SimpliFlying » Airbus

Lufthansa Airbus A380 from Frankfurt to JFK inaugural flight: The Best aircraft, Best Airline, to the Best City?

Rachel Levy — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 04:28:42 +0000

**This a follow up article to the LIVE coverage of the Lufthansa A380 inaugural flight to JFK, by Rachel Levy**

On Tuesday, Shashank called me and asked “What are you doing this weekend?” Knowing him, I knew that was probably trouble =p Apparently Lufthansa was going to be flying the Airbus A380 from Frankfurt to JFK for the first time on Monday, SimpliFlying was invited, and the press group was leaving on Saturday. While I love to travel, this was very last minute, but given the opportunity, I said yes, of course.

I didn’t realize, just how incredible this opportunity would be. From flying business class, to a tour of the maintenance hangar, a tour of every inch of the plane, to interviews of the pilots, head of maintenance, a visit to the cockpit dinner overlooking the runway, this was certainly the experience of a lifetime.

The A380 is not new to Lufthansa, nor is it new to Airbus, but Lufthansa is set to be the largest A380 operator in Europe. Airbus currently has 244 orders from airlines, Lufthansa being #3 with 15 planes, after Emirates and Singapore Airlines. Each A380 customer has the ability to customize the plane to their liking.

Welcome to the A380!

The Airbus A380 is a double decker plane with the 2^nd floor spanning the entire length of the plane. The two passenger decks have a total area the same as three tennis courts! Economy class is on the bottom floor and Business/First Class is on the 2^nd floor. It seats 526 passengers (420 in economy), which is 40% more than a Boeing 747. Overall, here are a few of the features of the plane that make it the incredible plane that it is:

Reduced noise foot print
Lowest fuel burn per seat (20% less than Boeing 747-400)
Overall improved comfort level
3 in-flight cameras, including a front facing view from the top of the plane, a rear view, and a view looking straight down. (This greatly enhanced my experience during takeoff and landing, particularly because I was in the middle section so wasn’t able to see out the windows.)

Here’s a look at each seating class

Economy Class

The one feature that stands out in Economy is “living space”, which includes not only the seat pitch, but the overall room and legroom the passenger feels. The seats were very comfortable, and reclined significantly more than other Economy seats I’ve felt, which is important on a long flight. Each seat also has an individual TV with movies, games and TV shows. The Economy Class level is designed with multiple partitions, giving the feeling of a smaller plane, although it seats 420 passengers.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Business Class

Not only did I receive a tour of the Business Class section while the plane was in the hangar, but I was lucky enough to be seated in this section for the flight from Frankfurt to JFK. What stood out to me in this class, was the superior service and attention I received from the flight attendants. In addition, the seats reclined fully into flat beds (although with an 8% pitch, which I found slightly uncomfortable), and included a massager, which I loved.

The menu, prepared by chef David Burke, was definitely not your typical “airline food”. Appetizers included fresh shrimp or a caesar salad, and entrees included chicken or a red snapper. For dessert, I had “cheesecake lollipops”. Yum! The only negative thing I noticed which was not even to do with the plane, was the lack of water bottles, which is important on a long flight to prevent dehydration.

Each seat had access to a private TV, power outlet and a USB port, although wireless internet is not yet available.

Click here to view the embedded video.

First Class

The First Class cabin seats just 8 passengers. Overall, it seems their goal is to make the passenger feel like they’re not on a plane. The walls are light brown suede and the seats are real leather. There are no overhead bins, instead, the passengers stow their belongings in personal closets. The floors are specially insulated for noise control. One of the features that differs from the Emirates A380 is how Lufthansa handles privacy. On the Emirates A380, seats are enclosed in private rooms, whereas, Lufthansa felt it was important for passengers to be able to choose the level of privacy they prefer throughout the flight. While working on your computer, your screen can be down. When you’re sleeping, a screen ascends between the two seats and partially around your seat.

The First Class cabin also has noise control built in. From the extra insulated floor, to the sound insulation curtain separating it from Business Class, and sound insulation in the fuselage. The other unique feature is the humidity level control – first of its kind in an aircraft– has a significant impact on how tired you feel after a flight. Normally humidity levels in First Class are 5-8%, but on this flight, it’s increased to 22-25%.

The washrooms are more “room” than “wash” to me. Not only was the design beautiful, but a changing room was built-in, giving lots of space to change. There are also urinals, which apparently is a nice feature – and also a first on commercial aircraft!

With a First Class ticket, you are entitled to use the First Class Terminal at the Frankfurt airport. Lufthansa is the only airline with this service, which offers service from security check-in to boarding, including private bedrooms, offices, showers, spa services, a dining room and a cigar lounge.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Takeoff and Landing

Landing was not as smooth as I had heard it would be, but I suspect that was due to the weather when we were arriving. Takeoff felt very smooth, especially given the size of the plane.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Here are my photos from the trip:

Photos from Day 1 (hangar tour, dinner, first class terminal)

Photos from Day 2 (the flight and ceremony at JFK)

Overall, this is an incredible plane – I recommend flying on it if you have the opportunity to! I’ve lost my A380 virginity. Have you?

Airlines go on a crowdsourcing binge – co-creating their brands with travelers

Shashank Nigam — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 17:52:40 +0000

On SimpliFlying, we’ve spoken about AirTran’s EveryFlight.com, and more recently about Cathay Pacific’s Art of the Dessert contest, among others. What we see is a trend that shows airlines adopting the technique of brand co-creation, often using social media. Which simply involves the community’s inputs in coming up with new initiatives and rejuvinating current ones.

Here are nine airlines doing it right. Quite inspiring actually!

View more presentations from SimpliFlying.

So, what do you think about these airlines’ efforts? Serious social business, or hot air? Do you know other examples? Let’s discuss in comments, and over on Twitter

Three reasons why Qantas missed a branding opportunity with A380

Shashank Nigam — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:55:11 +0000

Qantas became the third airline to take delivery of the Airbus A380 aircraft last Friday, after Singapore Airlines and Emirates. Qantas has ordered 20 A380 planes from Airbus, the first of which will enter service from October 20, initially flying between Sydney/Melbourne and Los Angeles but in January next year expanding to the Sydney-Singapore and Sydney-London routes. But the fanfare and buzz is nothing close to that generated by Singapore Airlines’ first A380 flight to Sydney or Emirates’ A380 flight to New York City.

Given the significance of being one of the first few airlines to operate the Airbus A380, and since it will once be the 2nd largest operator of the A380, it’s a mystery why Qantas has not capitalized on this event to build its brand further. Moreover, given the recent negative press generated by the string of Qantas safety lapses, there is an urgent need to repair the damage done.

How did Qantas miss this golden opportunity?

Lack of radical product innovation: The four classes Qantas product for the A380 are not a radical improvement from its existing fleet of wide body planes. Moreover, the peculiar seat color choices make the cabin look dull. This, as opposed to the double-bed suites introduced by Singapore Airlines for First Class, and showers as well as a bar introduced by Emirates for First and Business Class, in their A380 planes. Both of these airlines took full advantage of these product innovations and marketed themselves well, rightly so.
Retracting some service features: Qantas has shelved plans to offer live internet access on its A380 planes from next month as American Airlines comes under fire from customers and flight attendants for allowing passengers to surf porn websites. Last year Qantas general manager John Borghetti was talking up the inflight entertainment system on the A380s, saying “there has never been anything like this on board a commercial aircraft”.But the lack of a full internet service will most likely disappoint many passengers who will have to make do with a limited selection of “cached internet content”. This will be a turn off for some passengers, who were probably looking forward to being connected while they cross the Pacific. Moreover, there is little official explanation given to why the service was retracted.
Lack of customer engagement and buzz at launch. Singapore Airlines created an eBay auction for its first A380 flight. Emirates treated an exclusive group of VIPs and media folks to a joy-ride once they landed the big bird in the US. Qantas, ironically, is keeping the event pretty low-key. In an official response from Qantas, this blog was told that, “Much of our media related activity around the delivery and entry into service will take place in Australia, with a very small contingent to be in the first flight on 20 October”. But why? Why not leverage this special event to build the brand further and engage the customers? We wonder.

What can Qantas do now to leverage on the A380 launch?

It’s probably too difficult and expensive to overhaul the product right away. So, it’s got to be marketing what they’ve got well. May be Qantas can play up the fact that they will be the 2nd largest operator of the largest commercial plane in the world. May be they can highlight their in-flight service and the new uniforms. May be, they can come up with better advertisements showcasing their A380 product features,and not just the plane from the outside.

What do you think? How can Qantas lift up their brand image with the first A380 take off in Kangaroo colors? Let’s discuss.