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Review: Lufthansa Business Class A320 Nice to Frankfurt
If you’re just tuning in…welcome! You’re amidst the trip of a lifetime: my mom’s $125k surprise birthday trip around the world celebrating her 75th birthday. We started this epic journey in Boston, where we all positioned for our Cathay flights to China, and every destination was a complete surprise for my mom. Not once did she know where she was going until she received her boarding pass. We just wrapped up our very last stop, Cannes, France. There we stayed in the iconic Intercontinental Carlton Cannes, making it our base of operations for trips to Monaco and Grasse, France where we toured the Molinard factory. It was there that she fufilled one of her life long dreams of seeing where the perfume she’s worn for over 50 years was made. It truly was a great ending to a trip of a lifetime. However, I had one last surprise that not even my dad knew about. That’s where Lufthansa Business Class from Nice to Frankfurt comes in.
I had told both my parents that a big goal of the trip was that they would circle the globe in the best first class products. They’d flown Cathay First, Singapore Suites, Singapore First, and the Etihad Apartments. One first class that I love is Lufthansa First Class. I’d told my dad that I could only find 2 seats in Lufthansa First, and that I’d have to figure out a different routing back to America for myself. Truth be told…I’d snagged 3!!!!
I told them that I could actually check-in at the same time as them and would get them going on their return flight back. However…when I walked over to say goodbye, I told them I was coming along, and we were all going to be in FIRST together! Woot woot!
The Deets:
- When: April 2017
- Where: Nice to Frankfurt
- Loyalty: Singapore Air Krisflyer
- Cost: 80k +$300
- Flight: LH 1069
- Plane: A320
- Cabin: Business
In order to get to our Frankfurt to Dallas Lufthansa First Class flight we had to route from Nice to Frankfurt aboard an A320 in Lufthansa Business.
If you aren’t familiar with the Intra-Europe business class it’s consistently this…
Look familiar? That’s because it’s just economy with the middle seat blocked. You’ll also received some and beverage
Overall:
I flew Lufthansa business from Dublin to Frankfurt last year. The best thing about being in business within Europe is that they sort of turn the other way if you have excess carry on baggage. Or at least they have in my experience ( they did this when I flew last year as well) Since we were continuing onward in First from Frankfurt to Dallas we weren’t questioned at all about carrying on some extra baggage in cabin during check-in. The A320 overhead is fairly small, and each of us had a rolling bag, plus a “personal item,” and I also had a garment bag. Had we only been able to route in economy to Frankfurt I don’t think we would have been able to carry on as much as we did. We also lucked out that the biz cabin was fairly empty with lots of overhead space. Miles may have muscled his way to the front during boarding…
Is it worth flying up here if it’s your only flight? Depends on the price and if you have elite status which gives you priority boarding, a free checked bag, etc. As far as the free meal and the roominess…it’s not worth a whole lot to me.
You don’t have to stop here. Check out how we paid $5k and took a $125k Surprise trip Around The World to celebrate my Mom’s 75th
Flights:
- Boston to Beijing
- Beijing to Singapore
- Singapore to Bali Roundtrip
- Singapore to Dubai
- Abu Dhabi to Cannes, France
- Etihad Airways First Class Apartment A380 Abu Dhabi to London ($8k)
- Etihad Airways Business Studio A380 Abu Dhabi to London ( $3500-5k)
- British Airways Club Europe A321 London to Nice
- Cannes, France to Dallas
- Lufthansa Business Class A321 Nice to Frankfurt ($10k)
- Lufthansa First Class A330 Frankfurt to Dallas
Hotels:
- Boston
- Beijing
- JW Marriott Beijing, 1 Bedroom Suite ($450 for 5 nights)
- Club King ($250)
- Singapore
- Bali
- Singapore
- Dubai
- Abu Dhabi
- Cannes, France
- Dallas
- Grand Hyatt DFW ($150
- JW Marriott Beijing, 1 Bedroom Suite ($450 for 5 nights)
Lounges
- Boston
- Hong Kong
- Beijing
- Singapore
- Bali
- Singapore
- Abu Dhabi
- Etihad First Class Lounge
- Etihad Business Class Lounge
- Etihad Shave Experience
- London
- Nice
- Frankfurt
- Lufthansa First Class Lounge Frankfurt Terminal A
Afternoon Tea
TIPS:
- When to look for Cathay award space
- How we booked 3 Singapore Suites
- 5 things we loved doing in Singapore that avoided the heat
- Never trust the concierge
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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