...But, wait!
My savior, the male agent says, "Oh, no, betty, you must be talking about
business class, because I'm seeing this is in fact the new
first class.
"Oh, well, silly me, of course you're right! So, sorry for the confusion Mr. AJK."
So we wait about 25 mins longer, and we finally boarded... onto my first taste of the new LH F:
Well, as it turned out, the reason why were able to snag two seats day of is because, well, we were the only F pax!
However, because we booked it <24 hours in advance there was no kosher food loaded for us, and, as it turned out we were pretty hungry after a full day of travel without any meaningful food. Oh well, I'd have taken the new LH F over kosher airline food 11 out of 10 times.
I have to say, though, that the crew working this flight were simply fantastic. In fact, the service on LH has beaten basically every Asian carrier I've flown. They were attentive, engaging, and courteous. When they found out we had ordered special meals, but that they were not loaded, they were mortified, and offered us every fruit plate they had as well as scoured J and Y to see if there were any extra kosher meals (there weren't).
In any event, I knocked back a few, had a couple pieces of fruit, and changed into PJs. While in the bathroom, the FA had made our beds in the aisle seats, so we could just hop in. After a quick nap of about 5 hours, we began our descent into BOS.
On the whole, the flight was excellent. Was extremely glad I took the jaunt around Europe to chase the new F.
We arrived around 630PM and our flight from BOS to LGA was at 8PM. But first we had to pickup our luggage and clear customs. We were through customs to the baggage claim in a flash thanks to GE (which after the WN CP is probably the best perk in travel. Oh, how many hours it's saved us!).
We got to the baggage claim and waited for our bags to come out.
...and waited.
645PM...
...and waited.
700PM...
Eventually, we grabbed an LH airport worked, explained the situation about our bags and our connecting flight and were told to fill out a missing baggage report at the LH counter outside of customs and LH would be in touch. So we did that and by the time we were done, it was 715PM, and our connecting gate was basically in another city. We jogged and ran through like 13 terminals, underground, in a sky bridge, over the mountains and through rivers. We made it to the gate as the agent was closing the doors.
While checking us in, though, we mentioned we were coming back from Thailand, and the GA said "Ohhhhh, I loved Thailand... they have the best elfint fahhhhms!"
Mrs. AJK and I looked at each other, hoping the other had caught what the GA had just said. Alas, neither of us had, and the GA noticed our confusion. She said, "you know, the elfint fahms, where you can feed and ride the elfints?"
Finally, we caught that she was referring to the elephant farms in her thick Bostonian accent, and we all started cracking up. Anyway, she wished us a pleasant flight, and we boarded the small ERJ-190 and found our seats in business.
We arrived in LGA at about 930PM, and unsurprisingly, our baggage was nowhere to be found...
So we went home.
Well, with no bags, and important upcoming work engagements, I, of course, had to buy the essentials until my bags arrived. And so Mrs. AJK and I went shopping over the next couple days
We spent about $500 on clothes and such other sundry items.
Three days later I bags arrived via UPS.
A couple weeks after that, a check for about $500 arrived with a profuse apology. Nearly $200/day for delayed baggage? Yes, please.
And on that happy note, our trip to Southeast Asia with a Splash of Hong Kong has concluded.
The end!