LH 499
July 2nd, 2004
MEX-FRA

Departure
Scheduled - 20:20
Actual – 20:37

Arrival
Scheduled - 13:55
Actual – 13:29 (13:55 at the gate)

Aircraft D-ABVK

Before

Well, it all began when I went to Lufthansa city office in Mexico City to change the day of my return to Poland. Since I had two paper upgrade vouchers I got as the senator in M&M I decided it’s time to use them. I was booked in BC so the upgrade would mean First  
Lady in the LH office said there is no problem to get me the upgrade, they have seats available on the flight I wanted to take so I went for it.

The day of the flight

I arrived at the airport already at 18:15 since the traffic on the way was less than I expected. The airport in Mexico is rather crowded so I had to go through jammed terminal to get to LH check-in.
There was no line at the desks so I got to the first class counter without a stop. The lady checking me in was very friendly and all the procedure took few minutes only.

I went upstairs for the security check, which was also a breeze. The only stop was to open my camera back and to show my photo gear.

I went quickly through the duty free zone remembering that the prices there are really not the best and moved to Mexicana first class lounge. When I looked at my watch I realized that it took me only 15 minutes from the moment I arrived at the airport. Wow, very quick.

Mexican First lounge is smaller than the BC lounge. It also has no view of the runways, which is so nice in the business lounge. It has some advantages however. The main one being very few people, which makes getting the place to seat down very easy (unlike in the other lounge).
There is a bar in the lounge serving different drinks, they have also some food like small canapés, cheese, cold cuts, bread etc. I could watch TV and get on the internet via computers available there. Many different newspapers and magazines were also available.

The flight

The boarding was announced at 19:40 so I went to the gate. There were a lot of people trying to board, but I managed to get to the BC/F line, which actually was not a line at all, and get to the jetway without waiting.
I climbed the stairs and the very nice F/A showed me to my seat, which was 84H. While settling I was offered a drink and got shot of tequila.

Our plane that night was D-ABVK.

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Photo © Juan Carlos Guerra Aviation Photography of Mexico

One of the F/A came over offering me the shirt which I gladly accepted. I must admit, I actually got two of them. When I went to the lavatory for a while, I found another shirt on my seat when I returned. Well, I didn’t mention it to anybody. Me bad. Also nice amenity kits were distributed.

We pushed back at 20:22. I could actually see AF 747 parked at the next gate pushing back few minutes before us. The F/As were mentioning that might be quite many passengers in the first class, but actually there were 4 of us, one person per row.

We took of at 20:37 with the lights of Mexico City on both sides. 747 takes off in MEX very looooooong. Next time I fly I will time it, but it seems to me like taking forever.
When we reached the cruising level drinks were offered. The Purser approached each of the F/C passengers introducing herself, welcoming aboard and offering the help of the crew with fulfilling all the wishes. That was nice, personal touch.

The F/O made an announcement about our flight. He did it in German, Spanish and English which was interesting for me. On the previous flights the announcements from cockpit in German and English were translated by someone form the crew into Spanish.
Our flight time was calculated for 9 hours and 55 minutes. The route was via New Orleans, Atlanta, NY, Boston, crossing Atlantic and reaching Europe at Belfast.

One hour into flight the meal service began. I must apology for loosing the menu which I took from the plane, but I must say the food was good and the service was very nice with smiling faces.

In in-flight entertainment program included number of channels as well as the individual movies on request. I watched the EuroNews first and then I asked for the tape with “Something Gotta Give”. I liked the movie and I liked even more the fact that I could stop it or rewind at any moment.

Then fortunately I could sleep for couple of hours. The seat turned into flat bed, it’s probably everything you want while sleeping
I woke up 1,5 hours before landing when all he window blinds were open already. After refreshing myself I was offered the breakfast. Nice F/A wanted to convince me to have freshly made scrambled eggs or omelet, but I stayed with some fruits and yogurt only. Selection however was very big.

After breakfast I began the photo session which resulted with some photos on the A.net.

Here you can see the upper deck seen form the back


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Photo © Jarek Dabrowski [epwa_spotters]


My seat is the one on the left


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Photo © Jarek Dabrowski [epwa_spotters]


Here you can see the distance between the rows.


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Photo © Jarek Dabrowski [epwa_spotters]


Descending began at 13:10 local time and we touched down already 19 minutes later. Unfortunately we had to wait for some time since our gate was still occupied and we reached it only at 13:55.

Summary

Nice flight, very nice LH service on the ground in MEX as well as during the flight. What I liked the most is the fact that the crew was really trying to make me feel special and fulfill all the needs.