Lufthansa A380 Premium Economy to Frankfurt and Munich

[yflyer]

I had to fly to Munich for a business trip last week. As often happens, at the last minute my schedule changed, and I had to change and rebook all my flights.

Just as well, the Singapore General Election was also announced for Sep 11, which meant that, among the last minute changes, I would also return to Singapore a day earlier than previously planned, on Thursday Sep 10, rather than Friday, Sep 11, so that I would be able to vote.

It also meant that I would still maintain the slightly dubious “tradition” of almost always being airborne somewhere on 9/11 each year…

[yflyer]

There are many ways to get to Munich from Singapore. SQ flies direct -- the only airline to do so from Singapore.

The ME3 fly to Munich via their megahubs in the Middle East. EK and QR were options. I was tempted to try Etihad (EY), who tempt travellers on this route with 789’s from SIN to AUH, and A380’s from AUH to LHR, but they were full on the outbound sector.

Other airlines such as BA, AF, KL and LH all have one-stop options.

In the end, I settled on Lufthansa via Frankfurt, mainly because there was a promotional fare on the new LH A380 Premium Economy product on the outbound sector, and a late afternoon departure in Y, also on the A380, on Sep 10 for my MUC-FRA-SIN sector, which fit my schedule better than the midday SQ MUC-SIN departure timing.

[yflyer]

Lufthansa flies out of Changi T2. The airport was not crowded when I arrived. A look at the retro (And very cool) flight display board confirmed that T2 didn’t have many longhaul flights in the late evening, so this made for a very comfortable airport experience.



The check-in queues at 9.30pm were not long either, even for the regular Y queue. I was flying Premium Economy that day.



They were offering upgrades from regular Y to premium for S$350 one way.



The flower garden in the T2 airside area remains very popular with passeners.

[yflyer]

I headed straight for my gate at E5. They had a separate boarding queue for First, Business and FFs (HON Circle & Star Gold), but not for Premium Y.

[yflyer]

Boarding began on time. The PE cabin occupies the front section of the main deck.



My aircraft today was D-AIMB, named “München” (City of Munich). This was the 2nd A380 to be delivered to Lufthansa in July 2010. The name of the aircraft is shown on a large plaque next to door M2L.



The PE cabin itself is laid out in a spacious 2-4-2 layout, with generous seat pitch.







Only the emex and bulkhead PE seats have thigh/foot rests that rise from the front of the seat. The regular seats have only slim metal foot rests that are mounted on the seat ahead.



The aisle seats in the first row center block of seats have extra legroom on account of the staircase position.

[yflyer]

Before settling into my seat, I took a stroll into the Y cabin to check it out. This was laid out in conventional 3-4-3, with seats upholstered in a cheerful grey and blue, with yellow accents.





Pitch and recline looked fine.





No obstructions under the Y seats, except for one smallish grey metal box.



Each seat came with a fabric pillow, blanket and headphones.

More on A380 Y on my return flight, which I flew in Economy.

[yflyer]

I headed back to relative spaciousness of the Premium Economy cabin and settled into my seat, in the last row of the PE cabin.



These were comfortable seats. Seat cushions were on the firmer side, but there was ample space and legroom.

Recline was not overly generous, but comfortable enough for me to rest and sleep.



My aisle seat had an obstructed footwell, though (This appears to be the same on the SQ PE product).



This was not ideal, but in practice the obstruction did not give me any trouble since the seat pitch was sufficiently generous.

[yflyer]

These were the window-side seats.





All seats came with fabric pillow, large blanket and headphones (Same headphones as in Y), as well as a bottle of water.

[yflyer]

Large armrest with small drink table.



Brown leather strap along the side pouch.



A very large and sturdy tray table was stowed in the armrest.



This made for an exceptionally stable surface for work or meals.



More leather accents for the seat pocket.



Footrest…



…which was adjustable.



There are also A/C power outlets for each seat.

[yflyer]

IFE was full AVOD on a hi-def widescreen touch panel.





The entertainment selections were good, although the UI was fairly basic.

Headphones with the airline 2-pin plug…



USB port and regular headphone minijack under the screen.



Interestingly, under the armrest, there was a 2-plug socket for the airline headphones, which means there were two possible headphone jacks to use per seat.

[yflyer]

Each passenger was given an amenity kit…

[yflyer]

In the center bank of 4 seats, the aisle seats had immovable armests on the inner side, so you could forget about sleeping 4-across. However the middle two armrests could be raised.



To raise the armrest, press the lever at the base…





In the event, the two middle seats in my row were empty, so my fellow passenger, in the far aisle, and I had ample space.

Bathrooms were just behind the PE cabin.

[yflyer]

Pre-take off orange juice, in plastic goblets, was served to PE pax.

[yflyer]

Menus were handed out.



The first page of the menu outlined the LH PE concept: “More space, more service, more enjoyment…Having a little more of everything lets you fly more relaxed, arrive more rested.”



Two choices of main course on this flight: Chicken breast with barbeque sauce and potatoes, or beef rendang with biryani rice…



…and a nice selection of beverages.

[yflyer]

We pushed back on time…



…and after a short taxi…







…took off gently from Runway 20L (Whoops...I mean Runway 20C...thanks, shikhargpt, for the correction!) with the A380’s engines sounding strangely muted when sitting so far forward.