Above: the A380, nosed up to the gate.

My first thought on seeing the A380 parked at the gate at JFK: it's big. More ominously, so was the crowd waiting to board the packed flight, which spilled over two gate lounges. A member of Lufthansa's PR team mentioned that technical route proving—in which a series of flights are designed to demonstrate the aircraft's capability of operating on a continuous schedule with normal conditions—also included figuring out how much lounge space would be required for each flight, along with turnaround and boarding times. Dr. Reinhold Huber, Lufthansa's VP of product management and innovation, mentioned later that boarding at Frankfurt had taken an unbelievably brief 21 minutes, thanks to three separate bridges (I only saw two in use at JFK).

Above, left: Upstairs, Downstairs: Peering down the stairwell at the front of the plane... Above, right: Looking up from the bottom of the stairwell.

My first thought on seeing the plane's interior, however, was "is that all there is?" I knew going in that the seats were essentially generic—Lufthansa won't unveil its custom interiors for another two years—but I was disappointed at how misleadingly drab they were. The "first class" seats were barely on par with British Airways' redesigned Club World (i.e. business class) or Virgin Atlantic's Upper Class. The business class seats (one of which I was lucky to score as my seat assignment) were functional but a generation behind. Of course, the next-generation interiors have been the bane of Airbus' existence all along—the epic delays aren't the result of any problems with the airframe, but with the 300+ miles of electrical wiring required for 1,000+ channels of seat back entertainment.

Above, left: Airbus' idea of what a First Class seat should look like is about five years behind the curve. Above, right: The in-flight bar. Sadly, it would remain closed during the flight.

Some random thoughts during the flight:

• Maybe it's the power of Pavlovian suggestion on the part of Lufthansa PR, but the A380 does seem noticeably more quiet than the A340 or B747. You can have a normal conversation on this plane, for the most part.

• At least where I'm sitting, at the front of the plane on the upper deck, you have no sense of the plane's enormity. The hundred of passengers tucked away in the back of the bus or down below are out of sight, and thus out of mind.

• The cocktail party I'd hoped for is nowhere to be found. The mood onboard is closer to that of a family at the end of a long vacation—more exhausted than exhilarated. The bar downstairs never even opened.

Above, left: At the top of the stairs, on either side, is a little lounge-style seating, in case passengers wanted to take a meeting, or just get to know each other a little better. Above, right: Onboard Airbus technicians monitored noise, cabin temperature, ventiliation systems, and other environment factors during the flight.

• The most incredible entertainment option of all—on the ground, at least—is the camera mounted on the plane's tail. Seen on screen, the plane looks like some giant bird of prey, with the fuselage and wingspan entirely visible. Cameras mounted in the nose are cool; but this was cooler.

• Lufthansa is still figuring out its cabin concepts, but has settled on the idea that First and Business Class will occupy the top deck, with Economy stored below. The privileged few will never even see the coach customers, thanks to the separate boarding bridge. By the time the A380 arrives for real, Lufthansa will have built separate boarding lounges for Business Class as well. (First Class passengers will continue to be bused via Porsche from their own terminal to the foot of the plane.)

• While Huber was very mum on what the new in-flight product will look like, one idea that has already been vetoed was bunk bed-style seating in Business Class. More than anything else, he said, frequent fliers want their space.

Read more of Greg Lindsay's travel blog, IN TRANSIT.