Luxair or Air Berlin? Who is the winner?

Finally it was time to travel again. Like everytime, all things I wanted to go after seemed to be in one week and so after my first trip I just had some hours at home to get a little bit of sleep before heading forwards.

But let's begin right at the beginning:
Every year I'm doing a city trip with my family in october and this time we decided to go to London/UK and had some options how to get there.
Of course there is always Ryanair from HHN to STN, but after a previous trip with FR, I swore myself to never fly with them again.
Lufthansa had a pretty good offer from FRA to eather Heathrow or City airport ( 99 € R/T), which is an unbelievable price for a carrier like LH, but I flew that route a few times, so this wasn't a real option for me.
But then I checked out Luxair, which probably know only a few of you, but they had a Return-fare from LUX to LCY for some 120€.
LUX is only a one hour drive from my home and the departure and arrival times suited me well.

But at first, let me tell you a little bit more about Luxair:

Luxair is the national airline of Luxembourg and has its base at Luxembourg-Findel Airport, but fly to many destinations via Saarbrücken ( SCN ).
In the 50s, the finance district in Luxembourg started to develop and there was now a need for flights to the other big citys around Europe.
They started operations in 1962 with a leased Fokker F-27. The first destination was Paris.
By time they had operated the Fokker F-27,Vickers Viscount, Sud Aviation Caravelle, Boeing 747 SP, Fokker 50, Embraer EMB 120, Boeing 737-200, -400, -500, -700 and -800.
For their Europe network, they started to buy Embraer ERJ an they late 90's and in June 2006 they ordered the Bombardier Q400.



But now it was time for thso enough time to check in and choose some good seats.

Departure Hall:


FIDS:


After check-in I went to the airport restaurant, from where you have an excellent view on the apron and runway.


New National B744F:

Luxair B737:


But the disadvantage of an airport like LUX is, that not so much is happening there.
The best thing I could spot was a Cargolux 747F.
The Airport in Findel is so huge and at the moment they only need a third of the facilities they actually have. Quite impressive, as it was built in the 2000s, where money normaly wasn't there just to build whatever you want to, but well...
For the passengers it is really nice because there are no queues at the security points and in some minutes we were airside.





There are the same shops as on every bigger airport worldwide: a bar and some Dutyfree shops, so nothing special at all.
The gate was in a special part of the airport, because it was a non-Schengen flight and we had to go through a Passport control, but the all the staff was so nice and so everything went very smooth.



Boarding was delayed by around 10-15min, but as it was a leisure trip, nothing to get angry about.







The flight:
Sunday 10.10.2010
LUX – LCY
Luxair Q400
Scheduled: 14:20-14:30 ( local time )
Real:14:40-14:20
Load: ~90%

A funny thing about LG is, that they do the safety demonstration in at least three languages and they always have to hurry, because taxiing in LUX normally does not take long.
After a very detailed information from the flightdeck, we started our departure to the United Kingdom.



Cargo Area:

Safety Card:

The F/O announced that today's flight will go right over Belgium, than cross the Channel and well than to LCY.
The weather was perfect and soon after the seatbelt sign switched off, the service began.

There was the option of a Cheese and Tomato sandwich or one with Corned Beef and fresh garden salad. A good service for an one hour flight. Of course, all alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks were free of charge.
I had an orange juice with it.
The sandwich was delicious and the orange juice tasted really fresh.



After the F/A ( there were two on this flight ) collected the packages, they handed out some sweets, which is a nice gesture and reminded me to the famous Air Berlin chocolate hearts, to which I will come later again more detailed.
After about 50min flighttime, we started our decent into LCY and luckily the wind was on our side and we did the approach right over downtown London and all famous sights, such as London eye were visable.










The landing was a bit bumpy, but this is normal in LCY.
After a quick taxi and the famous U-turn it was time to deboard. As there was no busshuttle, we had to walk and as I wanted to take pictures, a staff member yelled to me that this is not allowed and so I could not take that many pictures there.








As there were only two aircrafts arriving that time, the queues at the immigration desks were rather small and it took only some minutes to get through.
I found it quite impressive that LCY only has two luggage belts for the relatively big amount of flights.

For the way to our hotel, we chose the Docklands Light Railway and the tube and in about 30 minutes, we were at our hotel.
In the four days, we stayed there, we visited all the famous sights of London, such as Madame Tussauds, the London Dungeon and of course Harrods, which has so much glamour.

Madame Tussauds:


And VS boss:


I also spend an afternoon at LHR to spot and it was impressive.
Here some photos to share with you:












Some more London expressions:
Our hotel:








I also did a daytrip to the south of England, to Eastbourne, a nice small town at the seaside, which I visited before.

I went there by the Southern Service train. They have a really good connection to Englands south and the ticketfare at about 20 Pounds was resonable for this daytrip.
The journey time was about one hour thirty.


I enjoyed the day there with my brother and the weather was really nice.
The train was comparable to a regional train in Germany, the seats are comfortable and the was a BOB service, which had about the same prices as EI.
Soon the four days have been over and it was time to go home.
Our flight was departing at 16.10 so we left the hotel at about 13.30 and made our way to London City airport.

We arrived there quickly and went straight to the Luxair check-in where only a few people were, so we proceeded fast and went up to security.
LCY is a small aiport, but I like there airside waiting area, they call it Lounge, but its a normal waiting area, but with a very good view on the tarmac, so I grabed a seat at the window and watched the planes for about an hour.

In LCY, you are only allowed to go to the gate, when Boarding starts, so I think thats a good idea and the use the limited space at LCY very efficiantly.
The flight to LUX was delayed by some 10 minutes which was no problem for me.
Then boarding started and I headed threw the gate right to the plane.
Boarding was finished quickly and doors were closed.


The flight:

LCY – LUX
Luxair Q400
Scheduled: 16:20 – 18:30
Real: 16:40 – 18:40
Load: ~ 90 %

After the safety demonstration and a quick announcement from the flightdeck, we followed a Fokker 50 and taxied to the runway. Flighttime was announced as 1h10.
After the usual very fast acceleration of the Q400, we made our way up in the air through the clouds into nicer weather.





Service began short after seatbelt sign was switched off.
This time there were the option of a mozarella and tuna sandwich and the usual drink service.

We passed over the Channel and Belgium before starting our decend into LUX.








The landing was very smooth and we taxied to our parking space.



After passport control, we recieved our bags, which did the way from the plane faster than we did, that was perfect.





After an hour car drive, I arrived home, but had to unpack and pack my suitcase again for the trip on the next day, which I include into this TR.

On Friday the 15th of october, the Steve Miller Band had a concert in DUS and after a four hour drive by car I arrived there at about 3 PM and checked in at the hotel before doing some shopping before going to the „Phillipshalle“ where the concert took place.
The gig itself was really cool.


The next morning, I headed to DUS at about 9, even my AB flight to NUE was departing at 12:30.
I went there so early because I ve never been there before and they had a nice viewing platform on top of the terminal and with a student fare of 1,50 €, that was not bad at all.
So I went there for about an hour and took pictures of some planes.






But before I checked in at the selfservice machine, which was quick and I could choose my favorite seat.
Unfortunately the last row was blocked, so I opted for a window seat in the second last row.


Security was no problem and airside I did some dutyfree shopping.
At 12.00 the boarding was announced and I went to our busgate.
In the gate area, there were some magazines and newspaper on offer.


Mahan Air:

Our ride:



The flight:

DUS – NUE
Air Berlin Q400
Scheduled: 12:30-13:30
Real: 12.35-13:20
Load: ~ 60%

Boarding was finished very quickly and was followed by an announcement from the cockpit, which was nothing special but okay.
The safety demo was really short and the two AB F/A didnt speak german so well, but who cares for a fare of 30€.
After a short taxi to the runway, we departed into the fog.