Düsseldorf International

I had brought a few things from the US for colleagues and delivered them in the afternoon of the day I arrived at our office. Since this is close to the Hilton Hotel, I decided to stay there over the night, given the fact, that my flight to LHR was leaving early. So I took the bus from the stop Nordfriehof, which is close to the Düsseldorf Hilton, to the airport. Since I was still sleep deprived and woke up early, I decided to get up and take the earlier bus. I therefore was at 05:30 at the counters of Lufthansa where I checked in – and was told, I was already checked in. I had forgotten, that I had done this already during the night in the hotel, so only the boarding pass was printed and I was through security – not in a breeze, since my hand luggage got a closer look as they wanted to see, what all the electronics in my carry on looked like.

The Lufthansa area was not really full, but the counters of Air Berlin and those of several charter airlines were quite busy and long lines were queuing for security at concourse B. But at the Star Alliance concourse A, there were short (Economy) to non exisiting lines (Business / First).

So I was in the Senator Lounge at 05:40, took a seat and had breakfast and read in one of the papers.

As the green flashing lights indicated the begin of boarding, I decided to head to the gate. Border control were empty, the ID check followed later. As expected boarding had already begun, but the line was short and I was on the jetbridge seconds later.

01 May 2010
DUS - LHR
[Düsseldorf International – London Heathrow]
LH 4770 (Lufthansa); Boeing 737-300 (D-ABED / 'Hagen')
Gate A 77
07:05 – 07:25 [effective 06:59 – 07:11)
Economy Class
Seat 05 A

As I entered the plane I was friendly greeted and made my way to my seat. The plane was quite empty and many seats remained empty. So I pushed the armrest of my row into the Business Class configuration.

The new May issue of the Lufthansa Magazine was already available and so I read in it while the safety demonstration was done. The captain had informed us earlier, that we were ready ahead of schedule but did not get an earlier slot and therefore had to sit some more minutes at the gate.

Finally we were pushed back at 06:59 and taxied to the runway, we were took off at 07:08. We climbed in the sky, flew over Mönchengladbach toward The Netherlands and the channel.

I skipped the snack – looked like some pastry or so – and only opted for a coffee and a glass of water. I dozed a bit but after 50 minutes the fast seat belt sign were already turned on and we began our approach into London's Heathrow Airport. The captain gave us a weather update and we touched down at 07:09 local time and taxied for our gate, where we arrived only a few minutes later.

Since it was early, I took some more time than usual, but sitting in the front section I was off the plane fast and on the long way to border control, customs and on the way to the Piccadilly Line underground station.

Top

next flight