This report covers the "HKG-FRA" leg of a return trip from Edinburgh to Hong Kong that was as follows :-

EDI-LHR - BMI Business
LHR-BKK - Thai Economy
BKK-HKG - Thai Economy

HKG-FRA - Lufthansa First(!!)
FRA-EDI - Lufthansa Business

The trip was booked using almost my entire balance of BMI miles - the main goal was trying to get as many business class flights as possible,
so I was delighted when the BMI agent offered me a first class flight back from HKG on LH.
I snapped it up - here is the report.
Apologies for the quality of some of the photos as they were taken using a camera phone - should still be viewable though.

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Route: Hong Kong to Frankfurt, Germany
Airline: Lufthansa
Flight number: LH739
Aircraft: Boeing 747-400, D-ABVK
Seat: 83A, First Class
STD:13.30, ATD: 13.45
STA:19.10, ATA: 19.15
Date: Sunday 17th of September

So this was it - the return leg of trip to Hong Kong and it was going to be in First Class!!

I was staying in the Jordan area of Hong Kong so I got to the Jordan MTR station, and a few stops further on joined the Airport Express at Tsing Yi.
The public transport system in Hong Kong is a breeze compared to the UK and the whole journey was hassle-free.

Got to the Lufthansa desk around 2.5 hours before flight-time and walked straight up to an empty First/Business Class desk.
The desk agent checked me in promptly and handed me my boarding card and a pass to get me into the United Red Carpet Lounge.
I'd been assigned seat 83A, upstairs at the left-hand emergency exit, so I was guaranteed even more leg-room than the cabin already provided.

Made my way through the airport, which is massive. So big in fact, that there is a train that takes you to the most distant gates (which is where I was heading).
Found the United Lounge and was escorted in by the lady at the main desk.

First impressions were that the lounge was much smaller than any I had been in before, but I then realised that this is probably due to the small number of passengers that are in there at any one time.
Nice big comfy chairs and you could either sit in a more private area, or have a great view over part of the gate area.
While I was there an EVA Air 747 turned up and taxied directly in front of the lounge. There was a fair smattering of other Asian airlines as well.

Settled down and helped myself to some Special Fried Rice and Lasagne (very tasty!), a few cans of juice and the obligatory cookies!



Overall the lounge was very nice - extremely peaceful and on comparison with other lounges I've been in, albeit Business ones, it really did stand out.
So there I sat for about 90 minutes enjoying the peace and quiet and the coming and going of planes outside.

First Class Lounge


First Class Lounge


Eva Air 747 that turned up outside


Aircraft at various gates....



At about 1300 I left the lounge and headed for the plane. It only took about 5 mins to get there and when I got there I entered through the Front Left door (makes a change from normal!). The steward at the door then directed me back through the Business cabin to the stairway leading upstairs.
So up I went onto the upper deck of a 747 for the very first time.

Of the 16 seats up in the First Class cabin, 12 were taken and 4 were empty, including the one next to me.
When I sat down, directly in front of me was a small trolley containing the amenity kits, socks and pyjamas and on the other side was the drinks cart.
The drinks cart stayed there for the whole flight, whereas the other one was taken away before take-off.
We were given our kits and then treated to a glass of champagne with nuts.



First Class toilet...with window!


I found the seat itself very comfortable, although, something I hadn't expected was the slightly different curvature of the windows next to me, which made it slightly harder to see out than it is in Economy. I presume this is to do with the different fuselage shaping upstairs on the 747.

Anyway - I sat back and enjoyed my champagne until the time came to taxi for take-off. Everything was cleared away and we headed off the to the runway.
There was no delay once we got to the runway and soon we were up in the air and sailing over the southern expanses of Hong Kong, getting great views in the afternoon sunshine.

Soon after, the seatbelt sign went off and I settled back to check out the IFE, which I was pleased to discover, was AVOD and not the "video-cassette" system I was expecting. Nice touch-screen with a fair selection of music, films and games.

If only every flight could be like this!


I also tested out the seats recline functions to see just what it could do. It was fully flexible right back into a lie-flat position and made for a very
comfortable flight.

The food throughout the flight was excellent, although it did seem to take a long time to get it all served up at each mealtime.

Starter


Main Course


..and the pudding!!



Second starter later on...


Me in my seat......


Overall, the cabin had a very spacious feel to it(not surprisingly) and certainly gave out an aura of exclusivity.

Sent a couple of e-mails from my PDA using the Wireless internet connectivity they had on board. It seemed to work very well with no connection problems at all.

The 11hr flight passed very pleasantly and even though it was a daylight flight, the window shutters were closed for a few hours so we could get some sleep if necessary.

Only problem is that now I'm going to be expecting this on every flight - it's the only way to travel!!!

Hope you enjoyed the report......