TRIP REPORT: Lufthansa, Tokyo - Belgrade via Frankfurt

TRIP REPORT   

Flight date: 22.2.2024.
Purchase date: 10.11.2023.
Flight time: 14h 25min. HND-FRA, 1h 55min. FRA-BEG.
Total flight duration (HND-BEG): 19h 30min. including 3h 10min. transfer at FRA.
Flight numbers: LH717 (HND-FRA) and LH1410 (FRA-BEG).
Aircraft: Boeing 747-8 and Airbus A321.
Full ticket price (BEG-HND and back): Lowest economy fare, little less than €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.

Outbound Belgrade - Tokyo via Frankfurt  

I have to start this trip report with a question. How would you react if you saw this message?

I was actually laughing when I saw this, but when I started rebooking my journey, it wasn't that funny. First, I tried using their customer support bot to rebook me, but that bot was useless. Then I saw that Lufthansa has an office in Tokyo at HND airport. It wasn’t there even though that location was listed on Lufthansa’s official website. Lufthansa’s check-in desks were nearby, so I went there and asked the agent if she could help me. She told me that if I wanted to rebook, I’d have to call their customer service via payphone (you’ll see images below).

I tried to buy a sim card instead, since my e-sim expired on that day. After hours of searching for a sim card, one worker told me that they don’t have physical sim cards, only e-sim for internet, and you can’t make phone calls on e-sim. That same worker also told me that if I wanted to call someone in Japan, I would have to use a payphone. Since I had no choice I used one, and it was actually fun using it, not gonna lie. :)

After about half an hour of waiting, I started speaking with their customer service agent. She tried to rebook me on the same day, but I told her that she could rebook me even after the 21st. She rebooked me on the same flight, but on the 22nd, and I booked my hotel room for one more night. I later found out that the airline was responsible for taking care of the hotel, and I found out about that after I had already paid for one more night at the hotel. Oh well, you live and you learn from your mistakes. I didn’t have much energy to call Lufthansa again for that issue, and who wouldn’t want an extra day in Tokyo?

Anyway, let’s continue with the trip report. I arrived at Haneda Airport about two hours before the flight. The queues at the check-in desks were huge, and it took me about 45-50 minutes to check in, again.

After checking in, I wandered around the airport since I couldn’t find security and passport control. Eventually, I asked one lady, and she told me where to go. Finally, I found it. If you wear shoes above your ankles, you need to take them off at the security, and they offer you slippers so that you don’t go through barefoot.

Security was quick, and so was passport control, since they use an automated border control system. Terminal 3 looks beautiful and has a big duty-free area. A lot of the shops are luxurious. But it also has some down-to-earth shops, vending machines, and convenience stores like 7/11. Where I went to spend my leftover coins. These working desks are almost everywhere. Free wi-fi is available as well, and you can charge your phones/laptops at your gate.

Even though boarding commenced a little late, and the queue was really long, it was quite fast. We again boarded in groups. After entering the plane, there were pillows and blankets waiting on every seat. Pushback started exactly 10 minutes behind schedule, and after about 20 minutes of taxiing, we took off.

The crew waited a little longer to hand out headphones and menu cards, 46 minutes to be exact. I also had the same issue with the IFE, the left earpiece didn’t work again. Twenty minutes after they handed out menu cards and headphones, they started lunch service with mini crackers, and an hour and ten minutes later, they finally served us our meals. Two options were available: Linguine pasta with creamy sauce, tomato sauce, mixed bell pepper and green bean, topped with parmesan cheese and parsley (I chose that), and Pork cutlet bowl with tonkatsu sauce and steamed rice. They were also serving beverages during the entire lunch service, but I only drank water, so it’s not really something worth mentioning.

After lunch service, every passenger received a 0.5l bottle of water.

Four and a half hours after lunch service, the crew gave us a mid-flight snack, which included salmon onigiri and a chocolate bar. Interestingly, on the flight from Frankfurt to Tokyo, the crew didn’t distribute a mid-flight snack. Other snacks and chocolate bars were available in the galley, at any time. The flight was super smooth, I don’t recall any turbulence at all.

Since the flight was packed, there was always a line of people waiting to use the toilet. The entire flight people were standing there (tell me in the comments if that is normal on long haul flights). I assumed that some of the toilets at the back of the plane weren’t working properly. After another four hours, the cabin crew started dinner service with the hot “towel”. I know that it is not a real towel, but it still feels very bougie.

One option was available for dinner (vegetable fried rice with fresh fruits as a dessert).

It tasted great, I must say that I am truly surprised by Lufthansa’s food quality. Again, beverages were served all throughout dinner service, but I chose to drink only water. 45 minutes prior to landing, Lufthansa’s signature chocolate bars were served. We soon started descending towards Frankfurt, and shortly after we landed. The landing was so hard, it hurt my back a little bit.

We landed on time despite departing a little late. Transfer wasn’t spectacular this time, since the airport was pretty much deserted, and you couldn’t really do proper planespotting at night. However, there was one thing that stood out about this transfer, and that was the SkyLine train at FRA. I just followed the signs to my gate after disembarking, and they took me to the SkyLine train stop. It was so exciting to ride that train, since it was my first time riding it. :D

After exiting SkyLine, I wandered around my gate, and eventually just went straight to my gate waiting for boarding to start. An hour or so before we were supposed to depart, I checked Lufthansa’s app and saw an equipment change. They changed our aircraft from A319 to A321. Boarding started on time, and we entered the plane quickly. The legroom on both flights was amazing. Being 184cm tall, I had plenty of legroom. The captain told us that we would be delayed. The reason was that the baggage handlers were informed about the equipment change after they had already started sorting luggage in the cargo compartment. Felt sorry for them. :(

After a 40-minute delay, pushback started. The captain was speeding through taxiways, and we departed only 10 minutes after pushback.

You again, really?

US military aircraft

Since I was tired from traveling, I fell asleep right after takeoff. Even though I was asleep, chocolate bars and a bottle of water were put on the seat next to me. Really appreciate it.

I woke up just before the descent started, and only had time to eat those chocolate bars and drink that bottle of water before landing. The landing was smooth this time, we touched down 15 minutes behind schedule, and disembarked after another 15 minutes.

Novi Sad

Embraer E195 involved in Marathon incident

Also, Lufthansa offers free wi-fi for messaging apps on their short-haul flights. It is interesting that the much older A321 had wi-fi on board, but the newer A320neo (which I flew on from Belgrade to Frankfurt) didn’t have wi-fi. There were also other options to buy wi-fi on board, and the prices were fairly reasonable.

I have to ask why there is no lift, or escalator pointing downwards when you disembark the airplane. It needs to be installed for clumsy people like me who forget their passport in the seatback pocket (I’m a little embarrassed to share this). Even though the building is almost brand new, there is a little issue with the floor. It has started to look a bit worn out, so I don’t really know for how long that floor will last, if it’s already showing signs of poor quality materials.

Anyway, now comes THE GRAND FINALE of this trip report. One of the flight attendants was so awesome that she let me go inside the cockpit of a 747. The captain was even more awesome, as he allowed me to sit on his seat. xD

Conclusion: Lufthansa’s crew is absolutely fantastic, honestly, I would fly with them again just because of their crew. Their hard product definitely needs an upgrade, it is showing its age. I like that you can now enjoy messaging for free on their short-haul flights. Their low prices and extensive network is what makes them competitive over other airlines in the region, along with Turkish Airlines. Flying to Tokyo with TK would cost about the same as LH, but as I said in my previous trip report, I wanted to fly on a 747. Also, LH’s employees were striking a lot around the time of my travel, and that was the reason why my flight was cancelled. I haven’t seen many strikes after that, so I am glad that they resolved that issue.

I think that they started improving, and they are doing it slowly, but there is still a lot more to go.

Thank you again for reading this trip report, I hope you have enjoyed. :)

Also, I wanted to share some pictures I took while I was in Japan.

Guess the airplane :D

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