Review of Lufthansa CityLine flight from Sofia to Munich in Economy

introduction + trip information

Welcome to part 2/2 of my quick trip to Bulgaria! In this report, I'll be flying Lufthansa CityLine from Sofia to Munich. In case you missed it, check out the previous report, too.

sofia vrazhdebna airport (sof)

I took a taxi from my hotel and arrived at Sofia Airport around 5 PM, 1h55m before departure.

Security was slow as always at SOF, because a lot of the people who fly from here are first-time tourist who aren't very airport smart, if you know what I mean ;) As a frequent flyer, it always gives me a chuckle. Anyways, about 30 minutes after I checked in, I was airside.

vitosha aspire lounge sofia

I spend my time waiting for my flight at the Aspire Vitosha Lounge, which is mainly used by LH and OS. It's comfortable enough, but that's about it. At the time of my visit, it was rather crowded, as there was an OS flight to Vienna, an LH flight to Frankfurt, and my LH flight to Munich. I was lucky to have a free chair next to mine. There are a few magazines and a dopey selection of food. Even the bathroom is outside the lounge. I'd call it a 'premium waiting room' rather than a lounge. But hey, Sofia is no prize winning airport.

My offerings: a couple of sandwiches and Bake Pizza Rolls. The sandwiches were actually pretty good.

boarding + initial impressions

I left the lounge as my aircraft arrived.

Flying to Munich would be D-AEBC, named Oberstdorf. It was delivered directly to Lufthansa CityLine in 2009.

Flight info at the gate.

Gate lice forming.

Walking down the jetbridge.

Quick look at the fuselage.

Nice Embraer cabin.

Good legroom at my seat.

Not the best cleaning job, though.

Good wing view.

A look at the cabin before it fills up.

lufthansa 1705 - sofia to munich

In just a few minutes, the cabin went from being mostly empty to completely full. All seats were taken, IIRC. After everyone was onboard, Captain Michael made his welcome announcement and announced a smooth flight. We pushed back a few seconds later.

Flaps 2.

Beginning our taxi to runway 27 and passing an Aegean A320 (SX-DVV), which was to fly to Athens as A3983.

Two Bul Air 737-300s

Austrian A320 (OE-LXB) getting de-iced before flying to Vienna as OS798

departure from sofia

Lining up with the runway.

Rolling.

Rotate.

Right turn after departure.

Cabin after departure.

Climbing over Northern Bulgaria.

mid-flight

Typical Embraer PSU.

Meanwhile, a look at the contents of the seat pocket. Here's the safety card.

Cover of the Lufthansa Magazin.

The fleet page.

snack service

As we were over Serbia, a snack was served. The choices were a cheese sandwich or a salami sandwich. I chose cheese.

While the combination of cheese and egg sounds good, whatever sauce was on it made the sandwich disgusting. I did appreciated the effort of a sandwich service, though.

As always, I chose water for my drink.

arrival into munich

Shortly before the descent, the First Officer made the arrival announcement. He said that we would be landing right on time and that there'd be slight turbulence on the approach.

Cabin during descent.

The beautiful winglet of this Embraer.

Turning base leg south of Dachau.

Allianz Arena, Munich.

Airport in sight.

Turning final north of Dachau.

Final approach.

We had a smooth landing on Runway 27 one minute early, at 7:59 PM.

Taxiing off the runway.

Hard to see, but that's a Lufthansa A380 with the new livery.

Sleek-looking terminal.

Star Wars ANA 787-9 (JA873A) about to pushback before flying to Tokyo/Haneda as NH218.

Pulling in to our gate next to a South African A330-200 (ZS-SXZ 'Charlotte Maxeke') which was to fly to Johannesburg.

Deplaning.

I had a nice chat with the pilots after we landed. They were going to fly to Copenhagen next.

routing of lh1705

Thanks for joining me on this short trip. See you soon for another trip to the US!