Philadelphia International

We took a taxi from the Four Seasons to the airport, which was a short less-than-20-minutes ride for cathaana, airoli and me. We drove to the international terminal since cathaana's any my flight to Frankfurt was scheduled to leave earlier than airoli's flight to Montreal. The ride was a flat fee of 28.50 USD + 2.00 USD for an additional guest.
After we had arrived and took our luggage we went inside the terminal and used the Envoy / Star Gold Counter of US Airways. Only one counter was manned, but the waiting time was very short and soon it was our turn. I asked if airoli, who was flying also on US, but to YUL, could use this counters, although they were not assigned for flights to Canada. The agent asked about the time and verified this was possible and so I waved airoli over after confirming that he was also Star Gold. I checked my luggage to Dusseldorf, but as usual the agent was only able to print the boarding pass for the flight to Frankfurt, since my flight to Dusseldorf was not an official code share flight. Cathaana got the boarding pass for her flight to Frankfurt and airoli for his flight to YUL.

Together we cleared security at the designated checkpoint, which was fast, despite a lady arguing with the officers about two bottles of “special water” and blocking the belt through the x-ray machines. We headed to the Envoy lounge, where we got access, but could airoli only took as a guest in the lounge, since the Envoy Lounge is for international departures. However, we experienced no problems in getting him onto the lounge, as he was not on the same flight than we were.

The lounge was not very full. The offerings of food, snacks are still better than the offerings in United's Red Carpet Clubs. There were several salads available (e.g. Chinese Noodle Salad, Mediterranean Salad, etc., a small selection of cheese and vegetable, bread and garlic bread (though not to compare with that of SQ). Available as well were different types of beverage like Sparkling Water, Pepsi, Beer and different types of wine (a Californian White Wine and a Mouton Cadet from France). Still no drink chits necessary, we could serve ourselves. We grabbed some salad and something to drink and chatted about travel. Time really passed quickly and we said farewell to airoli and left the lounge some minutes prior to the scheduled departure time and headed for gate A 21 after a quick visit at a Hudson News Outlet. The boarding had not yet started and it seems the flight was delayed. A few minutes later an announcement was made, that due to the late incoming aircraft boarding would be delayed by nearly an our or so. We thought about returning to the lounge but decided against it.

Boarding started with families with children and people “who needed a bit more time”. Soon later passengers travelling in Envoy Class were allowed to board the plane and then the announcement was made for all passengers sitting in Zone 1. Zone 1 is for all passengers in Economy who have status in the several Star Alliance Frequent Flyer Programs. The agents at the gate were enforcing the zones and several people were sent back, which was nice and I would like to see LH enforcing this more in Germay.

23 August 2009
PHL – FRA
[Philadelphia – Frankfurt]
US 705 (Lufthansa); Airbus A 330-300 (N276AY)
Gate A 21
20:20 – 10:15 [effective 21:25 – 11:02]
Economy Class
Seat 19 H

We were among the first passengers in the Economy Class and headed for our seats, which were in the first part of the Economy Class Cabin. The cabin filled with passengers and the plane was full. Blankets and pillows were already lying on the seats.

Even before the doors were closed the captain came over the microphone and informed us about the flying time of 06:59 and that he hoped to make up a bit of the time once in the air. He mentioned also, that the passengers should not visit the crew in the galley due to safety regulations.
All announcement were repeated in German language.

We pushed back at 21:25 over an hour late and the flight attendants made the safety demonstration. We rolled to the runway and took off after a few minutes wait at 21:57; the scheduled take of time was 20:39. We had lost some more time while queuing for take off. Cathaana was getting angry about the delay and I was not happy about it either.

The video system was not yet started and this also means the reading lights were not working. Cathaana tried to sleep and so did I.

I noticed the crew was starting the service quite fast app. 35 minutes after we took off and the offerings were again chicken and pasta. Like cathaana I skipped the meal service but opted for a sparkling water and got a still one. The crew was definitively not the best and sometimes even unfriendly and rudely.

The plane was in in the same condition than the one we had for our flight to Philadelphia. Okay, there were some scratches, but the plane was not dirty. The inflight entertainment system was started after the meal service, which was different from my last flights.

A father with his teen girl in the row behind us were very annoying, they were kicking in the back of our seats and the father used my backrest as a headrest and so pushed my seat even more forward than in an upright position. I walked a few times for some minutes through the cabin to stretch my legs. Due to the kicking and pushing my back was hurting. Might it be the many flights in premium cabins, might it be the packed flight and the worse crew, but this time I really disliked this night flight. It is still something different to fly economy on a day or night flight.

I got a glass of water or orange juice during my quick visits in the rear galley, where the flight attendants were sitting and reading or chatting to each other. They were not seen in the cabin after they had finished the meal service during the entire flight. This was by far the worst crew I have had on US Airways this year. Contrary to the one on the flight some days ago, it was doing their job with only the thing necessary. In addition the captain had informed us, the passengers were not allowed to visit the crew in the galley and had to remain on their seats.

Luckily the flight time passed quickly and an hour prior to landing the breakfast service started with a Danish and orange juice, water, coffee and tea. We again skipped the meal but I opted for a glass of water and got one of orange juice. Either my English is worse or the crew did not really listen to you. I think it was the later one.

The crew collected the breakfast items a few minutes later and began to prepare the cabin for the arrival.

We began our descend into Frankfurt from Eastern direction and touched down around 10:45. Unfortunately we had to wait a few minutes between the two runways before we could clear runway 27 and taxi for our gate C 7. The crew announced our arrival as in terminal A, which was clearly wrong and I assume they mixed up terminal A with terminal 1.
Cathaana made a few calls while waiting and I was checking my e-mails on my pda and took a few pictures of the movement on the nearby runway.

We could disembark quickly and headed for immigration and customs, where for the first couple of minutes only one officer was on duty. After we passed immigration and customs we said goodbye to each other and I was on my way to the Lufthansa counters in terminal A to get my boarding pass for the flight to Düsseldorf while cathaana was heading to the train station for the short ride to down-town Frankfurt.

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