LH924 Frankfurt to London Heathrow aboard an Airbus A320neo- APEX Expo and The Lufthansa Flying Lab
In this adventure
- A call from Germany
- Off to Heathrow T2. Wait. Terminal 2??
- LH2473 London Heathrow to Munich Airport
- Exploring innovation on the ground at Munich Airport
- LH424 Munich to Boston with Lufthansa and Recaro Aircraft Seating
- Into Boston, The Holiday Inn Bunker Hill
- Exploring Boston
- Robot and Bowl Food – Exploring Spyce… and lessons for the Passenger Experience?
- Oodles of Noodles – Pho and Ramen in Boston
- The APEX Conference and Expo – What you missed
- Back to Boston Logan International airport
- LH423 Boston Logan to Frankfurt-am-Main
- The joy of Frankfurt Airport
- LH924 Frankfurt to Heathrow… with a neo
- Train? Thataway
- The outlook for the next six months
LH924 Frankfurt Airport to London Heathrow Terminal 2
Lufthansa, Airbus A320neo, Seat 7a
Still awaiting miles.
I was welcomed aboard the one-year-old frame, and I proceeded just past business class to row 7. With a smart dump of my luggage in the overhead bin, I sat down
Row 7.
Still boarding.
With a semi-uncontrolled boarding like this, getting out of the aisle as quickly as possible isn’t a good idea – it’s mandatory if you’re going to make pushback on time.
Seem the plane is a one year old baby – data – Airfleets
The rest of the plane boarded as quick as they could – however, there was more than a little action going on the cockpit.
Uh-oh.
With boarding complete, and the pushback time been and gone, there was something up with the plane. To the point where the sun rose as I watched, and planes changed at the gate next to me.
Hello Air China..
A wild Qatar Airways A350 appeared!
Whilst I’m sat on the seat – again, I’m on a Lufthansa NEK seat by Recaro.
The trick with the Lufthansa A320neo family is to sit as far in front of the plane as possible. This is because, in all its wisdom, the airline crammed more seats at the back of the plane – making it not the nicest experience.
Up in row 7 however, there was plenty of room.
The cabin
Eventually, an announcement was made – indicating that the plane had an indicator fault. As you can guess, this takes time to resolve, and with more than 40 minutes down LH924 pushed back for the short trip to London
Off we go!
Pushing back at last
The first thing I’ll note – these engines don’t sound like anything that I’ve been aboard before. A very distinct, if quiet whine as the plane powered up for the long taxi to the Startbahn West for the short run to London.
Letting a non-Neo pass.
Four engines for long haul…
That’s still one big engine.
Sunrise.
Whilst I didn’t get to see much traffic, you could see traffic landing on the main runways, as well an A380 being towed… with a 747 landing.
An A380…
I could not have planned this shot at all.
With the plane lined up at the Startbahn West, the Pratt and Whitney Pure-Power engines quietly roared to take-off power, for the climb into the air.
With the plane taking to the air, the sun was in full mood for sunrise. With me still more than awake, I glued my face to the window.
Because whilst I love in-flight entertainment, sometimes the best IFE is the window seat view.
Time to divide the cabin…
Meanwhile, I checked for in-flight Wi-Fi… to find none at all. It seems that FlyNet hadn’t been installed on this plane Slightly disappointing, but considering I wasn’t exactly firing on all cylinders – a reasonable budget-saving measure.
No other IFE was loaded on this plane… well, except for two German advertising execs sat next to me. Why did I know they were advertising execs? 1) the oversharing of the laptop screen going through numbers with Facebook, Amazon and a few other companies and 2) rudimentary German.
I’ve said this a few times – if you value business privacy on a plane and you’re using a laptop – invest in a privacy filter!
With the plane climbing, and with an hour on the clock or so to London, the crew started their in-flight service
And ladies and gentlemen, you’ve been waiting for this all trip report (well I have) – welcome the return of the #NonStopSandwich.
Tray deployed
A choice of cheese or Chicken Salami was offered. Salami it is. It’s pretty much a cut-down sandwich (more of a sandwich half) in much less packaging than before. That can only be a good thing. As for the sandwich, it’s pretty impossible to mess up a chicken salami sandwich… so it was rather edible.
You know, you could offer a double pack of these in Premium Economy in the long haul product, and it would be an improvement as a second service.
Drinks followed rather quickly (a joy of being near the front of the plane. I still needed to wake up, so it was more coffee and water for me
Boring, but it helps me walk up. Or stay awake. I lose track at this point of the game.
Meanwhile outside.
The plane tracked up Germany, into the Netherlands, and popped out across the English Channel. Which gave me a wonderful view of Europe and the UK.
Leaving mainland Europe
Take whatever meaning you wish from this photo.
With LH924 turning for the northeastern stack at Heathrow, we had a spin in it before being released to travel down the Thames and towards Heathrow Airport.
The Thames
Canary Wharf and East London
North London, with The City and the Shard in the distance.
The City
I love how the light is lighting up the overhead bins.
The plane finally lined up for Heathrow and began its final decent.
South London.
Twickenham Stadium
With ease and quietness, LH924 landed at Heathrow. Not that it matters to the marketer with the laptop who kept his laptop open on decent. It took a little reminder from me to put the damn thing away.
With the plane peeling off quickly, it turned and trundled down the taxiway back to Terminal 2
A bunch of Virgin’s lined up…
Cathay Pacific front and centre.
Emirates A380
Qantas A380
British Airways Boeing 747-400
The plane passed the side of main T2 complex and turned towards the main complex to the pads, before going for a gate.
Eurowings…
Thai Airways Boeing 777-300ER and Air India Boeing 787.
All the tails.
With the plane at the gate, the engines shut down.
Parked at the gate.
Time to go. Danke Lufthansa!
At this point, the entire plane got up to get out the plane. I took my turn thanking the captain and crew and entering a new place – T2 immigration
Overall: Whilst LH924 was a business-friendly flight, it was delivered with a warmth that had seemed to be missing for the majority of the Lufthansa flights I took on this trip. The service was well delivered (and it still amazes me that British Airways went down the line of Buy on board, when a full-service carrier like Lufthansa can still do a job.
As for the A320neo, it’s a step forward as airlines seek to make efficiencies. But please… don’t sit in the back of these planes. They’re more than a little sardine sized.
Next: Train? Thataway.
FULL DISCLOSURE: Recaro Aircraft Seating kindly invited Economy Class and Beyond, as a guest on the Lufthansa Flying Lab, as well as paying for the flights as part of this.
Economy Class and Beyond attended Apex Expo and Aircraft Interiors Expo North America’s as a media delegate
All opinions and thoughts are the author’s own, and are not directed by Recaro Aircraft Systems, Lufthansa Systems, APEX or Aircraft Interiors Expo.
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