Graduation and first anniversary present!

[NDiddy]

Well back in the Senator lounge which thankfully hasn't closed yet (hours are 05:00 - 22:00) and I hope it will remain open until we have to board. Back to the TR.

Flight Details

LH2233 - CDG -> MUC
Aircraft: Aribus A320-200

Scheduled departure: 17:15
Actual departure: 17:20

Scheduled arrival: 18:45
Actual arrival: 18:40

Seats: 2A/2C - Middle seat blocked out but not inaccessible.

We used the priority lane and avoided what was a pretty full flight. 1 spare seat in J. Not sure about Y.

The Bird:


The seats were actually very comfortable and the space was more than adequate. The Diddy's had the second row and I only chose this to avoid the bulkhead that limited the space in row 1.









The good thing about the middle seat being blocked is that you can lift the armrests and the Diddy's had a mountain of space. The Mrs put her handbag under the middle seat and had enough space to cross her legs albeit with a sideways posture.

 

[NDiddy]

Supper was served and consisted of a ham salad, chocolate mousse and dark chocolate apples (kind of like chocolate raisins). Surprisingly good and filling meal considering I didn't have that much in the lounge in CDG so I was pleasantly surprised.



If you like bigger tray tables then definitely choose row 1 middle/window and the tray tables are built into the bulkhead and are way bigger than the in-seat ones:



View of the bird from the bus at Munich to take us to the terminal:



I've flown Lufthansa a lot in Y in my early days of the cheap *A RTW tickets and I really do enjoy flying with them. Great service, decent food and a very solid hard product for the duration. Will and hope to fly them again intra Europe.

 

[NDiddy]

Munich airport is a breath of fresh air compared to CDG. We arrived at the G gates and had to transfer to H for our BKK flight. There is a priority queue at passport control which was totally empty and the Diddy's used this to avoid the masses that were gathering from connecting Intra European flights.

I made the mistake of checking in via the Lufthansa website rather than Thai thinking that it would only show our CDG to MUC flights. However it checked us in for all the flights to Sydney which means that the Diddy's were separated again. Clearing passport control we went to the very friendly Lufthansa Service Centre who advised us that the seats could only be changed at the gate and to go there about 1.5 hours before the flight as it would definitely be manned then. Armed with this info (and to be honest not really that worried) we made our way to the Senator Lounge.

Nice lounge and def a better atmosphere than the one in CDG. Lots of space with Business/First class being separated.

Senator Lounge entrance with lockers on the left to store any hand luggage you didn't want to lug around in the lounge:



There's also a sleeping area with 4 beds and blankets if you wanted to take a kip between flights:



Main area:



Non alcoholic section:


Some hot and cold food - not a great selection but good enough:

 

[NDiddy]

A good bar with a great selection of drinks and even made to order coughtails:



Seating area next to the bar with some very comfy leather chairs:



I settled for a beer to start with (when in Germany and all):



While Mrs Diddy went for the classic daiquiri:


All in all a very functional lounge and good alcohol selection though the food could be more substantial. Going to try re-boarding now and see what happens. I just overheard a pax mention a technical issue being the cause for delay so hopefully nothing too serious or long and we can be on our way.

Next stop BKK and I'm very much looking forward to the ground services from Thai as I feel a bit unloved in Munich Let me know if you have any questions on the above as I'll be happy to answer them.

 

[amaroo]

amaroo thanks for the terrific recommendation. We did indeed visit AU35 based on your post and lunch was positively delightful. Lovely service and pretty much a full house. Gorgeous little place, thanks again!

What a great way to finish off the d'Orsay

Glad you gave it a go....lovely little place. Should have told you about my favourite bar in that part of Paris, just a short stroll from AU35, Bar du Marche - have enjoyed many laughs in here!

 

[QF WP]

Have really enjoyed reading this TR as it's taken me back to my trip to Europe in May 11.

 

[LadyC]

Your dinner at Le Cinq sounded wonderful - love that sort of stuff. Did you book far in advance?

 

[NDiddy]

What a great way to finish off the d'Orsay

Glad you gave it a go....lovely little place. Should have told you about my favourite bar in that part of Paris, just a short stroll from AU35, Bar du Marche - have enjoyed many laughs in here!

Thanks mate - would have love to check the bar out but as with all these things time wasn't on our side. I'll certainly remember this the next time we're in Paris though

 

[NDiddy]

Have really enjoyed reading this TR as it's taken me back to my trip to Europe in May 11.

Glad you enjoyed it Lindsay - we had a great time and I love doing these TR's for everyone to share and get some ideas and perspective for their trips.

 

[NDiddy]

Your dinner at Le Cinq sounded wonderful - love that sort of stuff. Did you book far in advance?

It was truly wonderful LadyC. Not sure if you've left Paris or not but hope you had a great time. Just in the F lounge in BKK lamenting that this trip is already over

We booked Le Cinq about 6 weeks out from our reservation. It wasn't full when we were there but it was busy so best to book to be safe. And give yourself time if you're doing the degustation. Took about 4 hours for our culinary journey.

 

[LadyC]

Left Paris now, currently overnighting in SIN before heading home with QF. Hope the delays didn't cause any issues - we were an hour plus delayed heading out of CDG but no connections so not an issue. Looking forward to your TR wrap up

 

[NDiddy]

The delay in the MUC-BKK flight tuned out to be a malfunctioning engine 1 indicator light. Pilot came on the PA and explained that it had been all sorted out and apologised profusely for the delay. A lot of the german pax weren't impressed and there was an interesting line forming at the check-in gate just prior to us actually boarding:





The aircraft:



Although the delay was an inconvenience, the Diddy's were extremely grateful that the Senator Lounge remained open as it made passing the time a lot more bearable. Nevertheless I was also thankful that the delay wasn't a more serious problem as plenty of watching Air Crash investigation has made me more nervous than I used to be but I'm much better than 3 - 4 years ago.

 

[NDiddy]

Sadly I would not experience the new F in the refurbished 747 (despite Thai showing 9F on the 2nd of Jan for this flight). We were originally allocated seats 1A/K and I changed this to 2E/F when we arrived in Munich. However when we got onboard we changed our mind and decided to choose 1A/K just to experience it as we had 2E/F allocated for the BKK-SYD flight.

Flight details

MUC-BKK
Scheduled departure: 21:50
Actual departure: 23:15

Scheduled arrival: 14:20
Actual arrival: 15:10

Seats: 1A/K

Only 4 pax in F including us and the other 2 pax decided to sit in 2A/3A. It really felt like we had the whole cabin to ourselves and with only 4 pax the cabin service we received was easily the best we had on this trip if not in my travelling history.

 

[NDiddy]

Some additional photos:







Bathroom:





Stock standard Bvlgari amenities. The bathroom is your standard size Y bathroom with the amenities but cleaned very regularly. Mind you with only 4 pax, the Diddy's had 1 bathroom to themselves which meant freshening up just prior to landing not rushed.

 

[NDiddy]

The menu for this leg:

 

[NDiddy]

Menu (cont'd) wine:

 

[NDiddy]

Shortly after take off we settled for another Dom and it was time for the meal service to begin.

First Serving - Canapes



Caviar



First Course - Lobster tail, Grilled Scallops & Vegetable Salad

This was delicious

Main Course - Roast Pork Fillet, Roast Sliced Bacon, Potatoes, Mixed Vegetables



Dessert - Cheese Cake and Chocolate Baroque with Wild Fruit Sauce



I skipped the fruit and cheese platter as I was keen to get some shut-eye. Meals were delicious and at the conclusion of the meal service I politely declined a Dom nightcap only for the F Cabin attendant to give me a wry smile and say "this will help you sleep better". Sold! Got about 4 hours of sleep which was decent for a 9.5 hour flight.

 

[NDiddy]

Slept relatively well but could have used an extra hour or 2. Cabin crew came around and handed out hot towels and it was time for the breakfast service to commence.

Opted for the cereal, fruit and an apple juice to start off with:



And then settled for the Egg Terrine with Tomato and Spinach Cream sauce, Beef sausage, Boiled Pork loin & Roseti Potato



This was a truly great flight. Loved having the empty cabin and was absolutely blown away with the cabin crew. We had some great conversations with them throughout the flight and they really made this leg very memorable. Good vis into Bangkok and we landed 50 mins behind schedule to our awaiting buggies

 

[NDiddy]

Made our way to the F lounge at about 15:30 after de-planing and then having to go through security. Would have liked a bit more time in here but we were desperate for our last massage of this trip. Booked the spa for 16:00 and chose the Thai oil massage again.

F Spa photos's
General waiting area when you enter the lounge:



Suite 1:







F pax waiting area after you finish your spa where you can have some tea and very healthy snacks:


Of the 2 massages that I had this one was the best. Didn't get a choice of oils like last time but it really didn't matter. The first time around I was in suite 4 which I feel was much bigger and better laid out. It was also at the end of the suit corridor so you didn't (and couldn't hear) the foot traffic and staff walking around. This suite also seemed a bit more susceptible to hearing the general PA announcements so if you can request suite 4.

 

[NDiddy]

Took a while to get the oil of this time around and as a result we only ended up back in the lounge at about 17:25. Wasn't tempted to eat anything to just ordered a champagne and waited for the lovely assistants to come and collect us for our flight. Not quite sure why they don't offer the buggy service to the gate but we took a long walk to C9 which is the last gate of the C section. There was a manual bag search being conducted at the gate (which wasn't done on our flight to Paris) which took another 5 minutes or so but there was only a smattering of lingering passengers so it didn't take too long.

Flight details

BKK - SYD
Scheduled departure: 18:20
Actual departure: 18:28

Scheduled arrival: 07:40
Actual arrival: 07:20

Seats 2E/F

My recommendation on seat selection if flying as a couple is 3E/F and then 1A/K. Row 2 seems a little bit crowded and the aisle really narrows at this section so you can sometimes get an unintentional bump. Chockers F flight with all seats taken. When we were escorted to our seats, a lovely cabin attendant had a chat with us saying that he had just finished speaking to the cabin staff of the muc-bkk who mentioned how lovely we were and to take good care of us. What terrific work by Thai staff. Really made my evening hearing this

Didn't take too many photo's of the cabin this time around as you guys are probably over seeing it but snapped a couple: