December 24 2017
LH637
RUH - FRA
Lufthansa
Airbus A330-300
D-AIKR
25K Premium Economy Class
Actual flight time: 5:58hrs
After spending entire day in the hotel it was finally time to leave for the airport.
Around 9pm I went downstairs to check out. I've looked at my bill from the hotel and I've noticed that they credited only 7 nights in the hotel, and for the last night they charged me $100 Early Checkout fee! ...? Why they didn't leave as it was and gave me credit for 8 nights? Night in that hotel was $100. I'm mad. Next time I will not check out and get credit for all nights. I'm still paying for it regardless.
Had friendly Uber driver to the airport. He dropped me off at wrong terminal. When I walked to Terminal 2 I was approached by some employee who asked me which airline I'm flying. After I've told him Lufthansa, he directed me to the proper Terminal 1, which was about 5 minutes walking distance.
Earlier in the day I've upgraded myself to Premium Economy again. It's only $225 for this leg, but I wanted to have extra elbow room.
From the check-in time at the counter to being airside took about 20 minutes. Last duty free purchase and I was in the only lounge at T1. I had almost 2 hours to kill before boarding. Hot food selection was chicken goulash, beef in sauce and rice with raisins. The food was pretty good and it was my first real food that day (not counting pseudo breakfast in the hotel).
After the food I went to flightaware to check which aircraft I'll be flying on tonight. Then I saw that my aircraft just departed from Riyadh for Dammam. Why at the check in desk they didn't tell me that our flight will be late at least an hour?
So the new scheduled departure was showing as 1:50am.
Boarding started at 1:15am, our original departure time. The load was light. I don't know how many passengers boarded the flight in Dammam, but in Riyadh we didn't have more than 75 people. They had random security checks in the jetway. Thankfully I wasn't selected. It's not like I had something to hide, but it's pointless. I've seen the security people taking bottle of water from boarding passengers. Why??? Obviously they bought it past security.
Premium Economy cabin was as on my last flight. Everybody had empty seat next to them. We were greeted with glass of OJ.
Amenity kits were already on the seats, and the cabin crew distributed menus.
After take off, the drink service started. I've asked for glass of red wine. I was given two
The FA said "Finally, ha?"
Yes, finally
With the wine I had two choices of snack. Veggie wrap or lamb wrap. I took the lamb one and it was ok. Nothing special, but it wasn't bad.
Exhausted I fall asleep. I woke up about 3 hours later when we hit severe turbulence. It was pretty strong and it continued for about 2 hours. Shortly before landing we were served breakfast. I've opted for omelette with sausage. The food tasted almost as good as in the hotel
At least service on this flight was very nice.
We've arrived at FRA airport only 20 minutes behind the schedule. It gave me over an hour in the lounge by the C gates.
In the lounge I've fixed myself scotch with coke and I finally had moist eggs with pork sausage.
December 24 2017
LH1184
FRA - ZRH
Lufthansa
Airbus A320-200
D-AIZO
25A Economy Class
Actual flight time: 35 minutes
This flight was full. After only 35 minutes in the air we've touched down at Zurich airport.
Because of the short duration of the flight, the FA was handing out power bars when people were boarding.
There was no drink service.
Zurich airport was definitely in the holiday mood. After catching a train to Terminal E I've made my way to the lounge.
I don't remember ever going to the lounge in ZRH (always short connections when passing via ZRH), so it was new experience for me.
In the lounge I saw outdoor observation deck. Unfortunately it was closed (they had signs saying that today the deck is closed). Too bad, as I would love to spend there hour or two spotting.
I've made myself a drink Grant with coke, ordered omelette and went to look for a spot. The only available seats were in the Whiskey Club 10/28. Had a drink, ate some food and left the lounge to search for some chocolates
BTW - I never checked, are the drinks free in the whiskey club? If I had more time I would definitely do some tasting.
Went to duty free store and purchased two 0.5kg Toblerone bars for $15 total. That's a damn good price
After the shopping I went to my gate at E42 and did the document verification thing, then queued in the gate area to board the flight.