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Summer 2018: BLR-DTW on Lufthansa (Part 1)

 
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AnanthMohanram
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Joined: 16 May 2017
Posts: 48
Location: Bangalore, Ann Arbor

PostPosted: Sun May 20, 2018 6:49 am    Post subject: Summer 2018: BLR-DTW on Lufthansa (Part 1) Reply with quote

Hi everyone,

Welcome to Part 1 of my trip report, which covers the Bangalore to Frankfurt leg of my Bangalore- Frankfurt-Detroit trip in May 2018.

I had the chance to visit home for a 3-week break in the summer before I started work. Little did I know that this 3-week break would fly past, as though it was only 3 hours long! Time, as they always say, flies when you're having fun. It was great to spend those memorable 3 weeks with my family, and it was tough to say goodbye.

My family had come to see me off at Bengaluru's Kempegowda International airport. My flight LH755 to Frankfurt was scheduled to leave at 3:05 am. Midnight is usually a hectic time at BLR, and I got to the airport at 12:15 am, sufficiently ahead of time to avoid getting stuck in long lines at check-in and immigration.

Driving up to the parking area at KIA



Lufthansa used counters 41-50 for check-in, and I was directed towards the baggage drop-off line by a friendly Lufthansa agent, as I had already checked in previously. The baggage drop-off line moved fairly quickly. After my 2 check-in bags were tagged all the way to Detroit, I requested the agent to reprint my boarding pass as I had some issues getting the barcode on the home-printed boarding pass scanned during my first trip in August 2016.



The check-in agent reprinted my boarding pass for both legs of the journey



With check-in done, I headed one-level up to the immigration and international security check area. While riding up the escalator, one could see the crowd in the check-in area. Midnight, as I had said earlier, is a very busy time at BLR with flights operated by Air France to Paris, Jet Airways to Amsterdam, Malaysian Airlines to Kuala Lumpur, Sri Lankan to Colombo, Scoot to Singapore, Cathay Dragon to Hong Kong, Lufthansa to Frankfurt, Qatar Airways to Doha and Emirates to Dubai all between 12 am and 4 am.

Check-in area at Kempegowda International Airport


Immigration and security were fairly quick, the CISF just decided to open another bay for security check, and I was instructed to head there, so no waiting in line either. Post security, I walked to the airport's duty-free area and bought myself a water bottle before heading out to the gate.

Duty free stores at KIA



In the gate area, Malaysian Airlines made the final boarding announcement for their flight to Kuala Lumpur. Some of the older gates at KIA aren't spotter-friendly, and I couldn't get a picture of either the Malaysian B737 or the Scoot A320.

Meanwhile, 9W235 and AF192 had come in from Amsterdam and Paris, respectively. The passengers leaving this flight could be seen one level above the boarding area. My cousin was on the AF192 flight from Paris that day, and I was trying to see if I could spot him, but he had made his way out earlier and was apparently waiting for his bags. The crew for the outbound AF191 to Paris was waiting near Gate 20.

A short while later, boarding for the flights to Hong Kong (Cathay Dragon- KA153), Paris-CDG (Air France - AF191), and Amsterdam (Jet Airways - 9W236) was announced. From the looks of it, there was a very decent demand for all these routes. The gate area filled up pretty quickly. To avoid the crowds, I headed out to the far eastern end of the terminal, near Gate 22, to find something to eat.

9W235/236:VT-JWR, a Jet Airways A330-300 at the Gate


AF191: F-GZCE, an Air France A330-200 to Paris-CDG



KA153: Cathay Dragon's A330-300, B-LBF in the new color scheme



Boarding for KA153 underway


All the while, I had been checking the status of the inbound LH754 from Frankfurt on FlightRadar24. The flight had left Frankfurt with a significant delay and was to land in Bangalore 30 minutes behind schedule (when I checked before leaving from home). It was very worrying, given that I had only 1 hour in Frankfurt to connect to the Detroit flight! While some time had been made up en-route, the flight was still arriving late, but only by 15 minutes.



Over the next 45 minutes, boarding for the flights to Paris and Hong Kong was completed while I had my late-night snack, a vegetable puff from the Urbanfood Market. AF191 and KA153 soon made their way to Runway 09 for departure.





As the Cathay Dragon made its way to the Runway, D-ABYJ from Frankfurt landed as LH754, 20 minutes behind schedule. The Boeing 747-8i made its way to Gate 22.

D-ABYJ at Gate 22




I then found myself a place to sit near Gate 22 and read a book for a while. As we came closer to our boarding time, the flight crew for LH755 arrived, with 3 pilots (Captain, Senior FO, and FO) and the flight attendants. At our scheduled boarding time - 2:35 am, an announcement was made stating that boarding would be delayed by around 15 minutes due to the inbound aircraft's late arrival. I made a quick visit to the washroom to answer nature's call and then joined the line at the Gate.

Boarding began at 2:45 am with passengers with infants, passengers requiring special assistance, and HON Circle Members. This was followed by First and Business Class passengers, and then economy class passengers, row-wise. While boarding LH755, Emirates and Qatar Airways jets, both Boeing 777-300s docked at the neighboring gates. Meanwhile, I quickly checked LH755's arrival gate in Frankfurt on Google. I was hoping to see something in concourse Z. This would significantly cut down the transit time. I didn't have to take a train or bus between concourses at FRA. What I saw pleased me greatly! I took my seat 29K at 3:00 am IST.

Arrival Gate Info!


Flight Details


Airline: Lufthansa
Origin: Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India (BLR)
Destination: Frankfurt Am Main Airport, Frankfurt, Hessen, Germany (FRA)
Flight Number: LH755
Aircraft Type: Boeing 747-830
Registration: D-ABYJ “Hannover
Scheduled Departure Time: 03:05 IST, 17th May 2018
Actual Departure Time: 03:32 IST, 17th May 2018
Scheduled Arrival Time: 09:00 CEST, 17th May 2018
Actual Time of Arrival: 08:53 CEST, 17th May 2018
Actual Flying Time: 8 hours and 51 minutes

View from Seat 29K


Boarding was completed at 3:05 am, and the Captain made his announcement from the flight deck. A flight time of 8 hours and 50 minutes was announced, along with a brief description of the flight path. He added that the incoming aircraft was delayed due to operational reasons at Frankfurt but reassured us that we would reach Frankfurt at least 10 minutes ahead of schedule.

We pushed back from Gate 22 at 3:14 am IST, and the 4 GEnx-2B67 engines were started. This was followed by a 7-minute taxi to Runway 09, during which the safety video was played. We took-off heading east and made a left climbing turn to set a north-westerly course towards Frankfurt.


Departure from Bengaluru


As we climbed to our cruising altitude, the flight attendants served drinks and a (very) hot towel. I opted for apple juice. A snack followed this: a hot vegetable roll served with ketchup and sponge cake. A non-vegetarian (chicken roll) option was also available.



I saw a wonderful documentary by David Attenborough titled: David Attenborough's Natural Curiosities, where he discussed some fascinating stories of creatures in the wild. I was really sleepy post-dinner and drifted in and out of sleep.

If you happen to be tall, the 3-4-3 seating in the cabin with tight legroom can get uncomfortable on long flights, as I found out. When I asked the passenger sitting behind me if it was ok for me to recline my seat, she said that she was trying to put her little one to sleep (he was constantly kicking) and that it would be easier for her if I didn't push my seat all the way to the back. To this, I complied, but the wonderful passenger in front of me was in a deep sleep, gloriously snoring away, above the din of the engines with his seat all the way back. It stayed this way until the seat belt signs were turned on for landing.

To make matters worse, I was also very thirsty, and unfortunately, the usual water-runs that the flight attendants usually performed on this flight didn't happen. I was also sitting beside the window and didn't want to attempt any acrobatics onboard (read: jumping oversleeping co-passengers).

After several failed and partially failed attempts at sleeping, I woke up when we were flying over Iran. The flight attendants finally brought something to drink, and I picked up a glass of orange juice and a glass of water.



I then saw The Post, a political thriller starring Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep. The inflight entertainment screen on the Boeing 747-8i had a reasonably sharp display but was very slow and unresponsive. Breakfast was then served. I picked the vegetarian option. The breakfast tray had a bread roll, some fruit (papaya, pineapple, and grapes), Mango flavored yogurt (extremely delicious), rock hard frozen butter chiplet-extremely inconvenient to spread, strawberry jam, cream cheese, a nice mini-masala dosa, button idlis dipped in thick sambar, and a packet of Dhilkush Saunf mouth freshener, to make sure that the officer in Frankfurt checking passports doesn't know what you had for breakfast when you answer his questions. Overall, the food was good.

Breakfast


Once the food trays were cleared, I disturbed my co-passengers in 29H and 29J so that I could walk down to the restroom to get fresh. At around 8:25 am CEST, the Captain was back on the PA system and announced that we had left our cruising altitude and would be landing in another 30 minutes. Frankfurt was reporting a temperature of 12C with cloudy skies and some rain. What was also mentioned was that we would be parking at Gate B23A and not Z54A, as I had seen earlier. This meant that I had to get my skates on (in cricket commentary parlance). The cabin crew then moved around to clear the aisles and pick up our headsets. Despite the forecast, I think the pilots did a wonderful job. The landing, in fact, was very smooth.

Descent into Frankfurt




We made a rather sharp S-Shaped turn before landing



Something quite interesting happened during the final phase of descent. Around 2 minutes before landing, we made a rather abrupt turn to the right before continuing our approach. A quick look at the flight path on FlightRadar24 after landing revealed that we had made a change from Runway 25L to 25C.

Initial approach for RWY 25L



After we switched to 25C




Flying past the Commerzbank-Arena



Landing on RWY 25C



FR24 indicating the Runway switch


After landing, I quickly packed my stuff away, picked up my boarding pass for the next flight while we taxied out to Gate B23A. It would be a crazy run to Gate Z19, with the morning lines at security and passport check at FRA. But all that is for part 2. I hope you enjoyed this one!

Comments are always welcome! Part 2 will be out soon.
_________________
Best regards,
Ananth


Last edited by AnanthMohanram on Thu Feb 18, 2021 7:31 am; edited 8 times in total
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sumantra
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Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4685
Location: New Delhi

PostPosted: Sat Aug 25, 2018 3:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

What a lovely TR, Ananth!
Though I have seen the international part at KIAL, I haven't seen it that late, and it was interesting! And I love your descriptive, blow-by-blow account of the trip. The A330s, and the huge Queen B748 herself!
I also note with some trepidation, that you do not like rock-hard ice-cold butter chiplets Smile
Wow, the quick runway change was interesting.
I look forward to borrowing your skates to be with you for Part 2!
Cheers, Sumantra.
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stealthpilot
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Joined: 19 Dec 2006
Posts: 2325
Location: BLR, DXB

PostPosted: Sat Sep 01, 2018 6:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great TR
- nice pics of BLR, the CX Dragon looks good in her (now not so new) colours
- I take it you didn't want to use the call bell and ask for a bottle of water? I know its frowned upon by some people but hey if its a night flight and you're stuck in a corner seat you would have your drink way earlier Smile
Will read part 2 soon
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eP007
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AnanthMohanram
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Joined: 16 May 2017
Posts: 48
Location: Bangalore, Ann Arbor

PostPosted: Sun Sep 02, 2018 8:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

sumantra wrote:
What a lovely TR, Ananth!
Though I have seen the international part at KIAL, I haven't seen it that late, and it was interesting! And I love your descriptive, blow-by-blow account of the trip. The A330s, and the huge Queen B748 herself!
I also note with some trepidation, that you do not like rock-hard ice-cold butter chiplets Smile
Wow, the quick runway change was interesting.
I look forward to borrowing your skates to be with you for Part 2!
Cheers, Sumantra.


Thank you for taking the time to read Sir! The butter chiplets, nothing against them really, I've just had some messy experiences with them Smile

The Runway change was convenient, it allowed for a quicker taxi to the Gate.
_________________
Best regards,
Ananth
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AnanthMohanram
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Joined: 16 May 2017
Posts: 48
Location: Bangalore, Ann Arbor

PostPosted: Sun Sep 02, 2018 8:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

stealthpilot wrote:
Great TR
- nice pics of BLR, the CX Dragon looks good in her (now not so new) colours
- I take it you didn't want to use the call bell and ask for a bottle of water? I know its frowned upon by some people but hey if its a night flight and you're stuck in a corner seat you would have your drink way earlier Smile
Will read part 2 soon


Thank you so much for taking the time to read Smile
CX Dragon livery looks really good, I like it more than the old one. I did use the call bell at least 3 times, and so were several other passengers, no reaction from the cabin crew though Sad
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Ananth
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