In December of last year, an old friend returned to San Francisco in the form of Lufthansa’s A380-800. Previously operated to the Bay Area before 2020, the superjumbo had not been seen there in Lufthansa colors since, until the announcement was made that the type would be returning in 2025/26 Northern Winter season, replacing the A350-900. With a few interruptions, the type has been more or less a fixture of the MUC-SFO route since, and I was fortunate enough to see it landing in San Francisco on May 1st, after I myself had arrived from Los Angeles. Thus, this route gave me the opportunity to (a) do another trip report with an aircraft I had seen arriving or departing, and (b) do a trip report in Lufthansa’s newly-renovated A380 cabin. The result was a fun flight that bears an almost uncanny resemblance to the one I saw.
Server: Solo
Airline: Lufthansa
Aircraft: Airbus A380-800 (2018)
Origin: Munich Airport, Erding and Freising, Germany (MUC)
Destination: San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco, California (SFO)
Flight Number: LH458
Route: EDDM-KSFO
Seat: 11A (Business)
Time En Route: 11 Hours 40 Minutes
Waiting to board at the Terminal 2 Satellite at MUC. We’ve spent the day hanging around the Lufthansa business lounge, watching a wide variety of aircraft arrive and depart. We lucked out today, since our A380 has Lufthansa’s latest cabin configuration. SFO isn’t yet scheduled to receive the new cabin, but a technical issue with the aircraft we were originally supposed to fly on led to this airframe being substituted for it.
As we taxi out to Runway 26R, we’re treated to the iconic sound of an A380’s flaps lowering for takeoff. Right off the bat, we’re impressed by the new cabin. The number of business class seats has been reduced by ten, from 78 to 68, replacing the early 2010s-era Collins Aerospace Diamond Parallel seats with new Thompson Aerospace XL ones. Additionally, the major gripe of passengers with window seats not having direct aisle access has been eliminated with the reduction in seat numbers.
Bay Area-bound from Bavaria! As we lumber airborne from 26L, we’ve got an excellent view of Munich Tower and Terminal 1. It’s a great afternoon to travel.
As we climb to our initial cruising altitude of 34,000 feet, we’ve hit a small patch of rough air. The A380 powers through it, with only a slight bounce in the wingtips indicating that anything is out of the ordinary. In our seat, which we’ve got halfway reclined, we’re getting to ready to watch one of a large variety of movies Lufthansa has available to watch.
Dinner is served over the North Sea, near the Shetland Islands. We’ve got a vitello tonnato this evening, an Italian dish consisting of thinly-sliced meat flavored with tuna, fried capers, and lemon. Despite being a cold dish, it was actually quite appetizing. Now that dinner is settling, we’re able to kick back and relax before getting some sleep.
A few hours of blissful sleep later and 4,000 feet higher, and we’re over northern Alberta at FL380. Wow. The new business class seats, at least in terms of physical comfort for sleeping, are a quantum leap ahead of the old Diamond Parallel ones. We drifted off to sleep almost immediately after closing the shades and fully reclining the seat. We slept so soundly, we didn’t notice the relatively rough air that we were flying through over western Greenland.
In the first stages of our final descent at sunset, near Mount Tamalpais, in Marin County. The rest of our flight has been uneventful, without the slightest bump or jolt. We had a couple snacks about a half-hour ago, but they were just to tide us over until we land. Once again, we’re listening to the sound of our A380’s flaps lowering.
“LUFTHANSA 458 SUPER, welcome to San Francisco.”
Evening arrival on Runway 28L with San Francisco Tower in the background. The fog is starting to come in to blanket South San Francisco and the airport, which will make for some interesting planespotting for anyone in the terminals.
About to pull into the International G Pier after a relatively quick taxi. Besides the usual United Airlines heavies, there’s a Swiss International Air Lines 777-300ER and an Air New Zealand 787-9 on the north side of the pier.
Viewing our aircraft at Gate G13 from the AirTrain as we head to the BART station to take it across the Bay to Berkeley. Lufthansa has brought their A-game to business class with their reworked A380 cabins. Everything about the hard product feels like it came from a completely different airline in the best way possible. Even the food seems to taste better! Coupled with the Allegris cabins on the 787-9 and A350-900, we think it is safe to say that Lufthansa has the best all-around business class in Europe after this flight.
. The MCDU didn’t recognize the FPL. Twice! So, I couldn’t even pushback. But, it was worth a try 
