LBV-FRA-IAD Lufthansa

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I flew the above route on Lufthansa on July 17-18. Both sectors were on the A330, D-AIKE and D-AIKN. The good point was that they got my special meal request right (which South African Airways botches EVERY TIME I fly with them). My only complaint is that the seats are too narrow, but I suppose that is "the price you pay" for economy. I will be returning next week.

Original post

I just landed on the return leg of this flight an hour ago. (I live just opposite the airport). The return journey was a little more interesting and I will write it up in due course, with some pictures>

The return journey from IAD to FRA departed about 20 minutes late due to the landing time slot at FRA. Aircraft was an A330, I did not get the tail number. Weather was fine. Hardly any turbulence. Chock to chock time was 7h36 giving an average speed of 478kt which is quite fast. We exceeded 1000 km/h (see picture) somewhere early on in the cruise - got 1034km/h (558kt) on my gps. The food was fine, maybe a little too much salt. I had a western Vegemeal (see picture). The entertainment system is quite good, I watched "Invictus" - highly recommended - on the box.

Traveling east, the night is very short and we landed at around 5am local time in FRA. There was a snack just before landing. Most of the restaurants were closed at that time and there were not many folk in the departure terminal. It became very crowded by 8.30am with queues in all the restaurants. It looks like Frankfurt has joined the ranks of large construction sites having their own airport. :diablo: Too bad my stop in FRA was only a few hours, otherwise I could have gone and had a beer or six with Newforest:dev2:

The sector FRA - LBV with a stop in Accra, Ghana, was a bit of a mess. The aircraft was an A340, D-AIGT. Firstly we boarded from gate B60 which is in a temporary cattle shed. We had a significantly long drive in the bus as the plane was parked at the cargo terminal. (OK I know we are self loading cargo:D). Question: Why do they always put flights to the developing world at the worst gates? It was raining and everyone got wet going from the bus to the plane. The dang developing passengers (some of whom have probably never flown before) crowded the doorway and I stood in the rain till I was quite wet. (The stairs were open, not covered, which is surprising in a place like FRA where it can rain at a moment's notice). It was also surprising that the cabin attendant at the entrance did not realize that we were getting wet outside and expedite the boarding process. Engine start was delayed due to passengers lost in the terminal, and then further delayed because of a jolly passenger who got lost in the airplane. And this was probably Lufthansa's fault: Re-arranging the pax on the airplane. We were on our merry way about an hour late. I noticed that one or two of the entertainment consoles were inoperative, leaving some disgruntled passengers as the flight was full and they could not change seats.
Get this: I was sitting in the aisle seat at the emergency exit opposite the jump seat. On short finals into Accra, a Ghanaian passenger got up and took her two kids to the bathroom. As they were sitting in the middle compartment, they were not in view of the cabin crew. I alerted the hostie in front of me and she nearly had a mild stroke:D.

As most of the pax departed at Accra, the remaining few had the whole plane to ourselves. The last leg of the flight to Libreville was uneventful, but I was well jet lagged.

Overall I would give Lufthansa 9/10. I was hoping that one of the sectors would be on a Boeing 777 so that I could compare the aircraft (The flights code share with United). Therefore I can't make a statement to that effect.

You can check out more pictures of my trip on Flickr, type in "R Wigzell".

My next flight will be Libreville to Johannesburg on South African Airways :eek:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4126/4846044595_a77dc7b0ca_m.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4147/4845967971_2a13ff06ff_m.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4131/4846044571_a70e821826_m.jpg
Picture below taken over Newfoundland at 38000ft.
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4105/4846044581_b92b28d47e_m.jpg

Member for

18 years 11 months

Posts: 8,847

I thought ALL airport were permanent construction sites! :D

Glad you're home safe.

I must say, the wine, beer and cognac on the flights were good :diablo:

Member for

20 years 8 months

Posts: 939

Interesting report from a different neck of the woods.

Member for

20 years 11 months

Posts: 12,842

A nice read Ralph..very enjoyable