15 January 2002 CGN-TXL LH 1613 19.10 - 20.15 A320 Seat 6A


Normally, I would not bother to post a domestic trip report, but since I rarely read about intra-German flights on FT and this was in Business Class, here it goes. This was a Business Trip and arrived at CGN at about 18.25. Terminal B was quite busy, LH now has changed the set-up from individual counters for each flight to a more economical set-up featuring one First / SEN counters, and four counters each for Economy and Business Class, serving all flights. All counters were quite busy, and while in line (for about 5 minutes), I noticed that a gate agent opened the fourth Business Class check-in counter in obvious response to the line, quite impressive customer service. After a very quick check-in, I was off to the LH FTL Lounge to get some coffee. They really need a lounge facility in their departure terminals, as the current lounge set-up (landside) makes it often difficult to visit the lounges before departure, unless one wants to arrive more than 45 minutes before departure, loosing much of the time advantage domestic flights offer over alternative means of transport.

Security was quick, as was boarding, with a very light load of some 35 people on the Airbus 320, bound for Berlin-Tegel. The seats were - predictably - the same as in Economy Class, with the cabin diver the sole symbol of status. The meal service consisted of either ham or cheese sandwiches, which were tasty enough, as well as chocolate shortly before landing. LH has a nicer drinks selection and opened a bottle of champagne for me, which clearly would not have been available in Economy Class. The crew was friendly and when I asked for a copy of DER SPIEGEL, a weekly magazine, shortly before landing in an obvious attempt to save the 2.80 Euro, which it would have cost me on the ground, the magazine was provided. Another 'perk' was a compilation of the main business headlines, which LH prints at its stations and distributes on late afternoon and evening flights. The newsfeed comes from a business daily ("Handelsblatt") and is probably quite useful for business people.

The flight was uneventful, clear skies offered a nice view of a dark and snowy Germany, with a spectacular approach over the lights of Berlin. TXL afforded the usual plane mix, dominated by Lufthansa and Deutsche BA (DI), with a number of charter flights (Germania, Aero Lloyd), and foreign planes (Malev, Crossair) thrown in for good measure. After a fairly long wait for my baggage (about 12 minutes), I was off to the city.