jacob_m

Departure time

The week before departure was completely mad working more than is probably healthy during a week finishing up on projects, calling customers and doing handovers.
Even my second last day was spent travelling leaving home at 6.15 am and landing again at Arlanda airport at midnight (where I was supposed to be again just 17 hours later) and finally crashing in my bed just before 1 am.

After a nice farewell ceremony on my last day I left the office for the last time just after 3 pm.
I actually got a bottle of Pol Roger from my manager, they do know my preferences!

After a quick stop at home to change clothes and pick up my suitcase (I’m surprised I got to do any packing at all) I left for the airport.
The traffic was really bad this late afternoon and the bus ride from central Stockholm took over an hour (it usually takes about 35 minutes).
Fortunately I left early and stepped inside terminal 5 just after 5.30 pm with sufficient time before my 6.45 pm departure.

Check-in at Arlanda airport



Considering this was a Friday evening the departure hall was surprisingly empty, it is usually far more crowded than this.
The SAS/Star Alliance departure hall in the northern part of terminal 5 was also dead quiet with short lines for most check-in desks.
Two desks were open for premium check-in, one assigned for business class and the other one for Star Gold.



A very efficient middle-aged woman checked me in. When she retrieved my booking she froze and looked surprised and confused by what she saw on her screen.
To avoid a lengthy questions and answers session I quickly told her I only wanted to be checked to Frankfurt, and that the same thing would go for my bag, continuing “you probably see fair number of flights on your screen”. She nodded silently...

Well everything was easily sorted out. My bag was tagged only to Frankfurt and a priority sticker was attached accordingly.
The boarding pass also indicated I had only been checked in to Frankfurt, just like I wanted it.
Another positive surprise was that my gold status was indicated on the boarding pass. In the past I have had problems with the system not acknowledging my gold status when travelling on award tickets, which I think is unfair as one should always get the same recognition when travelling, irrespective on how the ticket was obtained.
This time I had really struggled to get the number it in the reservation, and apparently succeeded. It was properly displayed on all boarding passes and passenger manifests during the trip.



I used the fast track security to get airside, saved me quite a bit of time as the line for the regular security was long and slow, and I had a few things to take care of before departure and did not have a great amount of time at the airport.
I exchanged some money, bought some literature for the flights, and then headed for the lounge.

SAS Scandinavian Lounge, Stockholm/Arlanda



All Star Alliance carriers use the SAS lounge at terminal 5. It is divided into a business lounge (to the right of the reception desk) for business class passengers, and the Scandinavian lounge (to the left of the reception) for Star Alliance Gold.
A positive change is that there are now SAS staff working at the reception, previously all lounge staff were outsourced to a third party.

The lounge was very crowded but I found a seat rather easily.



The food was nothing to write home about this evening. It can be a hit or miss really.
Some days they have some proper tasty food to eat (although always cold). This evening it was a rather strange mix of smoked pork, mushroom hash and tomato salsa.
On the positive side they had some very nice chocolate muffins available.

The drinks selection is always rather nice though with proper wines and spirits and tasty coffee.

I made myself some sandwiches, got some red wine from the buffet and later a coffee and a gin & tonic to stress down after an extremely long week and get in a good mood for the flight.



It took a long time before “go to gate” was flashing on the monitors and boarding did not start until 6.30 pm, just 15 minutes before schedule departure.
No problem for me as I was not in a hurry, no connecting flight in Frankfurt this evening (for a change).

The gate area at gate 6 was packed and I think the A321 to Frankfurt was almost completely fully booked.

Stockholm/Arlanda-Frankfurt, flight LH 805 operated by Lufthansa
Departure: 18:45
Arrival: 20:55
Aircraft: Airbus A321
Class: Business Class
Seat: 01A

Due to a full flight, a late commencement of the boarding process, and the need for de-icing before departure, we did not pushback until just after 7 pm.

The captain welcomed us onboard and announced an expected flight time of 1 hour and 35 minutes, a very quick flight due to favourable tail winds which would mean a punctual arrival in Frankfurt despite the late pushback.

English and German magazines were offered in business class before departure, newspapers were available to all passengers from a rack at the gate.

We were finally airborne at 7.10 pm from runway 19R.



There were only three rows of business class on the rather large Airbus A321.
I had initially selected 03F for the flight, but on the day of departure I changed to 01A to get my own row.
In business class the middle seats are kept empty and have been replaced by a table, which means a 2-2 configuration onboard.
There were only about five passengers in business class on this flight to Frankfurt.



Meal service

In November 2010 Lufthansa completely revamped the inflight service in intra-Europe business class and the new inflight concept is a huge improvement.
I was quite annoyed flying routes like Stockholm-Frankfurt/Munich (2 hours) and getting a small plate of cold cuts, which on a really bad day was nothing more than a simple Caesar salad.

The new concept includes an appetiser, a main course (a hot meal!) and a dessert. Rather small portions, but tasty and filling nevertheless.
On the tray there is usually also a small menu describing the contents of the meal.

The crew are also expected to address all business class passengers by name when taking drink orders, they bring a small piece of paper with the names on the drink trolley.
I have experienced this several times and was very positively surprised the first time it happened. ^

Here is the menu for the flight to Frankfurt:

The service onboard was nice and friendly, but they forgot to use names on the flight.
The food in business class was very tasty and I had some red wine to drink with the meal.
After the meal coffee and tea were served and I also asked for a whisky.



The rest of the flight passed very quickly and I spent the remaining time watching some TV-episodes on my laptop.

Arrival in Frankfurt

Despite the late departure from Stockholm we actually landed 15 minutes ahead of timetable at 8.40 pm on runway 25R in Frankfurt. Most impressive!
I was also surprised to be assigned a stand at the terminal, at gate B10 this evening. I have such a bad record of this at Frankfurt airport...



Baggage delivery started amazingly quickly. I was the first person off the plane and baggage delivery started less than five minutes after I reached the baggage reclaim.
The priority tag worked like a dream and my bag was the second to arrive on the belt.
Because of the smooth arrival I managed to catch the 9.10 pm hotel shuttle bus and was checked in at the hotel just 40 minutes after touchdown at the airport. ^

Mercure Hotel, Frankfurt Airport

I had an overnight stay in Frankfurt and the choice of accommodation fell on the Mercure Hotel close to Frankfurt airport, around 6-7 minutes drive from the terminal using the free shuttle bus which leaves every 30 minutes.

The hotel is quite OK, perhaps not spectacular, but good value for the money you pay.
They also have a nice fitness centre in the basement with pool, gym and sauna.

I spent a good part of the evening relaxing in the sauna, stressing down after a long week and preparing for the real travel experience which was about to start the following day.