Part 1: Delhi to Muscat by Oman Air B737-800 Business Class
Part 2: Muscat to Milan by Oman Air A330-300 Business Class (new model)
Part 3: Milan to Cairo via Athens by Aegean Airlines A320 Economy Class
Part 4: Cairo to Frankfurt by Lufthansa A321 Business Class
Part 5: Frankfurt to Tokyo (Narita) by Lufthansa A340-300 Business Class
Part 6: Tokyo (Narita) to Vienna by Austrian B777-200 Business Class
Part 7: Vienna to Cairo by Austrian A319 Business Class
Part 8: Cairo to Sharm el Sheikh (return) by EgyptAir E170 Business Class/Economy Class
Part 9: Cairo to Delhi via Muscat by Oman Air B737-800 Business Class
<PART 4>
Flight Number: LH585
Sector: Cairo - Frankfurt
Travel Date: 15/May/2016
Scheduled Departure Time: 04:15
Scheduled Arrival Time: 08:40
Block Time: 4hrs 25mins
Aircraft: A321
Seat Number: 2A
Load Factor: 100%
Registration: D-AISL
Delivered: 13/Mar/2008
After a couple hundred times of flying finally it was my first time trying out Lufthansa. Since originally I wasn't intended to fly as my ticket was in Austrian Airlines and due to schedule change they have rebooked me to Lufthansa, I was a bit excited to try out and compare the differences between the two airlines.
I was on a transit in Cairo and had about three hours to change from earlier Aegean flight to Lufthansa flight. After an agent brought me boarding passes all the way to Tokyo, I proceeded to EgyptAir Lounge.
Cairo Airport T3's transfer counter desks
Cairo Airport T3
EgyptAir Lounge
Inside EgyptAir Lounge
Probably due to 2 Lufthansa flights departing around the same time (one to Frankfurt and the other one to Munich), the lounge was fairly occupied. There are several lounges around the terminal and I chose the one closest to my departure gate.
Food spread was fine. Hot meals consisted of pasta, grilled minced beef, and chicken/vegetables.
Hot meal spread
Bread selection
My midnight snack
Boarding: very efficient, and there was a fenced waiting area right behind the boarding gate exclusively for Business Class and Star Alliance Gold passengers. That was a nice touch, since that meant smooth and efficient boarding process for premium customers.
The boarding was completed within 10 minutes and Business Class cabin filled up quickly. Despite of Business seats having around 8 rows, all seats seemed to be occupied! Most passengers were Egyptians and there were a few Westerners as well. My first impression of the cabin was - clean and neat! I don't mean to stereotype but from the boarding gate everything seemed to reflect German-ness. This is an aircraft with more than 8 years of use, but the cabin looked brand new.
My seat 2A
Cabin view
Seat pitch
Materials inside seat pocket
Take-off.
Cairo Airport
Towel
Above Alexandria?
Menu cover
Menu intro page
Breakfast options
Beverage selections
Beverage selections
An amenity kit was also distributed.
Lufthansa amenity kit bag
Inside amenity kit bag
On this flight, there was no in-seat music/TV but there seemed to be an entertainment program which could be streamed from passenger's smart phone. The only catch is that before the flight the app must be downloaded in advance, so since I didn't know about it, I couldn't check it out but I've managed to at least see the live map.
Lufthansa entertainment guide
Soon breakfast service commenced.
Bread selections
I found a bit odd that breads were not heated, but perhaps that's the culture (as usually most Asian carriers serve warm breads especially croissants). Still, I found it pretty tasty even without heating (in some carriers having unheated bread could be a disaster) so it wasn't a big issue.
I chose an omelette for the main dish.
My breakfast plate
Main dish
Omelette, potato, and beef kofta were simple but good.
Cold plate
And so was the cold plate.
Fresh fruits
Orange juice and coffee
Now, the coffee - I liked it! I think that's one good thing about flying Western carriers in general - they serve good filtered coffee!
Live map on my mobile phone
Flying above Greece
I took some nap all the way just before landing in Frankfurt. I was awakened by beautiful German countryside sceneries.
Above Germany
The Rhine
Almost there!
Just before landing, a thick cloud appeared and on it I saw my plane being surrounded by a circle rainbow. Later my friend told me it's something called "Brocken spectre (or Brockengespenst)" which was the first time I've seen in my life. It was beautiful!
"Brocken spectre"
Autobahns
Lovely forest near Frankfurt airport
Almost landing
Lufthansa, Lufthansa, and more Lufthansa
Lufthansa B747
Lufthansa A320
My Lufthansa plane A321
Somehow, Frankfurt Airport excites me a lot. Despite of maze-like Terminal 1 I find there is a charm. I had five hours of transit, and realized that I didn't just want to spend in air side so decided to enter the country, and experience the land side also. I was also curious about Arrivals Lounge which is located on the land side.
Entrance to Lufthansa Arrivals Lounge
First, I wanted to take a shower so I proceeded to the shower section. There was a Middle Eastern-origin looking staff handling the shower section. Because the place was pretty nice, I tried to take a picture of the shower hall (and no human figures) and clicked one, then the staff immediately responded:
"Excuse me sir, no photography here - please delete the picture you've just taken now".
Oh wow, I was surprised - I can understand if there was any human figure in the photo, but I was only clicking the shower room from outside. Also, demanding to delete the photo I've just taken was something completely new. It was the first time in any of the lounges I was told not to click a photo and even being asked to delete it. He was by no any means rude though. Later during the meal, the same man was serving dining area and when I said "Thank You" for clearing my plates he did respond by saying "You're Welcome", but I just didn't get it.
Well, no one can invade my privacy in shower booth so I managed to take some.
Inside shower stall
Inside shower stall
Water pressure was lovely.
After taking a good shower, I proceed to the main lounge. The lounge was such an oasis! It was one of the best lounges I've been to, especially in terms of food spread in such morning hours. There were a couple of cheese selections, hot meals (Thai Green curry was really good!), smoked salmon and other good hams (it's Germany!), and also eggs/waffles cooked to order - impressive! Since there were only a few people in the lounge that made inside the lounge very serene and peaceful. However, the same staff who looked after shower area also later served the main lounge area, and with Big Brother there I didn't have the courage to take photographs - what a pity because I really wanted to show the world how nice it was
<My Impression on Lufthansa (Regional)>
While being a typical regional configuration where Business Class seat is basically Economy seat with middle seat out and a bit increased seat pitch, I found the aircraft despite of being 8 years old almost brand new interior, very clean seats, and efficient service. Food was good, and the concept of inflight entertainment through mobile app was interesting. The crew was generally good, came around the aisle for extra drinks during the flight. Last but not the least, the Arrivals Lounge (Lufthansa Welcome Lounge) was really great, especially the food and drink spread. All in all, a pleasant experience.
My next report will be Frankfurt to Narita on A340 in Business Class.
Thanks for reading.
Hirofumi
