Munich Franz-Josef Strauß

Arriving on a Monday Morning meant longer lines not only at immigration but also at security, so it took me more time to reach the lounge. The SQ flight, which had left at the same time had arrived significantly earlier. A few passengers with tight connections were trying to cut the line. Some people seems to be annoyed, others seem not to care too much.

Finally after a check of my laptop back, my camera and my carry one, I entered the sterile area of the terminal and headed for the Senator lounge at gate G 24. Again I signed the shower list, but the number of people ahead of me was much longer and I doubt I would make it this time.
Still, there was some hope and so I grabbed me a coffee and some sweet offerings from the buffet and took a seat in the lounge. The lounge was fuller than during my visit in the previous week, but not overcrowded.

As boarding time came closer, I headed the lady who took care of the shower list and assigned the shower stalls and asked her to take me off the list, as I had to leave in ten minutes. I did not have had to wait much longer for a shower ….

Boarding had not yet started as I arrived at the gate, but began soon. This time, we had a gate. I could see the Airbus A 320 D-AISQ standing at the gate. At this time, Airbus A 320 meant still the old seats as at this time no Airbus A 320 was yet equipped with the Neue Europakabine (NEK). D-AISQ is a quite new plane with a delivery date of June 12th, 2009 and first flight only nine days earlier. It joined the Lufthansa fleet as new plane right from Hamburg. Equipped with engines from IAE like the flight on May 10th, but a different type with more thrust (146.80 kN).

16 May 2011
MUC - DUS
[Munich Franz-Josef Strauß - Düsseldorf International]
LH 2002 (Lufthansa); Airbus A 321 (D-AISQ / ‘Lindau’)
Gate G16
07:25 – 08:35 [effective 07:28 – 08:47]
Economy Class
Seat 16 A

This was a plane change, since originally an Airbus A 319 was assigned for the flight to Düsseldorf and this occurred in a change of my pre assigned seat and a new boarding was issued in the lounge. This does not necessarily mean I will lose my seat and therefore I had not noticed the seat change than in the moment as I entered the plane and found the curtain behind the row, where my seat should be.

It was a window seat this time and the plane was quite full, but seat blocking worked again. Only a few seats remained empty and it seems that this were between passengers with elite status in LH’s frequent traveler program. Minor details, but sometimes this makes the difference.

I had stored my trolley in the overhead bin and my laptop under the seat in front of me. This time, my seat mate and I had the same idea of converting it into a Business Class Seat giving us slightly more space.

The safety demonstration was done while we were pushed back slightly behind at 07:28 and we taxied for the runway. With a busy Monday Moring, we had to wait close to 30 minutes before it was our turn and we left Munich at 07:54.

The flight itself was again uneventful and nothing really worth to report. A beverage service was done and a cereal bar was offered. I dozed a bit, after I finished reading in the FAZ I brought from the lounge. Soon we began our descend into DUS where we touched down at 08:45 slightly delayed and taxied for our gate which we reached 2 minutes later. Being in the middle section of the plane, it took a few minutes before I could leave the plane. This time there was more need for a rush, as I had a train to catch. Usually someone offers to pick me up, but with a good connection to public transportation and packed roads in the morning rush hour I told them that they did not need to pick me up this time.

Conclusion

Two weeks of heavy flying and it shows, that the crew is the most important part and it is them who make a flight good or bad. I consider myself lucky on most of the flights. With the exception of the crew on the flight Singapore to Frankfurt were all crews quite good with the best crew on Munich - Singapore and Singapore -Munich. It also shows, that service is better, if the crew already knows you and this flight was not exception.
The hardware, aka the seat, inflight entertainment etc. on Lufthansa flights were the usual. I have flewn a lot and you know that you get a product which is not update anymore and I am looking forward to their new Business Class. The Thai Airways hardware on the longhaul planes is like that of Lufthansa also not up-to-date. But at least they are currently offering lief flat seats in the leased Jet Airways 777 planes and will get lie flat seats on their A 380 - unlike Lufhhans, which has the old Business Class seats on their A380. The down of Thai is they are constantly changing equipments and you do not know what you get until a few days prior to your flight.
The highlight was the first longhaul flight: Swiss on Zurich - Hong Kong. Their seats is flat and has a lot of space to placed things at the seats but not so much place to really store things. I like the way their seat configuration. It is a more narrow seat, which I prefer. But I can imagine that there are people who do not like the seat. I also think the service of Swiss crews is more constant than on Lufthansa (and Thai Airways).

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