May 182018
 


After a nice rest, and waking up with Starbucks at Geneva Airport, it was time to find the SWISS First Lounge. I’d done some online searching, and people on Flyertalk generally seemed pretty unhappy with priority security at GVA as well as the lounge. I decided to leave myself about 90 minutes of lounge time to make my own assessment.

Premium security was pretty quick, and waited maybe five minutes in line. Super efficient. The lounge wasn’t very hard to find, and when I offered my F boarding pass from Frankfurt to Johannesburg the agent directed me through the magic door on the left to the F lounge. Now, maybe it’s not the biggest most impressive lounge in the world…but I had the entire place all to myself! How can you not like that?

I liked the decor – not at all crowded, but not a big fan of the chairs. Just found them a little awkward to sit in and the cushions a little too big and firm. I know, first world problems. Did I mention I had the whole place to myself for the entire 90 minutes?

Plus, the buffet had a really nice cheese setup!

Oh, and macarons! I didn’t try any of the other sweets, but one of the downsides of an empty lounge is you know the food isn’t turning over often and isn’t really the freshest.

The macarons weren’t the freshest, but didn’t stop me from sampling a few while I waited…

After a perfectly nice stay in the lounge (only complaint? it was too warm, but that’s just my personal pet peeve almost everywhere in Europe) it was off to the gates. Boarding was delayed about 15 minutes, but we had a great few of other planes and the mountains in the background while we waited. It’s really hard not to like Switzerland…

Boarding was a complete scrum, but despite boarding 15 minutes late we pushed back only five minutes late. Not too bad at all for a completely full flight…except for the other seat in my row! One empty seat on the plane, and it’s next to me once again. Definitely having some good luck on this trip so far.

Lufthansa flight 1223
Geneva, Switzerland (GVA) to Frankfurt, Germany (FRA)
Depart 17:55, Arrive 19:10, Flight Time: 1:15
Airbus A319, Registration D-AILL, Manufactured 1997, Seat 4F
Miles Flown Year-to-Date: 29,921
Lifetime Miles Flown: 2,549,983

Did I mention it was a gorgeous day and we had an amazing view of Lake Geneva, the mountains, and the airport as we did a 180 right after takeoff?

Yes, 55 minute flight and they served a rather substantial snack. As someone who loves sour cherries, and cheese…esp cheese with fig compote…it was definitely a great snack…and I had to try really hard not to ruin my appetite for the upcoming stop at the Lufthansa First Lounge and flight.

Landed right on time and…we ended up at a remote stand. I saw the driver next to the plane, and he didn’t have any names, but I hoped…and yup, he was there for me! I’ll never complain about a remote stand when I have my own driver!

Given the driver could only take me to the main airport and not the First Class Terminal (boo!) I opted for the B terminal, knowing that would also eventually guarantee me a ride to my plane which was departing from the Z gates. It would be a semi-short visit to the lounge today, so I headed straight to the dining room for some Schnitzel and champagne! Layovers are so trying when you get served a dinner like this…

…and I think Lufthansa must seriously be stalking one of my social media accounts. As I was eating, the lounge attendant came up to me and said “Herr Mayfield, I thought you might want a duck?” Haha, I’m not sure if I find it creepy or thoughtful….who am I kidding, definitely thoughtful!

After a quick shower, I settled in to watch a little tv until the flight…given the programming, a drink was definitely in order. With over 100+ different scotches/whiskeys to try, it’s going to require many more trips through Frankfurt to make a dent in Lufthansa’s offerings!

Off to the plane we go…Porsche tonight.

Rain or not, there’s always something magical pulling up next to the plane in a Porsche and walking aboard like you’re a VIP. No matter how many times I do it, it never gets old!

Only two passengers tonight, which was a bit strange as I’ve found this in the past to be one of the hardest routes for business to first upgrades. Chatted a bit with the other passenger, as well as the flight attendant serving first, and everyone agreed it was an unusually light load. Not going to complain, though!

Lufthansa flight 572
Frankfurt, Germany (FRA) to Johannesburg, South Africa (JNB)
Depart 22:05, Arrive 8:30 next day, Flight Time: 10:25
Boeing 747-8i, Registration D-ABYH, Manufactured 2013, Seat 2K
Miles Flown Year-to-Date: 35,301
Lifetime Miles Flown: 2,555,363

Let’s see, what’s for dinner tonight…I mean, not that I need dinner after the lounge

One thing I like about the length of the Johannesburg flight is it’s long enough to get a good sleep in…and

Like the transfer, it never gets old. Welcome aboard macadamia nuts, champagne, and a simple rose…

I’ll start off by apologizing for the dark pics…I find it much harder with the iPhone taking pictures in a dark cabin. Any tips are, of course, very welcome! Amuse bouche of salmon, creme, and some fig spread….wasn’t a huge fan.

Starters from left to right….the asian beef was super tasty, and just the right combo of flavours and textures. The goat cheese with bell pepper and olive was alright but nothing special. I generally avoid shellfish on planes (except maybe lobster!) but the scallop was surprisingly tasty, and perfectly cooked.

Sad was uninspired, and very surprisingly for Lufthansa several of the leaves were wilted and browning. Unusual for Lufthansa (and the crew) to miss something like this.

As the other passenger chose to sleep, the question wasn’t “do you want” caviar, but “how much do you want” – decided to start with a quarter of the tin, which was already a pretty generous portion!

…followed by another quarter of the tin. I may have a problem.

Very rarely do I do the fist option on planes, but when it’s monkfish I cant resist. I was cooked really well, and lighter than a beef dish would have been. Overall it was really tasty and a good choice.

Oh Lufthansa with your amazing cheese cart and sweet biscuits…there are not words enough to describe how fond of you I am!

Raspberry and yogurt cake with pistachio ice cream…not only was the presentation amazing, it tasted fantastic. Plus, I love pistachio ice cream, so it was extra amazing!

…and as is my custom with overnight Lufthansa first flights a couple of pralines and some Johnny Walker Blue to nod off.

Crew kept the cabin nice and cold at my request (after making sure the other passenger didn’t mind) and I crashed….hard. So hard that my request to not wake me up should I be sleeping had to be honoured, and I was woken up 15 minutes from landing after a solid 7+ hours of sleep. Probably one of the best in-flight sleeps I’ve every had, and a wonderful end to another great flight.

Now, time to hope the immigration line isn’t too long, and spend a couple of days resting and recovering before getting down to work!

May 162018
 


Soooo, off to Southern Africa again for work, this being the fourth trip in as many months. Despite it being a lot of travel, it’s good for the mileage balance, and each time has enabled me to explore slightly different ways of getting there. I know lots of people like the 1-stop flight on South African, but to me it’s just too long in a plane, and South African pulls way too many plane changes to risk getting the old seats.

My favourite route is pretty much via Europe with Lufthansa, but unfortunately this time the nonstop flight to Frankfurt was actually sold out when I went to book! Oh well, connecting in Europe it would be. There was space on the nonstop United flights, but I refuse to pay good money to sit in their absolutely horrid 2-4-2 configuration where you get to play twister with your seatmates to get to the aisle. No ma’am.

Yes, it was an upgradable fare, but there was no guarantee that would clear on United, so I went with the sure thing: a double connection in Europe where I could ensure the middle seat in United’s 2-1-2 configured 767s. Plus, there was a chance I would get “real” Polaris since there were now four of 24 or so planes configured. Unfortunately, no such luck. Right, on to the details you’re actually interested in.

Nobody in their right mind goes to the United Clubs at Dulles at mid afternoon international rush, heaving as they are with Chase credit card holders and more star alliance gold card holders than you can shake a stick at. Being familiar with the shuffle, I decided a stop by the Lufthansa Senator Lounge was in order first. Unfortunately, they’ve switched to serving terrible Prosecco, so I can’t imagine I’ll be going there much longer either. Disappointing.

Next off to Turkish Lounge almost right next door, but they were serving the same awful prosecco so I opted for a moderately ok glass of wine. What they lack for in booze they more than make up for in delicious baklava and turkish bread pudding. Don’t judge. I may have had more than one piece.

Next off to the famous Dulles “moon buggies” for a ride over to the D terminal, where my flight to Geneva was just getting ready to board. Somehow, there were no “gate lice” crowding the boarding lanes, and I was actually first in line just five minutes before boarding. Go figure. Just in time to hear a group of non-revs negotiating with their friend the gate agent and asking her “come on, can’t you move one person so we can sit together?” Ugh. Thankfully, the gate agent played by the rules.

United flight 974
Washington, DC, Dulles (IAD) to Geneva, Switzerland (GVA)
Depart 17:35, Arrive 07:40 next day, Flight Time: 8:05
Boeing 767-300, Registration N677UA, Manufactured 2001, Seat 1D
Miles Flown Year-to-Date: 29,635
Lifetime Miles Flown: 2,549,697

Sitting IN my seat when I boarded, but fortunately I was able to move it on top of my monitor. Yup, guess we have no shortage of amenity kits today!

Welcome abord Château l’Oscar 2018 dans plastique.

Meal service started out with, you guessed it, mixed warm nuts and a glass of wine for me. I asked for a flight to try the wines, and was told “they didn’t load them.” Hrumph. Good thing I didn’t ask about the bloody mary cart…

Appetizer of smoked duck with dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds, and mustard was almost good, but the duck just didn’t taste right. I give it an A for effort, but just didn’t quite get there. I don’t like that you don’t get to select your own bread anymore, but as the two they give you are my two favourite kinds, I forgive it. Oh, and the salad? One of the best I’ve had on United. Costs so little to improve it to this level I’m glad to see they’ve finally done it. Hopefully this is the new norm.

The five spice short rib and wasabi grits? Well, the short rib hasn’t changed in years, so that was predictable. I didn’t taste any wasabi in the grits, and the sauce on the short rib had absolutely no flavour. Disappointing. Some days this dish is actually pretty tasty home cooking, but not tonight unfortunately.

United gets a C on the cheese course this time. All I know for sure is it was “international” cheese. I’m going to guess a brie, blue, and what tasted like a poor imitation manchego. It’s better than the chedder and swiss they often try to pass off as international, however….

One ice cream sundae, hot fudge, no glass chips.

I was told I didn’t have the option to say no to breakfast, so it was brought to me. I intentionally didn’t sleep on the flight to stay on Washington time in an attempt to battle jetlag, and so far it was working well. Yes, I had a champagne breakfast, don’t judge me…I think it even shocked the crew. Pretty sure they’re not used to getting that request right before landing.

I had a 10 hour layover in Geneva before my connection to Frankfurt, and decided that’s when I would sleep. I tried a new website called www.dayuse.com which offered me a room at the Ibis Palexpo right next to the airport for a very reasonable rate.

Unfortunately, after immigration, I jumped on the shuttle to the WRONG Ibis, and ended up walking back to the correct one, about a 20 minute walk away. The walk was actually nice after being on a plane all night, and when I got there I was ready to crash. But, the room…like many European hotel rooms, was WAY too warm and of course there was no air conditioning since it was April, so I had the pleasure of sleeping in a 25C room. At least after a shower I was ready to completely peace out for five hours.

Overall impression of the hotel? The room was a small cube with barely enough room for the bed and a desk, but it was perfectly functional. This was supposedly the nicer of the two Ibis properties as well. That said, it was a bed, and it was functional for that. The lobby looked to be a bit of a refugee camp with people on long layovers, and lots of small children, but the room itself was quiet. If not for the heat, it would have been absolutely perfect….plus where else can you get a 79 franc room in Geneva for 10 hours?!

Checked out after a wonderful solid nap, well worth every penny, and back to the airport to enjoy the lounge a bit. But first, random snack at Starbucks. Not sure it’s a meal or what, but it was nearly $18…who said Geneva is expensive….

Overall lesson so far: this routing to South Africa works. Flight leaves DC too early to sleep for me, but gets to Geneva just in time that I want to sleep…and sleep came easily. The United 767 certainly isn’t cutting edge, but if you get one of the middle seats it’s not a bad product. Overall, I was happy with my choice, and it was time to head to Frankfurt now!

Mar 222018
 


For those who might not be aware, the European Union (EU) has a regulation known as EU261 which mandates that airlines pay you cash compensation for flights to/from Europe that suffer lengthy delays or cancelations. Basically the compensation ranges from 250 to 600 euros, based on the length of the delay and length of the flight. Longer flights (generally intercontinental) receive the higher payments as do ones with longer delays or cancelation.

Sound too good to be true? It isn’t really. I’ve had it paid multiple times. However, airlines being corporations they do devote a significant amount of time/energy to legally trying to worm out of paying you. Some airlines, however, are great about this. I thought I would outline some of my more memorable experiences, and seek your feedback on yours.

Blah, blah, I’m not a lawyer, this isn’t legal advice, and my experiences might not match yours.

Brussels Airlines: My very first experience with EU261 was with Brussels airlines. I had arrived in Brussels on an overnight redeye flight on United, connecting onto a Brussels Airlines flight to Cotonou, Benin. After about an hour of delays, the dreaded “cancelled” popped up on the gate monitor. Brussels was kind enough to send those of us in business class back to the lounge, and showed up shortly with hotel and meal vouchers. 24 hour delay, flight would go the next day. When we got to the gate next day, there was a pre-filled letter for us to add some details, and that was it. They actually encouraged us to apply for, and although it took nearly three months they did pay, the required 600 euros for this delay. WELL DONE!  GRADE: A

American Airlines: Long story short, my Chicago to London flight arrived late leaving me only 30 minutes to connect to Accra, Ghana on British Airways. While we were in flight, American had decided FOR ME that this wasn’t enough time, and rebooked me…the next day…IN COACH. As soon as the agent told me this in the jetway upon deplaning I decided to run for the gate. I made it with 100+ people still to board, but they had given away my seat and the flight was full. BA would do nothing. Fought with the American transfer desk for an hour before giving up and going to the lounge where an amazing agent took care of me. American corporate, however, refuses to pay EU compensation, arguing that I “wasn’t late” because my flight was on time. After nearly two years of arguing the best I got was a crummy $100 voucher. I tried appealing it through multiple firms, and none of them could get American to pay. FAILING GRADE, and a large part of why I won’t fly American unless necessary. GRADE: F

United Airlines: London to Washington Dulles, 4pm flight canceled. They offered me coach (I had been booked in first) in a middle seat 15 hours later…easily qualifying for 600 euros. United claimed they were not obligated to pay since they offered me economy within 3 hours. (False, since must be in the same class). They quickly, however, offered a $400 voucher with little argument. Given it was pretty easy to get and I knew I could use it, I took it. GRADE: C

TAP Portugal: Praia, Cape Verde to Lisbon to London to Washington DC. Similar to American above, my TAP flight arrived in Lisbon late, with only 30 minutes to connect. I didn’t find out until boarding my connection to London that they’d already given away my seat and “the computer won’t let us put you back on it.” Similar to American, TAP refused to pay compensation because “we offered you another option” which was in business class and not first. Round and round and never got a penny of of them. Yes, legally the case is air tight, but I’m not exactly about to file a case in Portuguese court for under $500. I have a chain of over 200 emails on this one, and nothing will get them to pay. GRADE:  F

SATA Air Azores: my Azores to Boston flight was cancelled, and I was put on one two hours later – not enough to qualify for compensation. However, delivering me to Boston late caused me to miss my connection to DC and arrive DC nearly eight hours late. Instead of paying the required 400 euros, SATA decided (in a chain of over 200 emails) to play lets make a deal. First they offered me a 100 euro voucher. Then 200. Then a free one-way ticket in business class anywhere they fly. After rejecting all their offers the finally offered a “goodwill payment” of only 300 euros. I decided to cut my losses at 200 emails and take it. Of course, when it appeared in my account they shorted me nearly 10% on the exchange rate, but at this point it was enough. So, I got 75% of what I was entitled to with a lot of pain….GRADE:  D+

Lufthansa: DC to Munich and then Cairo. Arrived in Munich right on time, departed Munich with a 3 hour 15 minute delay. Arrived at the gate in Cairo precisely 3 hours an 2 minutes late…but Lufthansa was crafty and listed the official arrival time as only 2:58 delayed. It took them a month to answer my email, but when they did all they asked for was my address and promptly cut me a check for the full 400 euros with no questions asked. I assume it will actually arrive.  GRADE: A+

Have you applied for EU261 compensation? Did you get it? How easy was it?

Feb 282018
 


It had been a great vacation, albeit a bit odd for me to spend more than a week in one country! Despite all the rushing from city to city, having to figure out and explore multiple new cities, it actually felt rather resting…last minute train challenges aside.

In order to max sleep I decided I would roll right out of bed in the morning and head straight for the Lufthansa First Class Terminal. What’s the point of getting a coffee/shower/etc when you can do all that at the lounge? I’m not a fan of the 10am flights to the US for this reason (as someone who doesn’t get up all that early) but you do what you have to…

Out of bed, threw on clothes quickly, last few things in the bag, and maybe 15 minutes after my alarm went off I’d already arrived – a bit groggy – although the walk over in the cold morning air did help a little bit. Deer in the not-awake-headlights look:

I won the check-in lottery today, getting selected for secondary screening. It’s a little more tolerable in the First Class Terminal since you get to have a nice seat, there’s no rush, and they do all the work of the explosives scanning/etc for you. This is how security should always be!

By the time I was through the check-in agent was already waiting for me with my boarding pass, and I had about two hours left before my flight, so maybe 90 minutes before boarding. First things first, a couple espressos, some eggs benedict, and nothing says “good morning!” like a glass of champagne!

A quick Instagram and Twitter of the breakfast, and quick reply from Lufthansa’s always-alert social media team:

After finishing up breakfast it was time for a shower and freshening up before boarding. Grabbed a couple of the brand new black first class terminal ducks (how sad is it that one of the first German phrases I learned was ‘can I have two ducks for my (non-existent) children?) and soon after it was already time for a car to the plane. I was only one of two in first again today, and the other passenger and I shared a Porsche to the gate.

Lufthansa flight 422
Frankfurt, Germany (FRA) to Boston, Massachusetts (BOS)
Depart 10:55, Arrive 13:05, Flight Time: 8:10
Boeing 747-8i, Registration D-ABYF, Manufactured 2012, Seat 2K
Miles Flown Year-to-Date: 12,301
Lifetime Miles Flown: 2,532,363

Every time I fly Lufthansa first I seem to snap this picture with the champagne and the rose, and it reminds me what lies ahead:

Yet another new colour of Rimowa amenity kit…I simply must stop collecting these…or find a good way to display them.

Turkey tartar amuse bouche…must admit, it was kinda weird… I wasn’t a fan.

Best part of two people in First? All the caviar you want. Extra-large double helping for me today.

Trio of starters: Stuffed beef ham with gorgonzola and date sesame chutney (super tasty!), spiced carrots with curried yoghurt (very bland, but I’ll pretend it was at least healthy), salad of shrimp and green papaya with chili (a bit underwhelming). Only one I finished was the ham and gorgonzola, but the others were worth at least a nibble.

Main course. So on the way over, I had probably the best Lufthansa main course I’ve ever had. This one was a VERY close second: variation of venison, back and bratwurst, lingonberry jus, mashed brussels sprouts, fried curd cake. The venison was cooked a perfect medium, and the lingonberry jus was phenomenal. Lufthansa definitely hit a home run with this one.

Today’s cheeseboard was absolutely amazing: rock salt cheese, Saint Agur, Goat’s cheese with honey (amazing), L’Explorateur, Langres. Served with mango pepperoni chutney. The chutney was definitely a miss and a little weird.

Now that’s what I call a cheese plate! The honey goat cheese was amazing with the sweet biscuits.

I was definitely full at this point, but the crew wasn’t taking no for an answer…and I’m very glad they didn’t. “Warm curd cake with lemon thyme, yogurt oat crumbles, sour cream ice cream flavoured with lime leaves.” Enjoyed with a glass of desert wine it was absolutely amazing.

…and of course, no meal on Lufthansa would be complete without a couple of truffles and a glass of Johnny Walker Blue.

Spent the next few hours relaxing, and watching some REALLY bad movies on the iPad….or was the movie watching me:

Boston is a relatively short flight from Frankfurt, so by the time it was time for the pre-arrival meal I was still pretty full. Eating nothing wasn’t an option, and the fantastic lead flight attendant simply said “I’ll bring you something light.”

To start, something light was some sushi, a pretzel, and some more JWB:

Next up, some delicious Tom Kha Gai soup…I was told it would go really well with a sweet riesling, and who was I to argue. This was easily the best pre-arrival meal I’ve had on Lufthansa yet:

Finished off with apple cake with cinnamon crumbles…and a little more Johnny Walker Blue.

Overall, this was definitely the best flight I’ve had on Lufthansa food-wise, and everything other than the amuse bouche and appetizers were amazing. Easily one of the best Lufthansa flights I’ve ever taken, and almost exactly the perfect length. I know some people could spend 14+ hours on a flight and never get bored, but for me once it comes up to eight hours that’s more than enough to fit in everything I want to.

Now, off to see what awaits me. Ever since my Global Entry was revoked back in September I’ve been using the Mobile Passport app to check in to immigration and customs before landing. It’s worked just as quickly as Global Entry so far, maybe even quicker sometimes. However, this time, I was getting an error message, and not letting me check in. I had high hopes this was just a software glitch, and not something more…

Feb 262018
 


Woke up in the morning, and saw the first two trains of the day to Frankfurt had already been canceled. This was an ominous sign. The weather definitely seemed better today, but the worst of the wind was supposedly quite a distance south. Oh well, we’ll see what the day brings!

Walked to the U-Bahn to head over to Starbucks, and the sidewalks were completely clear this morning. Definitely a huge improvement over the day before. There didn’t seem to be much wind, so I was pretty hopeful that my train would go as planned today. In order to get to Frankfurt with plenty of time to rest and relax in the evening, I had booked myself on the 13:30 train to Frankfurt so I could sleep in a bit as well as have plenty of time to get dinner in Frankfurt.

After Starbucks, same routine as the day before. A bit like Groundhog Day – back to the Westin to pack up, walked to the U-Bahn thanks to the clear sidewalks, train to Hauptbanhof, get to the platform…just in time to see the train delayed by 5 minutes. Then 10 minutes. Then 15 minutes. Then 20 minutes. Then 25 minutes, and then a phrase popped up on the board which I unfortunately added to my German vocabulary on this trip: “Zug fällt aus” – train canceled. Here we go again.

Rebooked myself via the app on the 14:30 train, which was at least kind enough to cancel on me 10 minutes before departure. This was getting frustrating. Ok, one last chance, I’m going to book myself on the 15:30 train, which was conveniently already delayed 30 minutes:

It was cold in the station, so I retreated to where else – Starbucks – for a nice warm coffee. I don’t know who this Justin character is, but I seemed to get his coffee an awful lot in Germany.

At this point I was getting a little nervous about getting to Frankfurt and potentially missing my flight home the next day. A quick check of the United app showed that the 20:00 Hamburg to Frankfurt flight had cheap award seats, so I booked one as a backup plan. It was a direct shot on the U-Bahn to the airport, so I decided if I didnt make it on the 17:30 train I would hightail it to the airport and figure out how to eventually refund my train ticket.

Fortunately, as predicted and only about 15 minutes later than the predicted time, there was much rejoicing on the platform. Surprisingly, the train was only about half full despite the seat map being completely full. I think lots of people had made several sets of backup plans.

Eventually we left, which called for a celebratory beer. Who know it would be so hard to catch a train!

Other than that, it was pretty uneventful. We didn’t make up much time, and by the time I got to Frankfurt it was almost 20:00. I was tempted to stay in and call it a night, but then I remembered I could sleep the entire flight back the next day if I really wanted. So, off to Naïv for some beer and tasty flatbread!

Finished off with a nice heavy Imperial Stout as an Auf Wiedersehen to Germany!

All in all, things worked out fine. I was really looking forward to the full day I was supposed to have in Frankfurt to head down to the Technik Museum in Sinsheim to see the Tupolev and Concorde as well as the Technik Museum in Speyer to see the Space Shuttle Buran, but I guess that will have to wait for a future trip. At least it’s a relatively easy trip from Frankfurt.

Perhaps next time, I’ll do a different loop from Frankfurt for a week, taking in some of the south and east of the country, maybe including Hannover, Bremen Köln, Stuttgart, and Munich….food for thought.

But for now, it’s time for the flight home in Lufthansa First!

Feb 112018
 


Nice change compared to my last few arrivals in Frankfurt in that we arrived at the “top” of the Z gates so it was a very short walk to immigration and the transfer gates. No real NEED to go through immigration except one: I had about three hours, and wanted to get some Starbucks and go to the First Class Terminal. As one does. No silly first class lounge at the B gates for me with the risk I wouldn’t get a ride to the plane!

Only one problem today: immigration lines were rather long. Managed to talk my way through one of the shorter lines, and was through quickly enough and I made a beeline for caffeine. I have no idea who “Can” is, but it doesn’t sound remotely like Jason and I think I got his coffee….

For some reason, I’m always burning up after a redeye flight, so the chilly walk to the First Class Terminal felt great. Fantastic agent at check in, and unfortunately I got selected for random extra screening by security. Normally, this would be a pain but at the First Class Terminal they’re almost apologetic about it.

Since I’d skipped breakfast on the plane it was time for a proper breakfast before grabbing a shower. Eggs Benedict, Pain au Chocolate, fresh-squeezed OJ and some rosé? Don’t mind if I do! My only small quibble with the lounge (other than the temperature, but that’s a German thing) is that they stopped carrying english muffins some time in the last 6 months and now serve the benedict on toast. Oh well, I’ll live. Since it’s happened several times in a row now I assume it’s the new normal.

Nice shower, grabbed a few ducks (anyone interested in trading some Lufthansa ducks let me know), and soon enough it was time to board my flight to Munich. I didn’t expect that anyone else in the lounge would be going to Munich, but surprisingly I was one of four people! I guess either there were lots of HON Circle members headed to Munich today, or others with first class connections out of Munich?

Lufthansa flight 100
Frankfurt, Germany (FRA) to Munich, Germany (MUC)
Depart 10:15, Arrive 11:10, Flight Time: 0:55
Airbus A321, Registration D-AISZ, Manufactured 2009, Seat 9D
Miles Flown Year-to-Date: 5,143
Lifetime Miles Flown: 2,525,205

Today’s flight time? a whopping 37 minutes in the air….but that doesn’t stop Lufthansa from serving a nice deli plate and making TWO drink runs. Also, a first for me on a Lufthansa A321, there were 15 rows of business class today! As most people know, this is “EuroBusiness” which is just standard economy seats with the middle blocked. This means they can easily move the divider between cabins….and today there were 58 seats in business!

Relatively short connection in Munich of barely 90 minutes, but one of the best things about the First Class Lounge in Munich is that when you enter there’s an immigration desk, and they take care of immigration while you enjoy the lounge…and then you collect your passport on the way out and re-enter the correct part of the terminal: Schengen or not.

Unfortunately I was still full for breakfast, which meant no enjoying the Schnitzel in the lounge today. But there was time for more coffee and a glass of Champagne while I enjoyed the views of the tarmac:

Down to the gate, and boarding was right on time.

Lufthansa flight 586
Munich, Germany (MUC) to Cairo, Egypt (CAI)
Depart 12:55, Arrive 17:35, Flight Time: 3:40 (actual departure 15:39, arrival 20:37 – 3:02 late)
Airbus A320, Registration D-AIPC, Manufactured 1989, Seat 1D
Miles Flown Year-to-Date: 6,774
Lifetime Miles Flown: 2,526,836

Unfortunately, departure time came and went and after 10 minutes the captain came on. Apparently we had some sort of mechanical issue, and the mechanics would be coming on to check it. They showed up a little bit later, checked some things out, and as they left the plane the only word I could make out to the flight attendants was “Kaput!” That’s not a good sign.

Sure enough, the pilot announced that this plane was going nowhere today, and please wait while they figure out what’s going on. Turns out, there was another plane sitting around which they hoped to have catered and ready to depart in about an hour. Please collect your bags, head back to the terminal, and we’ll let you know what’s up.

After about 15 minutes of milling in the gate area they told us where our new gate would be, and that boarding would hopefully begin in 30-40 minutes. So yes, back to the lounge where the agents were already aware of the issue, and said they would come get me when it was time to board. Yes, that meant time for another espresso and glass of champagne. The struggle is definitely real.

After about 20 minutes they told me boarding was ready to begin, but when I got to the gate it took about 20 more minutes for us to start boarding. We finally ended up pushing back about two hours and 44 minutes late…so it was beginning to look like I was just going to miss out on the 300 euros mandatory compensation under EU Regulation 261. Boo! If I’m going to be 2:44 late I can take another 16 minutes!

Fortunately, I was the only person in my section of seats, so I had a whole row to myself. This meant I could use one of the fold-out tables from the bulkhead just for food and drink and another for watching films on the iPad. Not a bad way to fly on a narrowbody.

Lunch started with drinks and packaged almonds:

Then it moved on to a full lunch. The burrata and plum tomatoes with pesto were fantastic, and there were three choices of main: veal goulash, halibut, or canneloni I went with the goulash which was much better than expected…and the “cocoa bean cream on mango cubes” was fantastic for desert. Fantastic meal for a shorthaul.

About an hour before landing, chocolates were handed out…so why not have one more glass of wine:

We landed 2:43 minutes late, so unless this taxi took 17+ minutes it looked like I was going to miss out on 300 euros by mere minutes. Not sure if anyone else has heard the expression “BFE” which stands for “Bumf*ck Egypt” implying somewhere is in the middle of nowhere…but that’s definitely where we landed today. The taxi went on and on, as the minutes ticket closer and closer. 2 hours and 59 minutes late, we finally parked….and the flight attendant was ready to open the door.

However, apparently, at the 2:58 mark Lufthansa declared us “arrived” despite the door still being closed. Hard to not think this was intentional…

Oh look, 20:35…exactly three hours late…and the door is still closed. It did eventually, at 20:37, finally pop open three hours and two minutes late. Lufthansa has yet to reply to my request for compensation under EU261, so it’ll be interesting to see how much of a struggle this is…

For the first time ever for me, there was absolutely no wait at all for immigration or a visa, so I handed over my $25 at the bank, got a visa sticker, quickly through immigration, and maybe 15 minutes after arriving I was at the Le Meridien checking in.

Dropped my bags in the room, and headed down to the sports bar for a quick drink before turning in for the night. Unfortunately, however, it was Thursday night and half of Cairo was at the sports bar drinking and smoking up a storm. My lungs couldn’t take it, so I headed up to the relatively empty lobby bar for some cheesecake and a glass of bad Egyptian wine before turning in.

With that done it was time to get some sleep before taking care of a few things in the morning and then turning right back around to head to Germany to begin the real vacation portion of the trip!

Feb 102018
 


One thing I like about flying to Europe out of DCA is that it requires a connection, which means any thoughts of going into the office are unrealistic. Got a bit of work done from home, had plenty of coffee, and despite sleeping in managed a very leisurely stroll to DCA to catch my initial flight to Chicago in order to get this thing started!

My favourite part of DCA is the old Continental President’s Club, which has become the United Club. The grand ceiling of the main room, and now that there’s the smaller “hidden” room in back it doesn’t feel quite so crowded. Of course, had to start the trip with a little “caviar” – United style:

Decided against all that corn and beans since I’d be spending the next 12+ hours on planes, I opted instead for some cheese cubes…and some pepper strips to get some vitamins:

I had noted on the seatmap that despite first class being full, economy was only booked to about 30 people – completely empty! I considered moving back and taking a whole row to have a little more space, but decided not to risk it with snacks and drinks.

United flight 1264
Washington DC, National (DCA) to Chicago, O’Hare (ORD)
Depart 11:45, Arrive 12:56, Flight Time: 2:11
Airbus A319, Registration N892UA, Manufactured 2006, Seat 2E
Miles Flown Year-to-Date: 612
Lifetime Miles Flown: 2,520,674

Interesting options in the snack basket today, so I opted for the fat free, gluten free, low sodium, low taste gummi bears knowing I would get much much better ones in a few days in Germany.

Beyond that, it was a typical, boring short domestic flight so I’ll skip right ahead to why I chose the flight with the 3.5 hour connection in Chicago: to give the Polaris Lounge one more try. This also had the benefit that if there were to be any winter weather surprises, I was leaving myself plenty of cushion before my international flight. No worries today, and we actually arrived Chicago a little bit early, so off from the B terminal to the C terminal to enjoy the Polaris Lounge.

First impression: the lounge was as empty as I’ve ever seen it, which always helps to make a more positive impression. It did fill up quite a bit by the time I left, but initially it was empty. Glass of Veuve Cliquot at the bar to start things off while I finished up a bit of work.

Headed over to the new dining area from there, which is much nicer and more “private” than the previous area. My only small complaint would be that the staff were more “midwest friendly” than refined, which maybe isn’t the best thing in a premium lounge. It isn’t a complaint, just a bit out of line with the experience they’re trying to project. Now, serious, not complaining….when they say things like “I just figured you would have finished your champagne by now so I brought you another!”

The seared tuna tataki was good, with a nice presentation…and the perfect light starter with a big Lufthansa meal coming up:

I had heard many good things about the Blue Door Kitchen Burger, so decided to order it – fried egg and all, and promised myself I’d only have a few bites to try it. It was pretty good, and ended up finishing a bit over half before heading back to the bar to do some pre-flight work so I could hopefully relax and enjoy the vacation a bit more!

Nice chat about the “paper plane” cocktail with the lounge manager, who’s actually been sitting at the bar just about every time I visit the lounge doing some paperwork.

After a nice visit, back through the psychedelic tunnel to the B gates to find my Lufthansa flight. Overall impression of the Polaris Lounge? Blows away anything else in the United States with the possible exception of the JFK American Flagship Lounge. It will be very interesting when (and if) United finishes more Polaris Lounges if they manage to replicate this very high standard.

Long line to board when I went to the gate, and the business class line was super long as well, so I just walked up to the counter, mentioned to the gate agent that I was in first, and was invited to board immediately so I didn’t have to stand in line. Very nice touch by the gate crew.

Lufthansa flight 431
Chicago, O’Hare (ORD) to Frankfurt, Germany (FRA)
Depart 16:20, Arrive 7:40 next day, Flight Time: 8:20
Boeing 747-8i, Registration D-ABYK, Manufactured 2013, Seat 2A
Miles Flown Year-to-Date: 4,956
Lifetime Miles Flown: 2,525,018

My seat was already set up when I boarded, and champagne and nuts made a very quick appearance. I was the only person in first today, and I had a very “old school” crew who did everything by the book and provided a first class experience that was over the top from a service perspective…without being awkward and “too much.” I’m seriously curious what kind of “notes” Lufthansa keeps on their passengers. Despite never having flown with this crew before, they knew several personal touches that they never would have without someone having told them (or read this blog maybe.)

Immediately after posting the above pic to Instagram and Twitter, Lufthansa (always on top of their social media game) was quick to reply:

I sort of find it comical that Lufthansa social media knows me well enough that they dare reply with Beyoncé memes. As I was the only one in first today, the crew had already made up the seat across from me as a bed for when I was ready for it later inflight. The gate agents did upgrade someone from business at the last minute, but I heard them telling the crew “he will just sleep and doesn’t need any service. We just want him to have a private bed.” I don’t know who he was that he got this treatment, but to the crew’s credit I never would have known he was there.

I forget what the amuse bouche was, but I remember it was tasty…

Since I wanted to try and convince myself to be sleepy, I told the crew they could turn the cabin lights dark from the start of the flight so the other guy could sleep. Apologies on the slightly dark pictures because of it. Tonight was an “all the caviar you want” flight, so I just asked for a medium portion. I was more in a sampling mood, and the main course sounded excellent…

Next up were appetizers and salad: herb shrimp with fennel salad and tomato oregano dressing, buffalo style chicken, celery with gorgonzola mousseline and farro salad, and chilled ratatouille parcel with balsamic glaze. Overall, mostly a miss unfortunately. The buffalo chicken was tasty, but the rest “tried too hard” and just wasn’t great.

Finished maybe half the appetizers, which were followed by an amazing bowl of lobster bisque. I think this was intended to be a main course, but with no other passengers, the crew insisted:

Next up, far and away the best airline main course I’ve ever had. Grilled beef filet (a perfect medium) and lobster claw served with mac and cheese. The mac and cheese was just a little spicy, the asparagus was perfectly cooked, and the whole thing was a home run!

Last but not least, a helping of cheese. I was stuffed by this point, but couldn’t turn the cheese down. Good selection:

After clearing the table, the flight attendant serving first offered “can I get you a Johnny Walker Blue, one ice cube as a night cap?” Again, no idea how he would have known that unless he reads this blog or Lufthansa keeps records on their first class episodes.

One quick check of email before calling it a night, and facebook suggested the following filter for a goofy selfie. I think they know what I was up to….

Slept nearly five hours, woke up just in time for some tea and freshening up before landing, and it was time to enjoy some time in the First Class Terminal before my connecting flights.

Feb 052018
 


So, I had all kinds of glorious plans of doing a double round the world trip in opposite directions. Then, nonrev life happened and the A350 flights to Seoul filled up, which made the whole thing go a bit tits up. I debated still risking it, but the chance of possibly getting stuck in Korea, needing to buy a ticket home, combined with the roundtrip Finnair ticket I planned to buy made it a bit risky.

At the same time, things at work got a bit complicated, putting any personal travel and leave in February in doubt. I decided rather than take the risk I would do the simple thing, and use up some tickets I have sitting around and actually take a vacation for once. Yes, more than a full week in one country! I’d been wanting to do a train trip through Germany, and I love winter in Europe so this seemed like the perfect time.

I want to take a second to thank the readers who’ve sent me comments over the last month asking if I was ok. Yes, I was just really taking a vacation for the first time in a long time and not bothering with blogging. I had a great trip, and used the little down time I had to stay on top of work so I didn’t come back to a big steaming mess instead of writing blog entries. Sorry for the delay, but lots to come soon!

On top of this, it would finally give me a chance to see some cities in the east of Germany that I hadn’t visited before, along with getting in a couple of long 4+ hour train trips on the ICE. Win win! In the end, the trip ended up looking like this:

If you’re more interested in my route around Germany for over a week:

Now, of course, like most of my trips what I had planned isn’t exactly what happened. Fortunately, the changes were relatively minor this time, and the drama was all recovered from with minimum inconvenience. However, there was just enough drama that I need to get back to Germany soon, as one sidetrip I was looking really forward to ended up happening. I think I’ll split the report into these parts:

1. DC to Frankfurt with United and Lufthansa First
2. Frankfurt to Cairo with Lufthansa and overnight in Cairo
3. Cairo to Frankfurt with EgyptAir and Lufthansa, overnight in Frankfurt
4. Frankfurt to Dresden by train, overnight Dresden
5. Dresden to Leipzig by train, overnight Leipzig
6. Leipzig to Berlin by train, first night in Berlin
7. Full day in Berlin
8. Berlin to Hamburg by train, overnight in Hamburg
9. Unexpected bonus night in Hamburg
10. Hamburg to Frankfurt by train, overnight in Frankfurt
11. Frankfurt to Boston with Lufthansa first
12. Boston to DC with United…and a pleasant unpleasant welcome home

Sit back, grab some champagne and caviar, I’m going to try and knock this one out in short order since my next trip is less than a week away!

Nov 102017
 



I wasn’t going to originally put up this post, because I’ve done so many Lufthansa posts that people are probably sick of them. But, I decided things do change from time to time, and an up-to-date impression might be worth while. Given that, I’ll probably be a bit sparse on the commentary, but feel free to comment if you have any questions at all!

Recently started a new job, and first task before even starting was to head to Johannesburg to participate in a conference I would be responsible for organizing going forward. Only problem was, I needed to leave on the same day I was ending my previous job…meaning I couldn’t really sneak out at 2p to catch a transatlantic since I was busy with an all day program going until 6pm.

That left really only two options: United to London or Frankfurt at 10pm or Lufthansa to Munich at 10pm. For some reason, the United options were nearly double the Lufthansa option, so Lufthansa to Munich it was. This would mean I had to connect Munich to Frankfurt the next day, which would eat up a good chunk of the day and allow me to be go go go until the flight to Johannesburg that night. Inshallah.

Last day at the previous job was packed, and I finally managed to sneak out at 530p. I had only gotten about four hours of sleep the night before, so against my better judgement when I got home…I crashed on the couch for a nap. Oops. Woke up with enough time, however, and still caught an cab to Dulles in time for my flight.

Since the recent lost of my Global Entry, I’d also lost TSA PreCheck, but fortunately that was restored by paying $85 which AmEx reimbursed as part of my membership benefits. However, TSA’s PreCheck website is abysmal, and led me to believe I was denied, so I got CLEAR as well. Given the Munich flight leaves so late, it wasn’t really needed, but it still allowed me to skip ahead of 10 people in the PreCheck line, which was cool until a lady at the front of the line SHOVED ME and said “I pay a lot of money for this! You can’t just butt in line!”

The CLEAR rep was great, however, and clearly had seen similar things before. He politely said to her “CLEAR membership gives you extra priority over the regular line, if you’d like more information on joining, please let me know.” Points to him!

Got there early enough I finally had a chance to check out the Turkish Airlines lounge which everyone seems to rave about. I’m not a huge fan of the lounge in Istanbul, which I know others love. For me, it’s always super crowded, and I can never find a power outlet when I want one. Plus, I feel like it’s always a furnace.

Took over 15 minutes to get into the lounge, because there was an elderly couple in front of me in line trying to argue with the agent if they got guests on their Priority Pass membership or not. The agent was great, however, and patient with them and apologized to me when it was my turn.

Bartender was great, and a glass of wine quickly materialized to go with my mezze:

How could I resist some sweets…especially when there was baklava:

Overall impression: it beats the United Club any day, and was even less crowded than the Lufthansa lounge at this time of day – so definitely wins. I don’t know why Turkish keeps their lounges warmer than a Turkish sauna, but this one was also extremely warm. That said, I think it’s probably the best lounge option by far at Dulles, and a very solid option.

Headed to the Lufthansa lounge an hour before the flight, just in time for one more glass of wine and boarding from the lounge. I’ve never seen this lounge so packed at this hour, but given our flight tonight was overbooked it wasn’t too surprising.

Lufthansa flight 415
Washington DC, Dulles (IAD) to Munich, Germany (MUC)
Depart 22:30, Arrive 12:45, Flight Time: 8:15
Airbus A330-300, Registration D-AIKF, Manufactured 2004, Seat 1D
Miles Flown Year-to-Date: 107,851
Lifetime Miles Flown: 2,484,828

Settled in, and our crew tonight was quick to provide a glass of bubbly:

Soon after takeoff, the warm nuts arrived, which tonight were oddly all pecans:

Given the late hour of the flight, dinner was served all at once, and I went with the “seared baby filet, chili pepper and ham gabure, roasted Marble Baby Yukon Potatoes.” No mention of the ubiquitous Lufthansa asparagus, but there it was in all its glory. As expected, the filet was rather overcooked, but the pretzel roll and amazing salad made up for it. This might have been the best business class salad I’ve ever received: radish, basil mozzarella, red and yellow peppers…yum!

Opted for the cheese AND dessert tonight. The cheese was rather sad…and featured the completely unnecessary mini shrubbery, and as silly as I think pre-packaged ice cream is….chocolate hit the spot with red wine.

Managed about four solid hours of sleep, and woke up just 30 minutes from landing. Plenty of time to brush my teeth, have a Diet Coke, and get presentable to leave the plane. Fortunately, when we left the plane, right across from our gate was the Lufthansa First Class Lounge.

With about 10 hours between arrival and my departure from Frankfurt, and the flight from Munich to Frankfurt only taking an hour, I decided to split my stay six hours in Munich and three in Frankfurt. Why? Because I had seen online that the Satellite Terminal in Munich was now allowing access to the First Class Lounge for AmEx Centurion Card holders. Seemed too good to be true, but I had to try it.

As the picture below shows, it was indeed a perk, and I enjoyed an espresso before grabbing a shower:

Post-shower, since it was already after 1pm. I decided to settle into the dining area for lunch. Wiener Schnitzel mit Kartoffel Salat und Champagne! YUM! The cranberry relish was an especially delicious touch.

…also, I admit, I couldn’t resist some black forest cake and creme brulé from the buffet…

After I finished eating, I received a message from a friend who coincidentally was transiting Munich as well! I asked the lounge attendants if I could bring a guest in, but unfortunately it would only be allowed if they were traveling on the same itinerary. So, off to the Senator Lounge we went for an hour to catch up. I’m still not sure if I was even allowed to bring him in there, but I think I puzzled (or maybe amused) the lounge attendant enough with my poor German that she let us in and we had a nice time catching up.

After he had to run to catch his connection, it was around 3:30 and I was back to the First Class Lounge for a bit more merriment. This time, some gummi bears and a FCL duck to keep watch over my champagne.

I had gotten a bit sweaty running through the terminal a bit, so I decided on one more quick shower before leaving the terminal. So, here’s where it gets a bit funny. Entering the lounge from the non-Schengen side, there was a passport agent at the entrance who checked my passport and approved my entrance to the Schengen area. He then gave me my passport back. However, upon leaving, I realized he hadn’t given me a stamp (which I need for tax reasons) so I had to go back and ask for a stamp. No problem! I was then able to walk out the other side of the lounge into the Schengen part of the terminal with no problems. One of the best features of this lounge: priority immigration clearance!

Once on the other side, my flight to Frankfurt was delayed 30 minutes, so I ducked into the Schengen Area Senator lounge for a quick snack: #sterotypes

Soon it was boarding time, and when I boarded, I got the dreaded “beep beep beep” when my boarding pass was scanned. Unfortunately, they had moved the business class divider forward, and my 9D seat was now in economy class…so I’d been reseated in 8F in business….which was now completely full. Odd.

Lufthansa flight 117
Munich, Germany (MUC) to Frankfurt, Germany (FRA)
Depart 18:00, Arrive 19:00, Flight Time: 1:00
Airbus A321, Registration D-AISJ, Manufactured 2008, Seat 8F
Miles Flown Year-to-Date: 108,037
Lifetime Miles Flown: 2,485,014

Very uneventful 41 minutes in the air, but they were still able to serve a full snack, which was actually delicious!

Fortunately, the Johannesburg flight now leaves from the Z gates in Frankfurt (instead of the C gates where it used to depart from) so it was a quick exit of the Schengen Area through immigration, and into a rather empty Senator Lounge. I hadn’t had my fill of being a stereotype yet, so more pretzels, potato salat, and sausages…und of course a Bier!

Of course, the flight was boarding from Z69, the furthest gate from the lounge and practically halfway to Austria. Oh well. At the gate, the were offering 400 euro compensation to downgrade from business class to premium economy due to an oversell situation. Uh, no thanks.

Lufthansa flight 572
Frankfurt, Germany (FRA) to Johannesburg, South Africa (JNB)
Depart 22:05, Arrive 8:30 next day, Flight Time: 10:25
Boeing 747-8i, Registration D-ABYP, Manufactured 2014, Seat 6D
Miles Flown Year-to-Date: 113,417
Lifetime Miles Flown: 2,490,394

Decided I was going to practice my German (which I’ve been working on the last year) on this flight, and see how long I could keep it up with the crew. Well, I got wine, and even managed to indicate my choice of wines, so that’s a start!

For a starter, I want with the “Brotzeit Specialties: Veal Meatball, hearty Cheese, Chicken Liver Terrine, Obazda a Cream Cheese Bavarian Style” – mainly because it intrigued me. I actually found it really tasty…and a nice change from the same old airline dishes. I generally really like when an airline is able to integrate regional cuisine into business class.

The salad this flight was…less impressive…but decent.

“Braised Beef Roulade” which was better than I expected…and I admit I ordered it for the bread dumplings and stewed leeks, which were super tasty with a little gravy.

Mildly better cheese plate…because it featured honey chutney. Everyone who reads this blog by now knows I love my cheese plates, and honey/fig spreads take them to the next level for me!

Managed to pass out for about six hours after dinner, and woke up about 90 minutes out of Joburg. Fantastic crew hadn’t turned on lights or opened shades yet, but within five minutes she appeared and offered me breakfast. I must have been in a daze, because I managed to not only order breakfast, but tell her that I would like it in ten minutes after I go to brush my teeth. I never thought that lesson about brushing teeth in German would come in handy, but there you have it!

I never do eggs on a plane, but the scrambled egg with cheddar cheese was pretty good. I really liked the yogurt with chia seeds as well!

With that it was time to land! Next post will be about my week in Johannesburg and then I’ll do one more post detailing the flights home.

Jun 182017
 

After a fantastic 24 hours at home, it was time to head back to the airport and head off to Spain. Staying home for a night was definitely the right call as it allowed me to relax, and just enjoy some downtime after a hectic week. Back off to Dulles, where check-in and security were completely uneventful. Went to the United lounge, where a fantastic bartender looked after me. Make no mistake, United is no Lufthansa, and the rather sad cheese and crackers and mass production chips and dips along with the $5 bottles of wine are quite sad, and it often feels like a bit of an all you can eat buffet restaurant, but at the same time, there’s something “familiar” about it.

My routing today was DC to Newark, and then onto Madrid, with nearly a three hour connection in Newark. That’s why I wasn’t too worried when my phone buzzed and notified me of a one hour delay for air traffic control. I got slightly more concerned an hour later when that stretched to 90 minutes. I began to get really concerned when it became two hours, leaving me around 40-45 minutes in Newark. I began to explore options.

The super late Dulles to Frankfurt and Dulles to London flights were out, as they were completely sold out in business. I tried multiple phone agents and lounge agents to get on the late Frankfurt flight in first, but that was a non-starter. They absolutely refused to consider it. The late Dulles to Munich flight on Lufthansa was available, but it wouldn’t get me into Madrid until nearly 7pm the next day – way too late to make my connection to Marrakech (separate ticket) and would cost me my entire first day in Marrakech.

When my Newark connection was down to 15 minutes, I pulled the trigger and switched to the Lufthansa option. Absolute worst case scenario would be getting stranded in Newark overnight, so I wasn’t willing to risk a tight connection there, even though the DC to Newark flight started boarding. The flight to Madrid was booked completely full in business, with another 15 plus on the waitlist, so I couldn’t see them holding the flight for me if anything went tits up.

(Side note: by the time DC to Newark landed there was 8 minutes to make the connection based on the door closing, and it was nearly one end of the C terminal to the other – I suspect strongly I wouldn’t have made it)

Rebooked via Munich, I decided one last Hail Mary was in order. I headed to the gate for the United flight to Frankfurt, and asked the agent if there was any way they could get me on this flight – I was even willing to use one of my Global Upgrades to get into first. “I can only put you in economy – and all we have left are middles near the back.” Uh, no thanks. That’s way worse than losing my whole day in Madrid.

Off to the Lufthansa Senator Lounge next, where I began trying to rebuild my trip. This entire time, Ian had been stranded at JFK as well, awaiting a severely delayed flight to Madrid, where he was afraid he was going to misconnect to Marrakech as well. Worst case, we would lose our 24 hours in Marrakech, take a full day delay in Madrid, and only have a short overnight in Marrakech before heading to Western Sahara.

We both started boarding at this time, and promised to reconnect in Europe and see where life took us.

Lufthansa flight 415
Washington DC, Dulles (IAD) to Munich, Germany (MUC)
Depart 22:30, Arrive 12:45 next day, Flight Time: 8:15
Airbus A330-300, Registration D-AIKJ, Manufactured 2005, Seat 10G
Miles Flown Year-to-Date: 60,428
Lifetime Miles Flown: 2,437,405

It had been barely 24 hours since I’d gotten off of a Lufthansa A340 Frankfurt to DC, and here I was boarding a Lufthansa A330 to Munich. Something felt, familiar…although very strangely, we had one of the most disappointing Lufthansa crews I’ve ever had. No personal touch, didn’t seem to enjoy their jobs, and no smiles to be found anywhere. It was like I was flying on United or something! Mixed nuts and a glass of the same wine from the day before…

Due to the late departure, the entire meal was served on one tray. Blech. Not impressed. That said, it was one of the better business class salads I’ve had in a long time. I went with the “seared beef filet, béarnaise sauce, root vegetables and whipped potatoes.” As expected, the beef was severely overcooked and disappointing. Overall, this is a meal I would expect from United, not Lufthansa.

Even the cheese course was sad. Is that one sad lettuce leaf supposed to class it up?

Ice cream…in a container. It was tasty, but seriously…in business class?

After dinner I passed out, and slept a solid six hours. It was nice having nobody next to me, so extra pillows and plenty of space. Woke up just about 15 minutes from landing, made myself barely presentable, and checked my phone. Ian had misconnected as expected, and was spending the night in Madrid. Thus, there was no need to find a way to Marrakech today, so I was a bit more leisurely.

Headed over to the Senator Lounge in the international gates, and they tried to steer me to the Schengen gates since I was going on to Madrid in a few hours. Told them I preferred to stay here for now, and they were happy to let me in. Delicious breakfast of cheese pretzel and potato salad. When in Germany…

Started looking for ways to Marrakech, and realized it would actually be $50 cheaper to fly Frankfurt-Marrakech the next day instead of Madrid-Marrakech. On top of that, my preferred hotel in Frankfurt is more than $100 cheaper than the one in Madrid, so it was an easy choice. I’d overnight in Frankfurt today. I will totally admit that choice was driven largely by the opportunity this presented to do one of my favourite things in Europe – a long ICE trip.

I didn’t actually realize that Munchen Hbf was so far from the airport when I bought the ticket, so it was a huge rush to get on a train to the central station so I could catch my train to Frankfurt. I maade it though:

A couple hours into the journey I was getting a bit hungry, so I ordered a beer and some Flamkuchen. Yum!

Checked into my hotel – the usual Frankfurt Airport Sheraton that you’ve all become very familiar with this year from my frequent stays, so I’ll say it was just perfect like the last stay. I requested in my reservation (and got) the exact same room as a few weeks prior, and just like that stay it was ice cold and fantastic.

Caught the S-Bahn to the city, and had my favourite bacon-wrapped dates and a few beers before taking a late night walk and enjoying the fact that at 930pm it was still light out.

When I got back to the hotel, the drama that this trip was turning into notched itself up another level. Royal Air Maroc e-mailed me that my flight had been “modified” the next day:

Um, a zero minute connection in Casablanca now?! I called Royal Air Maroc, and they refused to put us on an earlier flight from Marrakech to Casablanca, claiming they were “all full” and “you will make your connection – no worry.” Um, with zero minutes and a terminal change? I don’t think so. This was not good. Not good at all.  Our choice was to risk getting stranded overnight in Casablanca, but the only problem was the flights to Dakhla don’t go every day. This was becoming a right proper mess.

We decided (virtually) to cut our losses and not risk going just to Morocco and missing out on Western Sahara. We decided we would rather do the back half/islands part of the trip with extra days to really enjoy each of the islands, and come back to Western Sahara another time. Of course, Royal Air Maroc refused refunding us. The dispute is still pending with AmEx, but I have no doubt the outcome…because I also have screenshots showing that the connection in Casablanca actually became negative 15 minutes…and we would have been stuck.

Before going to bed we decided the plan would be to meet up in Barcelona the next day, and from there we would find a way to get to Las Palmas to continue the trip. The added bonus was instead of one night each in Las Palmas and Madeira, we could now do two nights in each, as well as having a night in Barcelona. Silver lining!

Off to bed, wake up, and oh…I have to get to Barcelona today. Let’s check the options. Ticket prices are pretty high on Lufthansa, even in economy, and looks like flights are super full. Not good. End of the day I decided to splurge on a business class award, which while not cheap made things more comfortable…which after the mess was welcome.

Enjoyed the Senator Lounge, where I had a right proper German lunch of sausages, potato salad, pretzel, and beer:

Boarding was one gate down from the lounge, and right on time.

Lufthansa flight 1134
Frankfurt, Germany (FRA) to Barcelona, Spain (BCN)
Depart 14:00, Arrive 16:00, Flight Time: 2:00
Airbus A321, Registration D-AISK, Manufactured 2008, Seat 2A
Miles Flown Year-to-Date: 61,108
Lifetime Miles Flown: 2,438,085

Pretty generic flight in EuroBusiness, but for a two hour 2pm snack flight, how can you complain about this meal?!

Landed right on time and Ian was waiting in the arrivals hall. We grabbed a coffee, figured out thanks to Google Maps how to get to the hotel I had booked (took the bus – it actually would have been slightly easier taking the subway) and then it was off to the hotel to buy the final flights to put this trip back together…and enjoy an unplanned night in Barcelona!