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Taken June 2002 from London Heathrow to Munich

I arrived at Heathrow at 8.20am for the 9.25am departure to Munich. I am a Lufthansa gold card holder and so took advantage of the special check in available and I would not have liked to join the very long queue for economy check in which looked pretty busy, though in fairness, all the desks were in use, it was just a very busy time.

My bags were checked in with efficiency and tagged appropriately with a Star Alliance Priority tag and I was asked about seating preferences which were met. Since Lufthansa contracted their check in to Globe Ground at Heathrow there has been a notable change, they are efficient but rarely in the least bit courteous or friendly and I always get the feeling that they do things very grudgingly.

Once through security, I made my way up to the Lufthansa lounge to wait for the flight to be called. I can remember the lounge opening in about 1996 and at the time it was very smart. I am a regular user of it and I think it probably hasn't had an upgrade since opening and it now looks very tired and worn. The chairs, which are the same as in any Lufthansa lounge I have been in anywhere in the world are showing their age and I've never thought they were comfortable. The choice of drinks was as usual with excellent coffee, the snacks were they usual stale biscuits and dried out, seen better days peanuts.

We were called to the gate at 9.00am and boarding was just beginning. Lufthansa use a system of boarding which is different to any other airline I've flown with in that, instead of boarding by seat rows the aircraft is divided into zones which always seems more ordered and efficient, or at least that is my perception.

The aircraft was a Boeing 737-300 which must be among the oldest types in Lufthansa's fleet. It was smart and very clean and there were no dirty marks evident anywhere. Both classes were almost full and boarding was completed by 9.10am. There were immediate announcements in both German and English from the pilot and the cabin crew about the flight. Push back was at 9.16am. While taxiing the usual safety briefing took place in both German and English (the norm, even on Lufthansa domestic services). There must be scope in the briefing for crew to ad lib as I hear it often and it is rarely exactly the same, presumably the differences make people pay attention, I know I do. Take off was at 9.24am and was smooth with a climb out towards the west before turning south-east towards the coast.

Once underway a tasty brunch was served which was more than I was expecting in economy class, it had the usual Lufthansa touch of the bread being added as it was served and the bread is always warm rather than frozen as on many airlines. The drinks trolley made a couple of passes of the cabin during the meal which was cleared promptly and then there were several more passes of the drinks trolley.

The crew were without exception cheerful, pleasant and friendly. There was a lady in the row in front of me who was a first time flier and at the time of boarding a stewardess greeted her, introduced herself by name and told her that she was there to take care of her, she pointed out the crew call button, reading light, air vent and seat recline control and asked the lady to call her if she had any questions. I noticed her come and check back with the lady several times that everything was alright. All were completely bi-lingual as I have found to be the norm, they usually speak first in German, but if there is the slightest hesitation in getting an answer they speak again in English.

There was a couple of announcements from the flight deck, the first some detail about the route and the second, a very welcome announcement that we were expected to arrive in Munich forty minutes early which we did. The touchdown was smooth and the taxi to the stand rapid. We were parked on one of the remote stands and the bus was waiting to take us to the terminal. Once inside the terminal, I cleared passport control and moved on to reclaim my bag. As I approached the designated carousel it started and my priority tagged bag was first off. As a result, I left the airport about fifteen minutes before the scheduled arrival time of the flight.

Well done, yet again Lufthansa.