Lufty 744 F v. SQ 380 J

[VC10 Boy]

Well I feel compelled to put pen to paper or digits to MacBook. If you’ll all bear with me I feel this report needs a prologue. You see over the last few months we have been avid readers of the Nickbots trip report, loving its detail, sense of excitement and general wonderment. We were also starting our holiday with Lufty F, and then various carriers round SE Asia before an SQ whale jet ride home. And so we concocted our plan to go one further and write a TR to trump the Nickbots. Oh yes, we were going to include video footage, aeroplane serial number plates, gross takeoff weights and so forth. And yet we fell at the first hurdle as the champagne took effect and we forgot to take even one video.

The whale jet ride home would also be carrying two other Gods of the Air in the form of jhm and Phaleesy. You see it’s now the early hours of the morning here in London and jet lag has ensured I’m wide awake. So as I log into SQ Talk I see these two Gods have beaten me to a TR on the SQ318. So we have failed at the second hurdle too. However, we have a cunning plan so to speak.

You see we’re going to write what we feel is the first direct comparison on SQ Talk of Lufty F with SQ J. In fact you could almost say, with the exception of CX F, any carriers F compared with SQ J.

And so dear reader we begin on a cold (-2C) grey and drizzling London day in early December as our car service drops us outside LHR T2. Oh the sense of excitement is palpable, well with us, you see we’re about to take our Luftwaffe F, or J to connect with F, flight. We walk into the terminal and for those not familiar with T2 LHR, it’s the oldest, nastiest of all LHR terminals. Low ceilings, cramped, just plain horrid really. Now we were about four hours early so I thought I’d see if we could transfer to an earlier flight to allow us more time in the FCT at FRA. The boyf goes off to Travelex to collect some currency and I approach the LH ticket desk.

Hello, could I possible move onto the earlier flight to FRA please. I have a flexible F ticket? No it’s not possible says this women with a touch of Eva Braun about her. To be fair she was from Menzies aviation rather than Lufthansa. It wasn’t a big deal so I left to head over to Travelex. En route I was stopped by Eva Braun to be told she had made a mistake and I could move to the earlier flight but would have to pay £20. I think an LH employee had overheard our conversation. So I go back to the ticket desk with Eva and she amends the bookings, charges £40 as there are two of us, we pay cash and receive two MCO receipts.

Now whilst all this was going on, I had sight of the F check-in desk. One family and enough luggage to sink the QM2. Ten minutes later, and they were still there. So we joined a J queue and were soon at the desk. This too was manned by Menzies aviation. Now I thought Helga here was doing a very good job. She noticed we were travelling in F and went over to the F desk to collect a First boarding folder, then again to get the HON tags to ensure our Tumi’s were first out. I was checked in fine but the boyf had a problem with his tickets as they were out of sequence. Oh yes, Eva Braun had taken money to amend two tickets but only amended one! Helga goes off to chat to Eva and all is resolved.

A fabulous introduction to F I must say and our stress levels were building. You see we had less than 30 minutes to catch the earlier flight now and still had to run the gauntlet of the BAA muppets. No sign of any LH ambassador to escort us through security. Oh No what could possibly go wrong now. You have to laugh at this point or lose your sanity. Security was actually a breeze and manned by humans for once only I happened to look at our boarding passes whilst removing my shoes. Two months ago we had phoned Luftwaffe to request specific seats, had them allocated, and all was showing fine in our PNRs. Helga had decided to ignore this however and chosen different seats which weren’t even together.

We had just enough time to rush to the Senator Lounge where we encountered our very first Lufthansa employee. What a contrast. She couldn’t have been nicer, more friendly, helpful. New boarding passed were issued with the seats we had originally requested. And all it took was 8.6 seconds. Another piece of good news, our FRA flight was delayed by 20 minutes so we could actually go into the lounge and have breakfast.



Now for those not familiar with the Luftwaffe lounge set up at LHR I shall explain. It’s far too small and is split into a SEN side and a general rabble side. Only SEN card holders are allowed access to the broom cupboard side and other *Gs have to sit with the J customers and other unwashed. We had always been in the poor side previously and there isn’t much praise one can say for it other than it’s somewhere to sit. Well the SEN side wasn’t much better. I can see why they restrict access as there wasn’t enough room to swing a cat, let alone a mink.



Choice of breakfast items: cornflakes. Exhaustive list isn’t it? I just took a glass of non freshly squeezed orange juice.

We headed off to the gate when our flight was called. No priority boarding. We decided to wait until all the self loading cattle had boarded. Unfortunately our timing was off and we stood in a queue with whY travellers on a jet bridge that had no heating on a freezing cold day.

[VC10 Boy]

Now the A321 in Lufty Regional config is rather nice. I say nice when compared to say the BA CE product. It’s not nice in comparison to SQ regional J. You have a standard whY seat 3x3 in J but they block off the middle seat and fold down a table between the two. Leg room is increased by 1”. They hung a Christmas decoration on the forward bulkhead where we were sat. It was a nice touch but a cheap looking when compared to SQ.

Now I decided to forgo frustruck as I wanted to ensure I had an appetite for luncheon in the FCT. The boyf partook and actually declared the muesli the best he had tasted in his life! I have to say the crew were rather good, visible, and for a short flight, efficient about delivering a meal service, drinks and so forth.

We pulled up to a remote gate. Hooray, we’d get a Mercedes transfer to immigration. Actually no we wouldn’t. They expected us to get on a bus with everyone else! No private transfer had been arranged for connecting F passengers as was our right. I blame Helga on check-in. Oh well. I must say I was feeling a little miffed about Lufty by this point. Still we had prime position on the bus by the doors and they pulled off as soon as they were full.

No queues at immigration, a brisk walk through the main terminal and we were by the taxi rank. Now thanks to the Nickbots we knew the FCT was a short stroll away. We could have summoned a car however previous F travellers have posted it’s quicker to walk. The route is below a raised car ramp to departures so even if it was raining you wouldn’t get wet. Still it was a full coat, scarves and gloves necessary walk.

We climbed the fire escape stairs rather than wait for a lift and were welcomed into the FCT. And what a contrast. From this point onwards it was like flying a different airline. Our PA who greeted us couldn’t have been nicer, friendlier, charming or with more gracious manners. Female though. You had to go through a private security channel and it was Macbooks out, but it was so unobtrusive you hardly noticed the x-rays. Oh and the lounge – awesome. AWSOME.

We decided to have some lunch, steak (so nice it’s in my top-ten of steaks) with rosemary potatoes for me, and the boyf had some snitzel. Both were excellent and went nicely with a glass (actually, glasses, or was it a whole bottle) of Bollinger Grand Anee.





We then sat down in a quiet corner and read for a while.



Now constantly walking round the lounge were several very cute, and I mean seriously cute, young Germen men. Immaculately dressed, not a hair out of place and they kept our flutes constantly topped with Bolli. It was like having gone to heaven. We both took baths and I think the Nickbots have sufficiently covered the bathing experience so I shan’t repeat it here, other than to note that we had Xmas ducks in our tub and they didn’t.





One other thing I would like to point out is the wasabe nuts. These have to be the nicest nuts I have tasted in my life, ever.



We played a game of Scrabble and all too soon we were being called to board. We were led down to the garage and got chatting to these two German guys (a Government minister and aide) and so they put us in a van together to the aeroplane. No Cayenne for us. I didn’t want to cause offence to the German guys so we climbed into the van with them. They carried on talking so I couldn’t really look out the windows and enjoy the ride. Still pulling up to the steps of your 744 certainly shows how large these jumbos are. I thought we’d have to climb the step to the plane, but no. The jet bridge had a glass lift. Up we went. Kudos to our chauffer who held back the baying hoards of Orgs to ensure we could board graciously.

[VC10 Boy]

The greeting at 2L was warm and friendly although we were basically left to find out own seats. F was going to be full. Now the cabin is old, think Raffles prior to the Spacebed and you won’t be far wrong. Still it does go fully flat, as in 180 degrees fully flat, and there is five miles of legroom. A hot towel, which was, was offered, and we were asked what we would like to drink. The boyf opted for champagne but I noticed it was D Devaux in time and took some water. I did sip his champagne and he said he liked it, although for me I think a good comparison would be Sainsbury’s white wine vinegar.

Amenity kits were Bogner; enough said I feel. Rimowa are now only to be found ex MUC.

After take off we were asked if we would like an aperitif and the dinner menu handed around. I hit the Piper Rare quite hard and I have to say it was delicious. Of course this was F and I have fond memories of Piper Rare on SQ J. I perused the menu whilst tucking into an amuse bouche. I couldn’t tell you what it was but it was jolly nice.



The hors d’oeuvres included:

Poached lobster with yuzu mustard dressing and pickled ginger
Iceberg rolls filled with poulard and vegetables marinated in chilli and lime dressing
Beetroot salad with rocquefort, horseradish and pecked peppercorn.

We had them all! They were incredible actually and the food was amongst the tastiest I have ever consumer above 30k feet. I forwent the salad as I thought it best not to overeat.



For the main course we both had the roast goose with red cabbage, potato dumplings and herb crumb butter. Other options were a loin of veal, fried king prawns wrapped with crab meat and some vegetarian option of eggplant and herb polenta.



The cheese course was nice, Danish blue, Brillat Savrin, Petit Breton, Comte and a Pon’t l’Evaque accompanied by walnuts and grapes. I think I chose three.



For desert I opted for the warm banana and chocolate cake with a caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream. There was also a South-East Asian pudding of black rice with pineapple and coconut.



Oh yes, in-flight entertainment was provided on a screen which came out of a chair. I think the screen was even smaller than the early model 772 with the GE90 on the BA long-haul fleet. To give you an idea how small it was, let’s just say I have seen larger LCD screens on universal remote controls. At first I thought it was like an early 773 on SQ and had no AVOD. It was touch screen, or to be more accurate, thump screen hard. I started to watch Indiana and some Crystal skull but gave up as it was just too small a screen to see any detail.

I forgot to mention. On takeoff you could see the view down the runway and it was shown on an overhead monitor. SK have this too and it is a nice touch I think SQ should adopt.

Shortly after takeoff I had changed into the provided set of PJ’s. The top was quite acceptable being a polo shirt in white cotton with a crest although the trousers felt as though they had been made from a man made fibre such as rayon. They were light and actually quite comfortable but I wouldn’t have wanted to go near a naked flame in them.

As the flight was full there was no chance of an extra duvet. Fortunately the cabin temperature was set way too high for comfort so I used the duvet as a mattress and lay on top of it. Even then I was contemplating removing said polo shirt and sleeping half naked. The seat itself was comfortable enough and I did sleep for 4 hours 16 minutes although proximity to the seat next to you would have made it awfully intimate if one was with a stranger. As I was travelling with the boyf it worked fine, but imagine if it had been someone you hadn’t been introduced to.

Breakfast was fine, in fact better than fine.



I went for the scrambled eggs with bacon and chives. The bacon was crisp and the eggs perfect. Food is definitely a high point on Lufty. The china though was pleasant enough, white Wedgwood if I recall but just a little too plain. They should bring a touch of élan to it. Oh and the sugar came in packets like some motorway service station. Is it too much in F to expect a sugar bowl and silver tongs?

The crew were good. The IFS an actual delight introducing herself, chatting about our holiday plans, although the other crew were formal. Nothing was too much trouble for them, and they were there when you wanted them. It’s just I did feel they could have been a touch friendlier. Oh and there wasn’t a single steward in F. It was all female staff. You expect a bit of eye candy in F don’t you?

As it was the festive season they presented us with two S Claus characters in chocolate.



They were nice enough that we actually took them with us. The landing was technically excellent, smooth, uneventful and the briefings from the flight deck helpful and informative. I was first off the aeroplane and waved goodbye to the crew. Immigration smooth and the wait at the belt a shade under five minutes. Hon Tumi’s off first; I think mine was the second in fact.

So all in all from the moment we stepped into the FCT I have to say the whole experience was favourable. The hard product is so out of date, but the service, food and ambience very good. We both really enjoyed it and would be happy to set foot on LH metal again. In fact when the new bed launches this year it will be the best European F by far I feel.

[VC10 Boy]

Now we flew around Asia in SQ and TG but I’m sure you’re all familiar with these products so won’t go into detail. The trip home from SIN to LHR though was to be our first on the whale jet. We were flying in J but jhm and Phaleesy were in R. You have no doubt already seen their reports and so this may come as a bit of a surprise: it was actually one of the nicest flights I have experienced in a long time. Sorry to give the conclusion away so early in this report but if you’re still with me this far, it’s a safe bet to assume you’ll be here to the bitter end.

T3 at SIN, so how an airport should be. Not like the 3rd world shed we have at LHR but a shining example of just what is possible. If I were an alien choosing a point of arrival on Earth, T3 SIN would be it, or maybe HKG. Anyway, check-in: efficient, nice unfussed from the moment we entered Door 5. In fact from Door 5 to emigration couldn’t have taken more than 4 minutes. As we are comparing F on LH and J on SQ we felt we should visit the SKL business side. I was pleasantly surprised. It’s larger than the f side but otherwise not that different. The range of buffet items for breakfast was vast. I just had some coco pops with milk and a glass of champagne called Leroy Duval. Despite the name it was fine. Lots of magazines, comfortable chairs, plenty of staff who kept wishing us Happy New Year and they were sincere about it. It wasn’t the FCT by a long shot, but that said one of the nicest large lounges I have been in.



We went over to the SLK F side as we were meeting friends, MCS?, Phaleesy and jhm. We only had about half an hour but it was good to see everyone and hear how their holidays were going. The champagne was Charles Heidseik, which we like, but given it’s the onboard J champagne I was hoping for something different. In fact we were all having such a good time that I hadn’t notice a gate change from A4 to B7 and we only had fifteen minutes to take off. We had to rush a bit to make it. Still as we left we were all wished a pleasant flight to London.



The Gate was empty as everyone had boarded already. At security it was Macbooks out again. We wished each other a pleasant flight and so began our first A380 ride. The first thing you notice is the incline on the jet bridge to the upper deck. It wasn’t a problem, just unusual to be climbing rather than descending to the aeroplane. We were greeted at the door by a red kebaya. I expected to be told off for leaving it so late and yet it was the total opposite. VC10 how nice to see you again she says leading me to my seat, taking my coat, offering me champagne, hot towel (which was). Actually on the subject of hot towels one thing I must say is how thread bear TG’s are these days. On SQ by comparison you felt like burying your visage into cotton swaddling. A green tie steward came over and asked if I would like some reading material. Top Gear and T3 were still available even at this late stage so I took those. A blue tie steward then came round with menus and a post takeoff drink request was taken. I went for the Silverkris Sling. The boyf was also receiving a warm welcome and I felt so welcome to be aboard. Occupying the window seat was a seriously cute young man too. So it’s thumbs up all round so far.

Oh the seat itself is pure joy.



Huge LCD screen, an AVOD library that with more choices you actually want to see than anything BA could even dream of, including Summer Heights High. Before we knew it we had pushed back and were taxi-ing out to – not sure which runway as I was disorientated coming out of T3. It was long enough though for us to get airbourne though. The engines sounded better on this Airbus and there was none of the whine you get on an A330 or A340. They were louder than expected but far quieter than the 777s.

Then our first treat. Phaleesy had sent a glass of Krug and Dom up the stairs. A purple tie steward (IFS male) brought them to us. It was funny as he passed the boyf and looked and then came round to my side and looked again. The look was best described, as: Phaleesy must have made a mistake, surely she isn’t associated with these two reprobates. He asked, “Do you know a Miss Phaleesy?” Why yes we say. “She thought you might like a glass of something nice”. And so right she was. So thank you Phaleesy for thinking of us. Later the IFS started chatting the boyf up and invited us downstairs to view a suite. He would take us down after dinner.

[VC10 Boy]

Well if the food on Luftwaffe was good we were in for another treat. The satay was a lot better than on some recent SQ flights. I turned the seat into a flat bed following the advice of MCS? And dined Japanese style and he was right. It looked far more comfortable than the boyf’s approach. You see sat up I felt the table was raised a little too high, even on its lowest setting. Sitting crossed legged however it was just right.



Now the menu:
Balik smoked salmon and eggplant puree with mesclun

Stewed chicken in red wine with selected vegetables and fettuchine (their spelling) pasta
Wok fired beef in black bean sauce sevred with braised beancurd and vegateables, steamed rice.
Phad Thai
Lamb chop in red wine jus with roasted vegeatbales and garlic-mashed potatoes.

Vienetta ice-cream with mango coulis
Gourmet cheeses
Fresh fruit

Coffees and teas.

I must say it was all very nice. The china was nicer than Lufty’s and the food just as divine. Perhaps Lufty had the edge but SQ was excellent. Oh the wines, we had a Wither Hills sauvignon blanc to start and a Heartland Shiraz with the main course. And yes, both were excellent. Actually the red on Lufty was divine rather than just excellent, but by this point I’d consumed far more than I should.









The IFS who was chatting up the boyf appeared and invited us downstairs to suites. He couldn’t have been nicer in actual fact. He showed us round, took photo’s of us in the suites, and convinced us we really should fly it in future. It was so nice of him and nobody else from J was shown around. I think it could have been because we knew someone down there. We didn’t say Hi to our friends as they were resting and we didn’t wish to impose ourselves.

Back upstairs we decided to have a wander into whY. Well it’s shocking really isn’t it. I know Florian said it was very nice but if you ask me a good comparison would have been the slave deck on a Roman galleon.





By now I was even more inebriated – or perhaps it was the altitude but I was in such a happy mood I bought the boyf a Mont Blanc passport cover. I approached a green kebaya in the bar area and asked her to present it to the boyf half an hour before landing. She was so nice and asked me if I wanted to write a card. I declined but just before landing she brought it to him and had even included a Krisflyer bear with a Blue t-shirt. It only dawned on me that the bears have different coloured t-shirts dependent on their class.

Anyway the seat. It surely blows any other airlines J seat out of the water. As a bed it felt king sized, private, comfy. I know flyclub has problems with the buckle but I didn’t find it intrusive at all. I love having a Do Not Disturb button as well. Now a real bonus was having an illuminated make-up mirror so I could check skin hydration levels and apply more moisturiser if required. There were fold down cocktail tables, cubby holes, plugs for you MacBook including a LAN, and USB ports. Incredible, it really was.

Now the lavatory. The boyf and I have a different opinion whether it is larger than those on SK or not. Either way it’s certainly huge. It’s so large that the Smirnoff urination technique wouldn’t have worked (lean back against door and aim). There is a full length mirror, Hollywood starlet mirror surrounded by light bulbs, enough room to change into an arrivals outfit and so forth. No windows and I do feel that SK has nicer marquetry.



The crew were nothing short of fabulous. I wanted a frothy cappuccino sweetened with an XO brandy. Within five seconds of pressing the call button a blue kabaya was there. Of course I could have it. She returned moments later and apologised that she couldn’t find any chocolate biscuits but had found some shortbread. I hadn’t even wanted a biscuit but it was so a nice touch. They were anticipating my needs before I even knew them myself. We chatted about the seat, the whale jet, and even whether black pepper crab was better than chilli crab.

The flight was very long, 14 hours and 16 minutes due to strong head winds, so I had a long snooze and woke up somewhere over the Ukraine. The moment I sat up a green tie steward was at my bedside with a glass of water and fresh orange juice. I hadn’t even stopped stretching.



Landing at LHR was a bit of a thump down and it took a while to attach the upper deck jet bridge, but I got chatting to the very cute guy in the window seat. He was travelling to the UK to visit his girlfriend. Still we ended up chatting about load factors on recent trips and soon we were ready to leave. Now as I got to the foot of the bridge people from whY were already streaming off. Y before J, I think SQ need to hold them back until the upper cabin signals to let them lose. Fortunately none of them beat me to Immigration and there was no queue at IRIS.

On arrival into the baggage hell hole SQ premium bags were already shuttling round the carousel. I have to admit I was surprised but shouldn’t have been. SK and NZ bags are always in the hall when you arrive. Still it was good and no hold ups at customs which was good as I had a lot of DVDs off the night market in PEN which an IP lawyer wouldn’t have been too happy about. Heroes 3, House 5, Glamour Girl 2 and so forth.

All in all this must be my best SQ flight since Oct 03. It may have been a combination of the fact it was a first A380, the brilliance of the crew, or just general joy of flying but there was nothing to say against it.

SQ J is equal to LH F in my book. It’s not fair to compare the two directly as both were great and we would both be happy to step aboard either again. It’s good that we have choices but what actually does stand out for me is how so many airlines are now improving J to the point where you wonder what is the point of F? That front cabin on the A380s upper deck was as private as Suites in many respects. Well with our new office opening in SIN on 2 March I’ll be a frequent visitor to SQ this year.

Another absolute gold moment though was running into jhm, phaleesy and MCS in the Silver Kris lounge and just sharing a glass of champagne. To be amongst others who enjoy flying as much, hear their TRs direct from the horse’s mouth, well that was the icing on the cake really.

[jjpb3]

Scintillating prose, VC10 Boy. A wonderful read. Great pics, too!

Good to see that LH refreshes the Christmas duckies.

I got good-looking German lasses the last time I was there. Lucky you. But ... no pics of the objects of your gaze?

Another absolute gold moment though was running into jhm, phaleesy and MCS in the Silver Kris lounge and just sharing a glass of champagne. To be amongst others who enjoy flying as much, hear their TRs direct from the horse’s mouth, well that was the icing on the cake really.

Again, lucky you. Local celebs, those three.

[Kiwi Mile]

Which routes did you fly the LH sectors? LHR-FRA and then.........?

[phaleesy]

The whale jet ride home would also be carrying two other Gods of the Air in the form of jhm and Phaleesy. You see it’s now the early hours of the morning here in London and jet lag has ensured I’m wide awake. So as I log into SQ Talk I see these two Gods have beaten me to a TR on the SQ318.

VC10 Boy, please use the feminine noun when describing phaleesy. I can do a lot of manly things but I'm still a girl really.

Actually we've not done a TR (yet). We've only piggy-backed our minor rant to KeithMEL's TR. After I've sorted Mr UK Taxman out at the end of the month, I might then sit down and type away.

In fact you could almost say, with the exception of CX F, any carriers F compared with SQ J.

SQ J can be very good. I do not think that LH F is that fabulous. I have only done it twice, so I am not qualified to make a statement based on this small sample size. Still, I find all my SQ J flights (long-haul) and SQ F (short haul) in this past year much better than LH F.

A lot depends on the crew really, as we've found out. Your J flight was better than our R, and my J SIN-NRT was better than my mom's F.

Now whilst all this was going on, I had sight of the F check-in desk. One family and enough luggage to sink the QM2. Ten minutes later, and they were still there. So we joined a J queue and were soon at the desk...

No sign of any LH ambassador to escort us through security.

We had just enough time to rush to the Senator Lounge where we encountered our very first Lufthansa employee. What a contrast. She couldn’t have been nicer, more friendly, helpful.

... and I thought jhm and I were the only ones who use the 'wrong' check-in desks. Actually I'm not sure if the LH ambassador's absence was due to the fact that we used the business check-in (as it happened to me too). The LH ambassador appeared as I was walking to the escalator when I used the F check-in the second time.

Lounge ladies were helpful and work wonders. F check-in person was a complete idiot and refused to check-in my luggage all the way to KL (via SIN on JAL). I was a PITA at the lounge and enlisted the help of a nice lounge lady to sort the problem out.

I am not sure why the car did not come for you at FRA. Are you sure there was no handsome driver standing by the side with a placard saying 'VC10 Boy and VC10 Boy+1'? Guess they were not informed of your flight changes then!

The look was best described, as: Phaleesy must have made a mistake, surely she isn’t associated with these two reprobates.

Or rather the two reprobates downstairs being associated with you two!

Another absolute gold moment though was running into jhm, phaleesy and MCS in the Silver Kris lounge and just sharing a glass of champagne. To be amongst others who enjoy flying as much, hear their TRs direct from the horse’s mouth, well that was the icing on the cake really.

Likewise for me to finally meet VC10 boy and the bf. As I suspected, VC10 Boy is indeed a big sweetie.

[flyingfox]

I declined but just before landing she brought it to him and had even included a Krisflyer bear with a Blue t-shirt. It only dawned on me that the bears have different coloured t-shirts dependent on their class.


I've seen blue, red, and white shirts on them.
Which goes with which class, if this is true?

[HUGE AL]

Actually we've not done a TR (yet). We've only piggy-backed our minor rant to KeithMEL's TR.

Read: Hijacked.

[WittyBoston]

this is a great read...a nice respite from studying for wretched exams.

[WittyBoston]

PS: the orange is really tiny..

[VC10 Boy]

Which routes did you fly the LH sectors? LHR-FRA and then.........?

FRA - PVG in just over 10 hours

[VC10 Boy]

PS: the orange is really tiny..

That's because it's a kumquat

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumquat

[flo]

Wow, great report VC10 Boy! I really enjoyed reading this one ... about Y class on the 380: you are right - from your photos it does not look nice at all.