After being bussed to terminal we quickly got over passport control to the upper level, where departure gates H are located. At the time of booking this trip I had no experience with longer flights and transits at the airports and I was too cautious about providing us enough time. Well, it ended with 5 hours stopover for us, but fortunately the time ran quickly.
First of all we had a look around and went to see, where our H01 gate is located. Than we decided to spend about an hour in the relax zone and then get some lunch
I quite like Munich airport. There are computers passengers can use when day need for some smaller fee. Wifi was presented as well, but only the first hour was free. This relax zone was very good, nice calm place where you can comfortably sit or lie down. I made myself comfortable here and checked the internet on my phone Well, the picture doesn´t say too much, right? Hopefully I´ll remember to make more of them next time..
This was first time I saw a 787 in real life. And really not the last time in these 10 days
SQ B777
We opted for this Vienna schnitzel for lunch. We took twice the same and ended up paying about 40EUR, that´s actually price of European one way flight. Although it wasn´t particularly tasteful, were not hungry after that Later we took a sit for about an hour and then we decided to head to our gate as we didn´t know what kind of checks and controls were we going to experience prior to our flight to US
On our way to gate H01
I was very surprised that the only thing that was checked was our passport. At the security checkpoint there were about 5 baggage scanners, but 3 of them were out of order and we just went by. I thought there should be some strict controls prior to flights to United States. Although my baggage was scanned at Prague, it felt strange to me that no one wanted to see anything. So I went back from the gate to checkpoint and I asked security agent if it´s ok that I was not checked at which she replied It´s ok. Was I right to expect some more checks while transiting to US?
H01, and flight I was waiting so long for, displayed here
D-AIHY, 10,5 years old A346, my first widebody aircraft and the first that is going to take me over the Atlantic
Gate area started getting crowded just almost in final minutes prior to boarding
Boarding was called few minutes before 15:30, first for premium passengers and a moment later second door were opened for economy class. In no order, passengers were invited to board based on their position in the queue. Although flight was expected to be over 12 hours, we were one of the first in Y to board. Was too excited to be in widebody
Also my first experience with 4-engines equiped aircraft
This is not for us today
This is where we belong
These were our seats if I remember well. 35H and 35K. It was decided it´s me who starts at the window after short briefing with my lady
The seat was quite comfortable and I felt it shouldn´t be painfull experience throughout the flight ..
.. and legroom really fine for me as I´m not tall. Problem was with the recline of the seat ahead, it reduced level of comfort significantly
View of the massive wing, loved it
Cabin wasn´t entirely in the best shape. Armrest in front proves it
LH A330 for some North American destination
Everyone boarded. Two young ladies seated ahead of us and by their sweatshirts it was clear they are Olympionics coming back from Sochi. In the end it was one day after the ending ceremony. They were both Australians and they represented in freestyle skiing I found out later throughout the flight
This flight was expected to be something like racing the Sun. I desired for being able to see Greenland and my father made some calculations days before and said that there should be some light while flying over it. Departing on time was essential for this so I was happy pushback was done on time
Captain came on the mic announcing some details about our flight and also mentioning we should be at San Francisco over 40 minutes ahead of schedule
After pushback, flight controls check.
Hello Austrian Fokker
Departures were done to the east and we were taxiing to 08L. After arriving there, traffic was quite dense. So we had to wait few minutes and everything got delayed a bit more as LH A330 had to reject their takeoff or something. After running slowly they vacated the runway and stopped and stayed on the taxiway
Traffic around departed and then it was time for us ! Lufthansa four-five-eight heavy, runway 08L cleared for take off
Rocketing past the poor A330 that was unable to depart
First moments it felt quite lazy, but later we gained fine speed and slowly rotated into the skies! We were climbing really slow as it´s common for A340, in few moments it really almost looked like we have to stall
Bye bye Munich airport
Later we turned left and countinued northbound
By the time we were almost in our cruising altitude everything was hidden in the clouds
35 minutes into the flight FAs jumped into the action with first drink offerings. One woman attendant, originally looked like being maybe from somewhere in middle east was awesome. She had really good level of English and she seemed to be so passionate about her work. Once I went downstairs to the toilet I overheared her chat with one of the passengers. He told her she is doing great job at which she replied that she loves it, but that it´s also sooo tiring sometimes. Really amazing job from her throughout the flight Others were fine as well, but they were rather too professional.
I asked for a wine followed by juice. Enjoyed both of it.
As Lufthansa offers wifi on their longhaul fleet I was happy to spend 20$ for 24hour pass. My dad everytime watches my flights on flightradar so I gladly reported to him 45 mins into the flight. Being in chat with him was the best IFE
Then it was time for meal to be served. I don´t remember the other option but I went for chicken with mushroom sauce and rice
I´m not the right person to rate the food as I´m really choosey, but this was fine and filled me enough for next few hours
After I finished the meal it started getting darker outside and in combination with clouds I said farewell to possibility of seeing Greenland. My father however told me that it´s still looking good
Racing the night
Entering Greenland and how it looks outside?
Like the Greenland !
These views were awesome, we both enjoyed it with my lady
And now we are actually faster than the Sun!
I had an airshow on my monitor for the whole flight. IFE itself did not impress me too much. Music selection was not any good to me and movies were a bit difficult to hear due to bad quality. Also the response was slow and touching display wasn´t good either. But only thing I need for flying is Airshow and it worked well so where´s the problem?
Cabin view over Greenland
In about an hour we were back in normal daylight
Entering Canada
Overflying Rocky Mountains offered us some beautiful views
Shortly after, with about 2 hours of flight remaining dinner was offered
This time it was absolutely out of my taste interests, but I consider it rather my own fault
Remote control fell out of Australian´s armrest showing again the not perfect condition of cabin
At this time we started our descend to San Francisco and cabin was being prepared for landing
And the Sun got into lead at the end of this 12 hours race with the light
Braking over North California
We flew somewhere over Golden gate which denied us having barely any city views, these are the only we got
Cabin prepared for landing.
We made long left turn and flew directly over San Jose which offered an amazing sight. This was like first taste of America seing the amazing city lights in the dark. Sorry for posting no pictures as they were really in poor quality. I was shocked by the amount of aircraft in the air, several queues for landing visible, for both OAK and SFO.
We landed at 18:40 which really was 40 minutes ahead of schedule. I felt almost like in a different world. We stayed seated and prepared our immigration forms.
We left the aircraft and went to immigration. As we both had to visit the toilet, everyone got to the front of us and we were among the last to enter immigration queue which turned out to be an hour waiting.
After long time of waiting it was finally our turn and we were given all green to enter the United States of America, the dream came true. We started being really tired at this time and while moving to the city we may looked like zombies.
We spend about 9 days in San Francisco and it was the most beautiful time in my life. Although the weather wasn´t perfect, we still had a great time
Well, if you managed to read up to here thank you for attention. Be sure to join next time as well on my returning flight to Frankfurt.
Thank you everyone and have a nice day!
Michael
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Verdict
Lufthansa
8.0/10
Cabin8.0
Cabin crew8.5
Entertainment/wifi8.5
Meal/catering7.0
Munich - MUC
7.6/10
Efficiency7.0
Access7.0
Services8.5
Cleanliness8.0
San Francisco - SFO
6.5/10
Efficiency5.0
Access7.0
Services7.0
Cleanliness7.0
Conclusion
I had a memorable flight with Lufthansa. Cabin crew was very good, I always had what I wanted to drink. IFE can keep you from being bored if you don´t have too high expectations. I also appreciate wifi onboard. It was awesome to fly the A346 although cabin could have been better maintained. Landing 40 minutes ahead of schedule is also nice bonus.
Munich airport was very good for transiting. I still don´t know what to think about the security as it didn´t feel like you are flying to United States.
SFO didn´t impress me on this experience. We were stuck at the immigration for about an hour, but that´s due to strict checks for foreigners so it´s probably not SFO´s fault. Very good is airport´s connection with the city, with BART train it takes only about 20 minutes
2 LIKESLIKE TO THANK THE AUTHORTHANKS ! FLIGHT-REPORT LIKED
Thanks for sharing your first Long-haul Report! Great pics, and good detail. Nice spotting pics at MUC and good views of the cabin. The cabin does look a little tired, but definitely cool to fly on this flying cigarette A346!
Thanks for sharing this very interesting report, with some excellent pictures. What about the LH electronic devices restriction? Was the use already granted gate to gate? Second meal on Lufthansa's long-haul flights are always dissaponting :P
Thanks Lol about the second meals, but fortunately on SFO-FRA leg this didn´t prove to be the truth :-)
I did not notice anything special about these restrictions. During pre-recorded announcements it was still said that everything has to be turned off for take off or landing
Thank you for sharing. It's a great report with nice pictures. It sounds like a good flight, with internet and movies to keep you entertained (it's quite a long flight...).
Don't blame your taste buds for the second offering ; it was probably just bad, coming from LH ;)
Thanks for this FR. Nice to have a first wide body and long haul experience on the beautiful A340-600! Again, I'm not impressed with LH long haul service, basic meals and IFE. Your grades are pretty generous.
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8 Comments
What about the LH electronic devices restriction? Was the use already granted gate to gate?
Second meal on Lufthansa's long-haul flights are always dissaponting :P
Lol about the second meals, but fortunately on SFO-FRA leg this didn´t prove to be the truth :-)
I did not notice anything special about these restrictions. During pre-recorded announcements it was still said that everything has to be turned off for take off or landing
Don't blame your taste buds for the second offering ; it was probably just bad, coming from LH ;)
Nice to have a first wide body and long haul experience on the beautiful A340-600!
Again, I'm not impressed with LH long haul service, basic meals and IFE. Your grades are pretty generous.
The plane sure tells it has received its fair share of battering... I think it is a disgrace that LH lets that plane to reach such state.
Catering didn't look too pleasing, and the IFE, I think it is one of the biggest disappointments on the A346s. They're great planes though.
Thanks for sharing!
Great pictures
The cabin looks so tired : that's a shame
I'm not impressed by the food, nor the IFE
San Francisco is one of my favourite cities
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