Most flights by European airlines from Central Asia to Europe depart in the dead of night, at the most ungodly hours. And unfortunately, the Lufthansa flight from Kazakhstan back to Frankfurt is no exception. LH648 departs Almaty at 01h15 to arrive in Astana at 02h55. After a ground time of about one hour and a planned crew change, the flight continues at 04h05 and arrives in Frankfurt at 08h40.

Getting to Almaty Airport

At 22h30 I exit the Mercure Almaty City Centre to head for the airport. There is no Uber or Bolt in Kazakhstan, so my colleague, The Flying Dutchman, is using an app called Yandex. Which is basically the same thing as Uber, but allows for payments directly to the driver in either cash or by card. The journey takes about thirty minutes. Surprisingly, the streets are more crowded than they are during the day – perhaps because it’s a Friday night.

Lufthansa Business Class Check-In

Lufthansa checks in at the far end of the terminal, on counters four to seven. There are two Economy Class counters, one for baggage drop, and a third for Business Class passengers. The check-in agent checks my suitcase and inquires if I’d like a new boarding pass. I’ve already checked in online. I tell him I won’t be needing that, stick the luggage tag receipt to the back of my mobile and make my way airside.

Airside

According to the boarding pass issued on the app, I should be entitled to fast track immigration and security at Almaty Airport. There actually is a fast track lane, but when I attempt to pass through there, the officer just gives me a curt “niet” and tells me that this is for “Air Astana only”. Okay then. Fortunately, the regular queue is long but moving quickly.

Behind security I make my way to the Extime Lounge, which is the contractor lounge Lufthansa used the last time I was here. I briefly wonder how come Lufthansa does not show up on the screen of contracted airlines. I arrive at reception one floor up, where the lounge dragon first ignores me to meticulously attach a pin to the lapel of her uniform jacket. When eventually she deigns to acknowledge my sad existence, she looks at my boarding pass and gives me another “niet”. Now what? I pull myself together to stay friendly, even though it’s approaching midnight and I’m not in the mood for playing silly buggers. “Niet?”, I ask her, to which she replies that “da, no Lufthansa”. Apparently, Lufthansa has no lounge here in Almaty, even though transit passengers from Frankfurt to Astana have to alight here and spend two hours on the ground while the aircraft is cleaned.

I need to check this with chatGPT, which confirms that Lufthansa uses the Extime Lounge in Almaty. Ironically, the link it proposes to me for further details is a link to a post by the Knightofmalta from two years ago… So, then I check the Lufthansa website, which simply informs me that they have no information for the city I selected – which I guess is an awkward way to say that they really don’t have a lounge, and know themselves that it sucks.

Lufthansa Business Class Boarding

Boarding starts at 00h30 without as much as a murmur. Who needs announcements anyway? The flight this evening isn’t very full. Most passengers will be boarding in Astana, it seems. By the time boarding is completed, there are only fifteen passengers in the Business Class cabin.

Lufthansa Business Class Cabin & Seat

I’m seated on 1G, which is the right aisle seat on the middle row of twin seats. Being the bulkhead row, the footrest appears to have a bit more space, as there’s no seat in front of me that it needs to fit under. The Lufthansa Airbus A 340-300 has a smaller Business Class cabin than the Airbus A 330-300. While the latter has two Business Class cabins forward and aft of the L2 door, the Airbus A 340-300 only has a Business Class cabin between the L1 and L2 doors, with a total of thirty seats on five rows. The seats are misaligned to make up at least partially for the lack of privacy.

Lufthansa Business Class Amenities

The amenities for the flight to Frankfurt are already at my seat. There’s the same thick blanket and pillow there was on the previous flight, as well as a bottle of still water and a vanity kit. The vanity kit is similar to the one on the inbound flight, just with different colours.

Lufthansa, Business Class – Airbus A 340-300: Almaty to Astana

The schedule of this flight is quite horrific, and the crew is not helping. I think they’re probably just tired, but they really are one huge uncoordinated mess. While we’re still on the ground, I’m asked three times by three different cabin crew if I’d like a drink, even though there’s already a glass of water at my seat which I ordered when the first cabin crew came to ask. Later on, once we’re airborne, the same thing happens again and three people come to ask me if I’d like to eat something. For heaven’t sake, it’s 01h30, I’m exhausted and I do not want to eat anything, I just want to sleep. Is that really such an alien concept at this time of night?

Apparently, it is. Because Messrs. 2D and 2G are oblivious to the fact that it’s the middle of the night and that, in fact, they are the only two speaking at the top of their voices. Mr 2G, behind me, works for Lufthansa, it turns out. Want to know how I know? I know because the sad sack doesn’t miss an opportunity to mention it every chance he gets. He’s an interesting study. Throughout the flight he repeatedly goes to the forward galley and is all friendly with the crew, who are obviously not having it and tell him, each time, that he shouldn’t be milling about in front of the cockpit. So, he returns to his seat and continues his mindless chatter with his neighbour. All the way to Astana.

Lufthansa Business Class Service & Crew

We land in Astana and the crew announce that there will be a scheduled crew change here. Thank god for that! Let’s hope the next lot will be better. And boy, are they! It turns out the crew taking us to Frankfurt is the same one I had on the inbound to Almaty. And they’re the bomb! They store their belongings and make their cabin checks before boarding for the Astana originating passengers starts. As they spot me, they each come to greet me like a long lost friend. It’s quite sweet, really.

Once boarding is completed and the final preparations for the flight to Frankfurt are made, the crew come to ask passengers if they’d like something to eat after take-off and if they want to be woken for breakfast. I tell them I won’t we having dinner, and yes, I will be having breakfast.

The flight time to Frankfurt is seven hours and ten minutes. What is quite remarkable in Astana, is that the sun starts rising on the horizon as early as 03h15 here. By the time we taxi out for departure just after four in the morning, it’s broad daylight outside. Apparently, the Kazakh government decided a while ago that it would be easier for everyone if the whole country were in the same time zone. The upshot, of course, is that there are now places, like Astana, where dawn comes exceptionally early in the summer.

The Airbus A 340-300 treats us to one of its legendarily sluggish take-offs. The crew apply take-off power, there’s a racket, and slowly we nudge into motion. We take off, and before the landing gear is fully retracted, I’m already donning my earplugs and eye shades and moving the seat into the bed position. Noddy land, here I come!

Lufthansa Business Class Meal – Breakfast

I awake exactly two hours out of Frankfurt, which means I slept for a solid five hours. I quickly go to the washroom, just before the breakfast service begins. We start with the crew passing through the cabin with a choice of orange juice, still water, or smoothies. I have the smoothie, which is made with banana and strawberry and very refreshing. Next, the crew pass through the cabin with a tray with mugs of coffee. And then, a few minutes later, the meal service begins.

There is a choice of sweet or savoury hot meal. The sweet option, which my colleague the Flying Dutchman originally orders, is two slices of warm apple crumble with vanilla sauce, which looks a bit strange and seems a bit unusual for a breakfast item. The savoury, which I have, is a substantial portion of scrambled egg with cream spinach, tomato coulis, and some kind of mustard and turkey ham sandwich. There’s also a bowl of natural yogurt with granola and some mixed berries. The crew serve warm croissants and bread rolls with that, and there is a choice of jams to go with that which are offered on a tray. All in all, it’s rather a nice meal.

Once I’m done, the crew quickly remove my tray. To conclude the service, they pass through the cabin with boxes of chocolate hearts. The two pursers for the flight independently stop at my seat to say goodbye and wish me a pleasant onward journey. One of them asks me what I thought about their new service concept. I explain to her that I think the more elaborate service works well for a lunch time or dinner service, but seems unnecessarily cumbersome for a breakfast service. I suspect that, unlike me, few people have a sparkly personality first thing in the morning. As a result, they probably don’t pay much attention to the service anyway. Second, the coming and going – first with the drinks, then the coffee, then the tray, and finally the bread basked – makes the service seem a bit hectic with the cabin crew moving to and fro. The cabin crew thanks me for my feedback and assures me she’ll be passing that one, admitting that in fact that’s exactly what her concern is, too. Shortly after, she returns with her colleague and another box of heart shaped chocolates. They tell me that it’s a) to say thank you for answering their questions, and b) for being so friendly during the flight. “Don’t ever change”, one of them says. Aww! Just before taking their seats for the landing, they crew hand out scented hot towels.

Arrival in Frankfurt

We land in Frankfurt exactly on time. You’ve just got to love a good Airbus A 340-300 landing: the aircraft softly tip toes down the runway on its tootsies, before it eventually slows down enough to settle its full weight on the main landing gear. I love it! As a perfect end to this flight, we’re guided to a remote stand for disembarkation. Looks like we’re in for another complimentary spotter’s tour of Frankfurt Airport. As I step off the aircraft, the three cabin crew serving the Business Class cabin and the purser give me a lovely, warm send off.

Conclusion – Lufthansa Business Class Almaty-Astana-Frankfurt

Let’s start with the bad stuff. The schedule of this flight is really quite horrific. Seriously, there’s no nice way of saying it. The departure time of 01h15 from Almaty is bad enough, but would be manageable if it weren’t for the stop in Astana and the departure from there to Frankfurt at the crack of dawn. From what I understand, part of the issue is that the authorities in Kazakhstan insist that Lufthansa serves both Almaty and Astana. Other than that, the crew were, once again, at the top of their game on the leg from Astana to Frankfurt. Just lovely! The crew on the short leg, meh… not so much.

As for the pesky big mouth on 2G on the Almaty to Astana leg, he continued on to Frankfurt too. But… first, the senior one of the pursers made it clear to him, in no uncertain terms, that he was strictly not to hang out in the galley during the flight. As Shakespeare once said, there’s no hell on earth that’s like a woman’s scorn. Second, in Astana a nice young man joins him on 2D, but Mr 2G’s repeated attempts to strike up a conversation to tell him he works for Lufthansa are frustrated by the fact that said young man is only proficient in Russian or Kazakh and obviously rather shy.