After a fairly uneventful flight back from Medellin with Avianca, I met up with FlyingFinn and we took a taxi to our hotel. The hotel itself was ok, although the area looked pretty run down despite being pretty central. After a quick relax at the hotel, we headed into town.
Quick stop at the Hard Rock Café
Before going to a different burger place for dinner
The next day, we took the bus down to the Candelaria (old town) of Bogota
Luckily, we were in town on a Sunday, when most museums are free. I made a beeline for the Botero museum, whilst FlyingFinn went to the military museum next door.
We found a dance class
And some bland tasting sweets. haha
After that, we took a taxi over to the cable car at the bottom of Monserrate Mountain.
A festive looking funicular
The weather at the top wasn’t great, and it was quite cold. We had a bit of a look around, before heading over to a nearby restaurant for lunch
The food at the restaurant was excellent. Coconut rice, with chicken and passion fruit sauce. Yum
Not long after we sat down, the storm clouds arrived, and we were serenaded with a lot of rain, and some very close thunder and lighting. Interestingly, on the humid and wet coast, there were no storms at all, but up in the cold mountains of Bogota, there were.
A hummingbird
Coming down the mountain, we spotted the funicular
After a final look around town, and a quick snack, we headed back to the airport for our Europe-bound flight
Outside El Dorado International terminal
The Lufthansa check in desks. Before checking in, we were directed to a rather hidden away desk to have our departure cards and passports stamps (to show that we hadn’t overstayed??), before going back to check in. I asked about paying for an upgrade, but I was once again told that my fare was too low to upgrade. You’d have thought that LH would want to make a bit more cash on my supercheap ticket. Seemingly not. There seemed to be a lot of Finns and Estonians heading for the HEL flight. I also saw quite a few bags tagged via FRA to Asia (NRT,PEK,PVG,CAN,HKG). That’s a long flight!
Before immigration (which took a while despite there being very short queues)
Tarmac views
After a quick look at the duty free shop, we headed out in search of the Diner Card lounge.
FIDS
After walking all the way to the end of the terminal, and back again, I asked at the Avianca lounge where the Diners lounge was. The lounge dragon (who was clueless) said to just “go in”. Turns out there was another desk inside with more knowledgeable people working behind it.
Turns out, the AV lounge WAS the Diners lounge. No signage outside though. Luckily, their card machine refused to work, so I was let in as a free guest. Our timing was good as not long after we entered, the lounge was swarmed by people. No seats left, and people standing everywhere. A Finnish guys that FlyingFinn met on the flight over had already got a nice window seat, so we joined him. Time for some vodka tonics (no gin in the lounge). Also, there were no plates, or real glasses. No very premium.
About half an hour before boarding, we left the terribly overcrowded lounge, and headed for the gate. Those people were standing as there was no where to sit.
My new Avianca wallet
There was a second security check at the gate, although there was still no restrictions on liquids. The gate area was packed (a nearly full A346), with all seats taken. There was a priority boarding call, but there wasn’t enough space to get to the gate. To confound matters, we were bussed to the plane.
Walking next to a JetBlue to a bus. The bussing procedures were very poorly organised
After a haphazard tour of the dark, wet ramp, we arrived at our A346, D-AIHT a 3 year veteran of the LH fleet. As always, it was great boarding a widebody straight from the tarmac.
October 2011
Bogota El Dorado (BOG) – Frankfurt (FRA)
Lufthansa LH 543
Scheduled: 2145-1555 (11h10m)
Actual: 2209-1521 (10h12)
Airbus A340-600 D-AIHT
We were welcomed aboard and direct past the comfortable looking Business Class back to the more cramped, but clean and welcoming economy section. I bid adieu to FlyingFinn (he was sat near the front), and headed towards the back.
I noticed one seat without a headrest
View from the window
Legroom – acceptable, although the IFE box was a bit annoying. Not the largest, but awkwardly positioned.
Blanket, pillow and headphones on every seat
The cabin gradually filled up as more buses arrived. After my particularly unchivalrous behaviour on my MEX-LHR flight recently, I proactively helped the lady and her son in the row in front put her back in the overhead. I hoped I’d made a friend for the flight, although it wasn’t to be. I ended up sitting next to a Polish (?) guy who was travelling with a group of four girls. They had booked the two aisle seats in two central rows, obviously hoping to have more space for themselves. Well, it worked for two of them, and not for the other two.
Near the end of the boarding process, two guys (wearing KLM jackets, when did KL last fly here?) came aboard and fixed the broken headrest.
Around half an hour after boarding started, we finally pushed back.
Lovely views of Bogota
As soon as the wheels were safely up, the crew came around telling everyone to shut their window shades. No exceptions. I was expecting some typically German efficiency in serving drinks and dinner on this evening flight, but it wasn’t to be. Whilst the drinks came out around half an hour after take off, dinner didn’t turn up for another hour and twenty minutes (nearly two hours after departure).
Moving Map (sorry, lots of fuzzy photos)
Whilst waiting for the food, the mother in front put her seats back into full recline (an LH, the seats go back quite far). Her child, who was at in front of me, didn’t seem to want to recline, but his mum insisted. Grrr, I’ll have to put my seat back too now so I don’t go cross-eyed.
There was a bit of light turbulence during the wait, and the captain said that this was caused by the storm on our right….I opened the shade, and enjoyed the show (until a flight attendant told me to shut it again)
The choice of films on the IFE wasn’t to my liking (there’s not much to watch anyway), so I watched a couple of episodes of CSI Las Vegas.
Some more shots of the moving map
Finally, there is a hot towel service
And then the long waited dinner. I went with the beef with rice, which was good. Not a fan of the dessert though.
The meals were gradually tidied away, and the cabin lights dimmed.
More moving map
I was a bit paranoid about not being able to sleep. I was fairly happy though that I was able to nod off without too much difficulty. Must come with experience (age)!
After 90 mins sleep, I took this photo:
Nearly two hours later, I took another:
At some stage during the night I woke up pretty thirsty. I pinged the call bell, and less than a minute later, a smiling flight attendant turned up with a glass of water, and a bar of chocolate. Perfect!
Two and a half hours later, the cabin was starting to come alive. I took a trip to the “lower deck bar”.
Where are we? Hmm, over a cloudy Bay of Biscay
I timed my visit downstairs well, as not five minutes after I got back to my seat the lights came on, and people started heading downstairs to freshen up. Hot towels were handed out
Cabin lights on
Perusing the music menu. Not much here
Over France
CDG from the air
I wasn’t impressed with breakfast. There was no choice (well, I wasn’t offered one). A tasteless quiche, rock hard muffin, and super sweet yoghurt. Strangely enough, FlyingFinn didn’t enjoy dinner, but liked the breakfast. Personally, I thought breakfast was a big Lufthansa fail.
gabrielchew From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2005, 2512 posts, RR: 13 Reply 1, posted (1 year 6 months 3 weeks 2 days 9 hours ago) and read 9556 times:
We landed on the new runway, which meant a fifteen minute taxi to the gate
I didn’t know LH used to fly Viscounts, or are they replacing the older B735s?
Being sat near the Back, it took a while to file off the plane.
Parking at the C gates gives you some great views
I remember watching BBC’s Airport many years ago, where a flight from Colombia was met with plenty of police officers, and drug dogs. Well, there weren’t any drug dogs, but there were plenty of police around, with some very through passport check (checking that the passports were real).
With the passport check over with, we headed towards out connecting gates in the A pier – it was a long walk.
Preparing for a harsh winter? Or more ash?
Somehow, we ended up in leaving the airside. FRA is a horrible maze
We ended up getting stuck at a security point for a good ten minutes. Big queue? Nope, just incredibly slow staff. Not far from the security point, we came to a corridor looking like this….who designed FRA???
D-AISF would be taking us to Munich this evening
Walking down to the Senator Lounge
After having used the generally substandard Lufthansa Business lounges for years, I was keen to see what the Senator lounges would be like. Well, I was rather underwhelmed. This particular lounge was really small, and very full. Compared to BA’s Business lounge, it was light years behind. The manned salad bar was a nice touch though.
Google maps hasn’t added the new runway
A quick check of the FIDS indicated a change of gate, and a bit of a delay
After a fair wait, we boarded. I was expecting a full flight.
There was a friendly greeting at the front door from the purser and captain. At door two, there was another smiling lady, this time with a box full of Kinder treats.
October 2011
Frankfurt (FRA) – Munich (MUC)
Lufthansa LH 116
Scheduled: 1715-1810 (0h55m)
Actual: 1751-1830 (0h39m)
Airbus A321 D-AISF
My chocolate and a banana from the lounge
I was pretty surprised when the “boarding completed” announcement was made, and FlyingFinn had the row to himself, I the middle seat empty me was free. Pretty good for a +90% full flight.
The aisle seat table was broken
Reasonable legroom
A Warsteiner to watch the clouds go by
We managed to catch up a bit of our delay
Once back in the terminal, we headed over to the Senator Lounge. Compared to the FRA lounge, MUC was much better. Bigger and less busy. I got a couple of G&Ts from the manned bar. They serve Hendricks gin – very impressed!
I was feeling a little bit grotty after the overnight flight, so decided to add to my list of “airports I’ve had a shower in” (currently 11, LHR, LGW, FRA, VIE, MAD, AMM, NRT, HKG, SIN, ZRH and now MUC). The shower rooms were pretty nice.
Twenty minutes before scheduled departure we wandered down to the gate (via the duty free for FlyingFinn).
Due to the late arrival of the plane from Hamburg, we were late boarding. Lufthansa used to have such orderly boarding processes, but nowadays it seems to be “first to shove and elbow their way to the front of the queue, served first”. I think the presence of the automatic gates makes this worse.
After a bit of pushing and shoving, I had my boarding pass scanned walked down towards the plane.
October 2011
Munich (MUC) – Helsinki (HEL)
Lufthansa LH 2466
Scheduled: 1935-2300 (2h25m)
Actual: 2013-2323 (2h10m)
Airbus A321 D-AIRL
I was welcomed aboard, and made my way to my seat, in the first row of economy. This plane had the new NEK seats. It’s true that they give you a bit more legroom than the other seats, but the seat back ‘pocket’ is so tight it’s a real mission to get anything into it – even a paperback strains it to capacity. They also should have included a cup holder.
The plane gradually filled up – only a couple of middles left. A NRT bound NH 777 was at the gate next to us.
Taxi to the runway
We stopped just short of the active for what seemed like ages. I actually dozed off for a bit. Fifteen minutes later when I woke up we were still holding. Eventually we took off forty minutes late.
Less than ten minutes after take-off a rather bizarre snack was served. Salad, ham, squidgy cheese and some toast. Well, it was ok, but I’m glad I’d had some food in the lounge.
No G&Ts on LH, so a beer please
And some Angry Birds – I am on a flight to Finland afterall.
Time for one last beer – I could barely store it in the pocket
Cabin
I think this is Tallinn, Estonia – I’ll be here in Jan
Welcome to Helsinki!
Aircraft on approach
Plenty of empty gates
The [lane was just spending a few hours in HEL before heading back to MUC early the next morning
Arrivals
After waiting for our bags (annoyingly, the crew bags did a couple of rounds on their own before any passenger bags came out), we got a taxi back to FlyingFinns place.
I asked for a priority tag in BOG – they game me ‘HOT’ tags instead
After a few beers, and a good night’s sleep, it was time to have a look around Helsinki. I’d been once before, last year, for a long weekend with BA and Blue 1, so was just planning a leisurely walk around. Luckily, it was a beautiful autumn day.
Which train….?
Waterfront
Helsinki Cathedral
An amazing food market. Lots of very nice Finnish produce. I bought myself a smoked salmon sandwich, and some reindeer pate for my sister.
The evolution of Nokia at the Finnish Design Museum
Walking back through Helsinki station back to meet FlyingFinn again
FF met me at the station, and very kindly drove me to the airport <
gabrielchew From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2005, 2512 posts, RR: 13 Reply 2, posted (1 year 6 months 3 weeks 2 days 9 hours ago) and read 9555 times:
The one Finncomm plane to be painted in the Flybe livery
After saying goodbye to FF, I headed to the BA desks. No queue today, and the friendly lady tagged my bags back to Heathrow
FIDS
There wasn’t much queue at security (except there was a rather slow business man in the Fast Track ahead of me), so I headed towards passport control, and the lounge in the non-Schengen area.
Head on
There was quite a queue for non-EU passport holders, but I managed to bypass it using the automated gates.
More FIDS
There were quite a few longhual flights heading out - this one was going to PEK
Welcome to the Finnair Lounge. The place was pretty busy, what with all the Asian flights heading out. I could only find a space in a corner bar area, luckily with a bit of a view
I got myself some cold noodles and water. I was a bit confused as to what alcohol was free. There was beer and wine, but all the spirits seemed to be behind an unstaffed bar.
The drinks menu on the table listed some pretty high prices. A 275 ml Strongbow €6.40, a small bottle of champagne for €26.7, and 40 ml Smirnoff was €6 (cheapest spirit). Eeek.
I made do with some beer, and some very tasty apple and cinnamon cake
And some coffee
After a while, I had a walk around the lounge, and found a better seat, although with less of a view
I also asked a passing member of staff about paying for a G&T. She asked if I was flying Business Class, I said no. She then asked if I was Silver or Gold. I said yes, so she said she’d get me a drink. Who is allowed in that isn’t in Biz, Silver or Gold?
Tracking the inbound flight
Waiting to board
The ground crew decided to press “Go to Gate” when they were still a good ten minutes away from actually starting boarding. How annoying/ of course, as soon as they popped up on the gate screen, people started standing up, mooching around, making everyone feel a bit on edge. When finally they asked for Biz, Gold and Silver passengers to board, there were so many people hanging around, that no one could get to the front. No impressed.
October 2011
Helsinki (HEL) – London Heathrow (LHR)
British Airways BA 799
Scheduled: 1755-1855 (3h00m)
Actual: 1816-1847 (2h31m)
Airbus A320 G-EUYJ
When selecting my seats online, I noticed that my favourite A seat behind business class also had a B seat next to it. This meant that the plane would be a newer ‘space saver seat’ plane. As such, I decided to go for an emergency exit seat, for some extra space. Fairly decent legroom here. And the seat back pocket is large enough
I was very pleased to see that we’d follow the sunset for most of the flight
A quarter of an hour after take off, a chicken submarine roll was handed out. And no, there wasn’t any wifi, I’d just saved the pages to read on the plane! There was a bit of a delay in getting drinks as someone sat at the front decided to go to the toilet just as the crew were starting to serve the sandwiches, and then had to move the trolleys to let him back in.
Moving Map
One more G&T before landing
We had some great views over London before arrival. Not many came out very well though
Welcome to London!
As with a few other European destinations, HEL is served from Terminal 3, and as such is guaranteed a bus gate!
The bags didn’t take too long to arrive, and before long I was outside in the cold waiting for my bus
Mmm, a tasty BA sub for the bus ride home!
So, herein ends my report. I had a pretty good time in Colombia. The country undoubted has a dark past, but this should in no way deter visitors to come.
Lufthansa have some great fares (well, great for us, not so much for them!). Service was good, and with the exception of the breakfast served from BOG-FRA, catering was great.
BA provided a very pleasant flight back to London. The space saver seats are quite a lot more comfortable than the older seats. The sandwiches served on their longer routes are quite tasty, especially when washed down with some G&Ts!
I have one more report to go up soon, covering my first inaugural flight, Lufthansa’s Gatwick to Frankfurt service, followed by BA back from Hamburg. Out soon!
The777Man From United States of America, joined Jul 1999, 6088 posts, RR: 56 Reply 3, posted (1 year 6 months 3 weeks 2 days 6 hours ago) and read 9330 times:
Hi Gabriel!
Thanks for another great report and your perspective on the return from Colombia.
How was the Colombian beer? Which brand did you prefer?
Bogota looks better this time around but still prefer Medellin although the weather may have something to do with that.
I agree with you that it's good to be at the gate in time well before boarding.
Your meal looks much better than FlyingFinn and I guess our taste in food is more similar.
Nice pictures of the thunderstorms ! I always enjoy seeing them at a distance when I fly.
I agree with you; LH's IFE selection is okay but leaves a lot more to be desired. That was my experience when I flew MUC-LAX in March this year.
Nice pictures from Helsinki. Very nice especially around the harbor and the cathedral!
BA looks okay but bad boarding process.
Are you sure you left HEL and not OSL ? Prices in the lounge seems thru the roof! I'm speechless.
Looking forward to your next report.
The777Man
Need a Boeing 777 Firing Order....Further to fly....GA, T5, CI and LX 777s
ROGERBCN From Andorra, joined Sep 2006, 1136 posts, RR: 19 Reply 4, posted (1 year 6 months 3 weeks 2 days 2 hours ago) and read 9047 times:
Hola Gabrielchew!
Great final part of your Colombian adventure.
It was great to see that FlyingFinn and yourself were so organized to get both sides of the flight to FRA covered.
Great routing back to LHR through HEL.
Despite having seen many flights out and into HEL we had never really seen many pictures of the city itself so it was great to have a peek of what it looks like.
Thank you! and looking forward to your next one!
Salut!
Roger
"At reise er at leve" H.C. Andersen (Travelling is Living)
Sultanils From Belgium, joined Mar 2010, 1188 posts, RR: 29 Reply 5, posted (1 year 6 months 3 weeks 2 days ago) and read 8954 times:
Good day Gabriel,
A good closing episode of your Colombia series. I find it interesting to see the 2 versions of it, yours and FF's. You both sometimes have a different perspective on things. I'm glad you had a nice time in Bogota and at least had some dry moments there. The airport itself is not very much to write home about but hopefully things change for the better with the new terminal completed soon. As for LH: it's not your first flight with them so you knew what to expect. I must admit I like the seats and used colors on the A346, it feels very modern.
Quoting gabrielchew (Thread starter): Whilst the drinks came out around half an hour after take off, dinner didn’t turn up for another hour and twenty minutes (nearly two hours after departure).
That's not so good. What took them so long? Most likely the majority of passengers wanted to get some shuteye asap.
EuroWings From UK - England, joined Sep 2011, 298 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (1 year 6 months 3 weeks 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 8622 times:
Great report, I enjoyed the different perspectives on the same flight. It's just a reminder that opinions about flights do vary! It seems you had a good experience overall with LH, they have been covered very extensively recently!
FlyingFinn76 From Finland, joined Jun 2009, 1705 posts, RR: 41 Reply 7, posted (1 year 6 months 3 weeks 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 7692 times:
Hi Gab,
Good to read your view of our joint return trip - definitely a bit different perspective on some things yet very similar overall, kinda strange feeling reading it (or maybe the reason was that I just HAD to read through it when I got home from Sweden last night around 1AM - you just kept me from going to bed, you bloody sod! ).
Quoting gabrielchew (Thread starter): Whilst the drinks came out around half an hour after take off, dinner didn’t turn up for another hour and twenty minutes (nearly two hours after departure).
Yes, this was very bad of LH, wonder why they did it like that. Not that I'd actually noticed unless you'd pointed it out as I was happily asleep .
Quoting gabrielchew (Thread starter): There was a bit of light turbulence during the wait, and the captain said that this was caused by the storm on our right….I opened the shade, and enjoyed the show (until a flight attendant told me to shut it again)
Thanks for reminding me! I remember hearing this through my slumber and making a mental note to kick myself for giving up my seat once I'd wake up!
Quoting gabrielchew (Thread starter): I was a bit paranoid about not being able to sleep. I was fairly happy though that I was able to nod off without too much difficulty. Must come with experience (age)!
Yes, it is age and experience, I can tell you that. It used to be very hard for me to sleep in planes, trains, buses etc. places some ten years ago, nowadays I can easily nod off just about anywhere. Some experiences from the army sure helped with that as well - sleep was a precious commodity there so you were damn sure to hoard all you could get!
Quoting gabrielchew (Thread starter): Strangely enough, FlyingFinn didn’t enjoy dinner, but liked the breakfast.
Well, matters of taste shouldn't be argued over, like the old Finnish proverb goes!
Quoting gabrielchew (Thread starter): I didn’t know LH used to fly Viscounts, or are they replacing the older B735s?
Cool shot! Who do they train there?
Quoting gabrielchew (Thread starter): This particular lounge was really small, and very full. Compared to BA’s Business lounge, it was light years behind. The manned salad bar was a nice touch though.
Yeah, that A pier one is not the best one out there. Looks like right now they put all the effort on upgrading the non-Schengen one over the C gates (plus the MUC one as well). Still the offerings are pretty good if you ask me and you just can't beat those runway/taxiway views!
Quoting gabrielchew (Thread starter): and FlyingFinn had the row to himself, I the middle seat empty me was free. Pretty good for a +90% full flight.
I told you - I stank after that overnight flight! Probably turned some people away.
Plus downloading an impressive number of trip reports for inflight perusal?
Quoting gabrielchew (Thread starter): When finally they asked for Biz, Gold and Silver passengers to board, there were so many people hanging around, that no one could get to the front. No impressed.
Well at least you got a jetway - like I told you that flight is very often a bus boarding as AY's Asian departure wave tends to have priority over those jetways...
Quoting gabrielchew (Thread starter): I was very pleased to see that we’d follow the sunset for most of the flight
Cool shots. When we met in London back in Jan I took this very same flight and had similar kind of views. A very nice flight to take during the darker months of winter.
Quoting The777Man (Reply 3): Are you sure you left HEL and not OSL ? Prices in the lounge seems thru the roof! I'm speechless.
Lars, when did you last visit HEL? Those prices are quite normal for HEL airport, and not exactly that far from the prices at bars around the city either, unfortunately so! You see why I like to spend my time in Eastern Europe and other cheap countries or airline lounges....
The777Man From United States of America, joined Jul 1999, 6088 posts, RR: 56 Reply 8, posted (1 year 6 months 3 weeks 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 7678 times:
Quoting FlyingFinn76 (Reply 7): Lars, when did you last visit HEL? Those prices are quite normal for HEL airport, and not exactly that far from the prices at bars around the city either, unfortunately so! You see why I like to spend my time in Eastern Europe and other cheap countries or airline lounges....
Never been to the airport; last time in Helsinki was probably in 1988 or so.....
Stockholm is very expensive as well.....last time there about four years ago.
The777Man
Need a Boeing 777 Firing Order....Further to fly....GA, T5, CI and LX 777s
gabrielchew From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2005, 2512 posts, RR: 13 Reply 9, posted (1 year 6 months 3 weeks 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 7678 times:
THanks for all the replies so far
Quoting The777Man (Reply 3): Thanks for another great report and your perspective on the return from Colombia.
No problem!
Quoting The777Man (Reply 3): How was the Colombian beer? Which brand did you prefer?
Um, I had quite a few Club Colombias. To be honest, Colombia beer was nothing special.
Quoting The777Man (Reply 3): Nice pictures of the thunderstorms ! I always enjoy seeing them at a distance when I fly.
I was quite happy to be able to get a couple of good shots
Quoting The777Man (Reply 3): Are you sure you left HEL and not OSL ? Prices in the lounge seems thru the roof! I'm speechless.
I know, the prices were crazy. Wonder who buys the stuff
Quoting ROGERBCN (Reply 4): Great final part of your Colombian adventure.
Thanks
Quoting ROGERBCN (Reply 4): Despite having seen many flights out and into HEL we had never really seen many pictures of the city itself so it was great to have a peek of what it looks like.
It's a very nice city, great for a weekend
Quoting Sultanils (Reply 5): The airport itself is not very much to write home about but hopefully things change for the better with the new terminal completed soon.
CaptainRed From Germany, joined Oct 2010, 578 posts, RR: 19 Reply 10, posted (1 year 6 months 3 weeks 1 day 10 hours ago) and read 7541 times:
Hi Gabriel,
great conclusion to your Colombian adventure, enjoyed it very much. After having read Ps report it was quite nice to read about it again from another perspective. Glad that you had a mostly good experience with LH.
Quoting gabrielchew (Thread starter): As soon as the wheels were safely up, the crew came around telling everyone to shut their window shades. No exceptions.
Oh, I absolutely hate this. I mean in the middle of the night nobody will be disturbed, so just let people look out if they want to. Or were they afraid that people would get nervous when seeing a thunderstorm?
Nice that you could even fit a visit to Helsinki into your journey. Must have been quite a contrast after the cities in Colombia.
deltamartin From Sweden, joined Dec 2010, 1059 posts, RR: 9 Reply 11, posted (1 year 6 months 3 weeks 1 day 10 hours ago) and read 7533 times:
Hi Gabriel!
Great ending to your tripreport series.
Looks like LH once again offered a nice product for your longhaul flying.
Nice that you got to compare the old LH shorthaul seats with the NEK. Regarding NEK, was the seat itself comfortable, despite being so thin?
BA looked nice as usual. Flying them in January, I actually upgraded my flight to Club Europe so I'm really looking forward to it.
Quoting CaptainRed (Reply 10): Oh, I absolutely hate this. I mean in the middle of the night nobody will be disturbed, so just let people look out if they want to.
I hate it too, but it's better to get the shades shut when everyone's awake than leave it until the morning
Quoting CaptainRed (Reply 10): Nice that you could even fit a visit to Helsinki into your journey. Must have been quite a contrast after the cities in Colombia.
Quoting deltamartin (Reply 11): Nice that you got to compare the old LH shorthaul seats with the NEK. Regarding NEK, was the seat itself comfortable, despite being so thin?
Yeah, the seats were comfortable - only issue is the lack of storage space both in the pocket and for glasses
Quoting deltamartin (Reply 11): Flying them in January, I actually upgraded my flight to Club Europe so I'm really looking forward to it.
MSS658 From Belgium, joined Oct 2010, 2212 posts, RR: 14 Reply 14, posted (1 year 6 months 2 weeks 6 days 20 hours ago) and read 6869 times:
Hi Gabriel
Another nice trip report! Glad LH and BA gave you a good ride home. The Breakfast does not seem to look so tastefull, but that's just my opinion! It's nice how you and Petteri got to combine several flights togheter and both have two excellent reports on the same flights . My respect for flying and surviving 2 flights after a long TATL redeye, would not be awaken enough to do it myself!
- Ah, know that lounge well, spent nearly 8 hours there earlier in the year.
Quoting gabrielchew (Thread starter): Time for some vodka tonics (no gin in the lounge). Also, there were no plates, or real glasses. No very premium.
- I know, was a bit of a shock at first, after 8 hours or so you get used to it!
Quoting gabrielchew (Thread starter): .I opened the shade, and enjoyed the show (until a flight attendant told me to shut it again)
- At this point in flight I don't see why it needs to be closed, FA's (in general) seem to have issues with shades being open in flight.
Quoting gabrielchew (Thread starter): . I went with the beef with rice, which was good. Not a fan of the dessert though
- Looks a pretty standard meal, what was the desert?
Quoting gabrielchew (Thread starter): I wasn’t impressed with breakfast. There was no choice (well, I wasn’t offered one). A tasteless quiche, rock hard muffin, and super sweet yoghurt. Strangely enough, FlyingFinn didn’t enjoy dinner, but liked the breakfast. Personally, I thought breakfast was a big Lufthansa fail.
- Looks ok, quiche makes a change from the usual, shame it lacked flavour, though if P enjoyed it, perhaps just down to personal taste?
Quoting gabrielchew (Thread starter): Somehow, we ended up in leaving the airside. FRA is a horrible maze
- Agreed, love it for spotting but to connect through it is no fun, people say Heathrow is bad, try FRA!
Quoting gabrielchew (Thread starter): Less than ten minutes after take-off a rather bizarre snack was served. Salad, ham, squidgy cheese and some toast. Well, it was ok, but I’m glad I’d had some food in the lounge.
- Looks ok, though something like a sandwich might be better at this time of day.
Quoting gabrielchew (Thread starter): I was a bit confused as to what alcohol was free. There was beer and wine, but all the spirits seemed to be behind an unstaffed bar.
- A long time since I connected through HEL, back then it was help yourself.
Quoting gabrielchew (Thread starter): The drinks menu on the table listed some pretty high prices. A 275 ml Strongbow €6.40, a small bottle of champagne for €26.7, and 40 ml Smirnoff was €6 (cheapest spirit). Eeek.
- Yikes, steep prices!
Quoting gabrielchew (Thread starter): I also asked a passing member of staff about paying for a G&T. She asked if I was flying Business Class, I said no. She then asked if I was Silver or Gold. I said yes, so she said she’d get me a drink. Who is allowed in that isn’t in Biz, Silver or Gold?
- Sounds a bit confusing to me.........
I've yet to experience the new BA slimline seats, not been lucky? enough.....................
reifel From Germany, joined Feb 2005, 1135 posts, RR: 1 Reply 16, posted (1 year 6 months 2 weeks 6 days 10 hours ago) and read 6670 times:
Hi, and thank you for this great conclusion in your Colombian adventure. I was on this flight approx 2 months ago, upgrade to Business class and therefore had a thrilling flight.
The stamp you got in BOG (probably from a counter staffed with a few men in front of the check in counters) was a green stamp right? It's because as a foreigner which stayed less than XX months in Colombia you don't need to pay departure tax, it's a tax exemption stamp you got...
BOG is not a bad airpot, but the international airport, especially the part right behind security, is so terible full of shops and therefore quite confusing... LH uses the AA Admirals Club in BOG, I have no clue why they don't use AV's lounge...
Each passenger was hand searched while arriving at the gate area and a lot of checked bags were taken their plastic coverage (you know, these plastic foil thing which is supposed to keep thiefs away) were opened. We also received this little LH-Tag (yours was light blue, mine was red), as if LH was also checking the bags in addition to the Colombian authorities. In FRA also a lot of police and a long walk. I like the new automatic passport gates I saw the first time in Terminal C. No need to register, just to be EU citizen and have a machine readable passport. Even if it don't works there is a customs officer located after it, so they can proceed you manually, but it helps to skip the lanes )
Bags took forever to arrive, I guess nicely checked by dogs and German officers...
PlaneHunter From Germany, joined Mar 2006, 6191 posts, RR: 79 Reply 17, posted (1 year 6 months 2 weeks 6 days 2 hours ago) and read 6549 times:
Hi Gabriel,
interesting final report about that nice Colombia trip. You included many nice pictures, but I still think you could leave out a few which are totally blurry (e.g. taken during taxi at MUC) or show almost exactly the same motif again. It would reduce loading times a bit. No offence intended!
Quoting gabrielchew (Thread starter): Whilst waiting for the food, the mother in front put her seats back into full recline (an LH, the seats go back quite far). Her child, who was at in front of me, didn’t seem to want to recline, but his mum insisted. Grrr, I’ll have to put my seat back too now so I don’t go cross-eyed.
Ah, I also hate that. Some people don't take care at all.
gabrielchew From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2005, 2512 posts, RR: 13 Reply 18, posted (1 year 6 months 2 weeks 5 days 15 hours ago) and read 6394 times:
Thanks for the replies!
Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 17): interesting final report about that nice Colombia trip. You included many nice pictures, but I still think you could leave out a few which are totally blurry (e.g. taken during taxi at MUC) or show almost exactly the same motif again. It would reduce loading times a bit. No offence intended!
Yeah, point taken, I could probably cut down ona few pics, esp the blurry ones.
Quoting ba319-131 (Reply 15): - Sounds a bit confusing to me.........
eah, not teribbly clear
Quoting ba319-131 (Reply 15): I've yet to experience the new BA slimline seats, not been lucky? enough.....................
They're actually quite comfy - it's just a shame the normally mising 'B' seat is still there. And of course, the cabin in general is in much better nick
Quoting reifel (Reply 16): Hi, and thank you for this great conclusion in your Colombian adventure. I was on this flight approx 2 months ago, upgrade to Business class and therefore had a thrilling flight.
I'm sure a flight in C would have been much more enjoyable!
Quoting reifel (Reply 16): BOG is not a bad airpot, but the international airport, especially the part right behind security, is so terible full of shops and therefore quite confusing... LH uses the AA Admirals Club in BOG, I have no clue why they don't use AV's lounge...
From what I heard, the AA lounge is much better (or at least emptier)
Is ‘HOT’ tag supposed for rapid baggage transfer or Premium pax?
Quoting gabrielchew (Reply 2): How annoying/ of course, as soon as they popped up on the gate screen, people started standing up, mooching around, making everyone feel a bit on edge.
gabrielchew From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2005, 2512 posts, RR: 13 Reply 20, posted (1 year 6 months 1 week 3 days 22 hours ago) and read 5936 times:
Quoting akhmad (Reply 19): Nice conclusion of your Colombian adventure. Great to read your side of the story.
Thanks
Quoting akhmad (Reply 19): I would have preferred this to the military one.
Mee too. Old guns isn't really my thing - much prefer bizarre art!
Quoting akhmad (Reply 19): Somehow I see you and P. joining the class together.
Ha, I don't think so!
Quoting akhmad (Reply 19): I hope you can share me the recipe.
Quoting akhmad (Reply 19): Is ‘HOT’ tag supposed for rapid baggage transfer or Premium pax?
I thought it was supposed to be for bags that should be loaded last as they might be offloaded (for whatever reason). I had a HOT tag put on my bag in DXB when I volunteered to take a later flight to FRA, but in the end I wasn't needed.
signol From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2007, 2948 posts, RR: 7 Reply 21, posted (1 year 5 months 3 weeks 2 days 2 hours ago) and read 5156 times:
Hi Gabriel,
After just having caught up with FF's report of the same flights, time to do the same with yours!
Bogota looks an interesting city, and some of the art in the museum looks, well, a bit cutesy. Certainly catches the eye.
The food certainly looks good there! Shame the weather turned nasty so quickly.
As for flights, well you certainly got value for money there!
I always thought the "HOT" tag meant that you had a tight connection, so the bag needed to come off first to be able to make it?
gabrielchew From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2005, 2512 posts, RR: 13 Reply 22, posted (1 year 4 months 3 weeks 4 days 12 hours ago) and read 4384 times:
Sorry for the extremely late replies! A bit of end of year tidying up!
Quoting signol (Reply 21): After just having caught up with FF's report of the same flights, time to do the same with yours!
So, who's was better?!
Quoting signol (Reply 21):
Bogota looks an interesting city, and some of the art in the museum looks, well, a bit cutesy. Certainly catches the eye.
Bogota is very interesting, I'd like to go back in the summer sometime
Quoting signol (Reply 21): The food certainly looks good there!
Oh, it was, wonderful stuff!
Quoting signol (Reply 21): Shame the weather turned nasty so quickly.
Well, that's what you get when you go in the rainy season!
Quoting signol (Reply 21): As for flights, well you certainly got value for money there!
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