The First class lounge has been voted the best first class lounge in the world but I’m sorry Thai Airways…I have to object and say that this is not correct. The best first class lounge is in Frankfurt (Lufthansa First Class Terminal) but that is a different story that you can read about here (XXX). But the first class lounge in Bangkok is great –you have lots of good chairs, separate rooms if you are traveling in a group, lots of good free drinks (but only Moet and Chandon champagne) and a good selection of food. You can also take showers, get a PC to get online, the wifi is free etc. But there is also a Royal Orchid Spa where you can get a massage complimentary! There is no better way of starting a long flight than having 1 hour full body massage!

When traveling in June 2012 there was a bit of fuzz as we were supposed to travel through London but when we checked in we got another routing via Frankfurt. Luckily the two flights had take-off at approximately the same time and the advantage was that we got a Boeing 777 leased from Jet Airways instead of an old Boeing 747. Due to this we got a first class with separate compartments like you can find on Emirates first class and Singapore first class. There are only 8 first class seats on the 777 (in a 1+2+1 configuration) and we got first class treatment the moment we got in there. The headset was already in the seat together with the duvet, menus etc. It didn’t take long before we got offered some drinks to start with and it is hard to say no when they ask you if you want a glass of Dom Perignon champagne

I was seated in 2A and I got a HUGE seat by the window. It resembles the seat that you find on Swiss airlines first class where you have a big seat and an ottoman in front and when reclining you form one bed. The difference between Swiss and this Thai flight was that the Thai flight included a small compartment where you can close the door to get more privacy around your seat.  Like on Swiss the table is HUGE and it is so large that you can actually invite a guest to come and sit with you so that you can dine together and face each other while you are eating –how great is that? The remote on the Boeing 777 were a bit confusing as there is one large remote just to cover the seat adjustments and then there is one regular remote to control the multimedia. The Thai AVOD system is quite good and it was displayed on a large 17” (or is it 20”?) screen so seeing movies etc was not a problem.

It was a bit scary to look behind the seat of the first class seat btw – there was lots of trash there so I’m not sure there are routines in place to handle this – it could have needed a round of vacuuming! The toiletry bag that we got was OK and the TUMI bag included stuff that you normally need: lip balm, mouth freshener, brush, tooth brush etc.  When the service started we started getting hot and wet cloths and I can honestly say that I have never gotten that many in my life before! We got these lovely warm and scented clothes both before and after meals!

When the table was set for two it was beautiful with the Thai logo stamped into the butter and fresh bread served. We got real caviar to start with (with garniture), followed but a salmon dish and topped up with a slow cooked beef cheek. One of the pieces of the beef cheeks was quite tough but the rest of the pieces were delicious. We also got an ENORMOUS cheese platter – me and my friend could have easily have shared this and not been able to eat it all but instead we got two large portions of cheese each! The dessert was a bit of a disappointment – I got a small chocolate cream and a pretty dry “muffin” with custard and berries on top.

The great thing about having a small compartment is that it is easy to get some privacy to be able to slip into the pajama that was handed out. The seat with the huge table in front is also perfect for pulling out the PC and working a bit. The only problem in my seat was that someone had stuck something into the power socket so I wasn’t able to get power to my PC and they didn’t have a plug adapter either. The table was a bit hard to move back and forth – so hard in fact that my friend and I had to really put our muscles into moving it. In the process of moving the table I managed to get my finger sliced but the flight attendant was there to patch me up.

The flight time from Bangkok to Frankfurt is about 10-11 hours so there was time for another food serving before landing. This time I started with breasola served with a mix of mozzarella and tomato and it was delicious. After this we got a tom kha gai (a typical Thai chicken soup which is creamy, a bit spicy and a bit sour) and the main dish was a chicken breast served with garlic mashed potatoes. Having chicken breast on flights is normally not a good idea as it normally becomes quite dry but this chicken was actually quite good. Once again the dessert was nothing special and I was a bit disappointed by that. But you can enjoy some very good cognac if you are into that – they served Otard Extra 1795.

The service onboard was great and we were mainly served by two flight attendants and towards the end of the flight they came to say goodbye with a traditional wai. I tried to talk a bit with the one flight attendant to hear what her work schedule was like etc. but she seemed to be very professional and didn’t seem to be interested in getting into personal details which is fine.

All in all this was a great experience. The spa treatment at Bangkok airport is great before going on a long flight and the small suites on board the flight is perfect if you want a bit of privacy for working or for sleeping. As they provide a pajama you can slip into a comfortable outfit while enjoying the great food and drinks served. Thai Airways might not have the same modern layout as you can find on Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa these days but this will change soon when they introduce the new A380 (see presentation here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6Us4r02JRk ). I had a great flight from Bangkok to Frankfurt on Royal First Class and I look forward to flying with them again. If you want to read about a previous experience on Thai Airway first class (on a Boeing 747) you can read this blog entry: http://gardkarlsen.com/blog/?p=497

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com – trip reports and pictures

I had seat 2A on this TG922 flight and the seat was located in the very nose of this 747 and on my flight and of the 10 first class seats I think 7 were taken. The configuration here is not bad at all as the seats are big and with an ottoman. But there are only 4 seats that are connected so make sure you get one of these if you are traveling as a couple. The headset and toiletry bag was already handed out to the seat and the toiletry bag includes stuff as mouth freshener (good idea), Evian face spray??, lip balm, tooth brush, eye shades, socks etc but no ear plugs. Slippers were also handed out already to start with. A pajama was handed out and it was in a pretty funky purple Thai color…I think I prefer the dark blue Lufthansa one.

When I first sat down I was of course offered champagne and it was Dom Perignon vintage 2000 and it was not bad at all. Takeoff from Bangkok was pretty uneventful even if it was raining pretty badly and soon after we got more champagne and some large nuts. What was a bit strange was after a while in the air it felt like drops of water were dripping from the ceiling. But when closer it seemed like it was small pieces of ice – I guess it was condense water which got frozen but it was weird seeing this fall into the cabin.

The menus were handed out in a big folder and included both the food menu and the drink list. There were two servings on this 11 hour flight and I’ll get back to that later on. The drink list included wines such as Chablis Premier Cru, Fourchaume 2006, Rully 1er Cru 2000, Chateau Haut-Sarpe Grand Cru Classé St. Emilion 2004 and Pommard 2002. I didn’t mind that the serving didn’t start right away as I had to check out my seat and take pictures of the details there. As I mentioned, the seats come with an ottoman which can be used to keep your feet on. But it also acts as a chair if you want to dine with someone – quite clever. The table was huge so it was not a problem serving two people on it. The TV came up from a hatch in the side panel and was a medium size TV…I would still like to see something like the Emirates TV. But the selection of TV and movies were quite good and I enjoyed several movies during the flight.

A bit less than an hour after takeoff the food services started. The FA came over to me and took my order and it started with a mixed chicken with Chinese sausage as an appetizer. From there we moved over to caviar with garniture – the garlic bread that was served on the side was way too hard. And the small butter that was handed out had the Thai Airways logo on it but it was brick hard. On the Lufthansa flight the butter had been left out a bit so it was easier to spread on the bread – details, details.

Next dish was something called Lobster bellvue and it was cold lobster served with mozzarella and tomatoes on the side and some balsamic mayonnaise– I have to admit that I’m not that crazy about lobster….this lobster was too tough in my opinion.
For the main dish there were various options . lamb chops, stuffed chicken breast,  beef in green curry, tiger prawns in chili sauce etc. I went for the lamb chops served with vegetable and mashed potatoes on the side and it was a great dish – I enjoyed it with some red wine of course.

When I had finished the main course the FA came around with the cheese trolley and asked if I wanted some cheese. I’m a sucker for cheese so I accepted this of course…but I think that I got the world’s largest portions as I got big pieces of brie, blue cheese etc. Served with port wine it was excellent but there was no way I was able to finish all of it.
The meal was rounded off with a simple dessert…some candy and a choice of coffee and drinks. I have to admit that I like to round of a meal with coffee and Baileys but they did not have any Baileys on this flight so I went for some Otard 1795 instead. Back home this bottle will cost you close to 400 USD – too bad that I don’t have a clue about cognac so that I could really appreciate it.

After the meal the lights were turned off and I was watching the rest of Monsters vs. Aliens before I slipped into the pajamas and had some sleep. There seemed to be two toilets for the first class passengers and they were always clean. But when I went back to the toilet I had to “squeeze” past one of the seats and a curtain that was separating the First and Business class section I guess. The seat was not bad for sleeping in but I think I would have to say that the Lufthansa seat was a bit more comfortable but maybe it is not fair to compare as the Lufthansa flight was a night flight and the Thai flight was a day flight.

After about 5 hours after the last meal the lights came on partially in the cabin again and it was time for second serving. I guess I should have been full after the previous meal but strangely enough I was ready for more food. After a couple of canapés we got the first dish which was marinated beef served on vermicelli (glass noodles thai style) and served with smoked salmon with a shrimp mascarpone and apple filling. This dish didn’t really work for me. Then I got a large portion of lobster soup which was very good but once again the portion was a bit too generous. There were several options for main meal: sliced veal Zurich style, cider braised pork chops, chicken curry Pa-naeng and wok fried stuffed prawn mousse. I went for the boring option…sliced veal. The veal was served with a great thick sauce and it was excellent. The meal was rounded off with a Lemon almond tart which was not that good.

After this meal the lights were turned off again and I’m not sure why this was done – were we expected to sleep again? I guess that is the challenge of long day flights. But after close to 12 hours and 9000 km it was time for landing in Frankfurt
It was not a problem having such a long flight when seated on First class of course. I had lots of great food and drinks and the entertainment options were not bad at all. So the big question is…which was better: Lufthansa First Class (see http://gardkarlsen.com/blog/?p=470 ) or Thai First Class? I’m not sure I’m able to pick a winner here. Even if Thai has newer seats, the Lufthansa seats did feel very comfortable. And the food serving on both flights were very nice. But if I also include the lounges in advance I would have to say that Lufthansa is the winner.
Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions or comments.

My driver took me to the Lufthansa 747-400 plane and she walked me to the door of the plane before she said goodbye and I was handed over to the staff on board. It has been a long time since I had the pleasure of walking up the stairs to the top floor of a 747. The Lufthansa first class is located on the upper deck of the 747 and there are about 16 seats there. They seem to be a bit old and I understand that an upgrade is being planned in the end of this year. I had seat 83 K which is by the emergency exit so there was lots of space. But note that there is a permanent “trolley” here where they store drinks. Some have mentioned this as a problem but I didn’t think this was an issue.

My FA asked me right away if I wanted something to drink…so I went for the Champagne, The champagne of the day was Piper-Heidsieck Cuvee Rare. I have to say that after being through Bollinger, Taittinger, Taittinger Rose and several types of red wines in the lounge, I was not really capable to tasting the fine qualities of the Piper-Heidsieck – but it seemed pretty good. When I asked my FA what kind of champagne I was drinking he informed me and then he asked “Why? You didn’t like it?” – not sure why he assumed that. After about 40 minutes we were pushed back and rolled across their airport to get ready for takeoff. Takeoff feels different when seated on the upper floor that’s for sure. Before takeoff we got slippers, a toiletry bag and pajamas. The FA asked about my size and I was like “I don’t know…what do you think?” He seemed a bit bothered by this – I guess he have heard it before. But I ended up with Large to extra large that was a bit too big for me.   The toiletry bag was pretty big but didn’t really contain that much. Ear plugs in a holder, a tooth brush and tooth paste, a comb, a face mask, a moisturizer and a shoe horn.

After takeoff we got a warm cloth soaked in water. I’m not sure what fragrance that was used but the scent was great After about 30 minutes in the air the first class started their service  by putting a cloth on the table and handing out an appetizer…tuna fish with orange or something like that, I even got a real rose stuck in a hole next to my table. It was a nice touch I guess but it is not something I will miss if they remove it from the service. The tuna fish was great but it would have been great if they staff had informed me about what was being served. I also got menus by the way explaining what kind of drinks and food that I could expect

For starter I had the option of Caviar, crawfish, watermelon with goat cheese and tartar of goose breast. Next course was the option between a salad or spicy lemongrass soup and main course options were prawn, mushroom and pancetta stew, swordfish with beans, pumpkin ravioli and sugar or spice duck breast.
My FA took my order and while I was waiting I watched a bit of Angels & Demons on the TV screen. And this is one area where Lufthansa scores pretty low. The screen for each seat is TINY and can’t be compared to the Emirates option at all. When I flew Emirates A380 on business class I had a 17” screen or something  like that and on Lufthansa it is like 10”. But it is video on demand so you can pause it and stuff but the screen is jus t too tiny. About 1 hour into the flight the start was served and I got a nice portion of caviar. I think caviar is a bit like fois gras….it is great but only in small quantities

I guess the FA had seen that I was taking a lot of photos so she kindly offered to take a photo of me ;.) The female FA did a good job by the way but I’m not sure I understand why she kept on addressing me in German to start with every time she spoke to me. Yes, I know that you would all like people to talk German but it is not really going to happen just because you start your conversation in German
The caviar was served with lemon, onion and some kind of sour cream on the side. From there we moved on to the salad which was a bit on the boring side but still pretty good.  For main course I chose the duck breast with polenta and spinach. Not bad at all and the duck has a lot more character than e.g. chicken.  But the combination of a chunk of meat, a scoop of polenta and a heap of spinach doesn’t really scream fine dining.

When dessert came around my female FA just skipped me for some reason…I guess she looked at me and thought “You’ve had enough” or maybe it was just a slip of the mind But I grabbed my male FA and asked him if I could get the pear tart with brown butter ice cream which tasted great with some decaf coffee and some Baileys. So after a loooong day it was time to call it the night. I went to bathroom and brushed my teeth and slipped into the pajamas and went to sleep. The chair was actually very comfortable as a bed and it felt like it was possible to recline it all the way back to a proper bed. I did sleep until I was woken up for breakfast

When I was woken I had a slight hang over from the drinks last night but that’s how the cookie crumbles right? Once again we were handed the cloth that smelled excellent and I also used the opportunity to slip into normal clothing again. The breakfast was a bit strange…the female FA asked if I wanted muesli but what I got was some sort of sour cream mix…and then I got honni corn on the side. I was not sure that that was it…but all of a sudden I was also asked if I wanted some scrambled eggs and bacon. All in all not a bad breakfast but it would have been great to get some information about the options…or maybe I didn’t read the breakfast menu well enough.

All good things come to an end right? And after about a 10 hour and 30 minute flight it was time to land in Hong Kong. After a steep descend we landed at Chek Lap Kok airport in Hong Kong. If I were to give a conclusion of this flight I would say that Lufthansa delivers a very good product from the lounge to the flight experience. The service on board was good and even with their old layout, the seat was very comfortable and gave me a good night sleep. The food amd drink selection was also very nice. One area where there is room for a lot of improvement is of course when it comes to personal entertainment. The screen today is just too small compared to the competitors and even if “Size doesn’t matter” it was still just too tiny. When I checked the price of a round class ticket on first to HK, I think it was like 75000 Kroner (about 13.000 USD). I wouldn’t mind flying first class every time I travel but I’m not willing to spend that much on the ticket So I guess I have to save up some SAS points again so I can try out first class on a different airline.

Get in touch if you have any questions or comments

This is a trip report from a trip to Dubai with Lufthansa. We bought these tickets when we came across a great Lufthansa offer a few months back and the price was just to good to turn down. We got the tickets for 2800 kroner (about 420 USD) per person for a round trip from Stavanger in Norway and that is almost half the price of what you normally see. We did go to Dubai in 2002 and you can read that trip report here. I’m also planning on making a new proper trip report…this trip report will focus on the flight to and from Dubai.

We started our trip on May 20th 2009 at the crack of dawn. We had LH3163 from  SVG to FRA at 06.35 amso we got to the airport about 1 hour before departure. But when we came into the terminal building we only found chaos. It turned out that the baggage belts were causing check in problems so the lines grew rapidly. We did check in at the self service machines but then we had to get in line for the baggage drop. The SAS lady could have pointed us to the business line at least as she saw that we both are Eurobonus gold card members but she didn’t. But we found the business line after waiting in line for a bit – not that it mattered that much as this line was not really moving at all. I didn’t think we got sufficient information and we only got to check in when our flight was starting to blink “Boarding”. It is really a miracle that the baggage made it on the flight. There should have been a system for checking in the passengers with the earliest flights but I guess it is easier said then done. We did make the plan and I hope that I’m forgiven by my fellow passengers as we had to cut the line at the security control.

Our flight from Stavanger to Frankfurt was with Eurowings in a Bae-146 and it took about 2 hours. The flying conditions were great and we got a great view to all the nice beaches outside Stavanger after take off.

The breakfast on board the flight was a small sandwich but as we were flying on economy and were seated all the way in the back we did not get the option between ham or cheese when the FA reached our row. But hey, a sandwich is better than nothing.

The weather was also great when we landed so once again we got a great view…this time to downtown Frankfurt a few minutes before landing.

As we had a few hours before our next flight, we decided to take a trip into Frankfurt to kill some time. Luckily it was easy to get out of the airport and we were out of the place in just a few minutes….we must have been lucky with our gate We found a place where I could store my backpack and from there we took a train into downtown Frankfurt for about 4€ each. The town looked pretty nice and I would like to go back to spend a weekend there.

At about noon we went to back to the airport and we went for the Sentator loung in the B section of the airport. I’m not that impressed with the lounges at Frankfurt – the lounge that we went to was very crowded and it was hard for us to find a seat and to start with we had to sit on bar stools. We did get a table eventually but there were not many good seats available. And I also think it is pretty lame that they don’t offer free WiFi in a business class lounge. The selection of food was not that impressive either but at least they had some hot dogs on the menu and a selection of beer and wine.

Finally it was time for boarind and we walked over to our gate and went on board in our 747-400 where I had seat 38C.

This Lufthansa plane did not have a personal TV screen in each seat so we were stuck with the old CRT TV hanging in the ceiling. I’m not too impressed by this of course but on a short flight like this it was not a problem. I think I had a larger personal TV screen when flying Emirates business class compared to the ones hanging in the ceiling of this 747 . I went to a Lufthansa presentation a few weeks back and they said they are working on introducing personal TV screens on all their long haul planes so I guess it will come eventually.

I find it strange that they don’t show more stuff on the TV by the way – I think they only showed some news, then there was a broad and “exciting” summary of a couple of soccer games in the German bundesliga and then the movie Mall Cop. Nikki went for the chicken and rice when dinner was served and I went for the beef stew and that was very nice.  LHis good when it comes to refilling the glasses and I enjoyed red wine together with the food and coffee and Baileys for the dessert. It is amazing to see that they drag along Warsteiner beer on glass bottle on board the flight – you don’t mess with good beer in Germany

The flight to Dubai (DXB) took only 6 hours and we landed in Dubai at about 11 PM. At the gate we were met by a lady in a bright yellow jacket holding a poster with Nikki’s name on it. This is a part of the Marhaba (http://www.marhabaservices.com/source/index.aspx) service and it is a meet & greet service to get the wife faster through some of the lines as she has to go through a bit extra due to her South African passport. We even got a small car to take us to passport control at the airport. The lady from the Marhaba service and the guy that took care of our baggage walked us all the way out to the taxis outside the airport. Great service

If you want to see some photos from Dubai feel free to check out my blog on  http://gardmobile.blogspot.com/search/label/Dubai The Dubai trip report will be posted on http://gardkarlsen.com eventually

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The trip back home started at the crack of dawn on May 25th. We were transported to the airport in the hotel limousin – a BMW 730i and it didn’t take us long as there was more or less no traffic this early in the morning. We checked in for LH639 and walked over to the StarAlliance lounge by gate 126 if I’m not mistaken. The lounge is more or less a joke as it is tiny, it has few seats and the only separation between First and Business is basically a wall. Nikki was joking that the only difference between First and Business class in the lounge was that First had access to cornflakes cereal But we did get some breakfast in the lounge as the had some tiny club sandwiches, some orange juice and a coffee machine.

Our flight was departing from gate 115 at o7.45 AM and this time it was an Airbus A340 – I was hoping that this would involve a personal TV screen but unfortunately not. We were seated on row 45 (second last row) and it was a 2-3-2 configuration. We were hoping to get two seats by ourselves on one of the sides of the plane but that seemed to be impossible – did we check in too late? Maybe I have two high hopes for what the Eurobonus gold card will fix for us

We got a small sandwich after takeoff and when they reached our row they were out of options and we got the vegetarian sandwich which was pretty horrible. Once again there were CRT screens in the ceiling and once again we got some news, more soccer news from the German bundesliga…and the great finale was the move Mall cop…I guess they felt it was so great that they had to show it both going there and back again. Well, I fell asleep during the movie both times so I still haven’t seen it

As we didn’t get our choice for breakfast, we were informed that we would be able to choose dinner. I went for the chicken and rice which was good. But once again they ran out of options and the FA had to spend time and energy explaining to the passengers that pasta was the only option. They used a loooong times to serve drinks before dinner by the way. There was only one trolley in each aisle in economy class and I think they used about 40 minutes. I also got the impression that this was to order what we wanted to drink for dinner but that was not the case.  Because after dinner was served they started serving drinks once again and once again it took “forever”. They actually started running out of time and my tray was basically removed while I was in the middle of dessert.

We landed in at about 11 AM and we had to go through passport control to enter into the Schengen area. Due to this we had to go through check in and security control and for the first time in my life I had to bring out my cameras to show that they were indeed cameras.

We only had a short stop in Munchen and we just made a short stop to the Senator lounge to see what it looked like. It was nice to see that they have a Senator cafe where they have more focus on food.

At 13.45 we went with LH973 to Frankfurt. At the gate it was possible to help ourselves with coffee and tea before boarding the plane We had an Airbus A320 and the flight to Frankfurt was only 50 minutes. Once again the weather was great and we got a nice view to the airport as we were airborne.

We did not have that much time in Frankfurt either but we waited in the Senator lounge in the A pier. This lounge actually looks better than the lounge in the B pier as it was bigger, better views, better choice of food etc I tried to take some pictures but I was informed by one of the staff that this was not allowed.

And finally it was time for the last leg – LH3096 took us back to Stavanger in Norway in a 737 in 1 hour and 45 minutes. We came in straight over downtown Stavanger and we got a great view to my city .

That’s basically it for this time – this trip was a great deal as it was only 2800 Norwegian kroner per person. The experience with Lufthansa was good but I look forward to personal TV screens and more choice of entertainment.