After a two-hour delay, I was happy to board the flight and get to Frankfurt. It would be my first time flying the Lufthansa CityLine CRJ-900.
The boarding gate appeared empty, but when boarding was called it took mere moments for everyone to line up. The aircraft was parked at a remote stand, thus a bus transported us from the gate to the aircraft.
Larger carry-on bags were collected outside the plane and were returned at the plane upon landing in Frankfurt.
Lufthansa 255
Milan (MXP) – Frankfurt (FRA)
Thursday, June 24
Depart:6:50PM
Arrive: 8:05PM
Duration: 1hr,10min
Aircraft: Bombardier CRJ-900
Seat: 1A (Business Class)
The captain apologized for the late departure, blaming high winds in Frankfurt. We pushed back at 8:45p and had to wait for several aircraft ahead of us to take off. By 9:00p we were in the air.
The cabin included six rows of business class with identical 2-2 seating to economy class (row one only had seats on the A/C side). The only difference was that in business class every other seat is blocked, so each passenger has a pair of seats.
A tiny, and I mean tiny, lavatory is located in the front of the aircraft for business class passengers. I could not fully stand up and could barely turn around.
Right after takeoff, a FA whipped out business class meals. The tray included ham, cole slaw, hot bread, cheese, and a tapioca-like dessert. I also requested a glass of sparkling water.
I didn’t eat much of the meal: I was saving room for my dinner in Mainz. But I do appreciate how Lufthansa serves a full meal on regional jet with a flight time of under one hour.
The sunset was stunning after takeoff:
As we neared Frankfurt, I began taking pictures. In all my years of living and visiting Frankfurt, I was not aware there was a nuclear power plant so close. We landed on the northwest runway (landings only), which gave me the chance to take some aerial shots of the airport and The Squaire/New Work City (the cruise-ship-like building).
Before the aircraft door even opened (and there wasn’t much a of a delay), the planeside-checked bags had already been unloaded and placed on cart for retrieval:
I love the 10pm dusk…
CONCLUSION
An intra-Europe business class report is not complete without my comment that I’d trade the meal in a heartbeat for a “real” business class seat. Nevertheless, I appreciate Lufthansa’s consistent product on flights within Europe.
Hey Matthew, that’s actually just a coal-fired power plant. Many different kinds of power plants have those cylindrical cooling towers, not just nuclear ones. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Großkrotzenburg_Power_Station
Oh wow, I had no idea. Thanks!
Beat me to it William.
The thing is since the notorious Three Mile Island nuclear plant in the US had them, many Americans make the assumption that they’re a feature unique to nuclear plants.
Humorously, very few nuclear power plants actually have cylindrical cooling towers, so they’re kind of the opposite of what people tend to think.
One learns something new every day!
Funny how intra-Europe business class seats are just economy seats with the middle seat blocked, which US domestic first seats far better, while on the other hand, the Europeans are able to serve a good simple meal that I wish I could trade most US domestic first class meals for.
It must be to ensure there is consistency among products (i.e. so the A320 family aircraft don’t have an inferior seat to the CR9), but putting in 13 ‘US-style’ J seats in the CR9 in a 2-1 config would displace the 11 ‘Euro-style’ business seats there now plus provide another 6-7″ of legroom.
You’re right. I think the primary reason they do not go that route is because they want a “variable configuration” in case they need to reduce the size of the business class cabin (curtain position is adjustable).
It’s a very different situation in Australia…
Are you sure that was ham? Looks like duck breast.