My travel plans for 2008 include a series of day trips to various destinations around VIE and, with a round-trip fare of 95€ in total, HG convinced me that NUE was the right choice and the 6th of February was the right date.
I was looking forward to Nuremberg, the medieval center, the fortress and the former Reichsparteitaggelände.
Of course, I was looking to the flights, as well. When I checked the flight on Amadeus, I was surprised to find a 738 on a HG flight, so I assumed that AB would be operating the flight. Somehow I don't quite understand it, but well...
Not much going on in my part of the city at 3.30 am.
Passing the Schönbrunn castle on the way to the airport:
Leaving the A4 motorway:
HG's NUE flight was only the second one to depart that day.
The drop-off zone in front of the terminal building.
The provisional check-in hall for AB, HG, SN, euphemistically called "Terminal 1A"...
I arrived there at 4 am exactly and the counters were only just opening. Most people you see here were going to TFS.
The lady at the counter could issue my boarding pass for the return flight, as well, which meant more time for me in Nuremberg.
As I was so early, I decided to take a stroll to my favorite spotting positions:
The construction site of the new terminal is well visible in the background, Terminal 1A can be seen in the center of the picture:
The OS check-in counters were still closed, the signs said: "Guten Morgen! Good morning! Counters open at 05.15".
Passengers for the early HG and NE flights already made use of the Panorama restaurant and so did I. I watched two of OS' 767s arrive and pull into their gates and had a coke. (€3.20!!!)
My documents:
First time I see her in this livery from such a short distance:
The security checks for the B gates. You could easily notice that most of the TFS/LPA pax were infrequent flyers, as they only started to take off their jackets when asked to and left keys, wallets, etc. in their trousers.
Here we are:
We were then bussed to the plane and judging by how much space there was left in the bus, I presumed we would have a light load today.
D-ABAO, one of AB's oldest 738s:
Is it just me or do planes look incredibly inviting in the dark?
I was greeted by a very friendly (and young...and pretty...) FA, took both a newspaper and my seat.
The plane was indeed half empty for today's flight. I had a whole row for myself, which I appreciated as I always carry a lot of stuff with me.
A lovely Czech visitor, coming in from Ostrava:
She was towed away from her gate...
...to make place for CI's 333 from TPE and AUH:
The captain came on the PA system and announced an on-time departure from RWY 29, which is the standard dep runway in the morning and meant a rather short taxiing distance and a flight time of about 50 minutes.
Obviously, as it is February, it is still dark at this very early time of day, so taking pictures was quite a challenge. I hope you don't mind too much, I did my best (whatever exactly that means...)
We lined up about five minutes late and performed a rolling take-off, albeit apparently not using full thust, as we only lifted off after we had passed the terminal building. Having about 80 pax on board and being such a short flight, this seemed odd.
The usual departure procedure from 29 includes a left turn pretty soon after liftoff to avoid overflying Vienna.
Vienna (believe me...)
The climbout was calm. Initially we were heading towards the E-S-E before a right turn after about ten minutes brought us on a corrrect heading towards LNZ.
That's where the Captain came on the speaker again and told us we would arrive on time. The approach "could get a little bumpy." I was not delighted to hear that it was raining in Nuremberg as I had a lot of plans regarding what to see and do. Oh, well, it might get better. Or so I thought.
It was interesting to see how the flight brought together HG and AB elements. The plane, the crew and the beverages were AB and the flight number was HG. BUT!!!! Most importantly, the sandwiches were HG, too.
We had the choice between an egg sandwich (which I decided to have) and a cheese sandwich. Quite honestly, I could not ask for a better breakfast on a 50 minutes flight and at that time of day. Great quality and... gosh, there were TWO sandwiches for everyone! What do you get on, let's say, on US transcon flights these days?
Of course, I had my favorite plane drink again: tea with milk.
Before I knew it, we were descending again and there was no time left to use the lav. (Shit. [Or not, actually])
The sun was slowly (very much so, as we were heading west) rising and provided a nice mood until we dived back into the Bavarian clouds.
The approach was indeed not the smoothest I ever had but not the worst either (that was into LHR on an OS A320 in September 2004).
Beautiful vapour trails, unfortunately just barely visible here:
Wir fahr'n, fahr'n, fahr'n auf der Autobahn. A3, I think.
Touchdown on runway 28 was nice and not too firm:
The gates were basically empty and still we used a remote position. It was raining! What were they thinking?
Said goodbye to the crew and left the plane via the rear exit, again. AB is indeed quite big @ NUE.
The L1 exit got a roofed stairway and we did not...
NUE is a very nice airport. Clean, well-illuminated, modern.
I had been given seat 10A for the return flight but a peek into the timetable uncovered that this seat had no (usable) window, so I made my way to the AB check-in counters, where a friendly changed it to 9A in no time. 10A would remain empty.
Got a day ticket for Nuremberg's U-Bahn, S-Bahn, tram and bus network and off I was, hoping for better weather.
Quoting DavidkunzVIE (Thread starter): as it is February, it is still dark at this very early time of day, so taking pictures was quite a challenge. I hope you don't mind too much, I did my best
- Don't worry, they are pretty good, always difficult to decent pix on the plane in the dark.
After a few hours in the charmingly cosy city of Nuremberg (I'll post a link to some pictures a little later), I decided to return to NUE, which is Germany's only airport with a direct metro link. The line U2 gets you from the airport to the city center in about 15 minutes, depending on where you get off.
Rathenauplatz station:
Getting off at the airport station. The classic metro cars (similar to those in Munich and also related to ours here in Vienna) and the modern architecture blend nicely.
NUE is, as I said, a nice place, convenient and easy to navigate.
A windy evening:
AB counters.
Security took about half a minute. As you can see I was very early again. AB owns this place...
Extremely comfortable chairs. Too comfortable, if you ask me - I fell asleep for some twenty minutes...
OS - not mine today...
This one is:
D-AISH, one of LH's latest A321s:
Again we were bussed to the 738. I was afraid I'd end up on D-ABAO again when we approached her, but fortunately we circled around her just to stop in front of D-ABBR, one of only seven 738s of AB without winglets. She used to fly for Novair as SE-DVU.
In fact I had never been on a non-wingletted 738, which I thought was a shame, as I prefer the looks of them. With the 73Gs it's the other way round. They look better WITH winglets.
No. I'm not that tall:
D-ABAO again:
We departed a little behind schedule and, additionally, had to wait for this 747 and a runway inspection car:
Rolling onto 28 again.
Sorry again:
We passed the city to the west during a long left turn:
The crew somehow really seemed to enjoy their evening and were especially cheerful. The sandwich was, once again, of excellent quality but, this time, very small.
I don't know why airlines seem to believe it necessary to have any IFE on such flights. Give me the airshow any day over Disney stuff or that über-silly "Just for laughs". I can't stand it anymore...
Enough ranting already. We approached VIE and came to land on RWY 29, where we had left 15 hours earlier. That's quite rare, so I did not know where we were until we rolled off the runway.
Over the numbers:
Here we are.
AB all over Europe...
Row 9, which I had all for myself again!
The yet to be opened new terminal in the background. I wonder if OS' move there will open up gate positions for AB/HG
And that was it.
Conclusion:
What shall I say? €95, pretty punctual flights, free catering for a 50 min flight, friendly crews, easy check-in, no problems whatsoever. Not the best TR material but AB deserves praise. I will definitely not hesitate to book AB flights again and again and again and again.....
Good job.
FLIEGER67 From Germany, joined Sep 2003, 3760 posts, RR: 58 Reply 6, posted (4 years 3 months 2 weeks 2 days 1 hour ago) and read 4950 times:
Hi, David,
I was waiting for the second part to post a reply.
Nice story and an interesting bunch of pix, in comparison to that shorty flights.
Seems you had a good day with AB.
While I was for several times at VIE, NUE will be also a new adition to my log,
maybe later this year.
Airbuseric From Netherlands, joined Jan 2005, 3735 posts, RR: 52 Reply 9, posted (4 years 3 months 2 weeks 1 day ago) and read 4772 times:
Servus David!
nice to see that you got on the non-winglet version of AB's 738. Quite hard to get nowaydays.
Quoting DavidkunzVIE (Thread starter): In fact I had never been on a non-wingletted 738, which I thought was a shame, as I prefer the looks of them
Disagree with you. All 737NG's with winglets look cool to me
Interesting trip, AB is doing quite good indeed. NUE is not in my log yet. Hard to get from AMS, only KL is flying with expensive fares. Maybe some good deal on LH some day
Gruß
Eric
"The whole world steps aside for the man who knows where he is going"
Stylo777 From Turkey, joined Feb 2006, 2752 posts, RR: 11 Reply 10, posted (4 years 3 months 1 week 6 days 3 hours ago) and read 4600 times:
Hi David,
great report and cool pics. I miss your pics of the city of Nuremberg as I've never been to Nuremberg before (also NUE is still missing in my log). Would be great if you post them!
I mentioned it already in my trip reports, I die for these AB sandwiches, which are by far the best sandwiches you can get onboard of any airplane and airline!
Quoting DavidkunzVIE (Reply 8): I am about to book a VIE-FRA-VIE rotation on April 5 on LH (321) and OS (320).
let me know when you come to FRA. maybe we can meet each other at the airport, do some spotting or a citytour
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