Frankfurt Rhein-Main

Arriving in the c-concourse meant a long way to the A concourse of Frankfurt's Terminal 1. I followed the signs and was happy to discover that the work in the connecting corridors between C and B was finished and I could use the sky train. Using the skytrain means one could avoid the safety check at the main entrance to the A concourse.

The safety check at the skytrain station was fast, no one in front of me and this time the agents were okay. However, I was asked to remove fresh tissues and things like that, as the were not allowed. Well I had two in my carry on, as I later discovered, which was not discovered by safety. But still Frankfurt is worse, if it comes to security checks.

I arrived in the Senator lounge opposite Gate A 26. I signed the shower list, but was told, there were quite a lot of passengers waiting for a shower. I headed over to the Senator lounge and was lucky to get a seat in the crowed Senator lounge. The pictures are from a previous visit, as it was a rare time seeing the lounge nearly empty.

I put some work in this trip report and updated it to my arrival in Frankfurt. I used the waiting time also for a second breakfast in the lounge and waited for boarding time or the call of housekeeping. Unfortunately something went wrong and a few passengers were never called. To me, not an issue, since it was my last flight home and I could take a shower there.

A few minutes after the announced boarding time I headed for my gate, A 22, which was a bus gate - I knew this from previous flights from this gate. The flights to Düsseldorf uses quite often a bus gate instead of the regular gate via jetbridge.

As I arrived there, the boarding area was empty and to my very surprise they had started boarding in time and the first bus was already on the way to the plane. So I waited with a few other passengers for the last bus. We had a longer ride over the tarmac and I was able to see the United 777 I arrived a few hours earlier on departing for Chicago. Finally we arrived at the Boeing 737-300 named Rothenburg ob de Tauber.

04 June 2009
FRA – DUS
[Frankfurt – Dusseldorf]
LH 806 (Lufthansa); Boeing 737-300 (D-ABWH / 'Rothenburg ob de Tauber')
Gate A 22
13:05 – 13:50 [effective 13:08 – 13:50]
Economy Class
Seat 12 C

I entered the plane and was on the way to my seat. The plane did not look full because the most middle seats remained empty. My seat was taken by another passengers and I kindly asked him if he was sitting on my seat. I would have taken another seat, but not a middle seat, as he told me to do. He moved to the window on the opposite side of the aisle. Sometimes I ask myself, why passengers decide to choose another seat before all passengers have boarded the flight. I stored my belongings in the overhead compartment, as the announcement “Boarding completed was made”, took my seat, and soon we were taxiing to the runway while the safety demonstration was done.

We climbed into the sky and it was a very bumpy ride for the first minutes of the flight. An older lady was airsick and she had the vomit bag in her hands, but luckily did not use is. As usual on this short ride, there was no service in Economy. I read in the paper I brought with me from the lounge and in the new LH inflight magazine. Soon, we began our descend into Düsseldorf Airport and again it was a bit bumpier due to stronger crosswinds. The lady again had the vomit bag in her hand - I think she must not use it, but I did not look at her the whole time.

We landed in time and taxied to our gate. I was able to get off the plane quite fast and made the train connection so I was on my way to Duisburg main station just 20 minutes after we touched down in Düsseldorf.

Overall a nice trip. United is okay, as long as you are able to get an Economy Plus seat. The crews I had were okay (flight to Chicago) and good (flight to Frankfurt), although the later one was in Business Class. The old Business Class is okay for a short flight and especially if you are upgraded, but if you have to pay for it, you should wait for the new Business Class. I have not flown them myself, but looking on the pictures and the reviews, they product is good (even lie flat). The Red Carpet Clubs in ORD are still very often very full and lacking any form of good food options. They at least have improved the offering in terms of fruit but that's all. The Maple Leaf Lounges of Air Canada are by far better, not only because they offer free alcohol, also the ambiance is nicer. It was a really nice trip and I will visit Montreal in the near future again.

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