Introdution & Boarding
Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome once again to another Flight-Report from Frankfurt, this time to Beirut on board Middle East Airlines, in Economy Class.
This flight is operated by MEA, and scheduled as an Airbus A330 every Saturday.
Originally coming from London, I have opted to fly on this flight as the timing was most suitable for me, my previous leg was an LCY-FRA as well. Having passed through this airport two weeks before this flight, I expected passing through security twice, but this time I passed through only once! This is weird, I still can't figure out why I passed twice in Frankfurt on my flight to Bangkok.
Having passed through connections and rushing a bit, I have directly found my bird at the gate, being prepared to go to Beirut.
Airline: Middle East Airlines - Air Liban
Aircraft type: Airbus A330-243RR
Routing: FRA-BEY / Frankfurt to Beirut
Alliance: Skyteam
Alliance Tier Holder: Gold Cedar (Elite Plus) + Miles and Bonus (Gold Star Alliance)
Boarding priorities was respected, knowingly MEA is part of the Skyteam alliance.
on board mea - a330 od-mee
Once we stepped on board, we were greeted by smiling cabin crew, it is always a good thing to be greeted with a smile, don't you think? Better not being greeted with a grumpy face.
Anyways… newspaper anyone?
Usually this aircraft type operated long haul flights, with MEA the longest would be 7 hours to Africa. Yet, the airline is deploying this aircraft on a short 4 hour trip to Germany, you can expect a higher level of comfort than the single aisle.
Therefore, have a look at the legroom, it is quite enough for this sector!
A little sneak-peak into the cabin, what do you think? This aircraft's cabin is unique to all other MEA cabins, it is the most recent aircraft to date (OD-MEE). But note that the new aircraft coming soon to MEA will have a totally refurbished and renewed cabin. Stay tuned ;)
That's the bird that took me two weeks ago from the date of this trip! Lovely trip on this one! Below you can find the report of this leg.
Flight routing
- 1
Look at this beautiful winglet! Note the CRJ in the background landing on runway 07R!
And off we go, taxiing to Runway 18 for departure to Beirut. Runway most commonly used on this route.
V1, VR (Rotate), Positive rate gear up! Amazing greenery on Departure from Frankfurt as always! A Frankfurt Airport signature hehe.
departure runway 18 & Climb
Getting into clouds :)
And less clouds.. I am starting to get hungry!
cruising
Ah I am starting to smell food. Looks like chicken and fish on the menu today. As we were climbing, the cabin crew were distributing paper menus. I have first opted for the chicken, but I wouldn't let my fellow Flight-Reporters behind, so I ordered a second dish also, because I was not hungry ;)
As a first look, the meal included a pasta salad alongside with cheese and crackers, the main chicken course and a chocolate cake.
In more depth, this is the Chicken proposed:
Chicken was very delicious and tasty. And then, my little surprise to Flight-Report. The cabin crew was very friendly and was very happy to give me another meal.
This was the fish, perfectly cooked, rice was cooked right spot on, but carrots and zucchini were slightly over cooked. Yum
Then let's enjoy the view after filling up the stomach.
As we started approaching to Beirut, the sun was setting, keep reading to enjoy this spectacular view!
Approach to beirut - ils 16 via balma
While approaching Beirut, the colours were so beautiful! The sun was reflecting on buildings and windows, how much would you rate the pictures below?
Very close to runway 16…
We are low and leveling to building levels at this point..
landing, taxi & deboarding
Touchdown!
Now taxiing to the gate in Beirut Hariri International Airport
The sun is waving us good-bye! Almost there, parking gate 20.
The deboarding process took quite a short time, and gave us a beautiful view to our aircraft and gave a good chance to wave good bye.
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this trip! Please let me know in the comments section what you think of that flight!
