Frankfurt Rhein-Main

Boarding for LH 400 was announced to begin at 09:05. Though I doubt that they began at this time, I decided to skip the lounge at gate A 25. I am not sure if this was a right decision, because the passport check at the elevators were long and it took app. ten minutes to pass immigration before I finally arrived at 09:20 at gate A 56 where the boarding process as expected had not yet begun. Passport where checked at entering the gate area which already was very full.

The flight was completely sold out in all classes, but they did not look for volunteers on this flight.

I waited in the gate area for another 15 minutes before boarding finally started for passenger traveling with small children and passengers who need some more time. A bit later First and Business Class passengers were called. But nobody was at the gate. It seems that the most passengers who boarded the plane were traveling in First and Business Class but I saw also some people traveling in Economy boarding the plane and as Economy was called I boarded among the first passengers for this class of service.

28 March 2008
FRA - JFK
[Frankfurt – New York John F. Kennedy]
LH 400 (Lufthansa); Airbus A 330 – 300 (D-AIKD)
Gate A 56
10:05 – 13:55 [effective 10:10 – 09:05]
Economy Class
Seat 30 G

I reached for the exit row at this plane, which I had achieved by checking in online for this flight. Prior to this flight Lufthansa made available the pre selection of exit rows for SENs and HONs. This seems also to work for all blocked rows.

I secured the overhead compartment above my seat, which was partly occupied with the rack of the magazines and the smaller one just above the exit. Blankets and pillows as well as headphones were placed on the seat or in the seat pockets.

The plane began to fill with passengers. Across the aisle was a family sitting with two children, but they were relatively quite during the flight.

We pushed back at 10:10. The safety video was shown while we were at the gate and during push back. This plane was equipped with the new inseat videos in Economy and I was looking forward to discover this feature during the flight.

It took another couple of minutes before it was finally our turn on the runway and we accelerated at 10:30 and seconds later we climbed into the sky above Frankfurt.

As the seat belt signs were turned off ten minutes after take off the crew began the preparation of the first beverage service, which started app. 30 minutes after take off with a round of pretzels and a beverage service. I opted of a glass of water. A hot towel service followed after some time and finally everything was collected.

Meal service began 70 minutes after take off. One had the choice of chicken or Tortellini. I took the Tortellinis which were okay. The food on the flight to IAH in February was worse, but it was still not as good as the food on TG or SQ. I had a glass of white wine with the meal. Interestingly I was addressed by name on all service rounds and I noticed the flight attendants had marked my name on the passengers manifest lying on the cart. My seat neighbour, FTL, was addressed by name only during meal service.

A refill of wine was offered and a bit later a cup of tea or coffee was available for dessert.

The trays were collected after 40 minutes or so and than it was a bit noisy, since the lavatories for Economy Class are in front of the exit rows. The purser came and introduced herself and did a bit small talk with me. She came a bit later again and brought me the pralines the Business Class passengers got for dessert, This was a really nice touch and much appreciated.

Immigration forms were distributed after the meal service, again I was addressed by name by the flight attendant.

During the flight the cabin crew did two beverage rounds offering water or orange juice. But it was possible to get a glass of water or orange juice in the rear galley.

The inflight entertainment system is nice, the screen is large. Personally I dislike the touch screen function as it is slow in recognizing the selections. It had to be rebooted several times during the flight and my system was not working properly from mid in flight time. A music channel was available, but the buttons in the armrest and also the button for the reading lamp were not working. Luckily you could switch on the reading lamp by a button at the lamp directly. However, the screen was working so it was possible to switch channels over the touch screen.

Lights were turned out app. 85 minutes prior to landing and soon later a hot towel round followed. The breakfast / snack service consisted of a ham panini and a panini with a vegetarian topping. A beverage round followed. Like on previous trips I skipped breakfast service.

The captain gave us a weather update an hour prior to expected landing time.

After the trays were collected the crew began to prepare the cabin for the arrival in New York, where we touched down at 13:26 and arrived at our gate 14 minutes later. Deboarding took some time, but I hurried up and as I reached the lines for immigration the lines were not that long, so I passed immigration in app. 15 minutes.

I cleared customs and headed for the Airtrain.

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