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Recently, I got the chance to take fly First Class on Lufthansa Airline’s historic 747-8 (also incorrectly known as a 747-800) from Mexico City to Copenhagen via Frankfurt in July 2021. I knew taking a first-class flight towards the end of the COVID pandemic was a bit of a gamble because of lounge closures and service and amenity reductions across the board. However, I was heading to Europe either way and at least I could get a good first-class flight review out of the experience. Not to mention, taking a Mexico direct to Europe flight meant avoiding a USA layover (which is a total PITA).
Unfortunately, I had a very poor experience mainly due to poor soft product and service, and most importantly an argument with a flight attendant about masks which I will explain further in this article. I do believe my poor experience was mainly due to bad luck of having a bad crew as most other AV geeks who’ve taken this flight have absolutely loved it.
Even forgetting about the lackluster service, the hard product itself was also showing its date with an IFE (Entertainment System) that was so slow and unresponsive it was practically impossible to use.
Dining service and lounge experience were also definitely curtailed compared to pre-covid. At the time the first-class terminal in Frankfurt was closed and the limo service was also paused.
Read More: How To Book Qatar Award Flights With Points And Miles (Qsuite And Business Class)
How to book Lufthansa First Class with Points
Luckily, I only paid 71,000 credit card points + $100 in tax for this $7,300 flight because Brex and Capital One were both having a 25% bonus when transferring your credit card points to Avianca Lifemiles. This gave me a jaw-dropping 10c per point value (Compared to 1-1.5c per point you’d get through a portal booking). I will explain how I booked Lufthansa’s first-class with points below, but if you want more in-depth information, check out our article on how to book Lufthansa with points.
While the cost to fly first class with points has increased, you can still fly Lufthansa First Class relatively cheap. Like most Star Alliance rewards, Lufthansa can be booked with any airline from Star Alliance. However, as expected, some airlines’ reward programs offer far more value than others.
Booking Lufthansa First Class with Avianca Lifemiles
From June – July 2021 Brex and Capital One were both having a 25% transfer bonus to Avianca Lifemiles. At the time, I didn’t see any first-class space on the days I wanted, but I learned from reports on FlyerTalk that Lufthansa usually opens up first-class space a few days before a flight.
Usually, engaging in speculative transfers from credit card reward points to an airline when there is a transfer bonus or sale on points is a bad idea. However, in this case, I knew almost with certainty some potential dates to fly out in late July would open up. The worst-case scenario was that even if space doesn’t open up, Lifemiles is still one of the easiest currencies to use. Since I live in Latin America, it would be quite easy to use those Lifemiles on many other airlines I frequently use such as United, Avianca, or Aeromexico (non-alliance partners).
I transferred 35k points each from Brex and Capital One (70k in total) which netted me just under 90k Lifemiles, and with the 4k miles I already had in my account, that was enough to cover the 94.2k Lifemiles to redeem this flight.
There are a bunch of other ways to book Lufthansa First Class with points that you can read about in this article we wrote.
I put out a bunch of alerts on Expertflyer.com to let me know if any first-class space opens up for a few days toward the end of July. To my surprise, many first-class spots opened up over 3 weeks in advance, a bit earlier than the typical 1-2 weeks, so my gamble paid off and I was able to book this flight for only 71k points from my stash.
What Lufthansa Planes have First Class
Currently Lufthansa First Class is available on 3 planes that are currently in service: The Boeing 747-8 and certain configurations of their Airbus A340-600 and A330-300s, all of which offer a pretty similar hard product. Their first-class was once available on their 747-400 but those planes were reconfigured to remove first class many years ago and are all grounded as of the time of this writing.
Lufthansa First Class is available on their Airbus A380-800 model but most of those planes were removed from Lufthansa’s fleet due to the covid-19 pandemic and seem unlikely to return to Lufthansa’s fleet as of the time of writing.
While flying first class on the A330 or A340 will result in a smoother ride and better entertainment systems because the planes are newer, there is something special about flying on a double-decker plane, especially the “Queen of the SKies” a 747 as the number of airlines flying this aircraft for passenger service is falling by the day. However, despite the average 747-8 in Lufthansa’s fleet being over 13 years old, Lufthansa doesn’t plan to retire these flying monsters anytime soon.
One thing you’ll notice is flying in the nose of a double-decker plane means feeling 10x the amount of turbulence that you would usually feel, so once the AV geek excitement of flying on a Lufthansa 747 wears off, prepare for 15-year-old outdated technology and a very bumpy ride in the nose!
Ground Experience and Check-in: Mexico City Airport – A pleasant experience.
It’s a shame I didn’t have a positive experience flying Lufthansa first class on their 747-8 because the check-in and lounge experience was very nice.
Lufthansa’s check-in area is located in Terminal 1 of CDMX (Mexico City) airport. There was a special line for first-class check-in as expected, but despite there only being 2 people in front of me, it didn’t move fast and was about a 10-minute wait.
When it was my turn, the gate agent was very friendly and after quickly checking my covid testing and vax records, offered to escort me to the airport lounge, and from the lounge to the gate when it was time to board. I accepted the offer for the sake of reviewing the service. Terminal 1 in Mexico City is very spread out and other than a frequently broken people mover there is no train inside the terminal.
This means walking from the lounge to the gate can sometimes take 20+ minutes so I definitely appreciated being whisked from security to the lounge and from the lounge to the gate on an electric transport vehicle.
Lounge 19 – “First Class” area of Aeromexico T1 lounge
Upon arriving at the lounge there was a small “reserved” VIP area with a rope and 4 seats. It was nothing special but I appreciate them making the extra “first-class effort.” I’ve been to this lounge many times since you get access with a Priority Pass membership and I can confirm that beyond this separated seating and massage chair, the service was exactly the same as anyone would get in this lounge with either a Priority Pass, business class ticket, or any other method of accessing the lounge.
The lounge provides one small courtesy meal with a waiter attending to you. This is complemented by a buffet of various small finger food. Alcoholic drinks are NOT self-served but there is no limit on how many you can order. I had a gin tonic and some beef taquitos as my farewell to Mexico for a few weeks. The self-service area was removed in 2020 and early 2021 but by the time I was there in July 2021, it had been reinstated.
I enjoyed my time in the lounge. To be honest, Lounge 19 is the best lounge in Terminal 1 of Mexico City and a great Priority Pass lounge. But compared to the First Class Lufthansa lounges in Europe, of course, this paled in comparison. If you are thinking about flying Lufthansa First Class on points you may want to consider flying out of Europe so you get a chance to try the Lufthansa First Class lounge, and First Class Terminal, as leaving From Mexico City you will not get this chance.
Read More: How To Access The Delta Sky Club Lounges
Boarding Lufthansa First Class on the 747-8
When it was time to board, the same gate agent who escorted me through security brought me straight to the gate. I was brimming with excitement, not just flying on a Luftansa 747 but also doing so in the first class cabin of a 747, as there really are very few of them in service these days.
Boarding was quick and courteous. I thought I was going to be in for a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I certainly was, but not in a good way.
I tried to get some photos of the upper deck and stairway but was quickly rushed back to my seat.
The first-class flight attendant quickly rushed to replace my cloth mask with a surgical one as if I was carrying leprosy (a harbinger of many problems to come in this experience).
Cabin Review: Lufthansa 747 – First Class
I was brimming with excitement to fly on a 747 since as any AVgeek knows the chances to fly one these days are getting slimmer by the day. However, once the excitement settled down of flying on a historic 747, the reality set in that this plane, and the associated premium products on it are 15+ years old. There is some wood paneling and accenting in the first-class cabin and bathroom which gives the cabin a bit of a more luxurious feel. Another aspect that gives the first-class cabin a nice premium feel is they put a fresh rose hanging by every seat, as well as in the dedictated restrooms.
The plane is a double-decker but there really isn’t much to see upstairs or anywhere on the plane, however, I still wanted to take a peek upstairs anyways. Despite the plane’s huge size, there is no onboard lounge of any sort or anything else to see other than seats, the galleys, and the bathroom. Furthermore, going into other cabins to take some photos irked the flight attendants (despite the fact the cabins were still empty at the time) and they asked me to return to my seat and remain in my cabin in a pedantic tone.
The first-class area is arranged in a 1×1 configuration in the first 2 rows with a 1x2x1 configuration for the last row, providing an option for couples who want to sit together – so 8 seats in total. There is a small sort of “bar” area in the center of first-class that had some self-service champagne options during the flight.
One thing I did note was that there was a ridiculous amount of space between the seats. They could have easily squeezed 12 first-class seats rather than 8 so there would still be a lot of room.
Lufthansa First Class Seat Review:
I sat in seat 2A. Seats 2A and 2K are the most ideal for a solo flyer as they have the most privacy. 1A and 1K are more scrunched together and more suitable for flying in a pair. All of the seats in row 3 are much closer together since that row has 4 seats rather than 2.
The seat itself was comfortable and luxurious, and it should be! Though the seats were spacious, they were clearly an outdated product by first-class standards, much closer to newer business class products like ANA’s The Room or Delta’s new Delta One cabin on their A350 than the cutting edge first-class products of airlines such as Emirates and Singapore Airlines. Even British Airways often lampooned “first class” products on their 777 felt like it had a better hard product in terms of the seat itself.
The padding on the seat was good and the bedding they used on the seat made it even more comfortable so I have no complaints there. The bed was a little hard but they put both a mattress pad and a blanket on it. There is very little privacy between the seats and I believe seat guru’s definition of the seat as an “open suite” is generous. It is more like a very large lay flat seat.
The seat itself was 31″ wide according to Seat Guru. It was also very long, roughly nearly 81″ which is close to the dimensions of a twin-size bed.
The controls for the seat were spartan but did what they needed to do and responded well, there were no issues there.
The seat also had a USB port (not working) and power outlet (did work)
IFE (screen) – Entertainment System Review: Barely Usable 👎🏻
Since this Lufthansa 747 is over a decade old, so is the IFE (Entertainment System), and even in Lufthansa first class, it’s the same as the rest of the plane. The screen does NOT respond to touch, only by remote and it is VERY slow. What I mean by this is every time you pressed a button on the remote it took 2-3 seconds for the response to appear on screen, this made browsing a chore.
Furthermore, by modern standards, the screen is tiny, maybe 15″ at the absolute most. What made the screen seem even smaller was the fact it was positioned so far from where you are seated. Also, the quality of the screen itself was very poor and I’m not even sure if it was HD, and it might have been a 480p screen.
Another thing that made browsing a chore was the massive selection of movies, which is usually a good thing, but because they were all poorly organized and the response time of the IFE was slow, it made it very hard to browse through the movies.
As an AVgeek, I love playing around with the airshow feature on any IFE but Lufthansa’s was so slow I didn’t really mess with it much other than to leave it running when I was awake to see how close we were to landing.
The IFE felt like something out of the late 1990s because it very well might be. it’s clear Lufthansa has made a decision not to bother refreshing the entertainment systems as these birds will probably be retired in the next few years anyway.
Onboard Wifi: Free Passes For First Class
I was given a pass to enjoy free wifi during the flight, however, I was so busy eating and drinking caviar and champagne followed by sleeping, that I barely used it. I forgot to run a speed test but remember it being relatively snappy. For those in economy, it cost €29 for fast wifi €17 for slower wifi, and €7 for a chat pass for the duration of the flight.
Certainly for a long flight such as Frankfurt to Mexico City 17 euros to get wifi for the entire flight is a pretty good deal to get work done.
First Class Restroom in Lufthansa First Class
The restrooms were very nicely appointed even by first-class standards with a spacious area to sit and get changed outside of the toilet, a window, and even a fresh red rose. There are 2 first-class restrooms for 8 seats but only 4 occupied so I never had to wait to use the restroom. The restrooms did not feature a bidet function which some Asian airlines often include. The restrooms were appointed with extra toothpaste, mouthwash, various creams, and other assortments.
Dining & Drink and Amenity Kit Offering (Soft Product)
Again, I want to try to be impartial when writing this Lufthansa First Class flight review that this review was written of a flight taken in mid-2021 and perhaps they have restored service, but the amenity kit they gave me seemed like something you’d expect for a very short-haul business class or a premium economy amenity kit. It didn’t even pass the muster for business class, much less a first-class kit.
Lufthansa First Class Amenity Kit – Premium Economy Level
The kit itself looks like something you’d be served on a 5-6 hour business class flight or a longer premium economy flight, but not only failed to pass first class muster, but even by long haul business class standards, it was lacking. It included a toothbrush, toothpaste, small hairbrush, ear plugs, a face mask, face cream, lip balm, and a small plastic carrier.
Pajamas (pyjamas) and slippers were also handed out with the amenity kit. I’ll admit the slippers were quite comfortable, while the pyjamas were too small for me and eventually thrown away, I have the slippers to this day.
Overall the food and drink service as well as the amenity kit service were downgraded from the Pre-2020 experience based on seeing reviews. The Lufthansa first class product still has its caviar plate but the food was clearly a downgrade in quality compared to looking at other flight reviews. There was still champagne but of lower (but still good) quality compared to its 2019 offerings. I recently talked to a friend who took this product in 2022 and have heard that some quality of the soft product service has been restored, so bear in mind I took this flight almost a year ago in July 2021.
We know what you’ve been waiting for dear reader, so here are all the photos of the food in Lufthansa First class.
Champagne and Drink Options on Lufthansa First Class
I’ll admit I’m not much of a wine or champagne drinker so you may want to find another Lufthansa first-class flight review to expand more on the champagne and wine options if this is important to you. Upon boarding, we were welcomed with a glass of Grand Siécle Champagne, which retails at around $200 a bottle. There was also an option of 2004 Grande Cuvee Rose Alexandra at the time but I did not try it during the flight, nor am I even sure it was available.
First Class Dining on Lufthansa: Some Good Some Bad
Unfortunately, this flight was a red eye, which isn’t great for writing a flight review since it’s hard to truly enjoy the flight since you want to sleep. I had the option of either having a full course meal at around midnight or missing it before going to sleep or choosing to skip the meal service. Theoretically, the meal service is on-demand but I didn’t really see going to sleep and then asking the flight attendants in the early of the night to serve me dinner as a suitable option. Plus, they had informed in advance that there were shortages of various items.
Caviar on Lufthansa First Class Flights: Worth it or a Gimmick? 🤔
Of course, for the sake of this review, I had to order the caviar. I was served a caviar spread once before when I flew first class with Cathay Pacific on their 777 back in 2017, so that’s the only “onboard caviar experience” I can compare it to. I noticed one of the main differences was that on Cathay Pacific first class, they serve Caviar in the tin but on Lufthansa first class, at least on this flight, they serve it on the plate.
I’m not sure of the quality of the Caviar since I can probably list the number of times I’ve had caviar in my life on my two hands, but it tasted good. The Caviar was served with an assortment of bread, sauces, cheeses, oil and butter, and even some onions. It was a nice presentation albeit a bit overwhelming and also, to be frank, a very messy dish to try and eat on a plane.
I believe Caviar is meant to be enjoyed with straight Vodka but I do not like the taste of Vodka so chose to get a German Wheat beer to pair with it. I’m not a big fan of fish eggs in general but caviar is definitely unique in its taste, tasting somewhat like the ocean itself, but in a good way.
Appetizer Salad and Hummus: Business Class Quality
I chose a mixed salad and hummus for appetizers, both tasted quite mediocre. Not horrible quality by any means but about the same quality you would expect for business class. I’ve seen pre-covid they would bring out a pre-appetizer “trolly” but this was nowhere to be found on this flight.
Main Course on the 747 (short ribs) VERY disappointing!
I chose the Roti Short Ribs for my main course. I asked for it medium rare but it was very overcooked and hard to chew, but eatable. The side potatoes and asparagus were properly cooked. I paired it with another German Wheat Beer. My opinion is both the taste and quality were of a business class offering although the presentation of the plate itself was definitely of first-class quality.
Cheese Plate Paired with Wine: Very Good 😍
I don’t usually have fine cheeses and even more rarely choose wine over beer but there is something about having fine cheeses and grapes paired with a good wine at 40,000ft that always makes it a special experience. The cheese dish was served with Roquefort, Edam, Camembert, Emmental, and goat cheese along with some crackers. It was paired with a fine dessert wine.
Dessert: Icecreamish Sorbet mix with Vanilla Ice-cream
I chose a “Stawberry, Mango and Peach Mix with Sabayon Cream” with a scoop of Vanilla ice cream for dessert. The dessert was ok but nothing special especially by first class standards. The presentation was awful looking like a blob of goo.
Lufthansa First Class Breakfast: Didn’t disappoint (but out of eggs)
In the morning, I chose to be woken up for breakfast even though I probably would have stayed asleep if it weren’t for the review. Really, this is why you have to ask yourself if flying first class on a red-eye even makes sense as you’re forcing yourself to eat food at strange times and wake up to enjoy offerings when really it would be better to sleep and be well-rested, in which case business class makes much more sense.
The breakfast was delicious. I was served a croissant, a muffin, tea, various fruits, and nuts, but apparently, they were out of omelets (or so they claimed).
Onboard Flight Service: Hostile Flight Attendant
This will certainly be the most controversial part of this review, but it colored my entire experience so I cannot skip this. The flight attendant assigned to my seat was first nagging then practically yelling at me publicly to put on my mask, even while dining, eating, and drinking. Because this is a first class service, you are basically eating and drinking the entire time you are awake during this red eye flight. This made the flight attendants’ request to keep wearing a mask while eating and drinking basically impossible. She was essentially yelling at me to wear the masks in between bites and sips and singling me out particularly.
I want to emphasize that I am not an anti-masker and was doing my best to comply with the rules, becoming particularly stricter with my mask use when asked the first time but it did not stop the flight attendant from harassing me constantly about it the very beginning of the flight till the very bitter end.
Eventually, the flight attendant threw a huge fit saying quote “I am putting her life in danger” and “I need to think about her” and even paraphrasing says she “deserves to live.” (Yes seriously, she said that)
The flight attendant could tell this made me very mad to shame me publicly like this, especially doing so publicly in front of the 3 other first class passengers. Especially while I was doing my best to wear the mask when asked. The whole situation was confusing considering:
- We were constantly being served food and drink making wearing the mask constantly or “in-between” bites impractical or even impossible.
- There was a German couple in front of me that was basically maskless the entire time and the first-class crew couldn’t care less.
- This was already in July 2021 when everyone on board had the chance to get vaccinated, as a matter of fact being vaccinated AND tested was a requirement at the time to go to most destinations in Europe.
- There was plenty of space in this cabin for the attendant to not get too close to any passengers. As a matter of fact, there was more unused space in this cabin than in any other first-class or cabin
- I was clearly not trying to “make a demonstration or protest” or make a scene but was still harassed publicly by this flight attendant.
Lufthansa “Mask Karen” Situation Escalates when I Catch Her Gossiping
The situation got worse when I could tell the flight attendant was gossiping about me in German with the other attendants in the morning (even though I don’t speak German it was like bla bla bla “de maske” etc). At that point, I was red angry, lost my temper, called her out saying I could tell she was gossiping about me and complained about why I was being treated so poorly compared to the other passengers.
Pre-emptively, she said she was going to complain about me to the purser (head flight attendant) even though I was doing nothing wrong and was certainly masked up at that point since I didn’t want to be bothered anymore and was sleeping. This preemptive complaint by the flight attendant was done for no reason more than to cover herself and her job and “beat me to it” before I did it to her. Because at that point, I caught her gossiping about me publicly which is incredibly unprofessional.
Eventually, the purser (head flight attendant) came down and got both sides of the story, apologized, and said the flight attendant would stop harassing me about the mask, though they did not change the flight attendant after the incident and she continued to serve me.
I wanted to emphasize again that after I was told the first time to properly wear the mask, I was truly trying my best to keep it on. It would be one thing if I was making a public display about it, but to continue to harass me after I was doing my best to keep the mask on during a $10,000 first class flight was absolutely outrageous.
Either way, it was an extremely disappointing experience to be publicly shamed like this. Considering the rest of the experience was about a 75/100 this took it down to about a 50/100.
Lufthansa First Class: Clear Preference to German Customers on my Flight
Perhaps others have had a different experience, but the level of service and kindness provided to the German couple onboard compared to the service provided to the other passenger in first class and especially myself was as clear as night and day.
The German couple did not wear the mask most of the time they were awake as it would have been impossible to do so while eating. They were also given some kind of gift of chocolates and a teddy bear on the way out of the plane that was not served to other passengers. Of course, my sample size is very small only one flight, but during this flight the preference was clear.
Either way, regardless of race, nationality, and gender, everyone on board should be treated the same and the way I was treated was unconscionable regardless.
Lufthansa’s Sad Pathetic Apology
I sent a complaint to Lufthansa about my poor experience flying Lufthansa first class and the ordeal I went through, hoping they would investigate and get both sides of the story. I sent the complaint just a few days after landing. They replied a jaw-dropping 10 months later(!!!) with no investigation, no compensation, and just a generic apology.
I believe they didn’t bother to reply until they ended up in a separate scandal at the time of this writing (April 2022), where a massive scandal broke out. At Frankfurt airport, a group of Hasidic Jews claimed they were the target of anti-semitism from Lufthansa staff at the Frankfurt airport.
Apparently according to the gate agent one or two of the Hasidic Jews were allegedly not wearing a mask and then the gate agents refused to let any “Hasidic looking Jews” board their ongoing flight. This incident was also based on flight and gate attendants getting overly righteous about mask-wearing and refusing to allow all Hasidic Jews to board based on the actions of supposedly one.
I happen to be Jewish but I don’t think my poor treatment had anything to with it, but I do think it had a lot to do with the fact I said I was flying on points, was dressed in a more casual American style to be comfortable on such a long flight, and just a distaste of the flight attendant of Americans in general.
My guess is that after that massive PR scandal, Lufthansa decided to respond to all the complaints they got about flight attendants being over the top and rude about mask-wearing to passengers in general.
Ground Experience in Frankfurt Upon Landing
During landing, the flight attendant who harassed me the whole flight wished me goodbye without even apologizing and acting like everything was ok, some chutzpah this lady had to publicly shame me like that, preemptively complain about me, and then act like everything was perfectly normal upon landing.
Lufthansa First Class Terminal Closed in 2021
Upon landing in Frankfurt the Lufthansa first class terminal was closed. Apparently, the Lufthansa first class lounge had just opened a week prior but I was mistakenly led to the Senator lounge instead which had a first-class area, that was essentially the same service as a business class but in a separate area. The showers and service at the lounge were quite mediocre, but at that point, I was exhausted anyway.
Thankfully, on my next 1.5-hour flight to Denmark in Euro-Business class (middle seat blocked) the service was much better.
Read More: Aeromexico Flight Review – 787-9 Business Class During Covid (Better Than Expected!)
Overall Experience Flying Lufthansa First Class: D+ 65/100
I contacted many friends of mine who also took Lufthansa First Class and said their experience flying first class on one a historic Lufthansa 747-8 was incredible. Most have said at least the soft product (service) was absolutely incredible, albeit with an outdated hard product. I do want to give Lufthansa another chance where I can experience the first class lounge, first-class terminal, limo service, and most importantly a flight attendant that doesn’t yell at me and gossip about me in German in front of my face, followed by preemptively complaining about me to save her own skin. In this Lufthansa first class flight review, I wanted to be fair and emphasize it appears my experience was an isolated incident with a flight attendant that was extremely out of line. I also think if you’re going to fly first class you should have a flight that leaves and arrives during the daytime rather than overnight where you’re half asleep the whole time anyway.
Beyond the poor experience with the flight attendant, the Lufthansa first class terminal and lounge were unavailable, as well as the Limo ride.
Overall rating: 65/100 a D+ at best.
- Ground Experience / Lounge in Mexico City: 90/100 – Really no complaints there, though the lounge was nothing special, the same priority pass lounge I use all the time. Being personally escorted around the airport was a nice touch.
- Ground Experience / Lounge in Frankfurt: 80/100 – The first class section of the business class lounge was ok as they gave us an extra special meal, but it was disappointing to not have a chance to use the Lufthansa first class lounge, first class terminal or try out the limo ride to the jet.
- Boarding Experience: 100/100 – No complaints
- Overall hard product: – 70/100 – Outdated Lufthansa 747 plane leading to severe turbulence being worse than it would have been on an A380 or newer jet. The plane also didn’t have an onboard lounge or any other amenities that are more typical of double-decker 747s and A380 jets.
- Seat (hard product): 80/100 – Nice comfortable seat with nice controls and decorations but zero privacy and outdated configuration. Qatar and ANA are just 2 airlines that have nicer seats in their new business class than these first-class seats of Lufthansa
- IFE (entertainment system) – 60/100 – The screen was tiny, the controls were very unresponsive, it was very hard to navigate the movie selection. It felt like technology from 2005 because it probably was.
- Wifi 90/100 – Free wifi for first-class passengers was a nice touch. Speeds were sufficient.
- Overall soft product – 60/100 – The amenity kit looked like something out of premium economy. The pajamas of course were a nice touch. The flight attendants were exceptionally rude to me.
- Dining / Catering / Drinks – 80/100 – I’ve definitely had better meals in first class such as on Korean Air or Cathay Pacific but the dining and drinks were definitely not bad either. Most likely the catering would have been fresher and better if I had flown out of Frankfurt, Lufthansa’s home base, rather than heading there from Mexico City. The caviar was delicious, but the steak was very overcooked. The breakfast was solid but it was disappointing they were out of eggs. A larger beer selection would have been nicer for those who prefer craft beer over wine.
- Flight Attendant Service – 50/100 – I have never been treated as poorly not just in first class but in any class of service in my entire life as I was by the flight attendant on this flight, and I truly mean that.
- Amenity Kit – 60/100 – Very basic kit, that would have been spartan even by business class standards.
Look Forward to Giving Lufthansa First Class Again
Overall, even excluding the flight attendant being extremely rude to me, I wasn’t that impressed with the overall service. I look forward to writing another Lufthansa first class flight review of their 747-8 in the future when I can try out the famous Lufthansa First Class Lounge and Terminal in Frankfurt, try the Limo service and not deal with a psycho flight attendant.
I asked many other points gurus and AV geeks about their experience flying Lufthansa First Class including aboard the Lufthansa 747 and they had nothing but good things to say. Eli Facenda from FreedomTravelSystems.com said:
“Flying Lufthansa F was exceptional from start to finish. Getting access to a private terminal in Frankfurt and getting driven onto the tarmac in a Porsche is a true bucket list experience. The staff was warm, and the in-flight service was phenomenal”
I will probably have the chance to try Lufthansa First Class again in the future as the Frankfurt to Mexico City service is a very convenient route with lots of availability on the Avianca Lifemiles program. Also, it is a great way to exit Europe without having to take a long-feeder flight to Western Europe or even worse, having to layover in the US or Canada. I welcome a response from Lufthansa to get their side of the story and make things right with me.
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