While the onward journey was booked in fare class Y, the return was in L. Not only did it mean lower miles, it also meant pre booking a seat would cost INR2100 onwards. I was expecting both flights to be relatively empty since they are midweek and glad I was not wrong at this.
This
report will cover two flights, an A340-300 between Dallas & Frankfurt and
B747-400 between Frankfurt & Mumbai.
Dallas Stay
The
stay was short, of which I spent the Sunday going to Founders plaza and overall
it wasn’t a pleasant experience since the downtown was closed and the usual
elements in full form. America seriously needs to look at these security and social
problems first before dealing with world security.
America is indeed known for its Marketing – with the hotel having the
waffle maker which would make waffles in the shape of Texas.
Wanted to experience the food truck for a long time.
Web-Check in
Web
check-in opened up over 24 hours ago and I was quick to select seat 19A &
19C. I did
not mind being seated on the wing for the A340 and enjoy the view. The check-in
for the next segment opened up a little later and I selected 44A & 44C for
FRA-BOM sector, hoping that the middle seat would be empty, this
being a mid-week flight.
With
this, started my quest of predicting the aircraft, which I was tracking for the
last few days.
|
438/439
|
DFW-FRA
|
Prev. sector
|
Airfleets
|
Planespotters
|
|
7-Sep
|
D-AIFE
|
PHL
|
44/222
|
8/48/165
|
|
8-Sep
|
D-AIGL
|
IKA
|
42/225
|
8/48/165
|
|
9-Sep
|
D-AIGS
|
DXB
|
8/36/197
|
8/48/165
|
|
10-Sep
|
D-AIGM
|
KUL
|
42/225
|
8/36/197
|
|
11-Sep
|
D-AIFE
|
BKK
|
44/222
|
8/48/165
|
|
12-Sep
|
D-AIGI
|
DXB
|
44/222
|
44/222
|
|
13-Sep
|
D-AIFC
|
IAD
|
44/222
|
8/36/197
|
|
14-Sep
|
D-AIGX
|
SHE
|
42/225
|
8/36/197
|
|
15-Sep
|
D-AIGZ
|
DXB
|
44/222
|
8/36/197
|
|
16-Sep
|
D-AIGU
|
KUL
|
44/222
|
8/36/197
|
|
17-Sep
|
D-AIFC
|
BKK
|
|
|
There
always is some method
in madness and the way these aircraft are
rotated, looked like the bird operating to BKK would operate to DFW. A quick
check on the Frankfurt airport website confirmed this and obviously I was
elated! Similar
method in madness did not exist for the BOM rotation, probably due to more
number of B744s in the fleet.
The
popular websites, like Planespotters and Airfleets had conflicting information
on the seating configuration of the A343s as well as B744 for Lufthansa and
this was surprising. The Lufthansa website continued to say that the aircraft
operating this sector is a two class configuration and so was the case on the
day of flight.
Day of departure
& Flight
We
reached the airport well in time for the 1555 departure. Lufthansa operates out
of Terminal D and our gate for the day was D-7. As we entered the terminal at
1255, the counters were already open. Lufthansa flies only to FRA and not MUC
and none of its sister carriers like Swiss operate flights to DFW. The entire check-in & baggage drop process was quick and hassle free.
Few
steps away, a long line was forming for security which was a messed up affair.
As I joined the line, the TSA staff kept yelling on people to remove shoes. Suddenly,
the TSA staff stopped security and decided to re arrange the tables near the
x-ray machine. Once this re-arrangement was done, security started again and the
line moved.
FIDS at DFW, AA MD-83, AA B777
AA B777 upclose
Notice how late the MD-80 series takes off and then goes up like a rocket!
Once
on the other side, it was time to explore the terminal, shop, eat and take
pictures. My colleague & I had lunch at TGI Fridays and I headed out for
some spotting and had a great time.
DFW
– Terminal D is good, with a lot of options for shopping, food and large areas
near and away from the gate where one can seat with Television sets and
chargers.
As
we made our way towards our gate at 1500, KLM was boarding for Amsterdam, operated by
A330 on the gate next to us. Lufthansa, got people to stand in line behind a
board, which denoted their zone and released people accordingly.
Boarding
was complete for a not so full flight and we were ready to depart at 1535. The seat was fantastic and the leg room was much more than
that on the other Lufthansa flights I have been so far.
There
was a long wait for pushback since the Quantas B747 was pushed back and parked
away from the gate and was followed by pushback of KLM A330, after which our
bird was pushed back. The pilot came on PA to inform us that there is construction work
happening around and we would be pulled by the vehicle for a certain distance
before we could be on our own power. 
Soon
the four CFM engines powered up one by one, as we made a long taxi across
terminal B, crossing the International Parkway over the bridge and next to the
General Aviation terminal and coming to a halt on taxiway EG as aircraft after
aircraft landed. Next to us was a beautiful MD – 83 was next to us. A line of
aircraft formed, as the pilot came on PA and informed that there is
communications failure in the DFW tower and hence all take-offs are on hold.
Soon,
we were on runway 17R and powered up for a take off towards the north and
banked left, climbing for the next 35 minutes to stabilize at FL350. 
As
I started exploring my IFE, I realized that the movies on my IFE were lesser
than that of my colleagues IFE on seat 19C. This was surprising and unheard
off. I requested the crew to re-set this as the crew was surprised too. A few
crew members came to see this phenomenon, which I assume that they had seen for
the first time too.
Service was good, quick & efficient. Dinner & Breakfast would be
served on the flight. I started with two good of Finlanda and chose the
veg pasta option which was delicious. The rest of the flight was uneventful.
The galley had biscuits & juice/water available all throughout.
Breakfast
came in about an hour and a half before landing at Frankfurt. The breakfast
which comprised of Omelets, potato wedges, chopped Onion & Tomato wasn’t
really the best of food I had on this trip.Trays were quickly cleared and we
started our descent into Frankfurt.
A few twists and turns later, I realized
that this looked like a different approach and indeed it was since we landed on
runway 07 L and had a long taxi to one of the gates in B zone. Thankfully for
us, as we deplaned, there were people around who kept asking if our connecting
flight is from Zone B to which I nodded and without checking the boarding pass
for the next flight, we were let in, into the B zone. 
A
lot of time was spent at the McDonalds sitting near the windows, giving good
view of the runway. My colleague ordered coffee in Hindi –“ Do cappuchino dena” which received blank
stares. This was followed by me putting in Salt instead of sugar in the coffee!
Looks like we were Jet lagged already!As I kept tracking the incoming bird from Buenos Aires, I realized that the gate would be revised from B25 to B45 and so it was. The Google now service was updated before the FIDS as we made our way to B45 and waited.
The
aircraft was cleaned and loading had started within minutes of the entire cargo
of the previous flight being unloaded.
Boarding
was unruly, as expected and we settled into our seats on this 22 year old bird,
the age was showing when I took a look at the overhead bins. The seats however
were new and similar to those on the B748i.
I
asked the crew if the boarding was complete just to check if the middle seat
would be empty and came to know that 100 seats are empty in economy. I was
certain that we would have this seat empty and so it was.
We
had a delayed push back and a taxi to runway 18, where we made a powerful take
off and climbed on to our cruising altitude of FL350. It was cloudy and that
was a dampener since I could not see traffic around.
Service
would be Lunch and Light dinner before landing. Service started with drinks
cart, followed by Lunch in which the only option was AVML – the Asian veg meal,
since they had ran out of chicken options. For this flight, there was no snack in the galley , only water and juice.
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The
flight was uneventful again, with the light dinner service starting an hour and
a half before scheduled landing time. The options were Chicken or Veg Roll. I
opted for Chicken and it was delicious.
I
decided to watch the movie – Queen, and as I was about to enjoy the scene where
the actress boards a B777, push back with A320 and take off with A380, the
scene was completely deleted. Guess it was due to the airline being a
competitor – Air France!
The
pilot came on PA announcing that we would touch down at 1255 hours and made a
superb landing on runway 27 at Mumbai. It was memorable to see the flaps
extended fully on the mighty B747-400.
We
taxied to one of the gates at T2 and I was excited to be here for the first
time. Next to us was South African A340. The crew had not uplifted the customs
cards for this flight and that meant filling them up on ground. Surprisingly we
were not asked for the custom cards and the constable at the gate only checked
if we were on the Lufthansa flight, after nodding, he let us go.
T2
is nicely done, including the area which is like a museum as we walk from the
gate to immigration, which itself is housed in a large hall, which is well lit
and controlled well. Both immigration & customs was a breeze with the only
bottle neck being baggage claim which took 40 minutes. The first bag was on the
belt, 25 minutes after we landed, by when we were already at the belt.
Headed
out to Pune and this journey seemed longer than the flight!
Aircraft
Details
DFW-FRA
D-AIFC
/ A340-300 / Gander
& Halifax / Delivered
– Jan’01
STD: 1555, ATD: 1550
STA: 0850, ATA: 0855
On-Time: 5/5 (Pushed
back on time, but delayed due airport issues)
Website &Check-in:
4/5
Check-in & airport
experience: 4/5
Aircraft Cleanliness:
4/5
In-flight experience:
4/5
Food: 4/5
Alighting &
Arrival experience: 4/5
FRA-BOM
D-ABVN
/ B747-400 / Dortmund / Delivered - May 1992
STD: 1330, ATD: 1350
STA:0100, ATA: 0055
On-Time: 4/5
Website &Check-in:
4/5
Check-in & airport
experience: 4/5
Aircraft Cleanliness:
4/5
In-flight experience:
3/5
Food: 3/5
Alighting &
Arrival experience: 4/5
