Arnur
Jul 10, 04, 5:51 am
A few days ago I found out that I would have to make a quick trip down to Pristina/Kosovo. Unfortunately Pristina has only a handful of flights per day, including Austria, Adria and Malev, and they were all booked solid, which happens a lot to this destination. The cheapest fare I could found was in C and would have costs me 1400 Euro, which I found a bit expensive... As a result, I made a reservation on Cirrus Airlines (C9), which operates a daily service from Frankfurt to Skopje (Macedonia) and arranged for a car to pick me up and drive me across the border to Kosovo. At 650 Euro the C9 Y-class ticket was more affordable... Since I'm based near Cologne and interested in maximizing the FF miles on this trip, I had C9 book me an Airrail connection from Cologne Central Station at the cost of another 100 Euro or so.
The problems started when the ticket failed to arrive in my mailbox. C9 issues paper tickets only for the flight to Skopje and having booked straight with the airline's call center on 5 July I was reasonably certain that the usually efficient German postal service would get the ticket to me in time for my departure. It was not to be :( When it was clear that the ticket would not arrive on 8 July, I called the airline and asked what my options were. They suggested that I should pick-up a replacement ticket at QKL's LH check-in counter, but unfortunately that was not possible as LH operates a station at Cologne Central station (QKL) but has no ticketing facilities. I ended up having to drive out to Cologne Airport (CGN) and collect my ticket from the local LH ticketing counter and then take the new S-Bahn train to the Central station. Obviously, I was not very happy about this state of affairs, but I have to say that both the C9 reservation office and the LH staff at CGN were most helpful during this crisis. They waived the customary fee for having the ticket re-issued and when I arrived at CGN the ticket was waiting for me at the counter. Very good crisis management indeed ^
LH 6815 QKL-FRA 08 JUL 1154 - 1250
I arrived at the QKL check-in counter at 1126 and checked my bag. To my surprise LH claims that they can not check the luggage through to SKP because I was continuing my trip on C9 rather than on LH proper :confused: I'm not quite certain why that is - the C9 flight operates as a LH codeshare and you can certainly check luggage through when connecting from a LH flight to that service. Anyway, I checked the bag to FRA and took my reserved seat on the quick ICE run down. No service (this was Y-class), but the LH train attendant did a good job explaining to connecting pax where they should go.
C9 1131 FRA-SKP 8 JUL 1430 - 1700
I picked up my bag in the T area and walked over to Terminal 1 B, where C9 check-in is handled by LH (unfortunately, I could not re-check it straight at T). A quick note on C9 - Cirrus Airlines is an independent German regional airlines, which serves a number of secondary routes with regional aircraft. C9 is a partner of LH M&M and some services (including the one to SKP) are code-shared with LH. Handling is usually done by LH and therefore I was so surprised that I could not check my luggage through from QKL. The flight to SKP was recently upgraded from an EMB-145 to a B737-500, wetleased from LOT, but painted in Cirrus colours. AFAIK, this is the first time that C9 operates a larger (i.e. non-regional) jet. The flight from FRA to SKP is usually quite busy because Macedonia lacks sufficient capacity and many people from overseas connect through FRA, including people working for the UN in Macedonia and Kosovo.
When I checked-in, I was informed that I could not be assigned a seat at this stage because economy class was overbooked, but that I could expect a bump to C-class. The flight was fairly full - all 17 out of 18 seats in C-class were taken and I overheard that there were about three empty seats in Y-class when we took off. Don't know why they upgraded that many people then, but who am I to question my luck :D
The inflight-service was exemplary at C9. It started with a bar service and some nuts, continued with a refreshment towelette and then included a hot meal. Options were pasta and chicken, I had the latter and it was clearly one of the best main courses I ever had in the air. Not very fancy but juicy and surprisingly tasty. It was accompanied by a plate of starters (cheese, some ham etc.), a cold roll, Greek salad and desert. For a flight of a bit less than two hours this was much more than what I had expected. The usual assortment of drinks was available, as well as a selection of magazines and newspapers. The service ended with sweets being passed out and coffee. The seats were unremarkable (but had foot rests) and unlike LH, C9 does not keep the middle seat open in C. But then given the fact that the flight was full, this was not to be expected.
Arrival in SKP was some 15 minutes late (due to late departure in FRA). In short, I was extremely impressed with C9 both on the ground and in the air. I will certainly consider them in the future. Their C-class product was much better than expected. Tomorrow I shall return - most likely in Y-class though - and I'll keep you posted.
The problems started when the ticket failed to arrive in my mailbox. C9 issues paper tickets only for the flight to Skopje and having booked straight with the airline's call center on 5 July I was reasonably certain that the usually efficient German postal service would get the ticket to me in time for my departure. It was not to be :( When it was clear that the ticket would not arrive on 8 July, I called the airline and asked what my options were. They suggested that I should pick-up a replacement ticket at QKL's LH check-in counter, but unfortunately that was not possible as LH operates a station at Cologne Central station (QKL) but has no ticketing facilities. I ended up having to drive out to Cologne Airport (CGN) and collect my ticket from the local LH ticketing counter and then take the new S-Bahn train to the Central station. Obviously, I was not very happy about this state of affairs, but I have to say that both the C9 reservation office and the LH staff at CGN were most helpful during this crisis. They waived the customary fee for having the ticket re-issued and when I arrived at CGN the ticket was waiting for me at the counter. Very good crisis management indeed ^
LH 6815 QKL-FRA 08 JUL 1154 - 1250
I arrived at the QKL check-in counter at 1126 and checked my bag. To my surprise LH claims that they can not check the luggage through to SKP because I was continuing my trip on C9 rather than on LH proper :confused: I'm not quite certain why that is - the C9 flight operates as a LH codeshare and you can certainly check luggage through when connecting from a LH flight to that service. Anyway, I checked the bag to FRA and took my reserved seat on the quick ICE run down. No service (this was Y-class), but the LH train attendant did a good job explaining to connecting pax where they should go.
C9 1131 FRA-SKP 8 JUL 1430 - 1700
I picked up my bag in the T area and walked over to Terminal 1 B, where C9 check-in is handled by LH (unfortunately, I could not re-check it straight at T). A quick note on C9 - Cirrus Airlines is an independent German regional airlines, which serves a number of secondary routes with regional aircraft. C9 is a partner of LH M&M and some services (including the one to SKP) are code-shared with LH. Handling is usually done by LH and therefore I was so surprised that I could not check my luggage through from QKL. The flight to SKP was recently upgraded from an EMB-145 to a B737-500, wetleased from LOT, but painted in Cirrus colours. AFAIK, this is the first time that C9 operates a larger (i.e. non-regional) jet. The flight from FRA to SKP is usually quite busy because Macedonia lacks sufficient capacity and many people from overseas connect through FRA, including people working for the UN in Macedonia and Kosovo.
When I checked-in, I was informed that I could not be assigned a seat at this stage because economy class was overbooked, but that I could expect a bump to C-class. The flight was fairly full - all 17 out of 18 seats in C-class were taken and I overheard that there were about three empty seats in Y-class when we took off. Don't know why they upgraded that many people then, but who am I to question my luck :D
The inflight-service was exemplary at C9. It started with a bar service and some nuts, continued with a refreshment towelette and then included a hot meal. Options were pasta and chicken, I had the latter and it was clearly one of the best main courses I ever had in the air. Not very fancy but juicy and surprisingly tasty. It was accompanied by a plate of starters (cheese, some ham etc.), a cold roll, Greek salad and desert. For a flight of a bit less than two hours this was much more than what I had expected. The usual assortment of drinks was available, as well as a selection of magazines and newspapers. The service ended with sweets being passed out and coffee. The seats were unremarkable (but had foot rests) and unlike LH, C9 does not keep the middle seat open in C. But then given the fact that the flight was full, this was not to be expected.
Arrival in SKP was some 15 minutes late (due to late departure in FRA). In short, I was extremely impressed with C9 both on the ground and in the air. I will certainly consider them in the future. Their C-class product was much better than expected. Tomorrow I shall return - most likely in Y-class though - and I'll keep you posted.