Trip Report Montreal to Israel:The reason for my trip was a family wedding, basically my ‘trip report’'will be based on my experience in the airport & on-board the flights. I’ll try to post as many pictures as possible (thanks to
Something Fishy….), & I hope you’ll enjoy it.
I’ll start with my ‘better half’ (she went ahead of me); her itinerary was:
LX – YUL-ZRH-TLV
Both legs of the itinerary featured the A330 J class, lucky enough she had an empty seat next to her on both legs of the trip for our baby, and she was able to sleep well (like a baby……lol) on a lie flat bed I shall say:
LX Business ClassThe Kosher Meal was fantastic; it even included a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon:
LX Business Class KSML
LX Business Class KSML WineMy itinerary was as follows:
AC – YUL-LGA
SQ – JFK-FRA
LH – FRA-IST
TK – IST-TLV
There’s nothing too exciting leaving Montreal, the line at customs was almost empty, so having Global Entry wasn’t a big deal this time.
I went to relax a little at the AC Maple Leaf Lounge which was half empty at the time. my first leg of the trip wasn’t anything special, although the business class on AC for the 55 minute flight is better than the ones on the intro-Europe flights.
Once I arrived in NY I took an Uber car to JFK which cost me out of the pocket ~$21.00 since I had a 20.00 credit
When I arrived to T4 at JFK I went over to Singapore Airlines check in, I was welcomed very warmly I couldn’t resist my excitement about traveling in SQ First Suites for the first time, they offered to escort me to the security line, I was hoping the agent will escort me thru security but no, he just escorted me to the beginning of the line, it was a ridiculously long line & it was moving very slowly, after around 30 minutes I was thru , & went right to the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse,
Virgin Atlantic JFK Clubhouse
Virgin Atlantic JFK Clubhouse
Virgin Atlantic JFK Clubhouse
Virgin Atlantic JFK ClubhouseThe waiters at the clubhouse were very friendly, they asked me what kind of Kosher Food I would prefer, chicken or beef, and I ordered the beef,
Virgin Atlantic JFK Clubhouse KSML
Virgin Atlantic JFK Clubhouse KSML
Virgin Atlantic JFK Clubhouse KSMLThe food was actually very tasty.
Here are some more lounging options:
Virgin Atlantic JFK Clubhouse
Virgin Atlantic JFK Clubhouse
Virgin Atlantic JFK ClubhouseNice bar variety:
Virgin Atlantic JFK ClubhouseShower which I didn’t use:
Virgin Atlantic JFK ClubhouseSo after snapping some pictures, eating, snapping more pictures, drinking, finding a corner to
daven mincha, snapping more pictures, I got myself ready to board one of the most famous ‘First Class Suites’:
View of SQ A380 from the lounge:
SQ A380
SQ A380
It is Showtime! I almost danced my way down the lower jet-bridge, once at the door I was welcomed by two flight attendants, which one of them told the other; he’s mine… I’ll take care of him, here are pictures of my seat 3F (enjoy….):
SQ A380 First SuiteMy suite:
SQ A380 First Suite
SQ A380 First Suite
SQ A380 First SuiteI was served a nice Herzog Chardonnay:
SQ A380 First Suite
SQ A380 First Suite
SQ A380 First Suite
SQ A380 First Suite
SQ A380 First Suite
SQ A380 First SuiteMy 21” Samsonite slid nicely under the ottoman:
SQ A380 First SuitePajamas & amenity kit:
SQ A380 First Suite
SQ A380 First SuiteViews of the suites across from me, one of the double suites:
SQ A380 First Suite
SQ A380 First SuiteThe aisle:
SQ A380 First SuiteThe stairs to top deck – business class:
SQ A380 First SuiteNow it’s time for dinner:
SQ A380 First Suite KSML
SQ A380 First Suite KSMLStarter:
SQ A380 First Suite KSML
SQ A380 First Suite KSML the main course:
SQ A380 First Suite KSML Dinner
SQ A380 First Suite KSML Main CourseThen some coffee:
SQ A380 First Suite CoffeeNow I was ready to get some sleep in a comfortable bed 40K feet in the sky:
SQ A380 First SuiteNote the bottle of water offered at turndown:
SQ A380 First Suite
SQ A380 First SuiteDoors closed, from the inside:
SQ A380 First SuiteDoors closed, from the outside:
SQ A380 First SuiteAfter getting a couple of hours sleep, I woke up refreshed, and the bed was made back into a seat, I was offered breakfast (even though they’d already served it while I was sleeping),
SQ A380 First Suite KSML BreakfastI have to mention, before take-off, the captain came onto the PA saying, that due to some traffic it will take like 30 minutes until take-off, I was so excited I don’t remember ever being excited when there was an announced delay……sadly this brings me to the end of my SQ part of the trip.
Once I arrived in Frankfurt I went to the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge, which was pretty quiet & cozy:
AC Maple Leaf Lounge FRA
AC Maple Leaf Lounge FRA
AC Maple Leaf Lounge FRAThey have nice cubicles to relax, which I used to
daven shacharit:
AC Maple Leaf Lounge FRAAfter hanging out for a while it was time for my connecting flight to Istanbul, the reason I took this route rather than taking a direct flight from FRA to TLV, was because the next flight leaving FRA would bring me to TLV after 11:00 pm and this way I landed in Israel roughly 8:00 pm.
The LH flight from FRA to IST, was a typical intro-Europe flight, business class is just a regular economy class seat with one empty seat in the middle.
The food served was from ‘Sohar’ & was actually very tasty, (sorry I didn’t take any pictures…).
I landed in IST just when my next flight was about to board; surprisingly I was able to go directly to the gate. I was happy that the TK A330 I boarded was configured with a regular business class.
TK A330
TK A330Kosher Meal on Turkish Airlines, (a
bracha l’vatulu….):
TK A330 KSMLFinally B”H I arrived safely in Israel
The way back from Israel my wife & I (& the baby of course) flew back together on the following itinerary:
TLV-ATH-MUC-YUL
In Israel they only gave us the boarding passes to ATH, the agent told us we would be getting the rest of the boarding passes in ATH.
Once we passed security & Immigration we went to the DAN lounge, which was pretty crowded (as expected…) we found a corner to sit down & a place for our baby stroller. We ate some breakfast, had some coffee which was not bad, (sorry I didn’t take pictures), and it was time to board our flight to ATH.
The flight from TLV to ATH on Aegean Airlines we had the entire J class to ourselves, (there were only 8 of them, intro-Europe style), so we were able to spread out, even the baby was able to sleep comfortably, the aircraft looked & smelled pretty new,
Aegean TLV-ATHKosher breakfast was from Stogel (
the name talks for itself) on Aegean:
Aegean TLV-ATH KSML
Aegean TLV-ATH KSMLwhen we arrived in Athens, we went thru passport control & headed to the Lufthansa check-in counter to get our boarding passes for the rest of the itinerary, we then went to the Lufthansa Senator Lounge which is not too big, but was mostly empty, we sat there until it was time to board our LH flight to MUC, security before the gate was quick thanks to the ‘fast’ lane for business class pax.
Once we settled on board the Lufthansa flight from Athens to Munich we were told that unfortunately for a reason still a mystery to me, there were no kosher food for us on board, so they gave us a courtesy voucher of 50.00 euro per person for duty-free shopping, & they assured us that there will be kosher food in the FCL in MUC & on-board our next flight MUC-YUL.
Once the plane came to a stop at a remote stand we were excitingly looking out of the window to see the chauffeur with the Mercedes S class waiting for us:
chauffeur pickup in MUC
chauffeur pickup in MUCInside the car:
chauffeur pickup in MUCAnd the chauffeur took us straight a direct entrance to the ‘Lufthansa’s First Class Lounge’:
chauffeur pickup in MUC
chauffeur pickup in MUCThe chauffeur handed us over to the attendant who immediately took care of us, she scanned our boarding passes, took our passports & forwarded them to passport control – in the lounge - which we picked up on our way out.
As we were walking in one of the waiters approached us, to let us know that they have a kosher meal ready for us, in the mean time I went to the shower rooms, which offered a huge room & an amazing good shower, when I came back the waitress was just serving us our food it was actually pretty good! Food catered by ‘Sohar’:
LH FCL KSMLMain dish:
LH FCL KSMLDessert:
LH FCL KSMLOn the out we picked up our passports from the designated “First Class in-lounge Passport Control” since our flight was leaving from a gate we just walked over it took us less than five minutes.
when we got to the door of the plane we were greeted by the first class crew members, there were two other people in first class we were 4 people in an 8 seat class here too we had an empty seat for our baby:
LH First Class MUC-YUL
LH First Class MUC-YUL
LH First Class MUC-YULLufthansa’s First Class Cabin:
LH First Class MUC-YULLufthansa’s First Class Seat:
LH First Class MUC-YUL
LH First Class MUC-YULHot Towel – in a plate….:
LH First Class MUC-YULUnfortunately there were no KSML for us, even though I confirmed by phone a week in advance, actually twice.. (I filed a complaint, & I’m still waiting for a respond), they managed to get us one business class meal which we shared. between the 3 of us (we actually ordered a child’s meal as well)
My daughter had a nice playground:
LH First Class MUC-YUL
LH First Class MUC-YULAnd even a ‘toy-box’:
LH First Class MUC-YULTime to take a nap:
LH First Class MUC-YUL
LH First Class MUC-YULLH First Class MUC-YULAnd so did our baby, she slept thru most of it…:
LH First Class MUC-YUL
LH First Class MUC-YUL
LH First Class MUC-YULBottom Line:
We had a very nice experience especially myself given the fact that I was in Israel for about 55 hours I definitely enjoyed trying out premier cabins which I never flew before.
Here is the breakdown of all it actually costed us;
OW YUL-ZRH-TLV: J Class
Booked with: United 80k United miles + $63.00
Infant charge $279.00
OW AC – YUL-LGA: J Class
SQ – JFK-FRA: F Class
LH – FRA-IST: J Class
TK – IST-TLV: J Class
Booked with: Singapore 75k Kris Flyer miles + $420.00
OW x 2 A3 – TLV-ATH: J Class
LH – ATH-MUC: J Class
LH –MUC-YUL: F Class
Booked with: Air Canada 230k Aeroplan miles + $312.00
Infant Charge $117.00
Total: 385k miles + $1191.00
