The Photos: http://www.photoblog.com/kevincm/2012/02/22/">http://www.photoblog.com/kevincm/2012/02/22/[/URL]

A saunter out of the hotel at 9am, and as I was feeling lazy, I caught the tram to the Haptbahnhof (a grand total of 1 stop), and a quick look at the times stated a S8 service was due to depart in 4 minutes.

A quick wander downstairs to the commuter platforms, and the train was on the verge of pulling it. By 09:30, I was up in Terminal 1, and headed over to the ANA check-in area in the far end of Terminal 1.


Big departures board = Frankfurt.


ANA Plugging the 787? Check.

My seat was confirmed, and a boarding pass was issued. My rucksack was taken from me (yes Birmingham Airport – their luggage system can handle rucksacks).

I proceeded to B section security which was… surprisingly quiet. Put it like this: I was through security and through the German border in five minutes flat. Heck, I even had my own security belt to myself. I doubt the cancellations would had caused this much quiet.

Still I made tracks to the gate area (and also keeping an eye out for a Senator Lounge) primarily because I wanted to check if there was still a 787 booked for today, or if it had been subbed for a 777-200. And well – this is what greeted me.


That looks like a 787 to me!



Yup. One Boeing 787-8!

Satisfied that the booked plane was the one I was going to have, I headed to the Senator Lounge. My boarding pass was scanned (as it would had only granted access to an Business Lounge alone)

<strong>Lufthansa Gate 42 Senator Lounge.</strong>




No doubt whose lounge this is...

Wandering upstairs I found myself in the brand new Senator Lounge. And I’ve got to admit, I moaned about the blue/grey theme that Lufthansa had last time. Well that’s all out of the window, and they’ve had the designers in. And it shows with plenty of seating (even though the place was busy), even though it was still the breakfast offerings. Which lets face it, are not that bad. Even the free WiFi (powered by T-Mobile was working correctly)




Self serve area


Drinks

There was plenty of natural light and resting areas, as well as dark areas for those who are more vampire like, as well as a self serve and serviced bar too.

I even had a view of my plane


My plane from the lounge"

Colour me impressed Lufthansa. Very nice job!!! Now... about bringing your other lounges up to speed with this one please...

Time passed, and with a few minutes to go before boarding commenced, I made my way down from the lounge, crossing to Gate 41 it seemed most of the airport was taking pictures of the 787-8 that was parked and commencing final loading.


Waiting for loading

And the boarding call was made. I picked up my trash, was beeped through and headed to a new airline to me and a new plane - the ANA Boeing 787-8.