Enchainement de vols
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Following my inbound flight to MUC from ICN on LH719, I had 2 hours and 10 minutes for transfer.
Was greeted by this Lufthansa A340-600 as soon as I got off the plane from ICN. How fitting! Though I don't think it's the exact plane I'd be flying in a few weeks.
I had already checked in for my flight before in Korea. I guess the paper tickets and the online tickets are interchangeable.
The transfer in MUC was very quick and simple. It only involved a bag check and nothing else such as security screenings. This was only my second time transferring, with my first being in DXB back in 2017. I vaguely remember the experience, but I certainly remember that it involved more than just a bag check.
The bag check line did get quite long though, as it seemed like most of the passengers were transferring to another flight. It took me about 15 minutes to get through everything, as I was the last passenger out of the plane with the cockpit visit. Honestly, there was a 55-minute transfer itinerary available when I was booking this one, and I'd say 55 minutes would've been plenty as well. Although I have no clue about the checked bag situation.
With my transfer, I was able to see my A350 I rode from ICN again. I'd reckon the Lufthansa logo plastered around the terminal in MUC and FRA does bring a certain amount of pride to the staff working. Gives the feeling of a mega carrier.
D-AIXO heading to the stands to spend the night.
As Lufthansa has quite a big fleet of A350s with nearly all of them being based in MUC, I thought I'd see more A350s than the one I saw while was heading to PEK.
A big portion of the traffic here are narrowbodies, presumably because most of the demand is for short haul intra-European flights.
The board is predictably dominated by Lufthansa flights. Surprising to see the only long haul flight, to Beijing.
Our ride to LHR today, D-AINL arrived heavily delayed, when we were supposed to push back. It arrived from a flight from HAM, and checking FR24, it has been delayed all throughout the day. Looks like they couldn't substitute the equipment to stop the run of delays.
Our flight started boarding from gate H34, about an hour delayed. As expected, the boarding groups were well kept, although there were quite a few people not getting the definition of group boarding.
The rain was pouring when I made my way to the plane.
Our seat for today, 21F. As I entered the plane, the crew seemed pretty tired. I'm guessing it's because of the delay.
This was the view from 21F. Amazing seat selection, as the window was perfectly placed next to me.
Another problem occurred after we all finished boarding. There was a missing passenger, and they didn't show up after waiting about 15 minutes. But, as their baggage was already loaded onto the plane, we had to wait a further 25 minutes so that the bag could be unloaded. And adding salt to injury, as we lost our departing slot, we had to wait another bit to get clearance from ATC to LHR. All in all, a total of about two hours had lapsed since we were supposed to depart.
A double pushback was going on while we were waiting at the gate.
The crew handed out a bottle of water while we were all waiting.
Started looking at my very last line of defense to get to my stay. I had to transfer to another line, so it wasn't all that easy.
We finally pushed back after about 2 hours' worth of delay with the sky darkening.
We taxied to runway 26R for our departure. I don't know if it's because of the delay or it's just how they do it in Europe, but it felt like we were taxiing at speeds never seen before in Asia. Maybe even more than 15 knots.
We finally managed to take off, with the rain droplets falling behind us.
As there wasn't anything going on in this flight it terms of in-flight services, all I can do here is spam window shots.
We had a very bumpy ride up to our cruising altitude. Being in a narrow body probably didn't help.
We were however treated to this great view of the sunset.
A spectacular view of Antwerp below us.
I made a trip to the bathroom, and took a shot of the cabin. The group travelers at the back of the cabin certainly made their voices be heard throughout the flight. They even clapped when the plane started moving from the gate, which gave me a chuckle.
As always, we were given these Lufthansa chocolates as we arrived into LHR.
Our approach also allowed me a view of the Emirates Stadium.
We landed at LHR on runway 27L about an hour and a half late.
Final look at my seat before deplaning. The seats were definitely thin and hard compared to the A350 I was previously on, but it did the job for a short 2 hour hop. Not sure about the legroom as I am not really the best person to be judging those types of things.
The security check process didn't take that long thanks to these.
However, the bag claim took quite a bit. In the end, 10 minutes from the plane to the bag drop, and 20 minutes waiting for my bag. Almost thought they had lost it.
I followed the signs to the underground, and not the Elizabeth line. It's pretty expensive, considering the basic costs are already pretty high.
I was thankfully able to take the Piccadilly line and transfer to the District line before it all ended.
Unfortunately, these are very much the standards in Europe. As much as I'd like to see them change to *at least* be on par with what I get on El Al (where there's stream-to-device IFE and a small meal of one little sandwich), European full-service airlines seem committed to basically offer the same subpar product as the low-cost ones except higher-priced
I think it has to do with the fact that the mindsets are different between European carriers and Asian carriers. It seems like the former has its eyes on trains as the competition, which traditionally doesn't serve those as well, so being a faster means of travel is enough justification for the price to their eyes. Also at least in Lufthansa's case, quite a bit of passengers on the intra-European flights seem to be connecting passengers, which means the main focus point would be the long haul flight.