Here are a few shots of the Premium Select cabin:

Currently, Delta is operating their 11 A350s on the following routes:

• Detroit-DTW <–> Tokyo-NRT
• Detroit-DTW <–> Seoul-ICN
• Detroit-DTW <–> Beijing-PEK
• Detroit-DTW <–> Shanghai-PVG
• Detroit-DTW <–> Amsterdam-AMS
• Atlanta-ATL <–> Seoul-ICN
• Los Angeles-LAX <–> Shanghai-PVG (starts July 2018)

It’s been a nice feature that when booking the A350 routes in Premium Select, you’ll automatically get First Class on the domestic legs. For example:

But, just as a warning, be careful as this isn’t always the case. When I was researching flights for an upcoming trip, I found that on many of the return trips, the domestic connecting flight booked into “Delta Comfort+”:

I thought that possibly First Class was fully booked but there were plenty of seats:

And, to make it worse, Delta Medallion members aren’t even eligible to upgrade:

I observed this same issue out of other cities as well:

No idea what is causing this, maybe a booking class issue? Or possibly Delta isn’t planning on continuing this offering? Either way, double check before you book!

The post Careful: Delta’s “Premium Select” Doesn’t Always Get Free First Class For Domestic Legs first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

Although the city changed from French rule to British rule in 1763, only a mere 1.5% of the population is considered an Anglophone — 95% of Québec’s population speaks French as its first language. Québec City is the seat of Québecois government and about 95% of the people conduct the government in French. With a total of 550,000 people living in the city, appx. 50,000 were provincial government and 30,000 were Federal and government subcontractors…so a LOT of these Québec City residents are fluent in French.

Sure, Québec is French Canadian, but there’s no doubt that these parts were settled by the French not too long ago. Many things about the walled city are similar to Arles, a walled city in “its motherland.” In fact, Grande Allee looks almost identical to a road in Arles. And, FYI: this street is DEAD on a Monday night at 11pm in May…although rumored to be hopping on weekends in the summer.

Even though you surely won’t need as much time to explore this small city as you would in Montreal, the drive up is absolutely, 110% worth it because of the pretty Canadian countryside you pass on the way up and also for the authenticity it offers– despite feeling a bit like a tourist trap.

After wearing shorts in Montreal (in May), just a few hours north (and, granted, a significant cold front coming in), it was literally FREEZING in Québec City. I mean, WTF? All I packed was flip-flops and we’ve only got 1 day in this city…so, as much as I wanted to stay inside, explore we must. The #FWP of a self-proclaimed “adventurer.”

Inside the walled city, the atmosphere is a little more lively, with at least a few stragglers walking along the streets and several bars filled with who I would assume to be fellow tourists. The Saint Alexandre Pub was filled with people at 11:45 pm on a Monday night. We highly recommend it for a little atmosphere– and a break from the numbing cold.

The post Québec City – A Photo Gallery Walking Tour first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

BATHROOM

Proving size was really the theme of the experience, even the bathroom was huge:

I took a quick glimpse of the stairs, just to confirm that we were, in fact, on the 2nd floor:

ON-BOARD BAR

Before turning in for the night, we walked around the cabin to explore the on-board bar.

The bar is situated on the top deck of the A380 aircraft, in-between First and Business class:

It was completely empty when we made our way over.

We were a bit dismayed to find that the bar wasn’t stocked as it normally is due to Ramadan, but you can certainly lounge in the area. A flight attendant came over and said that she’d be happy to discreetly make us a drink of our choice in the galley and then bring it in.

The bone-dry bar

The sitting/lounging area was very nice and had seating for 6. We took a few pictures and then headed back to our seats for bed.

THE SEAT – SLEEPING CONVERSION

Having had plenty of food and drinks for one day, we decided it was time to catch a few zzzzs. The flight attendant swiftly converted the suite to sleeping mode while we got ready for bed in the bathroom.

We returned to find the sofa portion of the seat folded down and nicely made up with comfortable sheets and pillows. One of the coolest parts is that, if the divider between the apartments is lowered, our beds were basically touching, so we had the illusion of sleeping in the same bed, which is a nice option if you’re traveling together.

While in the bathroom, we took the opportunity to change into the provided pajamas which was the perfect decision before hopping into the lavish bed.

Pajama time!

The bed is huge and is advertised as 6 feet 10 inches long!

SHOWER

About 3.5 hours before departure, the flight attendants realized that I was awake and came by to announce that I could have a shower whenever I wanted. I let her know soon after and she set off to prepare it. If one is offered the opportunity to shower at 6+ miles high in the sky, there is no choice but to take advantage.

The shower area was loaded down with Bergamote amenities:

Here are a few poor quality photos, sorry in advance:

Pretty crazy and surreal to shower in the sky. The bathroom is large enough to change in and there’s a hairdryer stocked there, too, so the shower is a comfortable experience.

INTERNET

After taking a refreshing shower, I enjoyed a cappuccino and did a bit of computer work.

I purchased Internet for the entire flight for $21.95 and found it to be quite fast and very usable! A quick speed test rendered download speeds of ~4.5 Mbps but upload speeds of only 0.17 Mbps, good thing sending emails and browsing the internet mostly relies on the download speed.

The sun was up and the rest of the cabin began to stir:

DINING/MEAL SERVICE – “BREAKFAST”/LUNCH

With just a short time before touchdown, the flight attendants came around to set our tables for the final meal service.

Instead of “breakfast”, we wanted to better adjust to Melbourne time and thus ordered more of a lunch since it was around 4 pm Australia-time after all.

We started with a tray of freshly sliced fruit.

And a Bloody Mary, because “why not?”

We each ordered a soup, the “Spinach and Green Lentil” and “Green Pea and Mint Soup”. The pea soup was fine but we found the lentil to be much better. The “cripsy Arabic bread” that it was topped with was delicious, though.

McCown tried the Chicken Breast with “zucchini, fava bean, and lemon risotto.”

I ordered the Gulf Mix Grill with “Mint tikka, lamb kofta, markook roll, muhamarra with labneh” and it was certainly one of the highlights of the onboard dining.

And the most depressing part of the flight was that we didn’t get to see much of the sun as it was already setting as we made our approach to Melbourne.

SERVICE

Excellent service. I think it can be attributed partly to the fact that there were only a total of 4 people in the entire cabin.

At the press of the button, someone is by your side in just a matter of seconds.

You feel like they are almost just there for you (again, because only 4/9 seats are used on this flight), but nevertheless, very professional, friendly and helpful.

And, just like that, our 14+ hour stay in the First Apartment was over as we deplaned in Melbourne.

BOTTOM LINE: Although a 14+ hour plane ride seems like it would drag on forever, this flight literally passed like lightning – we couldn’t believe we were already in Australia! Flying in the first apartment was one of bucket list items (and really, the main reason why we picked Australia as our destination – to have the longest amount of time on-board) and it definitely didn’t disappoint.

The post Etihad A380 First Apartment – Flight EY 460 Abu Dhabi-AUH to Melbourne-MEL – Part 2 first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

The post Photo Gallery: Charleston, SC Snowmageddon / Snowpocalypse 2018 first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

The Deal

• Active departure airports: Raleigh-RDU, Baltimore-BWI, Boston-BOS, Chicago-ORD, Chicago-MDW
  
  
• Destination: Beijing, China-PEK
• Active dates: Depends on the departure city but around January 2018 to April 2018.
• Price range: $614-696 depending on the dates and the departure city.
• You can pretty easily include a stopover at Detroit-DTW on either the outbound or return trip–but no idea why you would want to do that.
• This deal is for the NEW Delta Premium Select cabin on their brand new A350s. The new cabin is a proper premium economy cabin, similar to what the European or Asian carriers have been offering for years. According to Delta, the seats feature 75% more recline and 8″ more legroom than traditional economy.

How to Get It

1. Head to Google.com/flights
2. Enter departure airport as “RDU,BWI,BOS,MDW,ORD” (this will show you all of the options from the area) and arrival airport as “PEK“
3. Select “Premium Economy” as the class of service
   
4. Everything for this deal will route through Detroit-DTW since that is the only route that Delta is currently flying it’s new A350 to Beijing-PEK, so if you want to limit your search to just 1-stop itineraries, you can click to limit the connection airport to only DTW. If you leave this blank or set to “Any connection”, you see all of the multi-stop itineraries that will most likely also go through Atlanta-ATL, Cincinnati-CVG, New York-JFK, etc.
   
5. View the calendar to see the lowest fares available:
   
   
6. Select your preferred flight times. A few things to watch out for here:
   • Make sure your long-haul routes are from Detroit-DTW to Beijing-PEK and double check that the aircraft is an A350 in Premium Economy.
   • The great news with Delta’s new service is that if you book Premium Select for your international routes, the domestic segments book into First Class. Double check that this is the case.
     
     
7. At this stage, you can click to book directly with Delta or, if you search the route directly on the Delta website, you can view a few more options.
   
   

Don’t forget:

• If you book with Delta, you can book today and will have 24 hours for a free cancellation.
• Delta’s Premium Select earns a 50% MQM bonus, so this trip would net 21,000+ MQMs, meaning you’ve nearly earned Silver Medallion with one trip.

BOTTOM LINE:

This is a pretty awesome deal to try out Delta’s new Premium Select cabin for just about $100 more than economy. Redeeming miles for the same cabin would cost ~128,000 SkyMiles so this fare is quite a bargain. As an added bonus, the domestic segments book into Delta First and the MQM bonus will yield 20k+ MQMs for elite status qualification.

The post Blitz Deal: ~$614 RT Raleigh, Baltimore, Boston or Chicago to Beijing-PEK in New Delta A350 Premium Select first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

BOOKING

We booked with Hyatt Cash+Points for $125 + 10,000 points per night. Cash rates are easily in the $500+ range, so it makes redeeming points a very attractive offer.

We used a Suite Night Award and were booked into a “Park Suite King” and “59 to 72 sqm: Sitting area: Shower and bathtub: Flat TV: DVD: Butler.”

CHECK-IN

When we were headed to the hotel from the domestic airport (Buenos Aires-AEP), the cab driver had never heard of the hotel– we had to show him name of hotel– but it wasn’t until he read the address that he finally had a general idea of where to take us. Then, he drove right past the entrance, but we said it was fine and just jumped out at the intersection. Walking up, the hotel staff obviously seemed a bit confused that we were arriving by (what looked to be) foot.

At check-in, she confirmed our stay and rate and said, “we have a great room for you in our historic building” — perfect. As it turns out, there are essentially 2 hotels in one: a newer building with many more rooms and the old, renovated “palace” or mansion, connected by a courtyard (and underground walkway).

underground walkway between the two buildings

ROOM

The room, a Park Suite on the Palace side, was very well appointed but somewhat small. In fact, I’m not sure that it could even qualify as a “suite” as it had no separate sitting area or room, just a bedroom with a very large bathroom. From what we’ve read online, the suites are much larger in the newer, more contemporary building, but we really liked the style, feel and decor of the Palace building with the very stately feel of the deep molding around the ceiling and the huge antique windows.

view from room window

Within a few hours of checking in, two of the “butlers” arrived with our welcome gift: a fruit tray with apples, some type of chocolate snack and a bottle of Malbec wine.

BATHROOM

The bathroom was huge- almost as big as the bedroom itself. There’s a bathtub in the main, open area with the sinks and then a closed-in shower and separate toilet area. Plenty of space for two people to get ready at the same time.

SERVICE

While we didn’t need anything special while we were there, we found the service at check-in, breakfast, etc. to be top-notch. They were very helpful if needed, and friendly- everything we’ve come to expect and appreciate in a Park Hyatt.

Welcome letter

PROPERTY

The historic property feels regal and luxurious and, for us, provided a comfortable home base for our stay in Buenos Aires. While we didn’t get as much time to enjoy the courtyard as we would have liked, the view from the breakfast table was charming and it was nice to have the feel of both an old, palatial building coupled with a new, modern one.

One if the lobbys

Big area with an in house florist

RESTAURANT(S)

Breakfast was included with our stay and was served in the larger, more modern building. Totally worth the walk, though, because everything was fantastic: a very fresh, hearty breakfast that we looked forward to each morning. There were many options and we took our time savoring the breakfast each day. It was on par with other Park Hyatts around the world, but much better than the Park Hyatt Mendoza where we’d just come from.

A few pictures of the other restaurants and bars:

BOTTOM LINE: 

The Park Hyatt BA didn’t disappoint. We’d eagerly stay here again if we found ourselves in Buenos Aires. The luxurious-feel, historic building and delicious breakfast all fit into what we’ve come to know and love about Park Hyatts.

The post Palacio Duhau – Park Hyatt Buenos Aires Review first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

BOOKING

We booked this bucket list flight using American Airlines AAdvantage miles for a total of 60,000 miles; this was before a major AAdvantage devaluation and now the flight would cost you 100,000 miles for the one-way route from the “Middle East” region to the “South Pacific” region. Furthermore, since we both have the Barclay AA credit card, we got a 10% rebate, driving the total price down to 54,000 miles + ~$79 in taxes each for the ~$6,300+ flight. We got even more value than that though since we arranged a 23 hours stopover in Melbourne-MEL before continuing on to Townsville, Australia-TSV in Qantas Business Class.

CHECK-IN

We were able to take advantage of the free Etihad Chauffeur Service from the Park Hyatt Dubai to Abu Dhabi International Airport for our Etihad flight.

Our (free!) chauffeur service

The trip took about 1.5 hours total.

The airport has a dedicated First & Business class check-in area.

And so the experience begins!

First Class check-in desks

We left the lounge and made the (extremely) long trek to Gate 61 in Terminal 3, literally the furthest away from the Lounge.

As we approached the gate area, they were doing a secondary document check:

BOARDING

Knowing it would be dark at the time of boarding, we snuck a few pictures before hopping in the lounge:

Etihad A6-APG sitting at the gate

We made our way down (ok, more so really up since we were on top deck) of the long jet bridge to board the flight.

We took a left after boarding to find the First Class cabin:

While I didn’t necessarily need to be shown to my seat since I’d studied it online numerous times and been counting down the days to this moment, a flight attendant escorted us anyway. She showed us to our seats, 3K and 4K:

Of the 9 First Class seats (well, 10 if you include The Residence), there were just 2 other passengers aboard, so 4 of us total.

SEAT

The seat was, well, let me just type a direct quote from McCown as we got settled it: “OMG. There was what I expected and anticipated from reading many, many reviews and then there’s the real thing. And let me just say, OMG.”

The sheer size and space and privacy are unprecedented and staggering.

The big, leather seat is luxurious and makes you feel like you’re visiting your grandfather instead of couped up on a plane.

The couch is perfect for having company over in your apartment. And then switched into a bed when you’re ready to sleep.

I mean, it’s realistically closer to a throne than a seat:

The empty neighboring suite

View from seat 4K

View of IFE and sofa (that converts to a bed)

The actual seat featured a few tactile buttons as well as a touchscreen for a variety of controls.

It was all really a sensory overload. The tiny compartments, sliding doors and gadgets and gizmos to check out will leave your head spinning.

Here are just a few of the storage compartments:

With the A380 being a nice, new modern aircraft, it did not lack power/USB outlets:

And it wouldn’t be a true “apartment” without your own fridge stocked with a few soft drinks and waters:

Or without a personal vanity table:

The vanity was loaded down with the amenity kit and various toiletries:

The exterior of the compartment, near the door, opens to reveal a tiny closet suitable for holding a few articles of clothing.

I mean there’s just so much space!

Shortly after getting settled in, a pre-departure glass of champagne was offered. It was served with dates and a warm towel.

Cheers!

There was also a nice letter welcoming us to the experience.

In-flight Entertainment

The First Apartment features a giant screen with a great entertainment selection and, at 24″, makes it one of the biggest in the industry, possibly the actual biggest since it looks like Singapore, BA, and Emirates don’t exceed 23″.

The handset was pretty cool because it can be used as a mini TV or as a remote to select and then broadcast to the bigger choice, very helpful since the enormous suite prohibits you from touching the main LCD screen to change the program.

One of the cool features I found was picture-in-picture, meaning you can broadcast a movie and also watch the tail camera.

Did I mention tail camera? I just love that A380 tail camera, it really never gets old.

A little too dark for a good image but you get the idea

So cool to see a bird’s eye view of this mammoth gliding through the sky

While they weren’t name brand and certainly not anything special, the noise canceling headphones worked well enough.

The safety video played and highlighted just how big the A380 is with a ton of emergency exits.

And, as always, Etihad make it easy to find Abu Dhabi and Mecca at any given point.

DINING/MEAL SERVICE – DINNER

Right after takeoff, we were offered a nice Chardonnay with a few snacks such as olives, crunchy Asian snacks (wasabi etc.), warm nuts.

Once the pre-dinner drink and snacks were cleared, the flight attendant came around and offered to set our tables so that we could dine together. It’s still hard to imagine that all of this is happening at 35,000 feet in the sky.

Might as well wash it down with a Manhattan, since they’re offering

Despite not being hungry in the least, we caved in and took advantage of the in-flight dining. I ordered the Steak Frites from the “Lounge and Grill” section of the menu which “offers sophisticated yet familiar favorites.” I tried to order it rare but said they couldn’t with the way they cook it on the plane. We settled on medium rare which was perfectly fine and it turned out beautifully. It was served with onions, tomatoes and Bernadine sauce. The steak was delicious and everything on the plate was really very good.

While I had just one course, McCown wasted no time in ordering 3 in all. Her first course was the Gulf Mezze: “a selection of hot and cold appetizers.” It included a spinach and cheese kabob (more like a fried wrap) and beef kabob (fried beef ball)- the beef kabob was the best thing I’d tasted in days.  Hummus, baba ganoush, tabouli (all very fresh and much better than even expected), served with Arabian bread (pita), pickled carrots and olives.

Somewhere in between, a refreshing dish with grapefruit was served– hard to remember exactly when as the drinks were flowing by this point.

For the second course, we tried the Sea Bass with purple potatoes, asparagus, and carrots. The fish was delightful, cooked perfectly and not too “fishy” at all. It was served with a buttery sauce that made the fish very good.

The final course was named “Textures” and featured 3 types of camel milk-inspired desserts, all with very different textures.  We sampled the ganache, mousse and ice cream. All three were very chocolatey and quite rich but all very tasty. Although it was made with camel milk “flavor,” there was no distinct, unusual flavor.

The full dining experience was awesome, and made that much better since the tables have room for 2!

Continued in Part 2 with pictures of the onboard bar, shower, the seat in sleeping mode, breakfast etc.

The post Etihad A380 First Apartment – Flight EY 460 Abu Dhabi-AUH to Melbourne-MEL – Part 1 first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

Mendoza is quite a small, mostly domestic, airport. They have a few international flights, but mainly just to Santiago, Chile-SCL, just on the other side of the mountains. Our hotel advised us that arriving appx 1 hour before departure is more than enough time to check-in with bags when traveling to Buenos Aires.

BOOKING

We booked this segment as part of a larger Delta SkyMiles award ticket. Finding and adding Aerolíneas Argentinas award space to a Delta award reservation can be a bit tricky, so check out our guides here: Booking an Awesome Argentina Itinerary with Delta SkyMiles + Other SkyTeam Partners and All about our South American trip to Chile and Argentina: Santiago, Mendoza and Buenos Aires.

CHECK-IN

We arrived right at 10:25 am, one hour in advance, and made our way up to the Aerolíneas Argentinas check-in counter. There were only about 3 people in line with plenty of agents available to help. We handed over our passports and checked our 3 bags without any trouble.

BOARDING

There seem to be very few gates and waiting areas, so they had us wait until the small post-security gate was clear. Once we got on the other side of security, the waiting area was virtually empty:

Boarding, from what I could gather, started with rows 22-15 and then everyone else. This makes total sense: let those in the very back board first which, in theory, should speed up the boarding process.

SEAT

Our aircraft was a Boeing 737-700, in a 3 x 3 configuration with appx 22 rows of 6 across in economy + a 1st class cabin with 2 rows of 2 x 2:

We made it to our seats near the back of the plane:

The plane is noticeably older but still in fine shape with cloth seats. The pitch of the seats seemed quite small. It seemed like tighter legroom than most domestic Delta flights, probably more in line with AirAsia or Spirit Airlines.

The plane was only about 1/2 to 2/3 full with lots of empty seats. This might explain why they had already canceled a few of the flights before us in the morning: cancel one and just move those passengers to the later flight.

Seated by the window and ready to take off!

After a quick safety demonstration, we were airborne!

MEAL SERVICE

The drink and snack service was started promptly upon reaching cruising altitude so as to try and serve everyone on the relatively short flight.

While no choice was given, we were handed snack boxes with mini alfajores, cheese crackers, and another small pastry.

If nothing else, the boxes were cool and celebrated the history of flight and the airline

After a short flight, we began our descent into Buenos Aires.

Touchdown at Aeroparque Jorge Newbery, Buenos Aires!

After deplaning, we rushed off to baggage claim and then into the city to start our few days in Buenos Aires!

The post Aerolíneas Argentinas AR 1413 Mendoza-MDZ to Buenos Aires-AEP first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

Because Singapore is a hub, they’ve made sightseeing during a layover very easy! The airport offers free two-hour tours but, since we had more time than that, we opted to DIY and head out on the hop-on, hop-off bus. This gave us the freedom to do things on our own time and see more than the 2-hour free tour, plus Singapore Airlines/Silk Air boarding pass holders receive a 50% discount on bus tickets! We purchased adult tickets for just $19.50 SGD (roughly $14 USD) each once we hopped on a bus.

We knew that our luggage was checked through to our next destination, so we only had our carry-ons. We opted to store most of what we were carrying so we’d have less things to lug around with us all day and found the baggage storage at the airport to be more than adequate. Plus, there’s a storage area in all three terminals, so it’s very convenient no matter where you’re flying in/out (and pretty cheap for just carry-ons since they charge by weight).

Once we were free of everything but the day’s essentials, we headed through customs and right to the metro stop inside the airport (the metro leaves from Terminals 2 and 3).

It takes about an hour to get into the city center from the airport, so be sure to factor traveling time in your layover plan. We got off the metro at City Hall and walked to the nearby bus stop: aptly named City Hall, too.

Once on the Red Line bus, we decided to stay aboard until we found stops that we wanted to explore more, knowing that we’d get to see more stops if we stayed on the bus longer. Here are the stops where we got off for a bit and explored on foot:

• Chinatown: having never been to China, Singapore’s Chinatown was as close as we’d get for a while, we figured. It was pretty similar to other Chinatowns we’ve seen, but still very cool to see and different from the rest of the city.

• Old Customs House (near the Raffles Hotel): The famous Singapore Sling cocktail was originally concocted at the Raffles Hotel. We headed to the Long Bar Steakhouse in the luxury hotel to try it from the original place. It’ll cost ya, though… just one drink costs close to $30 (!!) but it does come with all-you-can-eat peanuts.  

Note: The Long Bar Steakhouse is closed for renovations with plans to re-open in mid-2018, but you can still try the Singapore Sling at the nearby Bar & Billiard Room.

The grounds of the Raffles Hotel make you feel like you’re in a time machine to the colonial era since it was built in 1887. Even in the rain, it was very luxurious:

With just those two stops, we were running short on time, so we wanted to ride the bus through all the stops to see more of the city. One of the highlights? The Marina Bay Sands building with the boat on top! This is a resort with more than 12,000 rooms and a casino — built in 2010. It’s definitely a site not to miss!

Once we made it back to the City Hall stop, off we went to the metro to make it back for our connecting flight. We factored in some extra time to make sure we didn’t run into any issues and we were able to make it through customs easily with no problems.

Our short time in Singapore was awesome (despite the rain) and we’re excited to visit again for a longer time. Some things we learned: the city is very clean – even chewing gum is not allowed! – and it’s very, very expensive. It’s fun to compare huge Asian hubs like Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, etc. and we’re adding more to our bucket list to keep seeing the similarities and differences between these large world-class cities!

The post Singapore City Tour during a 10-Hour Layover first appeared on Weekend Blitz.

BOOKING

We booked this flight using United MileagePlus Miles. We spent a total of 90,000 miles each for the Business Class award, including:

• Lufthansa Business Class Charlotte-CLT to Munich-MUC
• Lufthansa Business Class Munich-MUC to Delhi-DEL
• Air India Business Class Delhi-DEL to Colombo-CMB
• United Economy Class Charleston-CHS to Newark-EWR

We purposely switched our flights around to have the opportunity to fly Lufthansa’s first A350 since it was a bit of a novelty and was still basically brand new.

CHECK-IN

Although most of the check-in was performed in Charlotte-CLT the day before, the gate agent was checking visas before boarding and marking boarding passes to help speed up the process later.

Boarding and visa check prior to boarding

LH D-AIXA waiting at the gate

BOARDING

Boarding was, as I’m sure we’ll be used to soon once in India, disorganized and very pushy. Quite crazy that people are in such a hurry to get on a plane that isn’t going to leave anyone behind.

Instead of breaking the boarding up by class or zone, they had priority boarding of wheelchairs and babies. But, that’s all the announcements they seemed to make as business class travelers just sort of started going through. Then, people were jumping lines; it was confusing and we didn’t know what to do next. Plus, while the priority boarders were still waiting on the elevator to take them downstairs, the business class travelers were streaming past them to get to the stairs….beating the priority boarders onto the plane. A bit odd…especially since this was Lufthansa.

Business Class boarding area, the calm before the storm of pushy people

Once past the gates, the jet bridge had 2 boarding doors, one for Economy and another for just Business Class (well also for First but the A350 is 3 cabin, not 4).

Rounding the corner, we found the bright, new and clean cabin:

Right after boarding we were offered a welcome drink:

SEAT

We quickly got situated into seats 5A and 5C.

The seats on this A350 are nothing new; it’s the same exact Business Class seat you’ll find on their A330s, A340s, A380s, 747-8s, etc.

It is, by all means, a great product, but it is quickly getting outdated as many other airlines have already switched to an all-aisle access Business Class cabin– that is to say: 1 x 2 x 1 as a seating configuration. Lufthansa, by contrast, has installed their standard (and relatively new) 2 x 2 x 2 seating configuration on this brand new plane.

Here’s the seating chart from Lufthansa’s A350s:

The Business class section (split up by a galley and lavatories) has 8 rows x 6 seats for a total of 48 seats.

And, here’s the seating chart for a bunch of other airlines that have received the A350; all of their cabins feature the 1-2-1 configuration:

One small complaint was that there was not a huge amount of storage space. Despite this, there was plenty of foot room for a bit of storage and it’s really hard to complain at all about having lie flat seats when traveling at 515 mph at 34,000 ft in the air.

Other features of the seat:

• Small cubby by side of seat that houses headphones
• 2x power plugs, one for each seat, by feet
• Small cubby with bottle of water and amenity kit by the floor
• Above that: a small place to hold menus, magazines etc.

Time for take off!

Beautiful day at MUC

IFE

While it might just be my imagination, the one thing that did seem upgraded from their standard Business Class seating was the IFE.

Having just taken a flight on a Lufthansa A333 the prior day, the A350 monitor seemed to be substantially bigger and of better quality. Also, the screen was a touch screen that was also able to be controlled by a handheld remote; this is a step up from the A333 aircraft. The screen also adjusted to help with the viewing angle depending on if you’re sitting upright, reclined or somewhere in between.

The movie selection was good, not great, but had plenty of Oscar-nominated new releases to help pass the time.

The TV show choices, however, were pretty bad.

A350

Here are a few A350 specific features:

Cameras

While I realized it’s no longer a complete novelty since it’s been around on the A380 for nearly a decade, I still just can’t get enough of watching the cameras that Airbus is installing on their aircraft these days.

Cabin pressure/humidity

Also, this might be totally my imagination, but I remember thinking to myself near the end of the flight how un-tired I felt despite having already been traveling for 24 hours. I have to think that this was partly due to the lower altitude pressurization settings (I’ve read that the cabins are set to 5-6,000 ft vs closer to 8,000 for a traditional airliner). And partly to the humidity that is being introduced to the cabin to prevent the air from being too dry.

Cabin noise

Upon takeoff, a flight attendant made mention of the reduced cabin noise of the A350. I have to say that I didn’t notice too much of a difference but maybe that’s the goal since you tend not to notice the absence of noise.

Cabin width

The A350s are said to have a wider cabin than other similarly sized aircraft; I think this is all margin, however, since the extra width allows them to squeeze in one extra row of seating in Economy to make it a 3-3-3 configuration. So, in reality, I think the extra width is really only around 18-24 inches max.

Time to enjoy the scenery on this great new aircraft:

Here’s a map of our route:

I thought it was pretty interesting that we totally avoided flying over Afghanistan:

Despite it being a bit out of the way from the most direct route:

MEAL SERVICE

Not long after takeoff, we were served a hot towel along with a cocktail and roasted almonds.

After the snack, we had a choice for appetizers and main courses. For an appetizer, I tried the “Smoked Filet of Trout, Cucumber Mustard Seed Salad and Lime Creme Fraiche.”

McCown had the “Chicken Breast scented with Thyme, Gazpacho Salad, roasted Artichoke and Basil Oil.” It was fresh, roasted chicken served cold. The basil oil tasted a bit like pesto and the dish was very refreshing.

For the main course, I had the “Grilled Corn-fed Poularde with Ginger Chicken Jus, Ratatouille and Pearl Barley Risotto.” Again, it had a great flavor and was very fresh tasting.

McCown went with the Indian option and tried the “Paneer Tikka Lababdar” which was an “Indian Cream Cheese cooked in a savory Bell Pepper, Onion and Tomato Sauce, Ragout of white and yellow Lentils cooked in Tomato and Onion Fond, steamed Indian Basmati Rice sautéed with Cumin, green and black Cardamom.” It was a great, spicy meal.

About 1.5 hours before touchdown, they came around to take drink and dinner orders.

We both had the Indian meal. Served all on 1 tray with appetizer, main and dessert. So, you could basically choose the Western or Indian track. The dish consisted of a few items:

• “Shakarkandi Chaat: Sweet Potato Salad marinated with Lemon Juice, Chaat Masala enhanced by Feta Cheese and Pomegranate Seeds garnished with Arugula Salad”
• “Avial: Stewed Carrots, Potatoes, Beans, Pumpkin and Eggplant cooked in a creamy sauce of Yogurt, Coconut and Curry Leaves, Ragout of green Moong Lentils and fresh Spinach prepared with Tomatoes and Ginger, steamed Indian Basmati Rice sautéed with Cumin, white Lentils and Cashew Nuts flavored with Tamarind and brown Mustard Gains”
• “Steamed Yogurt with Vanilla accompanied by Mango Coulis”

The cubed sweet potatoes with feta and pomegranate seeds on top was one of the highlights. The yogurt, on the other hand, was a bit strong and I didn’t find it very good as it had a bitter taste.

We learned that there was a Nespresso machine onboard capable of producing delicious espresso, so we took full advantage. Oddly enough, though, lattes/cappuccinos weren’t possible, so we just ordered a side of milk. I guess they just don’t have a good way to properly steam or heat the milk to call it a cappuccino.

SERVICE

Service was great. From what we could see, there were all German flight attendants with one who could speak fluent Hindi on board. All pretty attentive and fast. Friendly but definitely not overly friendly.

AMENITY KIT

The amenity kit was a bright blue color and made by Jil Sander Navy. While it was fine, it certainly wasn’t too nice and definitely not anything that I’ll be keeping and using in the future like Thai or EVA Air Rimowa or Delta Tumi kits.

We landed about 12:30 am Delhi time, about 20 minutes after the scheduled arrival time. This was due to airport congestion and caused us to circle for a bit before being granted landing permission:

We were excited to see the “Welcome to India” signs:

BOTTOM LINE: We were thrilled to have been some of the first people ever to fly Lufthansa’s first Airbus A350. The cabin was fantastic and service was great, as well.

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