by Lufthansa Flyer | Jul 30, 2012 | Airlines, Trip Reports |
Lufthansa’s marketing department had recently posted a video on Youtube highlighting a “photo shoot” featuring the 747-8i. The photo shoot video (watch it below) takes a behind the scenes look at the efforts that were required to complete photo and video shoots for upcoming video and print advertising that highlight the passenger experience in the newly designed cabins.
I always find it interesting to see these kind of “Behind the Scenes” videos and hope you enjoy this one as well.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozaHmO4vwv8[/youtube]
I had the good fortune to fly on the 747-8i 2 days after it entered service in June and had my own “photo shoot” from the first class cabin where I happened to be the only passenger to be seated in the cabin on the flight from Frankfurt to Washington. It was one of my best travel experiences, ever.
Regardless of cabin, if you are looking at traveling on Lufthansa to Europe I highly recommend you try to fly aboard the 747-8i for a great experience. Currently, the only US departure point is from Washingon DC, but plans call for using future 747-8i’s on Lufthansa’s Los Angeles and Chicago routes. Stay tuned for those announcements!
by Lufthansa Flyer | Jul 30, 2012 | Airlines, Trip Reports |
In a few short weeks, I’ll be heading out for a few days in Singapore. The trip came on relatively short notice and at quite a surprise thanks to the tech issue that allowed for the award booking of Singapore First Class seats through United’s Mileage Plus while Singapore was undergoing a technology upgrade a few weekends ago.
Being that I’ve never been to Singapore, I’m reaching out to you for advice on things to do while I am there. Thus far only 2 things are set in stone. One, my flights are set. Normally most of my international travel involves Lufthansa, but in this case, considering the circumstances under which I was able to book the trip, I’ll be flying on Singapore Airlines (Star Alliance member) for the first time.
I’ll be flying United from Grand Rapids to Houston and from there it will be on Singapore Airlines from Houston to Singapore via Moscow. On the return, it will be Singapore-Hong Kong-San Francisco on Singapore and then San Francisco-Chicago-Grand Rapids on United:
The only other item on my agenda that is set is my hotel. I’ll be staying at the Grand Hyatt and will be in a good position to compare and contrast this property against the other Hyatt properties that I had stayed in during previous trips to Hong Kong, specifically the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong, and the Hyatt Regency Tsim Sha Tsui.
Apart from these 2 items on my itinerary, there’s little else on my itinerary and this is where I hope you can help. On past trips, you have given me fantastic recommendations on places to go and things to see in Istanbul and Hong Kong. I’m hoping that will be the case with Singapore as well! For your efforts (as was the case in my other trips), I’ll bring back souvenirs from Singapore for the individuals responsible for the top 3 places that are suggested (as determined by me).
Thanks in advance for your ideas and suggestions, I look forward to sorting through all of them!
by Lufthansa Flyer | Jul 12, 2012 | Trip Reports |
It seems like I had a bit of a mid-summer travel slump this year but things are starting to perk up and look promising for the rest of 2012.
After enduring a week of temperatures readily in the 100-105 range (a rarity for us in West Michigan and this New Yorker) I’m beginning to look forward to my travel calendar for the fall and winter and I’m liking what I see.
This weekend it’s off to New York City for an overdue visit with family (Mom’s guilt trips finally taking their toll: “You go to Europe 3 times and Hong Kong once already this year, and you can’t visit your parents?”). Yes Mom, point made 🙂 , see you Saturday. Hopefully she’ll make her famous stuffed cabbage to mark the occasion….
Then later next week it’s a visit to my wife’s family so we’ll be off to Southern California for a few days to cool off. My wife will fly the typical GRR-ORD-SNA run while I decided to get more creative (thanks to HIPMUNK!) and am taking the far more “practical” route of Grand Rapids-Newark-Orlando-Los Angeles and returning via Los Angeles-Cleveland-Grand Rapids. The irony with my booking is that I will earn approximately 50% more Premier QUalifying Miles (United Mileage Plus) than my wife will for her flights, but yet I spent $20 less for my ticket.
Once that trip is over, August will be full of tee times and then some of the big trips start to appear on the horizon as we head into Fall.
Thanks to intervention from not of this world this past weekend, Singapore Airlines (SQ) had released (inadvertently I suspect) most of their First Class seats to a handful of Star Alliance frequent flyer programs including United’s Mileage Plus, Air Canada’s Aeroplan and US Airways Dividend Miles. SQ was undergoing a technology migration last weekend similar to what United and Continental had undergone earlier this year which is what led the opportunity for these redemptions. Typically SQ does not release any First Class inventory to Star Alliance carriers so this was certainly Christmas in July for those of us who were in the right place at the right time! The Flyertalk.com and Milepoint.com threads for these frequent flyer programs lit up last weekend and resembled feeding time at the zoo as we all hunted for our opportunities. One FlyerTalk member claimed to have spent approximately 1.4 million miles on First Class tickets on Singapore flights (that’s could be 10-14 bookings!). I felt like I was “cheating” on Lufthansa when I was booking the trip, but I couldn’t resist booking a ticket for a seat that is otherwise not possible to book.
Long story short, I took modest advantage of the opportunity and booked a great trip to Singapore in early September. I’ll fly from home to Houston and connect to my flight to Singapore. Along the way I’ll have a 1 1/2 hour stop in Moscow. After all is said and done with that flight, I will have had the good fortune of being in a First Class seat for 22.5 out of 24 hours. After 2 1/2 days in Singapore (calendar constraints kept me from staying longer), I’ll fly back via Hong Kong and San Francisco spending another 19 hours in Singapore’s lap of luxury. While in Singapore, I’ll stay at the Grand Hyatt, and will take advantage of my Gold Passport Diamond status and use one of my Suite upgrades to experience their hospitality. The last time I did this, I was blown away by the Grand Hyatt in Hong Kong.
October will most likely have a trip to Europe on my favorite airline (do you need a hint? 😉 ) to visit family in Slovakia and perhaps a couple of days in Frankfurt. Hopefully the new terminal (Terminal A+) at Frankfurt will be open by then and I can get a good look at it.
Late in November, I’m part a small group of frequent flyer friends who are planning on visiting Vienna and Frankfurt to take in the Christmas Markets that last through the Holiday season. As a part of this trip, we’re planning an informal gathering at Lufthansa’s First Class Terminal in Frankfurt on our departure date so that we can take home the best souvenir of the trip, the 2012 Lufthansa First Class Services “Christmas Duck”.
My plans for that trip are to arrive in Zurich on a SWISS flight, then take the train from Zurich to Innsbruck, spend a day or two, then continue via train to Vienna. IF the weather holds up, I should get some fantastic views of the Alps. From Vienna it’ll be a short Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt where I’ll spend a day or two and then home from there. (hopefully on the 747-8i again!).
And if that isn’t enough, there will be my 2nd annual mileage run to Hong Kong in late December to top off the mileage account and lock in “1K” status with United for 2013.
Granted it’s only July, but I’m excited about the 2nd half of 2012. Up until only 3-4 years ago travel was just a minor interest but since then that interest turned into a hobby, which proceeded to morph into an obsession and is now a full-blown addiction. I suspect there are worse vices one could have!
2012 will go down as one of my busier travel years, and the plan for 2013 will be to be busier yet! What about you, what does the rest of the year hold in store for your travels?
Lufthansa’s marketing department had recently posted a video on Youtube highlighting a “photo shoot” featuring the 747-8i. The photo shoot video (watch it below) takes a behind the scenes look at the efforts that were required to complete photo and video shoots for upcoming video and print advertising that highlight the passenger experience in the newly designed cabins. 
