Off to BHX!
(That's the original Birmingham kids, not the one in Alabama)
To start this little journey off, I need to position myself for the oncoming storm that is Row 99Z in a United 777. To this end, I've decided to start not a million miles from home and travel from Birmingham International Airport.
Whilst not the greatest price in the world the £3.00 fare from New Street to International isn’t bad and is easy to swallow in comparison to some fees that come my way. Interesting to not that the kiosks were also selling “Virgin Trains Only” tickets to the airport for £2.40 – useful to know know when each penny counts. Not that I got this ticket... as the Virgin direct service had just pulled out...
London Midland Trains, Birmingham New Street to Birmingham International
Class 350 Desiro "Midland" 4 Car Configuration
The train was as standard Siemens Desiro – i.e. modern, nicely designed, comfortable and reasonable for a 10 minute hop or longer. The airport on this trip was the second stop on the trains long winding road to Northampton.
After wandering up the stairs and onto the air train, and promptly dumped in the main terminal.
Nearing BHX T1
Birmingham Airport
Now I've talked about this ... airport (well it can dream being the 6th largest airport in the UK) before, but things are slowly changing at BHX.
When I last popped through it was fighting off becoming a RyanAirport and getting more carriers in. Even though US Airways came and went, if anything - the Star Alliance has tightened its grip on this airport, with Turkish, Swiss, Continental, BMI Regional and of course Lufthansa. With Emirates at BHX on a twin daily service, and SkyTeam holding as the other major alliance with Air France and KLM shuttling passengers back and forth (as well as plethora of other exotic nd not so exotic carriers), BHX is slowly improving and turning into a hub for the second city.
I arrived at BHX just before 8:45am, and reprinted by boarding pass (as to be honest I like my boarding passes to look like them – and not a piece of A4 paper). No issues there – although I recheck the loads on the plane and it was surprisingly empty – so I selected the 2nd to last row on the plane – for one simple reason – A complete row to myself.
The queues were comparatively short - a mix of the usual business people and stag/hen weekend do’s going through .
And what a fantastic system they have – a returning tray system that’s very 21st century like that shoves trays around.
No issues – and through within minutes.
As I had a few minutes, and hold one of those lovely star gold things, I decided to stop off for a lounge
Micro-lounge stop: Aviance Lounge.
Why did I bother?
Well if you're stuck at BHX for hours on end, the Aviance lounge obviously isn't the place to hang out. There's a wonderful branch of Weatherspoons (that high quality chain that has kitchen technicians - not cooks).
I had a little trouble being swiped in (least of all the attendant couldn’t be bothered to use the right reader), but after being let in I settled down for 15 minutes before the flight.
Enough time for a pre-flight drink
Regular viewers will notice my obsession with vodka when flying. I believe the two are mutually compatible.
Drinks as usual were on free-pour, and the stack range was… passable. It’s certainly better than the main terminal, and no worse than a RCC. If that’s at all possible.
Boarding was announced within the lounge , and I tootled off to the “new” international pier . It’s very modern – polished floors, gleaming metal and glass – very 2007 like and a reasonable place to be (it’s also the home to the Emirates Lounge).
The New "International" Pier
By the time I had got to the gate, a small queue was building due to the fact that boarding scanners weren’t working, so a manual count and tick was in progress. Boarding commenced with no priority for business or Star members by airbridge.
Mein Flugzeug!
Which is nice except when you have a couple who are trying to board a buggy (unfolded) on a plane. Eventually, they were moved to one side to collapse the buggy and I boarded.
Lufthansa 4901, Birmingham International - Frankfurt am Main
Boeing 737-300, Seat 23A (Equipment swap from B737-500)
449 miles flown, 0 Status miles earned, 52 Destination miles earned (thank you BMI Credit Card!)
The last time I was aboard a German carrier was when GermanWings tried to ply its trade between BHX and CGN unsuccessfully, so it’s nice to be aboard an efficient carrier for once.
The crew were in a friendly and talkative mood this morning, helping people get settled in. Pretty soon “Boarding Komplete” was announced, and after a short wait, we begun push-back.
Y'know, I get the feeling everyone knows I always end up in Chicago one way or another... even Lufthansa....
Safety announcement was an interesting one – more like a friendly chat rather than the full on “Do this or we’ll see the local authorities on you” that certain carriers (no names mentioned… you should be able to guess who I’m thinking of here)
Once complete, the plane begun one of the quickest taxi's around an airport I’ve been on. Either it was down to the light load or the captain really wanted to go back home and was taxiing like a madman to get to the threshold…
The plane was held briefly on the threshold of the runway, and then the two engines roared into life dragging the 737-300 into the air quite powerfully.
Off we go!
After a short time, the crew were released to conduct service, with a lovely plastic seeded roll to started.
The seeded roll in question.
Food whilst travelling over London - best seen in the air...
Eventually the drinks trolly came too, and it was Cola und Kaffee (with the flight attendants giggling at my extremely bad German (hey – I was making an effort for once – my GCSE German is of some cop).
Cola und Kaffee.
Service was cleared down early, and the crew went off to hide for the rest of the flight.
For compatibility purposes, I used one of the lovely branded Lufthansa Sick Bags to make a GhettoIFE system - and it fitted nicely.
I suspect James May was shocked it fitted too - Top Gear - Vietnam Special
Soon enough, after crossing into France and then into Germany, the River Main came into view, and the aircraft was cleared down again, and secured for landing.
After a gentle landing at Frankfurt, we peeled off the runway, and turned into a nice spot where we sat for the next 20 minutes waiting for a gate to clear.
Landing
Eventually the engines spooled up again and we taxied along until reaching the A-pier, and even though there was an airbridge, it was decided to do disembarkation by steps and bus.
Overall: It's hard to mess up short hops like this - and Lufthansa delivered in terms of product and service. It makes me more amenable to travelling with them in the future...
Now normally this means muggins is stuck crammed against the window of a bus – however it was the turn of the premium passengers to be disappointed as there was only one set of stairs available – at the back of the aircraft.
So muggins was first off for once (rare, but good, and a prime position for a ramp tour to immigration). After wandering around the underbelly of the airport we finally were dumped at Immigration
Immigration was a slow process, with names being typed in as well as passports examined. I was soon through and wandered through the maze of Frankfurt airport and eventually down to the Regionalbahnhoff
The vending machine saw it fit to remove €3.80 from my pocket and 20 minutes later, I was dumped at the dark underbelly of Frankfurt Hbf. After wandering to the surface, it was across the road, and my hotel was in front of me.