Purchase date: 10.11.2023.
Flight time: 2h 05min. BEG-FRA, 12h 45min. FRA-HND.
Total flight duration (BEG-HND): 19h 45min. including 4h 55min. transfer at FRA.
Flight numbers: LH1411 (BEG-FRA) and LH716 (FRA-HND).
Aircraft: Airbus A320neo and Boeing 747-8.
Full ticket price (BEG-HND and back): Lowest economy fare, little under €1000, plus around €100 for seat reservation on every flight. (€100 is total price for all four flights)
Luggage: 2x23kg checked luggage and 1x8kg cabin luggage.
Since this was my first time flying long haul and also my first time flying that far from Serbia at 19 years old, I wanted to share my experience with everyone. First, I have to apologise in advance for any hiccups in this trip report since it is my first time writing one.
I arrived at Belgrade Airport at about 5 am, a little less than 2 hours before my departure. However, the queue at check-in was already long, and it took me nearly 50 minutes to check in. There were a lot of group travellers, which was a little bit annoying since they needed a lot of time to check in, but oh well, it is what it is.
There was a dog near the queue, which brought a little bit of a positive atmosphere. :)
After checking in, I went to the airport security and I don’t know if it’s just me, but the security area still looks unfinished (as far as I know it is), and quite unpleasant :/ . Feel free to tell me in the comments your opinion on it (since this was my first time ever flying out of BEG, I don’t know how it looked before Vinci took over). The security and passport control were fast and efficient. Though, a man working at the security was a bit grumpy, but I still didn’t allow that to ruin my mood. I also forgot to mention that my luggage was checked all the way to Tokyo.
I would love for that departure board to be operational again one day
After passing the security, and that duty-free construction maze (which was honestly quite a unique experience), I went to my gate and waited for boarding to start. What was also surprising for me was that we were boarding in groups. I didn’t know that airlines do that since I only flew once before in my life and it was with Ryanair. Boarding started about half an hour before the scheduled time of departure, and it was smooth. After a pushback, and a short taxi to the runway, we departed right on time at 06:45 am. You’ll see a little surprise about this aircraft after we land, here is a little sneak peek. :)
Look at that golden sunrise takeoff.
Cabin crew started "breakfast" service, 10 minutes after takeoff. They first handed us a bottle of water, and then a few minutes later they gave us a little chocolate bar. They actually skipped me, as I was trying to sleep. Since I couldn’t, I asked them after the service if they had any chocolate bars left, and the flight attendant was so lovely that she gave me three pieces instead of one. :)
There were also usb-a and usb-c slots available.
The rest of the flight was uneventful, though the landing was a bit hard due to winds in
Frankfurt. We arrived around 10 minutes ahead of schedule.
Approaching Frankfurt Airport
There’s that little surprise I was talking about earlier, I didn’t even know that Lufthansa had that plane
Five hours might seem like a lot for transfer, but considering the size and what the airport has to offer, it actually flew by. I ate some German pretzels and spent a little bit of time at McDonald’s, which was conveniently located near my gate. The rest of the transfer time was spent only on planespotting. Mostly 747s, since FRA is the kingdom of 747s (or should I say queendom), and also some other rare birds, like the A340’s. :)
After some great planespotting, it was time to go back to my gate and board the plane. There were options to upgrade to higher classes right before boarding, but the fares were unbelievably high in my opinion. €420 economy to premium economy, €1150 economy to business, and €850 premium economy to business class. Pushback started about 20 minutes after the scheduled time, and after 15 minutes of taxiing, we took off.
Twenty minutes after take off, the cabin crew handed out menu cards and headphones. Ten minutes after that, they started lunch service with mini crackers. After another ten minutes, they gave us our meals, though I noticed that they started serving a small number of passengers first. I assume that those people pre-ordered their meals online since Lufthansa offered that option. Forgot to mention, there was also a pillow and a blanket on every seat.
I chose beef-gyu with apple soy sauce. (I forgot to take off the foil for the photo) :(
The meal was very tasty, I was surprised at how good it was. After finishing our meals, the crew handed us a 0.5l bottle of water for the night. The flight was generally smooth, except for little turbulence above Kazakhstan. Snacks and chocolate bars were available at any time at the galley.
Since the flight departed on February 9th in Europe, because of the time difference, we were flying above China on February 10th. Which was actually the date of the Chinese New Year, and I remember even seeing fireworks at about 7 am. Really once in a lifetime experience.
Beijing Capital International Airport
About an hour after the spectacular fireworks, the crew started breakfast service with hot towels. It felt so luxurious even though it was not a real towel, but still. Half an hour after the hot towel refreshment, breakfast was served. One option was available this time (scrambled eggs with chives and spinach, fruit yogurt and a little chocolate bar). The breakfast, however, was slightly less tasty than the lunch was. The eggs were runny and felt like they'd been undercooked. Except for that, the rest of the breakfast was good.
I wanted to share with you how fast we were flying after we left mainland China. Those tailwinds around Japan and China are crazy. Also, I need to say that there is something wrong with Lufthansa’s IFE. The left earpiece didn’t work when I tried to watch something on my IFE. Then I asked the crew if they could give me another pair of headphones, because I thought that they were not working. After they handed me another pair, I plugged them again, and still, the left earpiece didn’t work. I also tried IFE on the seat next to me, since it was not occupied the entire flight, and both headphones had issues with those two IFE screens.
About 45 minutes after breakfast we started descending towards Haneda Airport, and soon enough we landed. The views during landing were amazing, and so were the views during taxiing.
Landing and taxiing at Haneda Airport
HND Airport, Terminal 3
. JAT crew on duty in Japan. :)
Conclusion: I didn’t have many expectations, since a lot of people only had bad words about Lufthansa lately, and I was honestly positively surprised. Their crew is absolutely fantastic, they’re very positive and polite. I was also impressed by the legroom, I am 184 cm tall, and had plenty of space. The seats were big, and very comfortable. It wasn’t flawless, there was an issue with the IFE, and the breakfast also had one flaw. But considering the price and that you have 2 pieces of checked luggage plus cabin luggage, I think that they’re okay. Turkish Airlines also offers two pieces of checked luggage for about the same price, so they are probably a better option, but I wanted to fly on a 747. It’s up to you to decide between “lux” flying or flying on a unique aircraft. Air France doesn’t even offer any checked luggage for a much bigger price. I also chose LH, since it flies to HND which is much closer to the city (I randomly booked a hotel and had a direct metro line from the airport to the hotel xD).
Thank you for reading this trip report, I hope you’ve enjoyed. :)
I also wanted to share how a Japanese passport stamp (or rather a sticker) looks like
Share your travel experience by submitting a trip report to exyu@exyuaviation.com
Very nice report.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading it.
Thank you!
DeleteIFE is fine, it's just that you need to plug the earphone in the other hole in the armrest. Once you do that the earphones work fine. Anyway LH IFE is mediocre at best and the coolest thing you can watch is the moving map.
ReplyDeleteLH gets a lot of hate because their product became subpar. Before covid on BEG-FRA you would get a sandwich or a big cookie with a selection of drinks which were served twice. Now you get water and 5 gr of chocolate.
Long-haul was somewhat improved as they brought back the pretzles but they still don't serve a drink at the same time. Overall their product is much worse than TK, KL or AF.
There were two jacks for the earphones, so I think that it wasn't possible to plug just one jack. I don't remember that detail sorry, but will try to do it another time.
DeleteOh wow I didn't know that they downgraded their service that much. They now offer free wifi for messaging apps on their short and medium-haul flights, so let's hope they improve their soft product on those flights as well.
Well I honestly don't mind that detail about not serving drinks at the same time as meals, and I chose them over other carriers just because I wanted to fly on a Boeing 747, which is a rare aircraft to fly on nowadays.
They didn't serve them with the meal. They would hand out the snacks and right behind them another crew would start the drink service. Then once you finished the pretzles they would serve food and another round of drinks. That's how it is now on US carriers and AF/KL.
DeleteDL has like 5 rounds of drinks on flights from Europe to the West coast (SEA, LAX and even SLC).
Oh actually that was exactly the same service of drinks on this flight. Snack, than drink, than meal, and after they handed out meals another crew served drinks. Sorry for not remembering those details, few months have passes since this flight, so I forgot some of the things and now you reminded me of them. Also I only drink water on flights, so that is probably another reason why I haven't payed much attention for drink service.
Deletehave passed*
DeleteVery interesting and nicely written trip report. It was really a pleasure to read it from the start to an end. I always fly with Turkish, Qatar or Emirates to Far East and now you gave me idea to think about giving chance to Lufthansa next Februrary.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Well their product is still not as good as on those carriers you are flying on, but give them a try.
DeleteWell done.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteNice and easy read.
ReplyDeleteThank you, I tried to write it concise, but at the same time to not miss something.
DeleteThe meals that get served first are special diets. The regular service begins only after the special diets have been served.
ReplyDeleteVery nice report and some great pictures!
ReplyDeleteThank you, next trip report will have even better photos.
DeleteThanks for the trip report. An interesting insight into LH long haul.
ReplyDeleteI also like Lufthansa long hauls. My opinion is that TK is overrated, esp.lately!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I also think that they are a bit "isfolirani".
DeleteVery nice report and great pics.Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much!
DeleteI had a trip this June from SJJ to HND via FRA.
ReplyDeleteBecause my SJJ-FRA flight was very early in the morning, I did not get any sleep, and my FRA-HND flight, that lasted about 13h, pased by very quickly as i passed out just after they served lunch. I woke up just before the ladning.
Funny enough, FRA-HND flight felt shorter than SJJ-FRA :)
My flight to FRA was also very early in the morning. Even though I had two hours of sleep that night, on my flight from FRA to HND I slept for about an hour or so, the rest of that flight I was awake. I travel a lot by bus so being "trapped" in a seat is not something strange to me, but I simply cannot sleep when I am seated. I can for about an hour or two, but that's all, no matter how much I am tired I simply can't.
DeleteNice report and what I like the most, you took a lot of photos. So interesting to see Lufthansa's "pride" plane with the rainbow colours and those fireworks photos over China look amazing. How did you like Japan? I have never been there, but I am thinking to potentially go there next year as well. Thanks for sharing your flight experience with us.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for the kind words! That Lovehansa plane was also surprising to me to say the least, and indeed those fireworks in China were amazing. Well I mostly spent time in Tokyo, and what I liked the most about it is that you don't really feel that you're in the most populated city on earth. Everybody respect your personal space as much as they can and everybody is clean, they don't use perfume at all but they are all clean. Also do not expect everyone to be super nice to you, nobody will be rude or mean to you like people from Western Europe can be towards tourists, but you'll know that you are a tourist in Japan, they are a little bit distant and reserved people. I also spent two days in Nagoya and noticed that people there are a little bit less distant and warmer but not too warm, just enough to make you don't feel that you're a tourist there. I hope you understood what I was trying to say and I didn't confused you.
DeleteThat's great to know. I have been to many European countries and around the US/Canada. It's time to try a different continent and Japan sounds like a great option to do it. We are also thinking to do Tokyo and then maybe take the Bullet train to Kyoto. Thanks again for sharing your experience and hope to see more reports from you in the future :)
DeleteThank you very much I hope I will travel more too so that I can write more trip reports. Trust me you won't be disappointed in Japan, also if you travel from Tokyo to Kyoto on a bullet train, try to reserve a window seat on the right side because if the weather is good, can see mt. Fuji through the window on the right side of the train.
DeleteAmazing report! Wishing you many more loveplanes and queens of the sky, and trip reports for us. ;)
ReplyDeleteThank you very much, I'll try to fly on those "exclusive" planes as much as possible. xD
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