This flight in business class on Lufthansa between Frankfurt and Gothenburg won’t leave me with an indelible memory, partly due to factors external to the airline, but I can’t say that I was particularly convinced by the service this time either.
A little over 24 hours ago, I was in Sydney, half a day ago in Tokyo, and here I am in Frankfurt on my way to Gothenburg, from where I’ll be heading for Paris the next day, bringing to an end this long journey to Australia, which has not been without its share of drama in the air.
As a reminder, here is the air routing for this trip.
Initially I was supposed to fly to Brussels from Tokyo and then on to Gothenburg on Brussels Airlines in economy (that’s how the ticket was sold, with only the last segment in eco, which wasn’t a problem given the impact of this flight on the overall trip and the excellent fare found). Finally, my flight from Sydney having been cancelled and then postponed for 24 hours, my flight to Brussels was replaced by a flight to Frankfurt with an extension to Gothenburg. Still in economy. However, while I was flying to Frankfurt, Lufthansa offered cheap upgrades to business class for the latter segment, and Olivier, realizing this from a distance, gave it to me as a Christmas present while I was dozing in the air.
So that’s how this initially unplanned flight came about.
You’ll find at the bottom of the page a summary of articles about this vacation in Australia.
Ground experience and boarding
I leave the Lufthansa Senator lounge to reach my boarding gate, which was quite a distance away. The flight was announced on time, so all was well.
Passengers approach the gate in anticipation of boarding.
Suddenly, we are told that boarding will be delayed by 25 minutes due to the late arrival of the aircraft. In the end, the delay will be 50 minutes.
On the other hand, we are still being told that the departure delay will only be 20 minutes…which I absolutely do not believe and my intuition will be verified…even worse.
We eventually boarded, but not without many families with children slowing down the process, as they went ahead of the priority passengers and were not very well organized for travel.
Two jetways will be used to board this A321 (yes! Lufthansa flies to Gothenburg in A321s, not Embraer190s like some others…). It speeds up boarding, but without convincing me that we’ll leave on time.
Moreover, even fast, boarding will be completed 10 minutes after the estimated departure time.
The cabin
We’re back to the good old NEK cabin, well known at Lufthansa, whose replacement, though already planned and well known, is slow to come.
The curtains separating business class from economy have already been partially drawn, and the middle seat has been neutralized in this class of travel, for once with the addition of a central tray table.
There are 2 1/2 rows of business class on this flight, which is quite low compared to my other experiences on this route. The fact that the flight was at a late hour and that we were 3 days from Christmas may explain this.
The seat.
Still the same “ironing board” seat, but not that uncomfortable.
Located in the front row, in bulkhead, legroom is decent, but not as good as when you have a seat in front of you rather than a wall, because you can stretch out your legs underneath.
The flight and the service
Boarding ends at 10pm, and at this point, if we leave right away, we may only arrive at our destination 30 minutes late. But it doesn’t look good.
Even if it doesn’t snow, the weather is capricious and doesn’t encourage optimism.
The pilot speaks up to tell us that many aircraft are waiting and that we’ll probably have to wait at least 30 minutes before leaving, which means we’ll be arriving after midnight. I’m not worried about the closing time of Gothenburg airport, which could lead to a cancellation (it was a concern on the outward journey...).
To keep us waiting, the flight attendant starts handing out drinks and chocolates…at least for the business class passengers.
After a long wait, we are finally allowed to depart.
After a very short taxi, we line up on runway 25C (for those who know it) not without having overtaken 4 long-haul aircraft whose control must have judged the situation to be less urgent than ours. We take off. The climb was rather chaotic, but we finally broke through the cloud cover and were able to set course for Gothenburg.
My eyes start to close, but I hear the flight attendant announce that no service will be provided on board, as nothing has been loaded on the ground. However, she announces a distribution of chocolates.
For lack of service, I lean against the window and close my eyes slightly. I reopen them about ten minutes later and start watching a series on my iPad to pass the time.
But after 20 minutes I notice something strange: a passenger has had a meal tray.
No crew members are visible in the cabin. I wait about ten minutes and press the call button. The flight attendant arrives immediately.
I tell her I’d at least like to have a drink, with a heavy emphasis on the “at least”. She immediately understood and told me that since my eyes were closed just after take-off, she hadn’t wanted to disturb me. In fact, the business class meals have been loaded, but in view of her announcement, everyone has tried to get some sleep, except for one passenger who has been served.
I point out to her that I’ve been awake for 25 minutes, but that without going into the cabin she wouldn’t risk noticing it.
She runs to fetch me a tray, asks me what drink I want and keeps offering me drinks until the end of the flight.
The meat will be melting with a very good sauce, the vegetables good and the dessert light. It’s good, but I find Lufthansa’s business class meals a lot lighter than before the COVID.
For the record, when the other business class passengers saw that a meal was being brought to me, they immediately asked for theirs.
No sooner have we finished than we have to prepare for landing, given the late hour of the service.
Service on board
I don’t mind that the flight attendant didn’t bother to wake people who weren’t actually asleep, but if she’d deigned to look at the cabin from time to time she’d have realized sooner that she could do her duty normally.
Then she was smiling and super pleasant, but I have a feeling that at such a late hour (and I don’t know how many hours she’d flown during the day) she must have thought “they’re asleep, I can rest easy”.
The arrival
We can’t make out much until we get close to the ground and, 30 hours after leaving the Australian summer, this is where I am. It’s 0:30 and we’re 50 minutes late.
I’m off to collect my suitcase from Gothenburg’s vintage conveyor belts. I might as well tell you that the airport is empty, even though I found it rather busy on the runways.
Baggage delivery announced at 0:54!
On the way to the cab zone I see a ton of luggage arrived after their owners…a year ago my suitcase was one of them in the same place.
At 1am, more than 40 hours after getting up in Sydney, I’m waiting for my Uber. I might as well tell you that my outfit is not totally optimized.
Bottom line
In terms of the cabin and the food, there was nothing special to report, but while I can’t blame the airline for the delay, I still think the flight attendant was a little lax in her service, even if she made up for it afterwards.
The articles about this vacation in Australia
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