A farewell flight from New York JFK

Gabe Leigh marks the retirement of the Lufthansa Airbus A340-600 with an overnight economy flight from New York JFK to Frankfurt. He calls it a beautiful and special aircraft and explains that, although the type is leaving the fleet, the economy product on board is much like what passengers find on other Lufthansa long-haul flights. Terminal 1 at JFK gets no praise from him: he expects long queues on departure and arrival, with the widebodies parked at the gates as a consolation prize. He sits in 40K, beside the staircase to the lower deck, and likes the seat because it feels private. Row 7 has the better wing view, he says, but the view from behind the wing is not bad either. While waiting for one of the last A340-600 departures from JFK, he notes that only about a month of operations to JFK and Washington Dulles remains. After takeoff he points out how quiet the aircraft is for a jet more than twenty years old.

The economy cabin and the service

Each seat comes with a blanket and pillow, a fold-out cup holder and reasonable legroom, and the sick bags carry playful text. Gabe finds the seats soft and comfortable enough for economy and likes the dignified, slightly old-school look of the cabin. With a flight time of about six and a half hours he does not mind sitting up overnight. He has one strong complaint: passengers who do not pay for a seat in advance are put in a middle seat at check-in and are still asked to pay to move, and in his experience Star Alliance Gold members of partner programmes get no free seat selection either. The shared power outlet at his seat does not seem to work. He is pleasantly surprised by a small pouch with eye shades and earplugs that carries the Lufthansa 100-year branding, followed by a snack mix, ginger ale and sparkling water, dinner and a standard US bottle of Crystal Geyser water.

The downstairs lavatories and the landing in Frankfurt

The most distinctive feature of this aircraft is the lower deck, reached by a staircase from the main cabin. Gabe shows five lavatories down there and a surprising amount of open space, which he jokingly calls a lavatory lounge and compares to a light version of an A380. Over Ireland breakfast arrives with a small pastry, a Nature Valley bar and a hot towel. He praises the crew as friendly and efficient and says he has almost never had a bad crew on Lufthansa. The flight ends with a foggy landing in Frankfurt. Gabe says he would recommend Lufthansa economy and the A340-600 if it could still be booked, jokes that a further delay of the 777X might bring the type back for an encore, and admits he teared up while saying goodbye.