FLIEGER67 From Germany, joined Sep 2003, 3759 posts, RR: 58 Posted (2 years 6 months 1 day 22 hours ago) and read 7849 times:
Security issues and Lufthansa Italia BRI-MXP
Ciao, dear readers,
a trip to Italy was once more on the to-do-list.
I´ve missed Bari in spring due to biz reasons and once more in August.
So, time now to collect it to my route map.
A couple of days after arriving back home from the Emirates
Wednesday, 04.11.2009 Rainy, Temperature 10 degrees Sunny, Temperature 14 degrees
Duration: 1 hour, 25 minutes announced
1 hour, 40 minutes actual
Service AB 8970 operated by TuiFly
Scheduled: 08.00 // 09.50
Actual: 09.30 // 11.10
Gate: 312 Seat: 25A
Load factor: Around 60%
Well, that was another booking around one of these sales actions, as low as 29.-- Euros for the ride down to the south,
acceptable from my point of view.
More interesting was, that AB taking over the non-vacation routes from X3 with the winter timetable, only some days ago.
That means, I´ve received a mail with a flight number swap and also, something which I really mentioned the day before the trip,
a new departure time. Thankfully two hours earlier, so no problems with my connections.
OLCI worked well, secured the usual window last row and had no need to go early to the airport.
It seems, I´am going to miss a flight in the near future, the last run from FRA to DOH was late and this time I was more later.
Heavy traffic on the road to the airport, boarding time printed for 07.30 am and in the terminal at 07.20 am.
Passing security at T1, no time to wait and ontime at the gate.
Departures:
Arrivals:
AF ready for CDG:
AB to DUS:
Another yellow example:
The gate agent performed an information seconds after my arrival, that we go for some minutes late due to security issues.
Security issues, what does it mean?.
After a quick sidestep to the restroom, I was back at the gate five minutes later and saw a man with four stripes preparing an announcement.
Our pilot himself, a nice gesture and he told us the whole story.
That will be the first flight for the plane and crew today and when they entered the machine for preparations they found a suspicious bag, which should not be there. They called immediatelly the airport police and further on the sniffer dog squad to search the plane in detail for any explosives. We had to wait till they fixed the job, better safe than sorry.
Finally, around one hour, 15 minutes after scheduled departure, boarding by bus was called.
Surprisingly, no one of the pax walked away and we approached D-AHXC, the scheduled Boeing 737-700.
Delivered at 09.05.2007 to X3 and in service with AB since 25.10.2009.
One of 11 in the fleet and named "Robinson Club Ampflwang".
Leg no. 24 for me on type and a new entry to my log.
Boarding:
Engine shot:
Boarding again:
Robin Hood Saab 340 from Graz:
Three middle aged female FA´s. Two more, one less friendly on that service.
The cabin fitted with slimline fabric seats in mixed colours, clean so far.
Somewhat lower legroom than on my earlier flights, maybe a change by AB?.
Seats:
New headrests:
Seats again:
Departure from the 3345 meters runway 25 in direction AGB-MUC-SZB-KLU-LJU-ZAG-ZAD-SPU at 34.000 feet.
Cloudy winglet:
Near SPU:
Croatia looks nice:
Once more:
Some islands here:
Free drinks and sandwich on offer.
AB special selection:
And inside:
The also german FO was on the speakers inflight again detailed during cruise.
My information level was absolutely ok around these problems here.
Finals for BRI:
Closer:
Approach into BRI´s 2440 meter runway 25 above the sea and finally touched down in warm and sunny southern italy.
Just landed:
Apron:
Sunny disembarking:
Under the wing:
AirOne classic:
Apron deboarding by bus and soon thereafter out in the public to go for the bus downtown.
Linea Tempesta operated the service with a small city bus directly to the train station we´re I´ve arrived some 30 minutes later.
Some pics from BRI:
The cathedral:
Detail:
Castello Svevo:
Once more:
Holy Nicolaus grave:
And again:
The same way back later to the airport.
Wednesday, 04.11.2009 Sunny, Temperature 20 degrees Malpensa, Cloudy, Temperature 11 degrees
Duration: 1 hour, 20 minutes announced
1 hour, 30 minutes actual
Service Lufthansa Italia 1853 operated by Lufthansa
Scheduled: 15.05 // 16.40
Actual: 15.00 // 16.30
Gate: 1 Seat: 25A
Load factor: Around 70%
A new airline for my log, the first flight on LH Italia ahead.
Also here OLCI was done from my home office the day earlier.
Not the common sign here in southern Italy, the guy at the security check asked two colleagues, if that was ok or a fake paper.
Infact, later at the gate, I dont saw any other self printed sheet.
BRI has beside some loco connections mainly flights to Milano and Rome scheduled.
It´s a modern building, spacious, lots of seaters around the gates.
LH Italia enters the market in comparison to AirOne/Alitala, the fare with around 40.-- Euros also not bad.
The airport:
Inside:
Departures:
And again:
Apron view:
Alitalia classic:
The plane parked on the apron. Boarding was called some minutes early. Again by bus to the machine.
D-AILI waited, the scheduled Airbus A319, delivered at 18.02.1997 to Lufthansa, leased out to now defunct Khalifa from Algeria
at 10.07.2001, further to Germanwings at 30.03.2004, back to Lufthansa at 14.11.2005 and now in Italy since 26.03.2009.
LH named it´s Italian planes with Italian cities, and D-AILI is called Roma.
LH Italia operates actual 8 A319´s.
And, lucky me, a new registration for my log, leg no. 45 on the A319.
My machine:
Ground handling:
Front view:
Boarding:
Roma to go:
Another one:
Close up:
The whole crew was from Germany.
Three females doing the cabin service, one italian speaking, real friendly.
Especially that middle aged lady in the rear cabin, joking with me around some other pax which boarded by the rear door and seated upfront, serving me a extra cake and twice time coffee during the flight. Well, thats the personal touch for the last row seaters!.
The pilot with a friendly welcome during boarding in english and german.
No taxiway here at BRI, so backtracking and finally departure from runway 25, like arrivals.
The cabin fitted with bright grey leather seats, clean, good legroom, some italian details to see, for example the headrests.
Seats:
Again:
Nice combination:
Cabin:
Volare still in the air:
Service was free drinks and a breadroll.
Service:
The route was above Rome and Florence, mainly cloudy along the way.
Fog and clouds near MXP:
Once again:
The pilot was once more to hear short prior to approach into Malpensa´s 3920 meter runway 35R were we landed well ontime.
Taxi at MXP:
Again:
Company machine nearby:
Action at the terminals:
The neighbour:
Heavy touchdown:
Two heavies:
Cargolux Italia:
And also here apron parking and disembarking.
Disembarking:
Bye-Bye:
By bus to the terminal, not the first time here for me in Malpensa.
Wednesday, 04.11.2009 Malpensa, Clear sky, Temperature 6 degrees Clear sky, Temperature 7 degrees
Duration: 1 hour, 5 minutes announced
1 hour, 10 minutes actual
Service Lufthansa 3931 operated by Contact Air
Scheduled: 19.45 // 21.00
Actual: 19.50 // 21.00
Gate: A 35 Seat: 18F
Loadfactor: Around 90%
MXP is large and spacious, but somewhat oldfashioned.
It´s, also after the AZ changes, number two in Italy in term of pax numbers.
With a good time to go till the next flight, I´ve walked one pier down to the end and relaxed some time there
reading my book and watching people. No need to go out in the public with OLCI done.
No way to book this flight as a one-way-ticket, more than 500.-- Euro´s, the typical "catch the biz people" thing.
Much better with a fixed return date, for me in April next year without something else around till now,
calmed that fare down to around 45.-- Euro´ s per leg, also not bad this way.
Terminal Italian style:
Departures:
Again:
And again:
Boarding by bus was announced for 07.15 pm and called ontime.
Thats also somewhat special to follow.
Contact Air operates F100´s, AT42´s and till now some AT72´s all on behalf of LH.
And these AT72´s will leave the fleet shortly, joining the italian register with AirDolomiti.
The bus approached D-ANFJ, the scheduled AT72 and lucky me, with several legs done on these birds, a still missing registration.
KI operates actually 3 machines on type.
Leg no. 11 on the AT 72 and a new entry to my log.
Boarding:
Reg. shot:
Again:
One male, one female FA, both looking experienced and only biz friendly.
The cabin fitted with dark blue leather seats, somewhat smelly, but clean, legroom ok.
Cabin:
The german captain with a professional short, but nevertheless friendly welcome.
The female FO was pilot flying on that leg.
Departure again from runway 35R like arrivals above FDH at 20000 feet.
Service was snack and beverages.
One more real friendly information during approach with flight details.
Touchdown on the 3345 meters runway 07 perfectly ontime.
Bus deboarding and soon thereafter on the way back home.
Well, that was an interesting day with several special flights or planes.
AB with the superb cheap fare, LH Italia with an real personal service and LH by Contact Air with the mabye last flight on the
AT72 machines.
And now, the usual look forward.
A trip to Turkey coming up soon, flying some not that much covered airlines and
checking Istanbul-Sabihas recently opened new terminal.
Contact Air From Germany, joined Apr 2001, 1154 posts, RR: 16 Reply 1, posted (2 years 6 months 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 7744 times:
Hi Markus,
Thank you for this diversified trip report. Great idea to go to sunny South for a day in our cold and wet autumn. The City of Bari looks nice - another place that seems to be worth a visit.
It was interesting to read how service on the former X3-routes has changed since the takeover by AB. The delay at STR was handled in a professional way with the captain making an announcement in the terminal. The only situation I experienced this was on an Air Southwest flight from PLH to MAN that got diverted to EXT instead of PLH due to fog.
Quoting FLIEGER67 (Thread starter): No way to book this flight as a one-way-ticket, more than 500.-- Euro´s, the typical "catch the biz people" thing.
Much better with a fixed return date, for me in April next year without something else around till now,
calmed that fare down to around 45.-- Euro´ s per leg, also not bad this way.
Great idea - like that you get another outbound flight in April "for free" that can be included into another trip. I'm sure you will find something suitable here.
Actually, the airport of SPU is visible. I recognize it, since I landed their once with an Antonov 12 cargoplane that we chartered...
LH Italia looks fine. Interesting headrest covers, very stylish!
Quoting Akhmad (Reply 2): I just hope that LH Italia would be able to fly to AMS as well.
Suryo, I think you'll be happy, LH increased slots at AMS from April 2010, so probably we'll see some Italia-AMS routes added to the network (I don't think that we see new routes from/to Germany)
Regards,
Eric
"The whole world steps aside for the man who knows where he is going"
FLIEGER67 From Germany, joined Sep 2003, 3759 posts, RR: 58 Reply 5, posted (2 years 6 months 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 7618 times:
Hey, good to follow that comments.
@Christoph:
Quoting Contact Air (Reply 1): Thank you for this diversified trip report. Great idea to go to sunny South for a day in our cold and wet autumn. The City of Bari looks nice - another place that seems to be worth a visit.
Thank you and Bari is indeed a nice place, also with interesting connections,
for example Belle Air to Tirana.
Quoting Contact Air (Reply 1): The delay at STR was handled in a professional way with the captain making an announcement in the terminal.
Also my impression.
Quoting Contact Air (Reply 1): Great idea - like that you get another outbound flight in April "for free" that can be included into another trip. I'm sure you will find something suitable here.
Something to do for the long winter nights!
@Suryo:
Quoting Akhmad (Reply 2): I admire you still being energetic after a trip from the Emirates.
Quoting Akhmad (Reply 2): Nice report and thank you for sharing.
Thank you and I´am always on the way to catch something new.
Quoting Akhmad (Reply 2): Regarding LH Italia, I think LH must be proud of their subsidiary. I just hope that LH Italia would be able to fly to AMS as well.
Also my impression.
@Debonair:
Quoting Debonair (Reply 3): Have a closer look on an old X3-B737-700 seat-map: https://www.tuifly.com/downloads/tuifly_seating_de.pdf
All Y 148 seats- more seats are impossible, even with AB!
BUT, yeap AB changed the seat numbers- row "13" is now the exit row; instead of row "14".
Thanx for the link and further information, good to know.
FLIEGER67 From Germany, joined Sep 2003, 3759 posts, RR: 58 Reply 6, posted (2 years 6 months 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 7604 times:
Hey, Eric
Quoting Airbuseric (Reply 4): another interesting read. Thanks for that.
and thanx for you´re reply.
Quoting Airbuseric (Reply 4): Actually, the airport of SPU is visible. I recognize it, since I landed their once with an Antonov 12 cargoplane that we chartered...
SPU on the An-12, that sounds much more interesting.
Quoting Airbuseric (Reply 4): LH Italia looks fine. Interesting headrest covers, very stylish!
Also my opinion.
Quoting Airbuseric (Reply 4): Suryo, I think you'll be happy, LH increased slots at AMS from April 2010, so probably we'll see some Italia-AMS routes added to the network (I don't think that we see new routes from/to Germany)
The777Man From United States of America, joined Jul 1999, 5570 posts, RR: 58 Reply 8, posted (2 years 6 months 1 day 10 hours ago) and read 6789 times:
Hi Markus!
Great report! LH Italia seems to be very much like regular LH......
StefanPAD From Germany, joined Dec 2005, 282 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (2 years 6 months 1 day 4 hours ago) and read 6458 times:
Hi Markus,
nice to read about your first LH Italia experience. I wish to find a cheap fare from PAD or HAJ to fly them someday.
Contact Air is the only member of the LH Regional group which is still missing from log. As your homeairline, I thought you would have flown more ATRs. I love the ATR very much. I've already 23 flight on ATR in my log. Unfortunately I started to note the Regs later. Therefore I don't know on how many different planes I have been on
FlyingFinn76 From Finland, joined Jun 2009, 1489 posts, RR: 45 Reply 10, posted (2 years 6 months 1 day 1 hour ago) and read 6244 times:
Hallo Markus,
That's a great report on a path less traveled (or at least reported here). The contrast between the sunny, summery "heel" of Italy and Stuttgart looks great in the photos. Nice fares as well.
LH Italia looks to have the same great standards as regular LH - I'll need to try them out one day.
Quoting FLIEGER67 (Thread starter): I´ve missed Bari in spring due to biz reasons and once more in August.
Oh well, third time's the charm. Glad you finally made it.
Quoting FLIEGER67 (Thread starter): One of 11 in the fleet and named "Robinson Club Ampflwang".
Man, what kind of name is that?! Sounds like a street in Kuala Lumpur
Quoting FLIEGER67 (Thread starter): a new departure time. Thankfully two hours earlier, so no problems with my connections.
Quoting FLIEGER67 (Thread starter): Finally, around one hour, 15 minutes after scheduled departure, boarding by bus was called.
The fate giveth, the fate taketh away. First you thought you had some extra time to spend at your destination - always nice - and then it disappears due to this delay. Did they ever mention where the mysterious bag came onboard?
Oh yes, I know this very well. I was once stuck there for four hours on an early Sunday morning connection from the US - it was very boring. Not that much traffic to look at either at that hour and weekday.
Infodesk From Switzerland, joined May 2006, 991 posts, RR: 25 Reply 11, posted (2 years 6 months 1 day 1 hour ago) and read 6224 times:
Hi Markus,
Another successful day of flying! Excellent idea to get some sunshine down in Italy.
What with the toilet scenario on the VCE trip and now the suspect bag on this one, you seem to be getting the unusual stories at the moment! How nice that the pilot came and explained the situation like that.
I like LH's touch of putting the Italian flag on the headrests. But 500E for a single fare, I hate these stupid structures. Still, you solved it the best possible way and will no doubt find an interesting combination for April
Shame that AB has taken over these routes from X3. A bit of variety is always nice!
Happy flying
Infodesk
"Do nothing in haste, look well to each step and from the beginning think what may be the end" - Edward Whymper
Quoting BA319-131 (Reply 7): Bari sure looks like a nice place to visit, looks like some nice historical places to visit, nice!
For sure a nice place for a break.
Quoting BA319-131 (Reply 7): Nice luck on the 3 flights too, 3 new registrations, always a great result.
@Lars:
Quoting The777Man (Reply 8): Great report! LH Italia seems to be very much like regular LH......
Thank you.
@Stefan:
Quoting StefanPAD (Reply 9): nice to read about your first LH Italia experience. I wish to find a cheap fare from PAD or HAJ to fly them someday.
Thank you and tell me more, if you catched one.
Quoting StefanPAD (Reply 9): Contact Air is the only member of the LH Regional group which is still missing from log. As your homeairline, I thought you would have flown more ATRs. I love the ATR very much
Definitely, nothing special till now, but who knows how long they operate the AT42´s also.
@P.:
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 10): That's a great report on a path less traveled (or at least reported here). The contrast between the sunny, summery "heel" of Italy and Stuttgart looks great in the photos. Nice fares as well.
Thank you.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 10): LH Italia looks to have the same great standards as regular LH - I'll need to try them out one day.
Sure, give them a try.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 10): Oh well, third time's the charm. Glad you finally made it.
Also Dubai need four times
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 10): Man, what kind of name is that?! Sounds like a street in Kuala Lumpur
Hey, good point, something to tell Tui about its names.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 10): The fate giveth, the fate taketh away. First you thought you had some extra time to spend at your destination - always nice - and then it disappears due to this delay. Did they ever mention where the mysterious bag came onboard?
Also my impression and no further details with the bag.
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 10): Oh yes, I know this very well. I was once stuck there for four hours on an early Sunday morning connection from the US - it was very boring. Not that much traffic to look at either at that hour and weekday.
Sounds not that really interesting.
@Hannah:
Quoting Infodesk (Reply 11): Another successful day of flying! Excellent idea to get some sunshine down in Italy.
Thank you.
Quoting Infodesk (Reply 11): What with the toilet scenario on the VCE trip and now the suspect bag on this one, you seem to be getting the unusual stories at the moment! How nice that the pilot came and explained the situation like that.
So it seems and also the latest Turkey trip was not standard at all.
Quoting Infodesk (Reply 11): I like LH's touch of putting the Italian flag on the headrests. But 500E for a single fare, I hate these stupid structures. Still, you solved it the best possible way and will no doubt find an interesting combination for April
Definitely and we will see what´s going on in April.
Quoting Infodesk (Reply 11): Shame that AB has taken over these routes from X3. A bit of variety is always nice!
Reifel From Germany, joined Feb 2005, 819 posts, RR: 1 Reply 13, posted (2 years 6 months 23 hours ago) and read 6086 times:
Hi Markus,
nice to read a LH Italia report. I think it's rather odd that they make german announcements, I can't believe they have that much german speaking pax on those segments. Maybe it would be better if they just keep italian and english, since they want to show that after all they're an airline for "italians". Not sure if this is the case if they make german announcements all the time.
I know they offer some connecting flights via MXP (i.e. BCN-MXP-MUC) on LH Italia, but I don't think a lot of german people use them....
StefanPAD From Germany, joined Dec 2005, 282 posts, RR: 0 Reply 14, posted (2 years 6 months 21 hours ago) and read 5974 times:
Hi Markus,
Quoting FLIEGER67 (Reply 12): Definitely, nothing special till now, but who knows how long they operate the AT42´s also.
The Contact Air ATR42 is in service for HAJ-BRU. I am also interested to check out Brussels Airlines. Maybe it's a chance to make a combined trip. Are you interested to do a shared trip (on both aircraft and Airline) ?
Shamrock321 From Ireland, joined May 2008, 1478 posts, RR: 1 Reply 16, posted (2 years 6 months 20 hours ago) and read 5858 times:
Great report once again, I didnt reliase Khalifa were not flying either, infact I only found out from another one of your reports last week that Alpi Eagle are gone aswell!
Rogerbcn From Andorra, joined Sep 2006, 1007 posts, RR: 18 Reply 19, posted (2 years 5 months 4 weeks 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 5079 times:
Hola Markus!
Glad you made it to Bari after three attempts, as it is said in Spanish 'a la tercera va la vencida' (third attempt is the good one'.
It seems you had quite a few day flying around.
Nice to see LH Italia service standards, I may try them next year to MXP; they started offering 3 flights a day from BCN but now they have settled to two which I think is more reasonable with other airlines: VY and AZ covering the route as well.
Bari is indeed a nice city, I was there many years ago, as a kid and I quickly grabbed the photos from teh time and I have to say that many of the sights have not changed much since then, well in the last centuries, I would say.
Quoting FLIEGER67 (Thread starter): A trip to Turkey coming up soon, flying some not that much covered airlines and checking Istanbul-Sabihas recently opened new terminal.
Looking forward to reading that one.
Salut!
Roger
"At reise er at leve" H.C. Andersen (Travelling is Living)
FLIEGER67 From Germany, joined Sep 2003, 3759 posts, RR: 58 Reply 20, posted (2 years 5 months 4 weeks 23 hours ago) and read 4923 times:
Hey, good to follow more replys.
@Reifel:
Quoting Reifel (Reply 13): nice to read a LH Italia report. I think it's rather odd that they make german announcements,
Thank you and I was also surprised to hear german between these two italian cities.
Quoting Reifel (Reply 13): know they offer some connecting flights via MXP (i.e. BCN-MXP-MUC) on LH Italia, but I don't think a lot of german people use them....
No way to go with that good connections from Germany.
@Stefan:
Quoting StefanPAD (Reply 14): The Contact Air ATR42 is in service for HAJ-BRU. I am also interested to check out Brussels Airlines. Maybe it's a chance to make a combined trip. Are you interested to do a shared trip (on both aircraft and Airline) ?
Hey, good idea.
Nothing fixed till now for 2010, lots of open points in the biz calendar and family
vacation scheduling first. I will tell you more.
@Phil:
Quoting OA260 (Reply 15): Nice report. Better to be safe than sorry with odd bags
Quoting OA260 (Reply 15): Nice pics and detailed report on the carriers you flew. I like the seats oddly enough on the Tui aircraft. Something different.
Thank you and definitely better sometimes late then a real problem.
@Andrew:
Quoting Shamrock321 (Reply 16):
Great report once again, I didnt reliase Khalifa were not flying either, infact I only found out from another one of your reports last week that Alpi Eagle are gone aswell!
Thank you.
@Egil:
Quoting Egilsml (Reply 17): Another great report!
What do your wife say when you travel so much without here?
Thank you and as long as she gets also some benefits she´s ok, at least, till now!.
@PH:
Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 18):
interesting report, nice routing. LH Italia's product looks very good. The catering seems to be fine, too.
Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 18): Quoting FLIEGER67 (Thread starter):
KI operates actually 3 machines on type.
D-ANFJ was the one and only remaining plane when you made the trip. It was retired on November 17.
Good to know and thanx for the further informations.
@Roger:
Quoting Rogerbcn (Reply 19): Glad you made it to Bari after three attempts, as it is said in Spanish 'a la tercera va la vencida' (third attempt is the good one'.
Interesting to know that this is also a spanish thing.
Quoting Rogerbcn (Reply 19): Nice to see LH Italia service standards, I may try them next year to MXP; they started offering 3 flights a day from BCN but now they have settled to two which I think is more reasonable with other airlines: VY and AZ covering the route as well.
Give them a try, not bad at all.
Quoting Rogerbcn (Reply 19): Bari is indeed a nice city, I was there many years ago, as a kid and I quickly grabbed the photos from teh time and I have to say that many of the sights have not changed much since then, well in the last centuries, I would say.
Always interesting to compare, isnt it?.
Quoting Rogerbcn (Reply 19): Looking forward to reading that one.
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