Routing :
CDG – MUC / Airbus A320-214 CEO SL D-AIUT Lufthansa LH2239 Economy K / 6 AM Beer City Flug [THERE]
MUC – SOF / Airbus A320-214 CEO SL Lufthansa LH1702 Economy K / Eastern Orient Express [YOU ARE HERE]
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…"
I did leave you a few hours ago when we landed in MUC from CDG and ended up exiting D-AIUT at the G concourse.
This FR focuses on the second leg of the journey, to SOF.
The flight was planned to depart from gate H33.
Upon exiting gate G15, we checked the FIDS to see if the gate had changed and it was a positive answer : let's go to gate H26.
So we had to turn left…
…Take long escalators…
Pass through passport control (most officers were "cold", but that is their job not to appear friendly heh)
and taking yet another escalator!
To finally reach the H gates FIDS stating the obvious : H26 it is.
The A321 parked next door
Before boarding was called, a crew member did bring beverages for the flight crew but I am not sure carrying open beverages through the airport follows international air travel rules related to food poisoning prevention.
Boarding was called 3 minutes late and the priorities were not really respected.
For instance, two fellow french female pax went through despite not being called as they did not hold any status and were in Economy.
I take the worst pictures of the universe with my iPhone
Ahh a DSLR is always better
The cabin is exactly the same as the previous report, I am not going to repeat the same comments, but I feel like the seats nicely fit the routes operated by LH on its european network for flights under 2hrs.
While pushing back, we can see AC is here with an A333 RR
And LH has exactly the same aircraft
During taxi, I spotted a really nice looking LX CS100. Pity the glass distortion and the sun went together to ruin the pics
Now we are following another LH A320 CEO SL enroute to Runway 26L for a southeast bound departure
Smooth take off and very nice view of the German countryside and the Austrian Alps upon climb out
Upon reaching our cruise level, the crew ballet started
The catering was divided between snacks and beverages.
The crew first came to distribute snacks consisting of a choice between two types of sandwiches. I chose cheese. It was labelled as "vegetarian";
I did not take anything as a drink.
Depite not looking very well in the inside, the taste was okay and the bread smooth enough.
We had recycled paper as a napkin
The approach came quickly thereafter. We flew over the Bulgarian countryside before reaching the Sofia surroundings. A first time for me as I never went to any Eastern European country.
Bozhurishte disused military base
To my dismay, the urban architecture was grey, cold… well, socialist. Decades will be necessary to change this.
We landed on runway 09.
Upon taxiing out, I noticed several Libyan aircrafts waiting to be scrapped or just stored.
Like this 5A-FLC, a 1987 Bae 146-200.
A Balkan Holidays A321-211
Even a Bulgarian Airlines TU134
SU is here with an A321 VQ-BEI
The famous Afriqiyah (8U) A319 parked here for a while (5A-ONI) and blocking a jetway
The last picture was taken at 12:15PM, so this is a perfect on-time arrival for this second LH flight this morning.
Now we had to pass a passport control (disorganized) to enter Bulgaria and reach the luggage carousel to take them back to the Austrian check-in desk. Our turnaround was short : between reaching the gate and the drop off limit time, we just had 55 minutes.
Luggage delivery was fortunately quick and customs were nonexistent.
