IntroductionI spent several weeks in Germany this summer and from there it is quite easy to do a side-trip to Madrid to visit a dear friend from school and his family. Until now I had often taken advantage of LAN/Latam’s fifth freedom flight between Frankfurt and Madrid and its attractive value for money, but that tag-on was suspended during the pandemic and hasn’t been reinstated yet. Probably it won’t.
I could have taken a non-stop flight, of course, but there aren’t too many of those a day and a one-stop combination opened up many more scheduling possibilities. So Lufthansa it was, with the outbound routed via Munich and the inbound via Frankfurt. MUC would be a new airport for me and though it would not add a new letter to my “landed on the alphabet” list, the prospect of transiting through there was appealing.
With the easing and complete lifting of many Covid-related travel restrictions and throngs of people longing to finally make that trip they had been forced to postpone for a long time, airlines and airports seem to have been overwhelmed by the surge in travel demand these past months – and it showed. Gruesome news of people missing their flights due to slow security checks, delayed and outright cancelled flights, and stranded luggage not traveling with their owners due to insufficient handling staff were all over the news. Quite the prospect for this traveler…
On to the flights then.
The tripFor the 12:15 pm departure I left my family’s place at 10:00 am, hopped on the 392 bus and a few stops / 10 minutes later alighted at the airport terminal.
Check-in was quick and easy, but security control took around 30 minutes. Only 5 out of 8 lanes were open though the staff was actually nice.
Having still some spare time until boarding and not anticipating much in the way of catering on board regardless of this being a lunchtime flight, I grabbed a bite to eat at one of the stands to tide me over for a while.
Over in the Travel, Polls & Preferences forum someone asked a while ago about flights on widebody aircraft within Europe. TK seem to offer a lot of those. I for one saw TK’s A332, A333, B787 and A350 operating scheduled flights at several German airports.
My previous report was about 6 segments all on B737 variants. This trip was – to please the Airbus fans on here – all on A32X variants. My plane for this segment was an unchristened/nameless A320 in the previous livery.
June 2022
Airline: Lufthansa
Flight: LH2057
STD/ATD: 12:15 / 12:23 (push back)
STA/ATA: 13:30 / 13:30 (touch down)
Route: HAM-MUC
Registration: D-AIWB
Aircraft: A320-214
Seat: 28FBoarding for this full flight was quick and orderly, with gate agents only taking care of J passengers while the Y crowd was left to the automated BP scanners.
The view from my seat. This seems to be LCC heaven with only Wizz Air missing in the lineup.
Eventually we took off from rwy 05 at 12:35 following an SN A319.
The bottle of still water offered from the catering cart looked a bit lonely on the tray table…
…but it was eventually joined by a sample-sized chocolate bar.
The route from Hamburg initially takes on a south-southeast course crossing the Harz mountains and then skirting the German-Czech border near Hof before turning southwest towards MUC.
After passing the Harz range a huge cloud buildup temporarily blocked the view of the landscape below, but soon enough we were on approach to MUC
Fifty five minutes after taking off from HAM we were landing on MUC’s rwy 26R and after a short taxi we parked at position 220 M in Terminal 2.
My connecting flight would depart in roughly 75 minutes, but from Terminal 2 Satellite, so I first had to find my way there. The terminal is bright, airy and did not feel crowded at all – especially when compared to FRA. Transfer to the opposite concourse is via an underground automated people mover.
Once in the correct concourse and given LH’s scanty in-flight catering offerings on the flight I just had stepped off of, I was longing for something substantial to eat. Being in Munich, the occasion practically called for having a serving of weisswurst - Germany and sausages? You don’t say! - with sweet mustard and a pretzel at a place with very interesting lighting.
A full stomach makes for a happy heart and I was now ready for the continuation of this trip. Fortunately the gate was only 4 walking minutes away.
June 2022
Airline: Lufthansa
Flight: LH1804
STD/ATD: 15:05 / 15:17 (push back)
STA/ATA: 17:45 / 17:35 (touch down)
Route: MUC-MAD
Registration: D-AIDP, Paderborn
Aircraft: A321-231
Seat: 28FAlthough the pax load was pretty healthy on this flight again, the seat next to mine remained vacant. With a slight delay of 25 minutes we eventually took off from rwy 26L at 15:30 for what would turn out to be quite a scenic flight.
Our route took us first crossing the Lech River slightly south of Augsburg
…followed by the Wertach River near Bobingen
…the northwestern corner of Lake Constance/Überlinger See and Radolfzell
…the Rhine Falls at Schaffhausen
…and Basel with BSL in the distance
Upon reaching FL350 the pilot came on the P/A to give some details about the flight and our route via Zurich, Geneva and Toulouse. To see those I would have had to be seated on the opposite side, but I was content with the views out my window.
Service-wise there wasn’t much in the way of catering. On this occasion the bottle of water that had been distributed by the cabin crew on the previous flight was already in the seat pocket in front of you upon boarding.
Those with an appetite had a whole menu to choose from, though I didn’t see anyone taking advantage of the offerings, nor any cabin crew member proactively inviting to any consumption. Barely four years ago, on another LH flight of this stage length, we still got served a hot meal.
The Times they are a-Changin’, and so is LH.
Our approach path towards MAD took us above the Entrepeñas water reservoir formed by the dammed-up Tagus River and later endless very dry looking fields where the first harvest had already been brought in.
After landing on rwy 32L at 17:35 it was a long taxi to the old terminal past T4S and T4
Two of BA’s A380’s still parked here.