful event, with nice attention to details and a lovely crew on board. You could tell they look forward to flying the A380 from Munich and I look forward to my first long haul LH flight on the A380 from my home airport - so far, it was always the EK A380 if I departed Munich on the big whale. Nice to be able to fly it with LH as well now.

Thanks for reading and always happy landings!

How nice when airlines put on these events, loved the uniforms and that meal presentation, great way to spend 90 minutes. Thanks for sharing.

thanks indeed

Very cool flight! I love when airlines do things like this to add character and celebrate tradition, rather than being a soulless company. Thanks for sharing!

Lufthansa economy class sucks. Tight legroom and mediocre food. However their First Class apparently is among the best. Austrian Airlines stewardesses used to wear Dirndles in the 1970s but it was discontinued. Wearing Lederhosen on a plane must be uncomfortable as part of the legs are uncovered and it must get cold.

Love the Bavarian outfits and the traditional Brotzeit lunch box in that checkered wrapping!
It's nice when airlines make the effort to showcase their traditional cultures, give the whole experience more character.
Thanks for sharing.

atcsundevil wrote:

Very cool flight! I love when airlines do things like this to add character and celebrate tradition, rather than being a soulless company. Thanks for sharing!

Indeed, this is really nice... keep in mind a 90-mins flights with fuel, catering, crew (plane & ground) etc etc. on an A380 should easily somewhere between the 75-90k EUR range in terms of cost. Doing that as a promotion and inviting their most loyal FF's is thus a really nice gesture.

lychemsa wrote:

Lufthansa economy class sucks. Tight legroom and mediocre food. However their First Class apparently is among the best. Austrian Airlines stewardesses used to wear Dirndles in the 1970s but it was discontinued. Wearing Lederhosen on a plane must be uncomfortable as part of the legs are uncovered and it must get cold.

I don't think anyone has ever gotten cold on an LH flight. If I suffer the misfortune of flying them again, I'll try my best to bring my own a/c.

9w748capt wrote:

I don't think anyone has ever gotten cold on an LH flight. If I suffer the misfortune of flying them again, I'll try my best to bring my own a/c.

If they suffer the misfortune of having to fly you again, they might be able to change the temperature based on your request....

Unbelievable what some people expect. You are in a metal tube with hundreds of other people, not everyone will want the same temperature.
BTW, I have been un hundreds of LH flights and I have never had a flight that with temperatures being too hot... usually they are too low for me.