Lufthansa is celebrating Oktoberfest this year by offering fresh beer on selected flights in October.
The beer – and the flights – will be served by staff in traditional costume.
The promotion will appear on the following flights:
September 19, heading for New York (Newark); September 25 from Munich to Singapore; and October 6 from Munich to Shanghai.
In addition, there is an Oktoberfest menu for Business Class customers, that “pairs perfectly with the fresh draft beer”. It has been created by Lufthansa’s flight attendants in cooperation with LSG Sky Chefs. The ideas and experiences of the crew on previous traditional costume flights were taken into account while developing the menu. The selection this year includes ox tartare with truffle, followed by char with Riesling sauce and Bavarian cream with pistachio pesto. In September and October, Lufthansa passengers in business class will have the offer of the Oktoberfest menu on all intercontinental flights.
The Oktoberfest promotion is a regular one for the German national carrier, with Lufthansa’s cabin crews wearing traditional Bavarian costume on selected flights from Munich instead of their uniforms.
What is new this year is the beer kegs on board to serve fresh draft beer to passengers. This dates back as far as the 1960s.
Back then, the “Lufthansa Senator Service” served draft beer and now, an “airworthy” keg with the carbon dioxide pressure regulated by a valve. This prevents the pressure from becoming too great on board so that tapping the keg can be done even at an altitude of 10,000 meters.
There will also be further crews in traditional costumes on selected European flights.
From October 5 to 7, one of the crews on the Lufthansa CityLine will swap their uniforms for traditional costumes. Their destinations this year are Berlin, Cologne/Bonn, Luxembourg, Pisa, Genoa, Amsterdam, Rzeszow, Timisoara, and Cagliari.
The tradition also continues for Lufthansa employees working in Passenger Services at Terminal 2, as they will welcome passengers in Bavarian costumes during the Oktoberfest. Instead of the Lufthansa uniform, female staff may wear a Dirndl and their male colleagues can opt for Lederhosen. The service employees in Lufthansa’s First Class Lounges will be wearing traditional costumes in black and gold.
The costumes were designed and custom-tailored by the Munich traditional costume specialist Angermaier.
The Oktoberfest Dirndl worn by the female flight attendants is dark blue with a silver-gray apron and their male colleagues will be wearing short Lederhosen, with a dark blue waistcoat made from the same material as the Dirndl. This is the third year running that Angermaier has dressed the cabin crews.
In Lufthansa’s Munich’s lounges, if consumption follows last year’s trends, more than 4,000 kg of “Leberkäse”, more than 38,000 pretzels, and about 750 kg of white sausage will be consumed in the twelve lounges located in Terminal 2 and in the satellite building.
The Oktoberfest menu in the restaurants of Lufthansa’s First Class Lounges, which will be decorated accordingly, will begin with an Oktoberfest soup followed by duck served in a rustic style. For dessert, there will be apricot and plum dumplings with vanilla espuma. The Senator and Business Lounges will offer their guests an “Andechser” goulash soup or mushrooms in cream with dumplings. And, of course, all the lounges will be serving Oktoberfest draft beer.
Passengers who land at Munich’s Terminal 2 during the first weekend of the Oktoberfest will receive a special free Oktoberfest box. It contains a ribbon for a beer mug, vitamin drink, some salty pretzels, and fruit gummies in the shape of a beer mug.
No aspirin, though.
To spend your next few hours planning the perfect beer tour of Munich, whatever the month…
