Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta

I took a bluebird taxi from the Le Meridien to the airport, which needed this time only 45 minutes to reach the airport. At the entrance to the terminal, my luggage was x-rayed.

This time, the Lufthansa counters were not yet open and so I had to wait until 16:00, when they opened. I used the Business Class Counter, which seems to be the first to be opened but in the end it was the last. I was checked in to Singapore and I had to pay the departure tax of 150000 IDR. A lounge invitation was given for the use of the “Pura Indah First and Business Class Lounge”, which was another one than on my flight a week before. Not sure, why, but it seems, that the HON Members onboard this flight, which were quite a number, were also in this lounge. Soon I was on my way to the immigration counters. All counters were staffed and lines were shorter than the week before and I passed immigration quite fast (being that this is Jakarta).

I headed for the “Pura Indah First Class Lounge”, I was only allowed to use the First Class section of the lounge but not the Business Class part. In the lounge I took a seat and got something to drink and a few bites to eat. I decided to finish some business stuff. The WiFi in the lounge was not working and a few minutes before I left, they even had a power failure. Not the best condition to work, so sending some e-mail had to wait until I reach Singapore. Not the best thing as I wanted to send the documents before noon in Germany, but I could not change it.

Boarding time approached and 15 minutes prior to boarding time I headed towards the gate, since the hand luggage has to be checked at a checkpoint before one reaches the gate. Lines were longer this time and again I had to wait a few minutes. At the gate, the departure card was taken and my boarding pass scanned and I was allowed to enter the boarding area.

Boarding had not yet started. I took a seat and waited for boarding time to come. The announced boarding time had already passed, but it seems the most people were still in the security line. Boarding started after a while with First Class Passengers and HONs and a few minutes later with Business Class, Senators and Star Gold passengers. The boarding of First Class and HONs were enforced by the agent at the door to the jetbridge, but not so for the remaining passengers.

12 May 2011
CGK– SIN
[Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta – Singapore Changi]
LH 779 (Lufthansa); Boeing 747-400 (D-ABVL / ‘München’)
Gate D 05
19:00 – 21:45 [effective 19:12 – 22:09]
Economy Class
Seat 32 K

I used the Business Class jetbridge, as the Economy jetbridge was noit yet opened and was friendly greeted as I entered the plane. My Boarding pass was not checked.

During boarding I noticed the sign indicating that this plane was named after the city of Munich (‘München’). This plane was about to be renamed, since the second A 380 was named after the city of Munich as well and there are usually no planes with the same name in the fleet of Lufthansa. This one was delivered from Boeing to Lufthansa back on February 20th, 1992 and made its maiden flight a month earlier. Otherwise the engines and the configuration are the same as on the other Boeing 747-400 of Lufthansa I have flown on this trip with the only difference, that I was now in Economy, but had an exit row.
Seats in Economy Class offer a seat pitch of 31 inch and a seat pitch of 17.5 inch. All of the 234 seats in Economy have a 113 degree recline, which is not much (90 degree would be the right angle to the floor).

The plane was not full in Economy Class and also Business Class was not completely sold out on this flight, but the flight was overbooked in Business Class on the onward flight from Singapore to Frankfurt and there were already in Jakarta looking for volunteers who would like to downgrade to Economy in exchange for1500 EUR.

The safety video was shown while we were still at the gate and soon later with a delay of 12 minutes we were pushed back at and taxied for our runway, where we had to queue for takeoff, which took some additional time. Finally at 19:44 the captain powered the engines and we climbed into the already dark sky above Jakarta.

After close to 15 minutes in flight, the fasten seat belt signs were switched off and the crew started to prepare the service with the meal service first, soon followed by a beverage round. A snack, which consists of a sandwich and a salad as well as a slice of cake and a water bottle, was given for this short 1:15 minutes flight to Singapore.

The crew was again friendly and attentive; though they were quite busy, doing a full service in this short flight in Economy.

We already had begun our final approach as the captain, who had welcomed us on board while we were at the gate in Jakarta, gave us an update of the weather situation and the expected delayed arrival time in Singapore.

During the approach I chatted with the flight attendant sitting on the jump seat opposite to me and it was quite interesting talking to him. He did not really like the flights to Singapore and preferred destination in the US. He was not a fan of the Airbus A 380 and considered is as too big. We chatted a bit about flying and the impressions of a flight from the view of a passenger and of a crew.

We touched down at 22:00 and taxied for our gate E 03 next to the Munich bound A 340, where we arrived nine minutes later.

Passengers from Economy class were not hold back and we could queue in the Business Class Cabin before we were able to leave the plane. After I left the plane, I headed to immigration and exit, passing the luggage belt which had not started yet, and took a taxi to the Sheraton where I arrived prior to 23:00.

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