Introduction

Today I’m on my way to Kazachstan. To be honest, I’d been hoping to come up with an interesting routing or a previously unsampled airline to get me there. Eventually, though, I gave up and settled for Lufthansa. While they may not really be exciting, their schedule was the only one that lined up with my appointments before and after this trip.

I wake up at 05h15 in the morning. And I suspect so did everybody else in the hotel. Having the Star Wars Imperial March as your alarm ring tone is not for the faint hearted! I have a quick shower, finish up packing, and then I leave my hotel to make my way to the terminal.

Check-In

I’ve already checked in online in the app, so I head straight for the entrance to the security checkpoint, which, unsurprisingly, is conveniently located opposite the KLM check-in area. Fair enough, there have to be some perks in being the hub carrier.

The Amsterdam Schiphol Star Gold Lounge

Behind security I take the access corridor to the lounge area and then head one floor up to the Star Gold Lounge. It’s not busy, there are about five people here at this time of day.

Boarding

I quickly get bored in the lounge. So, at 06h30 I leave again to explore the terminal and investigate the status of the construction work going on in Amsterdam currently.

As usual, the Lufthansa Group airlines are boarding from the gates on the B pier.

As a salute to the Spaghetti Western by the same title, I call this photo below The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly. I will leave it to your discretion to decide which is which… Boarding starts on time at 06h50.

The Cabin & Seat

I’m seated on 1A. The other seats on row 1 have remained empty. There are four rows of Business Class and on each row of three, only one of the two available seats is occupied. If I’m not mistaken, this aircraft has a slightly different seat to the ones usually installed on the Airbus narrow body fleet. It looks less flimsy. But I could be mistaken.

The Service & Crew

It’s kind of tragic that I’m so surprised by it, but the crew on this flight are excellent! They’re all smiles, friendly and eager to help. Throughout the flight they keep checking to make sure passengers have everything they need.

While we’re still on the ground, there is no service worth mentioning – no towels or water. The flight time to Frankfurt is 35 minutes.

The Meal – Breakfast

With such a short flight time, the service starts immediately after take-off. On the tray is a plate with cold cuts and cheese, butter and jam, and yoghurt with mango coulis. With that, the crew serve warm croissants and rolls.

The purser asks me what I’d like to drink, and I ask for a coffee with milk and still water. He seems disappointed, “can’t I get you anything else”?. I tell him that I’m good, and he relents.

The meal concludes with the distribution of small boxes of chocolates.

Arrival in Frankfurt

We land in Frankfurt running 25 minutes ahead of schedule. However, the long taxi route and the many stop on the way to our remote stand eat into that, so that by the time we pull onto our stand, we’re just a few minutes ahead.

I manage to take one photo of the outside of the plane just before I step onto the bus to take us to the terminal. I now have four hours to make my connection in Frankfurt.