LUFTHANSA

Your jet: Boeing 747-400

Killer app: The chauffeured Porsche and Mercedes that whisk first classers from the lounge to the airplane

Amenity you'll want to steal: A dead heat between the Clarins onboard goodies and the stogies from the cigar lounge

Ultimate itinerary: Boston to Berlin to trawl the art galleries and snap up early works by the next Teutonic Tracey Emin

Life up front: Lufthansa's first-class lounge in Munich is so appealing that banking types turn up hours early to luxuriate there before hopping on their long-haul flight. No wonder, when the upper level of the two-story space has four marble bathrooms with full-size whirlpool bathtubs, two sleeping rooms with leather daybeds, and a high-end restaurant that serves sushi. The bar is stocked with more than 40 vintage Armagnacs—a perfect tipple while enjoying a Cuban in the adjoining cigar lounge. Plus, a Mercedes S-Class or Porsche Cayenne picks up passengers from the lower level to shuttle them directly to the aircraft. After that in-terminal orgy of luxury, life onboard is not bad either: The 16 first-class seats are tucked away upstairs, in 2-2 pairs. David Bouley dreams up the menus (chilled lobster terrine, saddle of veal, grapefruit jelly with elderflower sorbet), Joop supplies the duvets, Clarins provides the bulging amenity kits, and the Champagne is Piper Heidsieck.

Platinum card–smashing price: New York City to Munich from $11,450 round-trip

Lufthansa
Tel: 800 645 3880