The Five Yen of Happiness! Meeting the Airbus A350 and the Air Canada Lounge
- I give in – I need a break (Introduction)
- To Heathrow and The BA Galleries North Lounge
- BA902 London Heathrow to Frankfurt Airport in Club Europe
- Bumbling around Frankfurt Airport with random #AVGeek spotting
- Meeting the A350 and the Air Canada Lounge
- Qatar Airways QR068 Frankfurt to Doha
- The joy of Hamad International Airport, and The Oryx Rotana Hotel
- Qatar Airways Flight QR812 Doha to Tokyo Haneda
- The Hotel JAL City Haneda Tokyo
- Shikansen Adventures to Hiroshima!
- Time in Hiroshima (featuring the ANA Crowne Plaza Hiroshima)
- Hirosihima – 70 years on
- A day trip to Itsukushima
- More Shinkansen fun to Kyoto (Featuring Kyoto Tower Hotel)
- A trip up to Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine
- Dinner with The real_jetsetr!
- The JR Central SC Maglev and Rail Museum
- Shinkansen to Tokyo
- The Strings by InterContinental
- Cheap evening – From the Tokyo Metropolitan Building
- The JR East Railway Museum, Saitama
- Shibuya nights
- Akihabara Days
- Gotta Catch them All! A few Pokemon Centres.
- Off to Narita
- Nartia Airport, The JAL Lounge
- Qatar Airways Flight QR807 Tokyo Narita to Doha
- Four and Half Hours in Doha Airport
- Qatar Airways Flight QR067 Doha to Frankfurt
- More time in Frankfurt
- BA8735 Frankfurt to London City Airport (Club Europe)
- Homeward
- Memories
- And about that Five Yen Coin – The Sensoji Temple, Asakusa
With check in complete, I cleared security in a reasonable amount of time (even though there were only a few lanes open), and went hunting for the gate.
Following the signs, I cleared German Emigration, and eventually into the gate area. And to my left was the chariot that was to take me to Doha – a Qatar Airways Airbus A350.
Ok, the first thing I love about the looks of the A350 is that curved wingtip device.
Next, that angry nosecone and “sunglasses” effect on the cockpit window. Looks like its out for a fight…
Dead on, it does look rather… angry for some reason. Although I think we can all loved that curved wingtip device.
Pictures in hand (And I was by no means the only person getting lots of pictures of the this plane – it was still getting plenty of admirers), I walked around the segment of the terminal I was in until I could find my way to the lounge.
As Qatar Airlines is pretty much a oneworld airline in a Star Alliance world at Frankfurt Terminal 1, you can’t simply walk into a lounge – you have to hunt for an appropriate lounge. Thankfully, Qatar Airways contracted this service out to Air Canada, who tuck their lounge away. Once you spot the signs, its a matter of following them.
Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge
After passing the big model 787 (that would look lovely in my front room), I checked in with the staff. A nervous moment but I was waved through.
Y’know, I always liked the Maple Leaf Lounges. One reason to defect back to Star Alliance one day.
This would look lovely in my front room. Hint-y – hint Air Canada 😉
With me let in, I explored the lounge… and compared to some of the boring designs out there – this had some class.
A lovely feature
Lots of light and seating. And power. Lots of power sockets!
I parked myself near a window, and got comfortable. And did some more spotting. But we did the #avgeek things in the last chapter… so I’m going to spare you the photos.
I lied. I published this one in Airplane art earlier on, so it doesn’t count. 😉
I decided to investigate the food and drink options – and rather than heading straight for the vodka or bubbles, I headed for the Orange Juice and Lemonade option. And quite a lot of it too.
It’s never bad to hydrate.
It was good food spread, with sandwiches, pasties and fresh fruit and cakes out. All bad things. But hey, it’s a lounge.
It was mainly a cold spread, but that didn’t concern me to be honest. I was more interested in sitting down after spending some of the morning stood up, watching planes and not having much to drink whilst taking pictures of said planes.
And it was a quiet environment which is always welcome.
Time went on, and with no announcements in the lounge, it was a matter of watching the clock. With boarding time drawing close, I packed up my trash and headed for the gate.
Boarding was in full swing when I got to the gate. I proceeded to the premium lane, and beeped through – and the have the rucksack tagged with a pretty Qatar hand luggage label.
There’s a story about that much later.
With that, it was time to board and try out one of the newest planes in the sky – the Airbus A350.
Next: Qatar Airways Frankfurt to Doha aboard the Airbus A350
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The Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge in Frankfurt is so much better than the Lufthansa business class lounges. The design is very clean and modern, it’s never overcrowded and I always find a nice place to sit and relax.
It wasn’t busy at all when I was there – although I suspect it might have something to do with the loads on the QR flights, rather than the size of the lounge.
It’s still a nice lounge – but then I’m a fan of the Air Canada Maple Leaf lounges. It would be one of the few reasons I defect back to Star Alliance.