Frankfurt Rhein-Main

I began the long walk to the concourse C, where my flight to BKK was departing. I took the skytrain to B/C and then walked the way to C. I am not sure, but I think there is no way to remain airside; one has to pass security again. Immigration / Customs took a couple of minutes since there was only one officer on duty, but a second came back and then lines moved faster.

From immigration it is quite a hike to the security checkpoint. There a separate elite line was available and the waiting time was not very long. However they checked my zip lock bag with my lotions quite carefully. I then headed to the checkpoint, where only Business and First Class Passengers as well as Star Gold Passengers have access. There are a separate First Class / Hon Lounge, a Senator / Star Gold and two Business Class / Frequent Traveller Lounges. The Business Class Lounges have direct boarding gates while the Senator Lounge is between both Business Class Lounges. If boarding time had come, the connecting doors are opened and the passengers of the Senator Lounge are allowed into the other lounge for boarding.
The Senator Lounge is spacious with a lot of lounge chairs and an area with seats and tables. The food selection was not very big. The Senator Lounge in Düsseldorf offers in my eyes a wider selection of food. The range of beverages available is okay.

As I entered the lounge I showed my boarding pass and asked about the load of the flight to Bangkok. She looked at the screen, typed a few things, smiled and said if my question was related to an operational upgrade, then yes the load was high and I was already upgraded to C and gave me a new boarding pass.

I took a seat, read a bit in the Spiegel magazine, made a few calls and waited for boarding time. As boarding time had come I headed for the connecting doors, which were opened by a lounge agent and into the Business Class lounge.

We had to wait a couple of minutes, since there was an elderly couple who were allowed to preboard and a few miutes later it was our turn. An escalator down and there the passengers from common waiting area also boarded. I took the Business Class / First Class jetbridge and was on my way to the plane.

05 February 2009
FRA - BKK
[Frankfurt – Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport]
LH 772 (Lufthansa); Boeing 747-400 (D-ABVD / 'Bochum')
Gate C 14
22:50 – 15:00 [effective 23:00– 15:12]
Business Class
Seat 12 C

As I entered the plane I was greeted by a flight attendant and shown the way to my seat, which was the second last row before the second door. I stored my belongings into the overhead compartment and my jacket was stored by another flight attendant in the closet.

The flight was full at least in Business and Economy Class, not sure about First Class.

My seat neighbor was the well know German writer and talk master Roger Willemsen. Well, we introduced each other and shake hands.

As boarding was completed the crew began to offer pre departure drinks while push back was prepared and the safety video was shown. Predeparture drinks where a choice of water, orange juice, apple juice or champagne. I and my seat neighbor opted for a glass of champagne. It was interesting to notice, that my well know seat neighbor was addressed by name and with his academic title (Dr. Willemsen) and the purser addressed me by name as well, while other flight attendants addressed him by name but not me. This changed during the flight. Not sure, why … The menus were distributed on the ground.

We pushed back at 23:00, still the safety video was shown. We taxied quite a distance from the concourse C before we reached the famous runway West, which was in the news in the early 80ies as it was built. 18 Minutes later, my clock told me it was now 23:18, the captain powered the engines and we accelerate and finally left the runway and climbed into the dark sky.

My seat neighbor was looking for the power outlet which is in Business Class hidden behind a lid. He told me he has not used it very often, since he was upgraded to First Class very often. He worked with his laptop and read in a book for the next time.

Around 30 minutes after take off a hot towel service was done. A few minutes later the tables were laid with linen and a beverage round started and offered also a packet of macadamia nuts. I choose a glass of champagne and the Lufthansa Cocktail and mixed it. The flight attendant got first a regular glass but then she decided to use a champagne glass.

Let's have a look at the menu

The meal service was done from the cart. The first course came with the tray, which included the cutlery as well as the lettuce. I went for the shrimp cocktail with herb mushroom which was quite good, although the number of shrimps was quite small. I went with the Grauburgunder white wine (Pinot Grigio) for the first course and the lettuce. A selection of bread and rolls were also offered with the first course.

The trays were collected as the main course was served. This time we both had the fish – the stewed halibut – as main course. While Dr. Willemsen enjoyed another glass of champagne, I got my glass refilled with the white wine. The main course was okay, nothing really special and it could have been a bit spicier fore my taste.

The main course was collected and soon the dessert followed. I opted for the shortbread cheese cake. It was good. A tea and coffee was offered with the dessert and I had a glass of champagne with the dessert as well.

Soon later the linen was collected and I folded the table away. My seat neighbor called it a night, while I listened a bit to the music and then decided to sleep a bit, too. The cabin light was dimmed app. two hours after we departed in Frankfurt.

To my own surprise I was able to sleep for quite a longer time and I wake up around seven hours of flight time. My sleep was interrupted several times, but I felt asleep again. I must have been really tired, because usually I cannot sleep in a plane, esp. if the seat is not lie flat.

The in-flight entertainment system did not work, as I woke up, but that was not really a problem. After app. 7:45 hours of flight time the cabin light were turned on and the cabin crew began to prepare the breakfast service. App. 1:45 h before scheduled touch down there was another hot towel service and soon later the beverage and breakfast service started.

I went for the omelet and ordered tea for breakfast. Again, a selection of bread, rolls, croissant and pastries were offered and I took a Danish with the omelet.

I had talked with Dr.Willemsen about various themes during the flight. We chatted about air travel, the different airlines and our experiences with them, the frequent flyer programs and the South East Asian region during various occasions. He is traveling a lot to Asia and was a very pleasant seat neighbor. He agreed in many points, esp. the report in German papers about the political situation in Thailand. He had been in Bangkok during the closing down of the airport and the demonstrations and had been to some of the demonstration, although this was dangerous and he told me there were not many European journalist reporting from the demonstrations. We agreed that the NZZ had a good South East Asian correspondent and the reporting style of this very special paper is one of the best.

Unfortunately, there were no immigration forms onboard, but we were lucky. A passenger in the last Business Class row had them in his carry on – he was working with Lufthansa in Vietnam and knew that this happens occasionally.

We already had begun our final approach to Bangkok, where we touched down at 15:06, a few minutes behind schedule and arrived at our parking position at 15:12.

We disembarked through the front door and were soon on our way to immigration. We said “Good Bye” to each other and I was on my way to the taxi counter.

After a really unpleasant journey by taxi, I finally arrived at the Hilton two hours after I had arrived in Bangkok.

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