Frankfurt to DCA with Lufthansa First

I don’t usually get too excited for flights, especially when they mean getting up early, but the combination of my room being slightly warm along with my upcoming flight on my favourite product had me up even before I needed to be.

Walked over to the B terminal of the airport, and stopped at Starbucks for a bit of caffeine to get me motivated for the long day ahead. Back to the Sheraton, packed, checked out, and then did the brisk 10 minute outdoor walk to the First Class Terminal. They’re definitely not used to people arriving on foot, but were excellent about checking me in and getting me sorted out.

The lounge was actually rather busy for 8am, and I got the last table in the dining area. I’ve never been here hungry before (usually coming off a redeye) so was nice to be ready to tear into some serious breakfast. Nice table setting to start:L

This morning’s breakfast menu:

I decided to go for the eggs benedict and a fresh orange juice. The eggs were actually really good, with just right amount of hollandaise sauce which was just the right tartness. Once again, Lufthansa delivers in my book.

Now, I may not be Madonna who is rumoured to require Voss water to take her baths in, but I was pretty impressed that the First Class Terminal also has a water menu, which somehow I’ve never noticed on prior trips. Voss for me today!

Spent a nice 90 minutes in the lounge today, before being told the car was ready to take me to the plane. Unfortunately, there were five of us in the lounge all going to the same plane, so we were packed into one car for the ride. How uncivilized! 😉 But seriously, it’s still a special feeling being driven around the tarmac for a bit before parking right next to your plane:

There was a long queue in the jetbridge after we took the elevator up, and the driver was having absolutely none of it. “Entschuldigung, bitte!” all the way down, pushing his way passed all the queued up passengers to get on board first. It was on the verge of mildly embarrassing, but at the same time a bit fun to be treated like a celebrity.

Lufthansa flight 430
Frankfurt, Germany (FRA) to Chicago O’Hare (ORD)
Depart 10:40, Arrive 13:10, Flight Time: 9:30
Boeing 747-8i, Registration D-ABYG, Manufactured 2013, Seat 2K
Miles Flown Year-to-Date: 31,507
Lifetime Miles Flown: 2,395,908

Good to see after my last couple of flights that the macadamia nuts are back, and the champagne remains cold!

After takeoff, an amuse-bouche of tomato gelatin, a mini tomato, mozzarella, pesto, and a crostini:

Clearly, Lufthansa has gotten the message that I enjoy my caviar. Despite being booked six of eight in first today, the portion took up half of the plate! I should start traveling with my own bread crumb scraper…I clearly make a mess!

Today’s appetizers were tasty, but not mind-blowing.  Tuna with Caper and Veal Sauce, accompanied by green Asparagus.  Quail Egg and Black Salsify Salad presented with Bolzano Sauce (this one was super tasty), and Grilled Vegetable Terrine, Chive Curd and air-dried Beef.

I liked how they did the salad after the apps…more courses, and extended things a bit more. The passion fruit dressing, as usual, was weird. One thing I don’t like about Lufthansa is how the feel the need to try funky dressings. Of course, maybe I should be thanking them for broadening my horizons…who knows.

Went with the sous-vide prime boiled veal with red hot pepper mostarda, root vegetables, and parsley potatoes. Honestly, it wasn’t that good. The veal was flavourless, and the whole thing tasted like something out of a 1970s British cookbook. Boiled and bland.

But not all was lost…cheese was on the way, and delicious as always. How can you not love a cheese cart like this when everyone else serves you dried out pre-plated crap. Rock salt cheese, St. Agur, Goat Cheese with Honey, L’Explorateur and Langres.

Gorgeous cheese course. I’m not sure anyone does it quite like Lufthansa.

My usually Johnny Walker Blue and a couple of chocolates to finish things off. No room for a full dessert today.

After eating, I was stuffed and tired from being up early, so I shut the window shades to catch some zzzzzs. Rose, silhouetted by the one light…

After four solid hours of sleep, I woke up just in time for the pre-landing snack. The new snack/landing menu are the same, and you just order from it as you please during the flight. I went with the Italian Spuntino plate with melon and ham skewer, bresaola with creem cheese, guinea fowl confit, arugula veal roll, and parmesan cheese and tomato olive tepanade. Definitely a winner for a second meal. Plus…pretzel bread!

She insisted I also needed some greens, so I agreed to a salad with chicken as well.

…and some sweets to finish it off. Not because I wanted them, because she insisted. They were, of course, delicious.

Once again, a fantastic Lufthansa experience. The food today wasn’t exactly my thing for a few of the courses, but the fantastic service more than made up for it. Unlike lots of other folks, I actually find the Lufthansa seat great for relaxing and sleeping, although it is slightly lacking in the privacy front. I feel like they do classy in a great way that is refined and attention to detail without being at all pretentious. I won’t claim it’s the “best” product in the skies, but is probably the one that meshes best with my personality.

Upon landing, I was worried that once again the Global Entry machines would declare me persona non-grata since I was on a one-way ticket from Egypt. I’ve had very unpleasant experiences with this in the past, so really wasn’t looking forward to what might await me. This time, however, no problems at all and I was through immigration in maybe five minutes and on the way to my connecting flight.

Monorail over to the United gates, not too bad of a line at TSA PreCheck for once, and a quick stop at Starbucks for some caffeine. The wait at Starbucks was much longer than TSA (ugh!) but soon I had my caffeine and was ready to struggle through the last leg home.

United flight 622
Chicago O’Hare (ORD) to Washington DC, National (DCA)
Depart 16:00, Arrive 18:55, Flight Time: 1:55
Boeing 737-800, Registration N33266, Manufactured 2001, Seat 3B
Miles Flown Year-to-Date: 33,119
Lifetime Miles Flown: 2,396,520

What can I say. Generic non-meal United flight so not much to report on. Was too full to attack the snack basket, so had a super uneventful flight.

With that, another great trip came to a close! Now, what next…