I woke up with a plan. Get an Uber to arrive between 7:20-7:30 am so that I can watch the first half of the Liverpool vs West Brom match on my phone in the car on the way to the airport. Go through security at half time and watch the second half in the SkyClub.
Well, it worked even better than I expected (except the final score). My Uber driver arrived right at 7:28 (kickoff was 7:30) and he had an ipad with live TV mounted on his dash. Turned out he was a big Arsenal fan and had no problem putting the match on for me. I watched the first half and chatted with him. He was from Burkina Faso and this was of course his second job while he put his wife through medical school. This was one of the more enjoyable Uber rides I’ve had (also helped that $15 of it was wiped out from my Amex Plat credit).
We arrived at ATL Domestic terminal right at half-time. After saying goodbye to my new soccer buddy, I quickly went through the Pre-check line, took the train and arrived at the A17 SkyClub just as the second half kicked off. I had a bagel and cappuccino while I watched us take a 2-0 lead. Unfortunately, West Brom came back and tied up the match 2-2, which was frustrating, but ultimately, we didn’t get any new injuries so that was a good outcome. Around 9:30, I walked down to gate A1 and boarded the A321 taking me to Boston.
DL 2102 ATL-BOS 10:10-12:42 A321
I was in 16D, an aisle seat just behind the Comfort+ section and the legroom is pretty generous on these new birds.
It was a nice day for flying. Drink service was all we had in economy, but it did come with the usual Biscoff cookies. The unfortunate lady next to me was charged $2 for lousy earbuds though, which seemed kind of cheap for an airline that made billions last year. I passed the time by watching a couple of shows I had downloaded from my DVR to my iPad.
After a smooth flight, we hit a few bumps on approach due to the winds at lower levels. We had a nice view of Boston Harbor coming in and touched down at 12:26pm. I walked from the A satellite gates through the main A terminal, turned left and took the walkway through the parking deck, past the Hilton and on toward the E terminal where all the international flights depart.
Lufthansa check-in opens at 1pm and I arrived at 12:52pm. I waited in the FC line for exactly 8 minutes until check-in opened as they were of course punctual. The agent asked if I wanted an escort to the lounge and not being one to refuse special treatment on the odd occasion that I qualify for it, I said sure. She also told me we could board from the lounge so she would come get me when it was time and escort me on to the aircraft from the lounge.
I’m not sure that the escort added much as the line was non-existent at that hour, but I at least did not have to find the lounge as she walked me all the way there. I was the first one at the lounge as my 5pm flight was the first international Star Alliance flight of the day. There’s a later FRA flight on LH, a ZRH flight on LX and a IST flight on TK that use this lounge as well (as per the lounge attendant).
Even though I was the first one there, they took me to the First Class section, which was a small room with 3 tables and some seating with a great view of one of the runways and back towards the other international gates.
I was definitely hungry as I had only eaten a SkyClub bagel so far that day. The buffet was pristine as it had just been set out. There was a nice selection of hot and cold sandwiches, salads and entrees. I didn’t want to overdo it as I was looking forward to the FC meal on board later:
I got the lounge attendant to put the FA Cup match on the TV in the FC section as I was the only person there. I enjoyed a Macallan and watched the match while chatting with the FC lounge staffer. He was apparently married to the lady who walked me through from check-in. They were Albanian and worked for a contractor so not technically Lufthansa employees (as they don’t like to have to give flight privileges to their US employees apparently). He had won the green card lottery a year earlier and moved to Boston where he had some family living already. While sitting there, the fire alarm went off, but it was apparently a test as they told me not to evacuate.
The restrooms in the lounge were standard with no showers, but I suppose most of the traffic is O&D here since folks probably aren’t connecting to United or any other domestic flights from BOS. The lounge got pretty busy starting around 3pm as the 747-8i has over 80 biz seats. I finally had some company in my first class section, with 3 more people joining me as I watched the NBA playoffs.
There was some great plane-spotting from the lounge:
What do Hainan, IcelandAir, Iberia, and TAP have in common? None of them fly to Atlanta.
My bird has arrived!
