#66 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings.
1597 reviews
Hi,
Welcome to this new series covering my late winter getaway to Cuba with stopovers in Munich, Germany and Toronto, Canada. The whole trip consisted of the following 6 flights operated by Lufthansa, Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge:
28.02.2020 - LH1613 - WAW-MUC
29.02.2020 - AC847 - MUC-YYZ
29.02.2020 - AC1876 - YYZ-HAV
14.03.2020 - AC1877 - HAV-YYZ
14.03.2020 - LH471 - YYZ-FRA15.03.2020 - LH1348 - FRA-WAW
but as the last flight has eventually been cancelled due to covid-19 pandemia and closing of Polish borders on the 15th of March, we've been offered a flight to Berlin instead:
15.03.2020 - LH178 - FRA-TXL
BACKGROUND
As we have been doing for the last couple of years, we planned also a winter getaway trip for the beginning of 2020. This time, unlike the previous trips, it was planned for the beggining of March and for the first time westwards. I was very close to book tickets to SIN and then to Indonesia but as I have never been to America before and always dreamt of seeing Havana, I decided it's time to go to Cuba. The cheapest tickets, as there are no direct flights from Poland except for some charters to Varadero, are offered by AIR CANADA combined with one of its code share partners in Europe. My first plan was to fly via LHR with stopovers both in London and Toronto, but as this tikcets were offered by a not recommended website I chose the Munich option that required a night spent in Germany on the way to Cuba and a whole day stay in Toronto on the way back. Air Canada tickets to Cuba have one more asset that not everybody knows about - AC is the only airline to offer Cuban "visa" included in the price of your ticket, in other airlines you have to pay 25 euros extra. The so called "visa" is just an immigration card that, when it's not offered by your airline, you have to buy from Cuban embassy or selected travel agencies. A funny thing is that you need to have it with you from the very beginning of your trip (you may be asked to show it, so your luggage can be checked-in to Havana) but AC gives it to you only during your final flight to HAV. Luckily an unused "visa" can be returned to the travel agency it was bought from with a full refund.
THE FLIGHT TO MUNICH
As our trip was a little bit complicated, on the 28th of February we were supposed to fly only to Munich and to stay there overnight. It's been 9 years from my last stay in this nice city, so it was nice to be going there again. I like Germany and the way things are organised there. I also like its beers and my boyfriend is in love with pretzels so we were looking forward to this short stay.
As my last flight was in September and I was really tired with this unusually long break, I counted days to be able to fly again.
Our flight was in the middle of the day, far away from the morning and afternoon peak, so the airport was rather empty and quiet. We decided to check the bags in only to MUC and then check them in again the next day to Havana. Staying overnight without your luggage could be difficult.
Current departures
Some spotting while waiting for the boarding to begin:
LOT 787
EK 777 to DXB
Finnair E-90 to HEL
KLM 737-700 to AMS
LOT E-75 in retro livery
TAP arriving from Lisbon
EK departing to DXB
Our E-95 arriving from MUC with a small delay
Boarding gate
Let's get onboard then. Our seats 9A and 9C are quite in the front, I chose them during web check-in.
Quite decent legroom for this 1:15 flight
First view from my window
and another one as we push back
LOT 789 in this terrible flag livery
We are cleared for take off
It's nice to be up in the skies again!
and above the clouds that are very thick and look like a huge glacier
Time to focus on what's inside: the seat pocket contents
The safety card
Fleet facts from the magazine
Service starts and we are offered a standard LH cheese sandwich and beverages. As always with LH I choose Warsteiner beer
After the snack it's time to look outside again, the clouds are not so thick anymore and I can spot some winter landscapes somewhere in Czech Republic. It's good to know that snow, that was almost completely absent in central Poland this winter and I've experienced that for the very first time in my life, still exists!
There is a very interesting arcticle in the duty free catalogue on how LH is upcycling their old planes. Instead of just throwing them away to the desert, they try to reuse as much of the material as they can producing keyrings from the fuselage, bags from the seats… wow! All this stuff looks great as far as desing is concerned. If you are interested you may find the whole collection on LH Worldshop website.
As the flight is very short, we soon atart to descend and it's funny to see how the snow disappears and winter gives place to spring
Welcome to Munich!
I wasn't happy with the new LH livery first but as the time passes I start to like it and find it very elegant
it looks better than the old one, it's better without yellow in my opinion
Time to collect our bags and head to the city for the afternoon and night
STOPOVER IN MUNICH
Munich is in my opinion of the most interesting German cities. I've spent here a couple of days 9 years ago and was happy to be back, even not having enough time to come back to all the places I would like to. Our hotel was just outside the Old Town so all we needed was a short walk to the central Marienplatz and the most fameous restaurant in the city - Hofbrauhaus.
The Hofbrauhaus is the oldest restaurant in Munich and it's known for its traditional food and beer but also, what is obviously not mentioned anywhere there, as the favourite spot of Adolf Hitler that started his political career with speeches in the restaurant's central hall! But be wise and never mention it while being there. It's something that everyone knows but noone talks about.
That's the end of the first part of the story. Thanks for reading and see you soon!
A very good flight with a decent snack and beverage service. The crew on this flight was very professional and nice, especially the purser that spoke perfectly understandable English with no foreign accent and was very attentive and interacted with passengers all the time. I also liked the very neat and ergonomic cabin. MUC is well organized and easy to reach from the city, even if it takes 40 minutes.
8 Comments
A good flight before going to Toronto, Ontario with a good catering.
And yet, that livery isn't the newest. This one is the "blackest" one before LH decided to change the color... Personnally, I still rather the oldest version; with the blue and yellow. These colors tag along pretty well.
Very interested bonus about Munich, although a little frightening... I know quite enough about Berlin but why not München if I have the occasion.
Hahhahah Looks like someone threw up blood from the cockpit window!!!
Take care!
On the day of our departure nobody expected things would go so bad. Anyway going westwards seemed right that moment when the virus was still present mostly in Asia. I wouldn't like to stay in Cuba now, we were happy to leave when things started to become serious. It's avery nice country but the lack of basic things can drive you crazy, I can't imagine any extraordinary situation there if almost everyday there looks like this normally... The livery....yes, we call it red toilet paper rolling out from the cockpit but it could be blood vomiting too. Gracias por su visita!
An interesting itinerary for sure.
AF or KL did not offer any decent fares to HAV or did you prefer * A ?.
Didn't know AC offered the "visa"
It is cool to see the landscaped evolve and the snow disappear as you got closer to MUC. Spending some time in Munich is a nice way to kick off the trip--a beautiful city. Looks like a really cool routing in store. Glad you didn't get stuck in Cuba!
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