Routing :
CDG – MUC / Airbus A320-214 CEO SL D-AIUT Lufthansa LH2239 Economy K / 6 AM Beer City Flug [YOU ARE HERE]
MUC – SOF / Airbus A320-214 CEO SL Lufthansa LH1702 Economy K / Eastern Orient Express [THERE]
SOF – VIE / Airbus A320-200 CEO OE-LBP Austrian OS796 Business C / Vienna coffee [THERE]
VIE – FRA / Airbus A319-100 CEO OE-LDG Austrian OS125 Business C / Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 [THERE]
FRA – JNB / Boeing 747-8i D-ABYO Lufthansa LH572 Business C Upper Deck / I’m leaving on a jet plane, (I know) when I’ll be back again [THERE]
JNB – SZK / Embraer 135 ZS-SWN South African Airlink SA8865 Economy Q / A different kind of animal [THERE]
SZK – MQP / Cessna Caravan C208-B ZS-MLT South African Airlink SA8930 Economy Y / Dreaming of Cessna [THERE]
MQP – JNB / Embraer 140 ZS-ALR South African Airlink SA8828 Economy Q / Outclassing the road [THERE]
JNB – DUR / Airbus A330-200 ZS-SXV South African Airways SA559 Business C / Comfy old cabin [THERE]
DUR – CPT / Boeing 738WL ZS-ZWU British Airways by Comair BA6310 Business U / On the ‘Business’ again [THERE]
CPT – GRJ / Embraer 135 ZS-SWN South African Airlink SA8631 Economy Q / Lost Gardenrouteflightpath [THERE]
PLZ – JNB / Boeing 737-800 Split Scimitar winglets ZS-ZWH British Airways by Comair BA6242 Economy O / From PE with chill [THERE]
JNB – FRA / Boeing 747-8i D-ABYR Lufthansa LH573 First C Nose / "Luck" [THERE]
FRA – VIE / Airbus A320 CEO OE-LBL Austrian OS128 Business C / Good Morning Austria
VIE – SOF / Airbus A320 CEO OE-LBM Austrian OS795 Business C / Foodstock
SOF – MUC / Embraer 195 D-AEMD Lufthansa LH1705 Cityline Economy K / …6.5 hours later
MUC – CDG / Airbus A319-100 CEO D-AILY Lufthansa LH2238 Economy K / Clap-my-end or "I (don't) love Paris, in the summer…"
Good day everyone, I’m back to tell you about my recent routing I just completed two days ago.
It comprises 17 flights in 3 weeks (I'm MAD, that’s my favorite ICAO code).
I decided to switch back to English since the previous routing, as I always try to do alternatively 1 routing in English and 1 in French. I hope my french mates will have the opportunity to read it as well!
Now, the story lying behind this routing is fairly simple. I’ve always being attracted to South Africa, this is truly a country that fascinates me.
This commercial aired by the South African tourism board probably made an impact on me : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zv1MU_Nh8ck
For both political and energetical (http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21637396-rolling-power-cuts-are-fraying-tempers-unplugged) reasons, I decided to rather go in South America in 2016.
General intro (skip if you are not interested but I explain how I booked the routing)
Back in September 2016, I was just coming back from Chile and one day, I was at home ready for lunch when I decided to casually check on my iPhone what fare I could find on a SOF-JNB roundtrip (because I knew SOF was one of the cheapest departure city to go to South Africa).
I always search on Google Flights first with 2 Adults. I know in theory it is better to search for 1 Adult at a time, but I keep doing it this way because it is way too hazardous to book one ticket after another, especially on an error fare.
Well, what happened is I did find a 1760€ fare. I was not really surprised because I thought I had wrongly input ONE adult, but… when I realized it was for TWO, I jumped on my computer (we are 3 weeks before Flyertalk posted the deal)
I couldn’t book the fare neither on the Austrian (OS) website nor the Lufthansa (LH) one and I was a bit skeptical because, generally speaking, I never book on OTAs. But that time, I was forced to book with Expedia which turned out to be the best OTA I tried (compared to eDreams, Opodo and some friends did test Misterfly… terrible mistake).
What I didn’t see immediately was that the routing was in C class, which meant full flex and 200% miles and… a big surprise coming later on.
I booked some weeks later my positioning flights, CDG to SOF and back, with eDreams which had a currency glitch with the EGP but all unfortunately ended up being cancelled and I admit I lost some money in the reimbursement process (around 130 EUR) due to the EGP being even lower than when I booked (you can’t always win!).
A few weeks later, I decided to take the positioning flights directly on LH website for a reasonable 199€/pax roundtrip fare in K class (hold luggage + seat choice included).
We were scheduled to land in SOF at 11:55 AM, keeping in mind our next flight was at 1:40PM. A big risk in case something goes wrong or the schedule changes… BUT, because, there is one, the drop off limit at the small SOF airport for LH/OS J pax is T-30 minutes, which is nice)
Later on, LH sent me an email to inform me that the new STA was 12:15PM… well…
Here is what happened :
For those not familiar with LH booking interface, I decided to include some pictures of the different process I've been through, just so you have an idea, but I won't give further comments on that because it is of low interest on this FR.
You will notice that upgrade was available for this trip. Let's do a bit of math : 199€ + 79€ * 4 flights = 515€/pax. But an original Business ticket costs… 388€ with LH. Conclusion : no thanks ! Futhermore, I don't really see any advantage of flying J for such short trips with no long connection to enjoy the lounges.
Fare rules here for the K class :
As quoted, the seat choice is free and you can change seat assignments as much as you want (which I did as seats upfront started to be available)
At 4:50 AM, we left our home in Paris with a private chauffeur service known as “CINQS” (which stands for "Five star") (this is a subsidiary of the reknown "Chabé Limousines" luxury service which some of you, I'm sure, know about).
When it is that early, it is possible to go to CDG in 35 minutes from the Southern districts of Paris and it is what happened this day.
Our ride this morning was a Mercedes V Class in lounge configuration for just the two of us, very comfortable !
As it was our first time at Terminal 1, I had the orientation LH gives on their website (which is a bit contradictory but indicates Hall 4 and 5) and I had also in mind the map of Terminal 1 provided by Paris Airport's website.
We got there at 5:30 AM. With our flight leaving at 6:30, we had little time to kill this morning. Bags had indeed to be dropped off by 5:50 AM, according to LH rules.
We went directly to the LH counters which were a bit far from where we were dropped off.
As we have no status on *A, it was thus a small queue that awaited us perhaps not surprisingly this early, which was quickly processed by the ground personnel.
Security passed in a whistle and we were in the famous "tube" to go upstairs
We walked for quite a long time through the terminal to reach Gate number 61 where our brand new Airbus A320-214 registered D-AIUT was waiting for us.
Boarding was called perfectly on time but as we had no priority at all, we just stayed seated until most of the queue cleared.
Warm welcome on board from the FA and the Captain via the PA.
Soon enough, we were pushing back from our stand for an eastbound departure on Runway 09R.
While still pushing back, the FA announced that no snacks could be loaded in CDG for the flight, meaning there would only be a beverages service.
After the climb out, the beverages service was announced once more.
The First Officer introduced himself saying he had the pleasure to fly us to MUC, a standard sentence every FO at LH seem to say according to what I heard on all the flights I took with them. It is a nice word to passengers nonetheless.
It was processed quickly, helped by the fact we were… on the first row of the Economy cabin!
Because I had my MacBook already opened on my tray table, I quicky drank the glass of water happily provided by the crew.
The safety card was here and in a good shape, as the rest of the cabin.
First page :
Center pages :
Last page :
Two magazines were provided, a lifestyle magazine called "Lufthansa magazin" and a magazine called "The Catalogue" from LH Worldshop. As with many airlines, the lifestyle magazine was quite enjoyable to read.
…and the "air sickness" bag, to call it lightly :
The seats are very light but nonetheless quite comfy for a short flight, helped by the great pitch and the fact that they recline nicely.
There was also plenty of stowage space under the seats in front of us as the cushion is really thin
The tray table large enough to support a MacBook Pro 13"
As usual, the life vest was located under the seat.
The view, however, was obstructed by the Business class curtain :
But in the end, it gives a feel of privacy.
On the left hand side however, I could enjoy some real blue skies
All in all, Recaro really did a nice job providing airline lightness and passengers space with these seats.
The approach came soon
I even had the opportunity to do some air2air shots while parallel landing with another LH A320, as good as shots can be through the glass distortion
The landing smoothly took place on Runway 26R. We exited it by the (I think) A10 high speed taxiway.
After some spotting…
Firefighters training…
EY was here with a 346
SAA brought to MUC its newest A333 with new config and we parked next to it ! Gorgeous !
…we arrived at the newest part of MUC airport, the G concourse, only to transit to SOF 1.5hr later on.
A well thought useful screen is placed at each gate, giving arriving pax information about their transit gate if it has changed during the previous flight :
