Hi everyone!

Here is a report about my recent business trip to Germany. Will try to keep it short and let pictures to tell the story. Apologize in advance for poor pictures quality – they are taken with my cell phone and thus leave much to be desired.

This time I decided to go with LH/LX to maximize the number of airports/aircrafts, while staying with the same airline group. The outbound flight via MUC is very conveniently timed, leaving at 3PM. It doesn't require annoying midnight wake up and transfer to the airport (as it is typically happens with most ex-TLV flights). Ben Gurion T3 in Saturday afternoon is relatively empty, with only a few flights deparing before the evening. Here are some impressions:

TLV B concourse – empty on Saturday afternoon


Ex-LY 752 now flying with Sundor (which is pretty much same as LY)


My 343 – sorry for the dots, could not get a better view


LH 744 parked at C6, going to FRA


DL 744 to JFK, parked at C8



Flight 1:
LH689 TLV-MUC
Aircraft: Airbus 340-311

The flight to MUC was uneventful and went smoothly. Time in the air is only 3:30, so it probably helps too. The A343 is quite old, and cabin is definitely showing its age. However, the seats are new and nicely colored, in distinct contrast to the overall cabin ambience. The biggest problem of these seats is that they are VERY uncomfortable – hard and unsupportive. I cannot think of a more uncomfortable aircraft seat I have ever tried. You can probably survive a 3.5h flight, but I would not want to spend more time in them. The relatively new IFE system is unimpressive, but works quite well and helps to make this flight pass by quickly. The food is OK too – nothing special, small portions, but edible. The flight was full in Y (very colorful mix of pax, apparently connecting in MUC to all over the world), but 2-4-2 seat arrangement works well and I don't feel cramped. Legroom is quite good too (probably thanks to the new slim seats).

IFE


Pax queue up for deplaning upon arrival in MUC



Transfer in MUC:

This is my first time in MUC T2. I have traveled through MUC T1 several times before, but have never been in T2. We docked at I9, which is international arrival gate. On exit, you climb 3 levels to a corridor leading to passport control. For Schengen transfers, you leave secure area and need to reclear security, which is not a big deal, since I have plenty of time and security control is rather empty. In general, MUC T2 is very impressive – large bright halls, high ceilings; everything is sterile clean and very well maintained. Here are some impressions from my MUC transfer:

TK 738 next to my A343


T2 check in area


T2 security


A343 I arrived on from TLV


Endless and sterile clean T2 concourse


LH Avro parked next to T2


LH 346 pushing back


ANA 77W going to NRT


LH A320 seen from a ground level bus gate




Flight 2:
LH2152 MUC-STR
Aircraft: DHC-8-402Q, operated by Augburg Airways

My onward flight to STR is very short. We board right on time via a bus gate, an old blue bus takes us to remote parking somewhere on the other side of the airport. Augsburg's Dash-8 is OK – not new, but clean and well maintained.

STR terminal (next morning)



A very nice week in Germany passes by quickly (mostly working, but also having fun), and I have to pack my suitcase and head back to the airport.


I arrive at the airport quite early and have at least one hour to kill before boarding. STR is OK, but not really impressive; here are some pcis from this morning:

LH 733s – one pushing back for FRA, the other one goes to TXL


AF A318 to CDG


STR T3 gate area



Flight 3:
LX1165 STR-ZRH
Aircraft Avro 146-RJ100

Boarding called punkt on time and we go off with a bus to remote parking stand in front of the terminal. When approaching the aircraft, I'm very happy to discover that his is HB-IYS featuring Zurich airport shopping special scheme. On the inside, this Avro is tired, but clean; seats are comfortable and worked very well for such a short flight. The flight is full, but everybody boards quickly and in a few minutes we are on the way. After a very short hop we land in cloudy ZRH and taxi to concourse A. Some pictures from this flight:


Swiss Avro close up – what a nice surprise to get this special scheme


Avro cabin on arrival


HB-IYS parked at A concourse in ZRH


Another Avro parked at concourse A



Transfer in ZRH:

ZRH is definitely one of the nicer airports I have been through and I have very fond memories from previous transfers in ZRH. On the downside, the transfer from concourse A to the new concourse E takes ages and security is painfully slow. My scheduled connection time was 45 mins – I would surely miss my flight, but my flight to TLV is delayed by 30 minutes due to late arrival, so both me and my luggage make it to TLV together on the same plane. The new concourse E looks very modern from the outside, but it is a bit of a letdown inside – lots of bare concrete walls and very little color. New concourse B construction is underway and it looks similar to E – hope that inside will be nicer though. Another disappointment – I hoped to take a glimpse at Singapore A380 departing nearly at the same time, but A380 is parked at the very end of concourse E with all the views blocked by the jet bridges – will have to plan for more time in ZRH next time and go to visitors terrace which should be very nice. Here are some ZRH transfer pics:

LH 733 parked at concourse A


Swiss A320


ZRH impressive departures hall


Underground train to concourse E


E gates


easyJet flight boarding
[img]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_EIdnMBNeFp0/TXTR0ZS8EDI/AAAAAAAAD-4/etSpBuBZkyo/05032011509.jpg [/img]

Swiss A333 with LH A319 taking off at the background


The mighty A388 – unfortunately this is all you could see from the terminal


Swiss A333 with a company A343 pushing back at the background


AA 763 going to JFK


Swiss A333 pushing back for BOM



Flight 4:
LX254 ZRH-TLV
Aircraft: Airbus A330-200

I knew that A332s days in LX are numbered as they are being phased out, so I was hoping to for a last minute sub with a sparking new A333. Well, it didn't happen. The flight was again full, which is certainly great for LX, as they are able to fill a weekend flight in off-season time. On the inside, the aircraft still looked very nice, modern and clean - much better than LH A343 I flew to MUC. The seats are original dark-blue, quite comfy but with noticeably less legroom. The biggest letdown – IFE didn't work. Tried several times, but the screen was blinking and very little could be seen. My neighbor had a similar problem but with different channels. Several attempts to catch FA to ask what is going on didn't work either – they were polite and professional, but very busy with inflight service and completely ignored my call button. At the end I gave up and just worked on my laptop for the rest of the flight. Quite a disappointment here – I understand that they get rid of this plane soon, but not caring so much for the IFE is not good; LX is supposed to be a quality carrier (at least judging by their fares), so I expected more. Pictures from this flight:

My A332 HB-IQQ parked at gate E52


A332 front section close up as I board it


Soon-to-be-gone A332 economy cabin


Arrival in TLV – LH 744 next to DL 744


IZ E95 pushing back


My A332 parked in TLV



TLV passport control was completely packed with pax coming from LH744 from FRA, OS A321 from VIE and IB A343 from MAD. Luckily, I have a fast track passport control card, so I get through in several minutes. My bag shows up on the belt soon and I'm off through customs to meet my ride home.


That's it. To sum this up – nice and smooth flights with LH/LX without major surprises, but not without disappointments. Thanks for reading!