Report No: 2020-302E
Ladies and Gentleman,
Welcome to this very interesting and thrilling Flight-Report series as the COVID-19 situation in the world affected my travel plans, however, not this time as I was able to return back to Europe as planned with some minor changes. This series would contain 2 parts, with 5 flights all on Economy Class, covering 3 different airlines, 6 different airports, 5 different lounges and 5 different aircraft types.
As I was heading to Graz, Austria for a day event, I have decided to use an open-jaw United ticket, which I was unable to use in the last few months which led me to fly IAD-FRA on United and FRA-GRZ on Lufthansa CityLine. As I paid change and service fees around $250 + fare difference to reactivate this Economy Discount ticket, I stuck with traveling on Economy Class for this occasion. ( Changes were made early January ).
The second part of the report would contain a small review of the Schengen Lufthansa Senator Lounge in FRA Terminal 1A and a flight overview of a small intra-European Lufthansa Cityline flight onboard their Embraer ERJ-190.
The first part of the routing would be revealed at the moment, but unfortunately, you would need to stay tuned with Flight-Report for the second part.
Flight routing
- 1
- 2LH 1260 Frankfurt to Graz ( Economy Class ), Embraer ERJ-190, Lufthansa Senator Lounge A-Gates
- 3
- 4
- 5
Pax for this flight
Business Class: No idea
Economy Class: %60-70
FRANKFURT AIRPORT - FRA
After arriving from my United flight which parked at gate Z20, I followed the signs for A gates. No security was required for this transfer, however, a passport check was required and as the non-EU lane was empty, I was in the Schengen area within 3 minutes. There is a mandatory duty free passage after passport control.
Boarding pass for this flight
LUFTHANSA SENATOR LOUNGE SCHENGEN A GATES - FRANKFURT AIRPORT
As I headed to the lounge, my boarding pass beeped red as there was a physical card control required. After swiping my physical card to the machine, I was admitted into the Senator Lounge.
The lounge was emptier than usual, but a reminder that it was a Saturday morning.
The offerings in the Schengen Lounge is the same as the exact same offerings as the Non Schengen Lounges. Here are the hot plates
Mushrooms
Yoghurt, granola and some cakes
Drinks available today
As I needed a shower, I headed to the shower just after leaving my stuff to my seating area and learned that I would need to wait a bit and I was handed a pager. After 10 minutes, one of the shower cabins were available. For those who are not familiar with FRA, generally, the waits here are much longer than 10 minutes.
The shower which had L'Occitane products.
GATE AREA & BOARDING
After having a shower, I left the lounge to head to my gate as boarding was still going to start. Our flight was going to depart from gate A52.
No aircraft connected to the jet bridges and a Mercedes Citaro waiting for us at the ground level. We were going to have a bus journey before our flight.
25 minutes before scheduled departure time, boarding has begun with the respect of group numbers, however, all passengers would have been transported to the aircraft with the same bus.
While descending to the ground level, to board the bus, I have noticed that the UA 777-200ER who brought me from IAD was still there.
From the bus
And my plane spotting adventure has started just after the bus left the gate.
Lufthansa jumbo-jets
LH Boeing 747-400
Lufthansa dominates Terminal 1A+ gates
A Lufthansa A320 passing by
Is LSG Sky Chefs still active?
D-AIGO which took me from BOS to MUC, 9 years before.
D-ABYI is also one of the Lufthi aircrafts that I took before back in 2016 when it had the Fanhansa livery
D-ABYL, also someone familiar, which also has it's own Flight-Report
Some LH aircraft parked due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation
Lufthansa A340-600
Another LH 747-8I
Lufthansa Cargo 777F
Some more wide-body aircraft parked at remote stands
And here's our aircraft: D-AECG
Boarding was made through the front door.
LH 1260 FRANKFURT AIRPORT TO GRAZ THALERHOF AIRPORT
My original seat for this flight was 14D so I first sat there. The seat was comfortable. I always find these Recaro seats super-comfortable and ideal for short or medium haul journeys.
And had decent legroom.
As soon as boarding finished and bags were loaded, the passenger in seat 14F wanted to move to an empty block, so I took the window seat and the aisle seat left empty.
Here is the seat pocket content. Nothing surprising
Hmmmm, some ads from Turkish companies in the Lufthansa Magazin
Information about our aircraft
Route map. It's super interesting that FRA-GRZ is not marked on the route map. This route was operated by Austrian in the past but then shifted to Lufthansa early this year.
Map of FRA
A LH Cargo 777F was heading to the runway
And as we were parked close to the runway, after a short taxi.
We were departing towards Graz.
And we're in the air
Shortly after the seat belt signs have been switched off, the meal service has begun. Today's meal was a freshly packed veggie sandwich which was delicious.
And as a drink, I've opted for a tomato juice.
Some mountains
And we're descending
And we've landed to GRZ
Some private jets and education aircraft
The terminal
An Austrian Dash-8
And we have parked next to that bird
GRAZ THALERHOF AIRPORT - GRZ
After saying goodbye to the crew, I have left the aircraft from the front door.
A last photo of D-AECG
And after a short walk, we were inside the terminal of Thalerhof Airport.
Bags have arrived within 5-10 minutes without the respect of priority tags, however, as most passengers did not have checked baggage, both of my bags were within the first 20 bags.
GRZ does not have that much traffic. Mostly to Germany.
And after checking the train schedule, I have headed to the check-in counter to recheck by bags to my final destination at my second ticket later in the day.
After checking my bags through XXX, I have left the airport
And after a short walk of 350 meters, I have arrived at the train station
A S-Bahn train going to the opposite direction which I would go.
I was the only one waiting for the train.
And, now it's time to end this report.
The series would continue at the next report.
Thanks for reading and hope to see you on another report.
Thanks for another great Flight-Report, ISTFlyer! I really like LH's Embraers - they are very comfortable, especially because of that 2-2 configuration. Looks like a normal intra-European LH flight. Nice that they provided a sandwich for such a short flight. Lufthansa has taken over all FRA-Austria flights that OS operated, as part of OS's new strategy of only having flights pass through VIE. Interestingly enough, OS is still operating INN-FRA with their Q400s. I hope that LH takes over that route soon, as they provide better service and their aircraft are nicer, as well. Thanks again, and looking forward to the next installment!
Hi NewYorker,
- Yes, they are comfortable, especially because of the 2-2 configuration that you have mentioned.
- Indeed I was surprised; a friend who has taken this flight before ( with OS presumably ) told me that they gave him a chocolate bar ( KitKat to be specific ) when he flew this route in the past.
- I have also realized that when I was looking for flights, I have never flown OS yet so it would be nice trying them, however, yes, LH has a slightly better service than Austrian. For the INN-FRA route, I can't say anything as currently, I have no idea about the loads and the aircraft logistics of OS.
- Hope to see you there; thanks for stopping by, take care. :)