Frankfurt Rhein-Main

Since my flight from Düsseldorf was late, I decided to skip the lounge. The lounges in the Non-Schengen area were quite at the other end of the concourse and I was not in the mood for a hike. I could have used the Senator lounge close to gate A 25, but I was not sure about the lines at security upstairs.

As I reached the gate, there was only a short line for the passport check at the gate. They used a separate counter for Business / First and Star Gold passenger and two for Economy. Although boarding time was announced with 09:05, the boarding process has not yet started as I entered the gate area at 09:20. Ten minutes later there were asking for volunteers, in this case Business Class passenger who would like to travel in coach for 1600 EUR in voucher or 1500 EUR in cash – Business was overbooked. As far as I noticed they got the necessary number.

11 February 2008
FRA – IAH
[Frankfurt – Houston]
LH 440 (Lufthansa); Airbus A 340 - 600
Gate A
10:05 – 14:25 [effective 11:00 – 14:55]
Economy Class
Seat 26 A

It took another quarter of an hour as we were allowed to board – the buses. Our flight had an outside position on the tarmac and it was a nearly ten minutes bus ride to our plane, which parked between cargo plains on an outside position.

It seems that the first bus had the most passengers of Business Class, nearly everybody reached for the stairs at the front door. Though I have a lower number and all passengers up to row 31 were asked to board through the first door, I decided to take the rear one. I reached my seat without further problems and stored my belongings in the overhead compartment. I really like that you have overhead bins on the A 340-600 at the exit rows – the 747-400 had them not.

While the business class cabin was fully booked, Economy Class was open and especially in the middle seats the most rows were only occupied by two passengers.

As I seated at the exit row on crew member came and asked us if we speak English and told us to have a look at the leaflet for the “Overwing Exit Briefing”. He returned some minutes later and asked if we were sure to handle it.

There was some technical problems to be solved, so our already delayed departure time increased to 45 minutes as we finally rolled to the runway. There we had to wait another couple of minutes and we were finally airborne at 11:00. The captain has told us, that we nevertheless could expect an on time arriving in Houston.

We climbed into the sunny sky and the usual announcements were made, especially that one should buckle up all the time.

Headphones were distributed app. twenty minutes after departure soon followed by some salt sticks and a first beverage round. I opted for a glass of water.

Twenty minutes later we were told what to expect for lunch. On this flight we had the choice of either salmon with carrots and mashed potatoes or chicken Hong Kong styled with noodles. I opted for the chicken. The chicken was overcooked while the noodles were okay. The lunch came with a small bowl of salad, a slice of cake, a small packed cheese and a roll. I had again a glass of water. At the end of the lunch service we were offered either tea or coffee. Lunch service took app. an hour. Overall not the best food, probably better as the food I had in Economy on my last flight from Frankfurt to Bangkok, but nothing really good. There was no taste. It seems that Thai Airways is still serving the best food in Economy, at least on the flights from Germany to Thailand.

I walked a bit around the plane. It’s funny to see the lavatories downstairs. Strange, I noticed ash from a cigarette in the sink.

The Crew was friendly on this flight. They did every 45 to 60 minutes additional beverage rounds with water and orange juice. In addition near the stairs down to the lavatories were a tray with orange juice and water placed during the flight.
They dimmed the light in this flight, but did not ask passengers to close the sun shades. I am somehow concerned why passengers were asked to close the sun shades on a day flight. Immigration and customs forms were distributed after meal service.

Our flight took us over the Netherlands and the British and Irish Coast towards the Atlantic.

After six hours flight time they made an additional beverage round with coffee, tea, soft drinks as well as alcoholic drinks. A bar of chocolate was given to each passenger.

Lights were switched on 100 minutes prior to landing and soon a dinner / supper service followed together with an additional beverage service, this time one hand the choice of either Boeuf Stroganoff or Pasta. I skipped this meal service and therefore could not make any comment about the quality. Trays were cleared 30 minutes prior to landing.

The crew prepared the cabin for landing and we touched down at 14:50 and reached the gate five minutes later. Economy Passengers were hold back, so the passengers from Business Class could disembark first. At the gate was the HON Circle Arrival service waiting and picked up all HONs on this flight. After a short hike we reached the arrival hall, luckily the queues were not long and after 12 minutes wait it was my turn.

As I had not checked luggage I could straight head to customs were a long line was queuing, but it was really fast, less than two minutes and it was my turn.

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