After a very pleasant ten-day stay in Gothenburg, it’s time to return home to a still-confined Paris. And as on the outward journey, I’ll be flying business on Lufthansa.
For the record, the other articles related to this trip
- Hilton Roissy Charles de Gaulle Airport – Executive Room
- Paris-Frankfurt, Lufthansa Business Class
- Frankfurt-Gothenburg, Lufthansa Business Class
- Restaurant VRÅ, Gothenburg
- Clarion Hotel Post, Standard Double Room
- Restaurant Koka, Gothenburg
- Radisson Blue Scandinavia – Junior Suite
- Restaurant Natur, Gothenburg
- Upper House Gothenburg – Deluxe Suite
- Restaurant l’Atelier Gothenburg
- Gothenburg-Frankfurt, Lufthansa Business Class (here)
- Frankfurt-Paris, Lufthansa Business Class
The ground course at Gothenburg
The journey to the airport is quickly made by Uber from the city center. 20 minutes under normal circumstances, a little less on this Sunday morning.
We can’t say that Gothenburg airport is a masterpiece of aesthetics, but it’s very much in keeping with the country’s “simple, nice and no-frills” attitude.
After 10 days of “freedom”, arrival at the airport means “wearing the mask” again. I might as well tell you that I haven’t missed it so far.
As the Swede isn’t necessarily as well-equipped with his stock of masks as we are elsewhere in Europe, everything is in place for last-minute purchases.
Unsurprisingly, the airport was virtually empty on Sunday morning.
I travel in business, I’m Star Alliance Gold and SAS Diamond…three good reasons to use the fast track which, let’s face it, is totally useless given the almost total absence of passengers.
The road to the security checkpoints is now completely clear.
The check-in process is “Swedish-style”, i.e. calm, unhurried, with friendly, smiling staff. As much as this slowness exasperated me at the beginning of the year when the queue was overcrowded, I’m really enjoying it now. Maybe I’m in no particular hurry to get back to France either.
Once through the checkpoints, you reach the terminal by crossing a duty-free zone, a now classic subterfuge at many airports.
When you’ve been to Roissy and Frankfurt recently, it’s great to see bars and restaurants open and accepting customers at the tables!
Unfortunately, the SAS lounge in Gothenburg is now closed.
The lounge next door is open and I would have been able to access it as a Priority Pass cardholder, but…it closes at weekends. In Stockholm, Olivier had been able to find an American Express lounge to compensate for the closure of the airline lounges, but nothing like that here. So I was left with a walking tour of the airport to occupy my time.
We can see that renovation and expansion work is underway: the old meets the new in a patchwork of surprising effect. At least here, airports are being developed.
There really aren’t many people.
A ” mural ” explaining how an airplane works contains a bit of local humor (look at the airplane’s registration number…
I slowly make my way to my boarding gate. A terminal that doesn’t exactly exude joy, but even more so when it’s empty…
The inbound flight arrived on time, so no delays to worry about. I notice that passengers are disembarked by bus once again…makes me wonder what the jetways are for. Unless it’s the renovation work that’s preventing the exit journey from running smoothly?
Departure time approaches and passengers begin to arrive. Not very comfortable.
Boarding in Gothenburg
Boarding starts on time and runs smoothly, with respect for priorities. At first glance, the aircraft is 1/3 full…
Sometimes it’s the little things that make the difference. I always appreciate those little words that Lufthansa crews write on aircraft doors to welcome passengers.
The crew greet us at the entrance to this Airbus A319 with a broad smile that you can see beneath the mask, and I calmly take my seat.
The business cabin of the Lufthansa A319
Not a very full aircraft, but still 4 rows of business on this A319. A familiar cabin and the famous NEK seat.
One of the reasons I like Lufthansa’s medium-haul business? The legroom. I had no trouble fitting in my 1m88.
There’s nothing more to say about this well-known cabin, except that it was clean, which is unfortunately not always the case with some of its competitors, where there’s a tendency to botch the cleaning during aircraft turnarounds.
We’re ready to go.
The flight and the service
With little traffic and little taxiing time, we soon find ourselves up in the air. Bye bye Gothenburg but I promise I’ll be back!
Service starts very quickly.
You can’t take away the fact that Lufthansa has been cutting back a little on the quantities on its business class meal trays recently.
The tomatoes are delicious and well seasoned, but the cheese is a little bland. I’d love to be able to spice things up, but Lufthansa doesn’t provide any salt and pepper on its medium-haul business class meal trays, and that’s a real shame.
I’ll be refilled with drinks 3 times before arriving in Frankfurt.
After the service, we’ll be given the health tracking documents, which I won’t have any use for as I’m in transit.
A few clouds but a very pleasant flight in the end.
The Lufthansa crew
Not much to say about such a short flight. Professional, friendly and efficient. Some would say that’s already pretty good.
Finally, what I like about Lufthansa crews is their consistency. Whatever the flight and the crew, we know what to expect, and the service is unsurprisingly uniform, which I prefer to the roller-coaster ride that other airlines put us through.
Landing and arrival in Frankfurt
As is often the case, you arrive in Frankfurt from the east, so you can “admire” the city.
There’s not much traffic and taxiing times are short. We arrive 20 minutes early at a virtually deserted airport. Just an Etihad 787 to spot…
And since we’re ahead of schedule, we wait, wait and wait some more, until finally we’re allowed to disembark by paxbus!
I don’t know if it’s me who’s cursed, but I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I’ve disembarked “normally” in Frankfurt. It’s really getting to be a hassle, and we can’t say that all the gates were open.
Disembarkation took place through the rear doors only, but for once the business class went out first. It didn’t matter, because we still had to wait for the others…
Once off the bus, I’ll have to walk a little further through the long tunnel linking gates B and A…
Now all I have to do is wait for my connecting flight to Paris.
Bottom line
A truly uneventful flight, apart from the inexcusable bus disembarkation.
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