We landed on time from London and parked on a gate in A Terminal, however we had to be bussed back to the terminal for some unexplained reason.
Back in A Terminal, I needed to get the train to B Terminal.
It only took a few minutes to transfer but once there, there’s quite a trek to get to security.
Only one lane for Priority, which was obviously not enough as I was requested to move to the main queue.
It never ceases to amaze how some people have no clue about going through security. The guy in front of me had a full bottle of water in his bag and moaned when he was asked to bin it.
Took a while to get through Security but once on the other site, my flight was leaving from Gate B28.
I went to the gate and it was absolute pandemonium as the flight seemed to be full and boarding was delayed.
I managed to get 10 minutes in the Lufthansa Lounge for a quick drink and was back to the gate, where chaos was still on the menu.
Finally after another 15 minutes, boarding started with families and people needing assistance.
After another 10 minutes, First and Business Class was invited to board but only using the automatic gates, which are fine for a smaller plane but with almost 100 seats in Business and another 8 in First, it was a free-for-all.
Waiting for us was D-ABYM, a brand new 747-800, not even 6 months old.
First impressions of the business cabin were really good.
Lots of space and storage around the seat, nice large screen and a plush pillow and blanket.
Comfort kit by Moleskine including a specially commissioned little notepad, was a really nice touch.
This is the brand new Lufthansa Business Class seat and it shows.
Seat goes fully flat and develop to a just under 2 meters bed.
Pre-take off drink offered and accepted. Champagne was like nectar after the chaos of the terminal.
Cabin crew in Business was exclusively feminine, with German and Indian ladies on duty.
After take-off, tables were set up for lunch and drinks offered.
The whole meal experience was lovely, see the menu below (my choices on bold)
APPETIZERS
Filet and Rillettes of smoked trout with Lime Sour Cream and Cucumber Relish
Murgh Chat – Tandoori Chicken with cream cheese marinated with imli and green chutney, garnished with mixed bell peppers and chili
Goijia – Stuffed Chickpea Dumpling marinated in yogurt sauce, served with chutney
SALAD
Seasonal Leaf Salad with tomato tarragon dressing
MAIN COURSES
Corn-fed Poulard served with tomato leek stew, red wine marinated onions and potato gnocchis
Goah Fishcurry, Dal Makhani, Pudina Pulao – South Indian Fish Curry in creamy savoury coconut tomato sauce, served with 5 lentil ragout and rice with fresh mint
Paneer Lababdar, Mutter Palak, Gobhi Pulao – Indian cream cheese in savoury tomato onion sauce, served with green pea and spinach stew, cauliflower and basmati rice
CHEESE AND DESSERT
Alp Cheese, Chaumes and Bavaria Blue with Apricot Chutney
Bieramisu – Tiramisu Bavarian style with Weissbier Sabayon
Fresh Fruit
WINES
Champagne Besserat de Bellefon, Cuvee des Moines, Brut
2013 Hallgarterner Mehrhoelzchen Riesling trocken, Vineyard Bernhard Mehrlein, Germany
2013 Dona Paula, Estate Chardonnay, Lujan de Cuyo, Argentina
2011 Terremore, Maremma Toscana IGT, Marchesi de Frescobaldi, Italy
2008 Chateau Mazails, Cru Bourgeois, Medoc, France
After all those delights, I was feeling pretty full. The lights were dimmed and I watched Maleficient (really good film!) and then decided to test the bed.
Really comfy when in lounge position but even better when fully flat.
I slept for 2 hours despite the fact that I wanted to avoid sleeping on a day flight.
About 90 minutes before landing, we were served dinner. See the menu below.
APPETIZERS
Wheat Salad with Thyme cooked Poulard
Sabzi Buhni – Vegetable salad of broccoli and bell peppers marinated in yogurt
MAIN COURSES
Vegetable dumplings with rape blossoms
Meen Moilee, Palak Methi Mutter, Kaju Kishimishka Pulao – Basmati Rice with raisins, cashew nuts, onions and mint accompanied by cod poached in coconut milk with ginger, chili, tomato and spinach
Spinach Raviolis
DESSERTS (I skipped the dessert !)
Rasmalai – cream cheese ball with sweetened milk with chopped pistachio
Semolina Flummery with cherry compote
All of that served with the complete assortment of drinks.
Cabin was then readied for landing and we landed very smoothly on one of Delhi’s runway, just before 1am.
A pretty short (in Delhi’s terms) taxi and we were docked to the terminal.
A reasonable walk later, I was at immigration and queued for about 10 minutes.
Immigration was sorted in about 1 minute, my best score so far in 8 visits to India
Off to the luggage carrousel and it took about 25 minutes for my bag to appear but no big deal…
Through customs and surprisingly no officer around to take the customs form …
Then I was out of the terminal, searching for my driver amongst what seemed about 100 people holding name posters
All in all, Lufthansa really hold on something with their new business class.
Loved the seat, loved the food and loved the service.
I didn’t enjoy most of my time in Frankfurt Airport, this is probably the only let down of the whole experience but again nothing of LH’s fault.
I will definitely considering Lufthansa again for my trips to India, should Virgin not be within budget.
My return flight will be with Austrian (as planned) so I will have a good comparison between both airlines.
Already looking forward to it !
Last edited by julmops on 09 Dec 2014, 22:34, edited 1 time in total.
