Frankfurt Rhein-Main

Arriving in the c-concourse meant a long way to the A concourse of Frankfurt's Terminal 1 and the First Class / Star Gold check in counters of Lufthansa. A few passengers were queuing before I was able to get my onward boarding pass and my checked luggage was taken care of and forwarded to my flight to Dusseldorf.

The lines at the security checkpoint were not long, but the officers again were slow and few of them were not  the friendliest ones – nothing too unusual in Frankfurt.

After the long walk through terminal 1 concourse A I arrived in the Senator lounge opposite Gate A 26. I signed the shower list and was able to take a shower at once - lucky me, this only happened for the second time since 2003 as I became FTL.

After a quick revitalizing shower I moved to the Senator Lounge, which was quite busy. I got something to eat and read in the papers before it was time to head back to gate A 1 where our flight to Dusseldorf should depart.

A few minutes after the announced boarding time I arrived at gate A 01. Boarding had not started yet, but I was happy to discover that this was not a bus gate like on so many of my flights to Dusseldorf.

Boarding started a few minutes later and I was able to use the self check in boarding facilities.

24 August 2009
FRA – DUS
[Frankfurt - Düsseldorf]
LH 806 (Lufthansa); Airbus A 319 (D-AILL / 'Marburg')
Gate A1
13:05 – 13:50 [effective 13:04 – 13:41]
Economy Class
Seat 09 C

I entered the plane and was on the way to my seat.

The plane was full in Economy, but they had put the curtain back to row 12 while the Business Class was nearly empty. So no blocked middle seat but a nearly empty Business Class. Since Dusseldorf is only a 25 minutes hop, I did not care that much and chatted a bit my seat neighbor, which was a Lufthansa flight attendant heading home after a Miami run and arriving late from Miami.

We pushed back a minute ahead of schedule and took of from runway 27 ten minutes later and climbed into the sky.

As usual on this short ride, there was no service in Economy. I read in the paper I brought with me from the lounge. Soon, we began our descend into Düsseldorf Airport and again it was a bit bumpier due to stronger crosswinds.

We landed ahead of schedule at 13:38 and taxied to our gate, where were arrived nine minutes ahead of schedule. I was able to get off the plane quite fast and walked to the luggage belt on floor down and waited for my luggage. For the most checked luggage bags, it seems, that the Priority stickers worked and the first pieces of luggage on the belt were the ones with priority stickers on it and so I was able to get both checked bags among the first 15 bags with the one the fourth and the second number 14 on the belt.

Overall an okay trip. US Airways is okay, as long as you are able to get a good crew and did not care that much about the service and do not pay that much for the ticket.

Food was okay on the flight out of Frankfurt and so was this crew. The inflight entertainment system is good, thought the music selection was in parts still the same as on the flight to Charlotte in February. However the Envoy Lounge is still good and by far better than the Red Carpet Clubs. The advantage is, you can have some snacks and a light dinner and skip the service on board. I will fly US Airways again, depending on the fares and the options in comparison to Lufthansa and United.

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