Flying Lufthansa to the US Open 2014: An Experience That Was More Indian Than You Think

A big tennis fan, I went to watch the US Open live last year. Previously I’d flown with Lufthansa in 2004 and watched Roger Federer become the champion. So, I again got my flight tickets with Lufthansa to fly to New York for the finals. Also, around the same time, I’d seen Lufthansa’s commercial for their More Indian Than You Think initiative. I was excited at the prospect that Indian cuisine and inflight entertainment were among the things that were being emphasized by the airline. From my previous trip I knew that the Lufthansa cabin crew dished out the best hospitality and service (in my personal regard and experience of over 12 years of boarding international flights.)

I’d got my stadium tickets well in advance. I was booked from the Quarter Finals at the Billie Jean Stadium. So, I planned my flight tickets and hotel accommodation accordingly. As this tournament was only my 2^nd live grand slam event, I had left nothing to chance and had researched and booked everything well in advance.

On the night I had to catch my flight, I must have checked for my print of the flight boarding pass countless times (had gone online through the Lufthansa app and had my baggage checked-in online.)
As wisdom advises, I left a few hours early for the airport, cleared security and waited patiently for my flight boarding call. Preparing to fly to a major sporting event can leave you very careful.

I was the first in line for the boarding and the first one aboard the Lufthansa A320 heading to the John F. Kennedy Terminal in New York. As the More Indian Than You Think commercial on television had shown, everyone boarding the flight was greeted with a courteous, ‘Namaste’. We took off without a hitch and found a clear sky, crescent moon and stars aplenty; a great start indeed!

Since I wasn’t sleepy, I ordered a masala chai and settled with some inflight entertainment. I watched a Bollywood film which I’d loved as a child and eventually fell asleep to some Indian music. I woke up to some turbulence, but it passed quickly; and went back to the inflight entertainment (I’d forgotten my book which I wanted to read inflight.) Most of the flight just saw me watching tennis on Lufthansa’s entertainment package.

After some very nervous moments before landing (clearly had to do with watching the US Open live) we landed at JFK from where I went about quickly to settle everything. In the following days, I watched with thousands of others, one of the greatest modern tennis tournaments!