This flight marks the beginning of my summer vacation and I’ll be gone for a whole month. Frequent visitors to this website probably guest it already: I’m off to Australia again. First, because it is a fascinating and beautiful country that is so different to any other place I’ve ever visited. And second, because the weather in Australia should be a lot more pleasant than the blistering heat we’re experiencing in Europe this year.

For a better overview, I’ve added a routing section to each flight review in the series.

Routing

> ZRH LH Y FRA A319

> FRA AF C CDG E195

> CDG AF C SIN B773

> SIN SQ C CNS A359

> CNS ZL Y ISA SF34

> ISA QF Y TSV DH8D

> TSV QF Y CNS DH8D

> CNS QF C DRW E190

> DRW QF C SYD B738

> SYD KE C ICN B781

> ICN KL C AMS B789

> AMS KL C FRA E175

> FRA EN Y BSL E190

Lufthansa Check-In

Exactly thirty hours before departure, I receive an alert that check-in for my flight is now available. Lufthansa is offering an upgrade to Business for “only” CHF180, which seems a bit excessive for a flight of 35 minutes. Besides, I find it rather exotic flying Economy again for a change.

By the time I arrive at Zürich Airport, it’s 12h41. In the summer the Swiss Federal Railways are über pünktlich because there aren’t that many pesky passengers holding up the trains. The departure to Frankfurt is scheduled for 14h35, when there’s a lull in traffic at Zürich Airport.

SWISS Senator Lounge

By the time I’m through security, it’s just gone 13h00, which gives me about an hour in the lounge. As it turns out, it’s more like ninety minutes because the inbound from Frankfurt is running late. The SWISS Senator Lounge is extremely quiet. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it looking quite so deserted. Which is good, because it gives me ample opportunity to take unobstructed photos.

The lounge has a buffet with a cold selection of savouries, mostly salads, and a limited selection of hot dishes. There’s also plenty of choice for desserts, with things like chocolate mousse or Bündner Nusstorte on the menu. I help myself to the vegetarian cannelloni filled with ricotta and spinach, before having a really, really small, hardly worth mentioning piece of the Nusstorte and the chocolate mousse.

Lufthansa Economy Class Boarding

Boarding is from gate A72. The flight is delayed by about thirty minutes. While we wait, I’m standing on the opposite side of the A pier watching the aircraft as they come off runway 14 after landing and make their way to the terminal. Right under the window I’m looking out through, a car is parked with an interesting identifier. Apparently, it’s one of the vehicles that belongs to the de-icing team.

The crew explain the reason for our delay, but the volume of the loudspeakers isn’t very high, so that I honestly don’t understand what they say. Boarding is orderly and by groups. My SEN status puts me in group 2, after the HONs in group 1 and people requiring assistance.

Lufthansa Economy Class Cabin & Seat

I’m seated on row eight, which is the second row of the Economy Class cabin. The aircraft has the old flimsy seats, and I’m starting to wonder if they’re actually planning on eventually refurbishing the A 319s. The seat pitch on row eight is not bad, but it’s remarkable that the seat is completely devoid of anything that might make the passenger experience more comfortable – no adjustable headrests and no power plugs either. The flight is not completely full, there are individual empty seats here and there.

Lufthansa Economy Class Service & Crew

The crew on this flight is not bad. They’re quite entertaining, actually. The cabin crew serving the Economy Class cabin hardly say a word. They’re obviously the silent, broody types. In contrast, the maître de and his female colleague in the Business Class cabin won’t stop talking. Their announcements run on for ever and are made in full length in both English and German. I guess they mean well, though.

As I enter the aircraft, one of the crew welcomes me aboard. I tell her what a relief it is to step into the cool aircraft after having to walk through the sweltering glass airbridge. Later on, as we disembark in Frankfurt, she’s at the door to bid passengers goodbye. As I pass her, she remembers me and tells me, “tschüss ne, we’ve gone ahead and warmed up the airbridge specially for you”. And indeed, if anything the temperature here in Frankfurt is even worse than in Zürich.

The flight time to Frankfurt is 35 minutes, which is about enough time for me to carefully study, in detail, the brochure in the seat pocket to commemorate the airline’s 100th anniversary.

Lufthansa Economy Class Snack

Once we’re airborne, the Economy Class service starts. It consists of a small bottle of still water. We don’t spend long in the cruise, which means that the crew quickly return to collect any garbage and then, after that, to distribute the small yellow chocolates Lufthansa introduced a while back in Economy Class. I’m not going to gloat (much) by pointing out that it is, in fact, a little piece of Swiss Lindt chocolate they’re dishing out.

Arrival in Frankfurt

The approach into Frankfurt is rather bumpy. You can feel the hot air rising up, jostling our aircraft about as we slow to approach speed. We’re coming in from the East today, which gives you some excellent views of Frankfurt’s CBD, at least if you’re seated on the right side of the aircraft. Once we land, there’s a bit of a hold up accessing our parking stand, as we have to wait for a United Airlines Boeing B 777-300 to exit the Terminal 1 ramp before we can enter.

Conclusion – Lufthansa Economy Class Short-Haul

So, this was an interesting flight. I think the most obvious thing, as some of the regular visitors to this website may have noticed, is that it’s been a while since I last travelled anywhere in the back of the bus, and it wasn’t even that bad. Granted, I think I was lucky. Even though I was stuck in the middle seat, Mr 8D and Mr 8F were considerate enough to give me space, which was no small feat for Mr 8D especially, who looked like he must be a serious athlete. I appreciate that he took one for the team and got his beefy left shoulder hit by the trolley several times, so that he wouldn’t infringe on my personal space.

My second point concerns Lufthansa itself. More specifically, it concerns their cabin crew. For a while, the Lufthansa crews tended to be a right grumpy lot. Most of the time they gave you the impression that smiling might inflict upon them immeasurable pain. And they had the personality to go with it. On my recent flights with Lufthansa, though, I’ve noticed a marked change. The crews seem more enthusiastic and engaging in their interactions with their passengers, like the friendly banter with the one flight attendant on this flight about the temperature in the airbridge. It’s a pleasant change.