Bali and Beijing Trip Report Wrapup

Here’s a guide to all of the posts from my recent trip to Bali and Beijing in Lufthansa First Class and Thai Airways First Class. Hope it’s been a useful and enjoyable read.

Some final thoughts:

According to Great Circle Mapper, we traveled 24,329 miles in the course of our 7 flight segments. I certainly feel we got our miles’ worth of flying.

There’s nothing like a full Thai massage, in a proper spa environment, prior to a flight to relax in advance of travel. Thai’s First Class departure services ex-BKK actually are “Smooth as Silk”

I’d rate Lufthansa First Class above BA for sure and better than North American First Class products (United/American), at least until the new First Class (both hard and soft product) is widely available on United. But Lufthansa First pales in comparison to the First products offered by major Asian and Middle Eastern carriers. The food is good, though somewhat inconsistent. The seats really need an update – which supposedly is coming. And service is heavily crew-dependent.

The First Class Terminal in Frankfurt is awesome, especially the drama of the Mercedes or Porsche to the plane. But I actually rate the Thai Airways First Class Bangkok departure experience above the Lufthansa First Clas Frankfurt departure experience.

And Lufthansa service – while good compared to what I’m used to on United – is not in any way at the level of Star Alliance partners Singapore, ANA, or Asiana. (Or this trip, compared to Thai, but that’s been the exception in my limited experience).

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. Thank you for taking so much time to write these detailed reports. I have read every word and have really appreciated it!

    I just booked a LH awards itinerary myself this morning, although it’s in J so I won’t get to check out the FC terminal in Frankfurt. I have to conserve those extra miles for now. 🙂

  2. Really enjoyed reading your trip reports. They have a lot of value and advice to maximize the trip experience. I always visit your site to see what new promos there are even though I also read Flyertalk.

    Keep it up.

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