I just arrived in cold and grey Munich on a Lufthansa flight from Heathrow. By the time I enter the terminal it’s 10h30. The flight to Larnaca will start boarding in 45 minutes. I consider visiting the Senator lounge on the H concourse, but quickly decide my time in Munich will be better spent ambling along the terminal watching the aircraft. And it’s a good thing that I do, otherwise I might have missed this little jem in the second photo standing at the far end of the terminal. Clearly, little here does not refer to the A 380. What I’m talking about is the airbridge attached to the R1 door, which is something I’ve never seen before.

Boarding

Boarding starts on time. We’re on a remote stand. For a moment I seriously wonder about humanity. First, one guy turns around after just passing the gate because, apparently, he forgot something somewhere. The woman right in front of me is making a huge drama of the fact that she doesn’t know if her husband has already boarded or not. And by the way she’s behaving, frankly, I wouldn’t blame him if he decided to abscond… As I step onto the bus, I spot this traffic sign and seriously wonder what on earth it’s supposed to be telling me?

On board, the manifestation of the collective stupidity of mankind continues. There’s a large Cypriot woman standing in the galley arguing with the crew. The woman appears to have forgotten a bag at the Biergarten in the terminal and wants to go back to get it. When the crew tell her that’s no longer possible, she makes up some cock and bull story about her husband recently having undergone “life threatening surgery” and therefore may need some of the medication in said forgotten bag during the flight. The pilot immediately sees the blatant attempt at blackmail for what it is and tells her that in that case she and her husband are unfit to travel today and will need to be offloaded. And that’s when the altercations begins. In the end, though, it seems that the Lufthansa ticket she booked for her and the husband has divine interventions included because eventually, she relents and tells the crew her husband will be just fine without his (probably nonexistent) meds.

Next, the captain informs us that our aircraft will be flying to Italy after its return from Larnaca. Apparently, the Italians require all aircraft to have some insecticide to be sprayed into the cabin. Unfortunately though, the aircraft has now been waiting for over an hour for the catering truck to deliver. Eventually, the spray is delivered and we’re good to go. The engines start up and literally the moment we move off stand, Mr. 1D decides it’s time to take a leak and stands up… I think it’s going to be one of those flights.

On our way to the active runway we make a quick stop at the deicing pad. The captain announces that once we’re on the runway, he’ll be revving the engines first, which seems to be a thing with the LEAP engines installed on the NEOs. And then we’re off. We take off running 45 minutes behind schedule. Our flight time is three hours and 5 minutes.

The Cabin & Seat

The cabin and seat on this aircraft are the same as on the previous flight from Heathrow. I’m on 1A again. There are eight rows of Business Class on today’s flight, for a total of 32 seats, all of which are occupied today.

The Service & Crew

This is another surprisingly good Lufthansa crew. They way they handle the lady with the forgotten handbag is professional but not lacking in compassion for her plight and concern for her handbag… I mean, for her husband. Of course. However, I’m slowly suspecting that announcements are not one of Lufthansa’s fortes, mainly because the crews don’t stick to the scripted text in favour of improvisation. That rarely ends well. Trust me. Most of the world’s greatest speeches were meticulously planned, written, and flawlessy delivered only because the person delivering the speech religiously followed the prepared text.

The maître de on this flight has decided to infuse his announcements with a bit of a touchy-feely hippie vibe, calling on all of mankind for unity. “And with that, dear guest, I wish all of us – you and your crew together – a very nice flight”. I mean, it’s not like they can just up and leave if they’ve had enough.

Weird announcements and proclamations of solidarity aside, the crew on this flight is attentive. When the drinks service starts, I’m in the lav. So when I return to my seat, I figure so much for the drinks. The cart is already on row 3. But the cabin crew sees me. “There you are”, she says and takes my order for a drink.

The Meal – Lunch

A short while after the drinks service, the crew pass through the cabin handing out scented hot towels. An then the meal service begins.

The starter sounds a but odd to me and frankly doesn’t look much better. Even so, I decide to give it a try and I’m surprised to find that it actually tastes rather nice.

There are three main courses to choose from. The first is duck, which I don’t like at all. But the other two, the pasta and the Spätzle are interesting. Eventually, I go for the Spätzle, which are served with cheese and roasted onion. It’s a nice dish and the portion is quite substantial. The meal is served with a nice selection of bread rolls.

For dessert there is what the menu refers to as almond cake. This is a bit strange and undefinable. I only have a spoonful to try but don’t finish it.

The rest of the flight passes quietly. I must say, though, that although the seat may have better padding than it’s predecessor, I’m quite relieved when we finally start our descent into Larnaca. The crew pass through the cabin offering pralines and then start preparing the cabin for our arrival in Cyprus.

We land with a delay of 25 minutes, which isn’t too bad. Ahead of us the BA flight from Gatwick has just arrived and right behind us the Austrian flight from Vienna touches down. By the time we pick up the car, all the stands at the terminal are occupied.

Conclusion

Much to my surprise, I rather enjoyed these two flights with Lufthansa. The crews were friendly and professional, which is not something I would usually associate with the German carrier. The delay could have been avoided, I guess, but 25 minutes is hardly a big deal. Besides, I suspect that my colleague and I were probably the only two person on board who were travelling for work. If you’re on vacation, time is less important. What I still don’t get, is the difference between regular Lufthansa and CityLine.