Munich Franz-Josef Strauß Airport

Again, Economy Passengers where not hold back so I could disembark the plane really fast while some Envoy Class Passengers were still in the plane and headed to customs and the lower level. There was no line at all and I was on my way to the lower level where the Domestic and Schengen Area is located at Munich Airport. I hate it to pass security again, that is annoying and there should have been better solutions for passengers in transit, especially as this is a really new terminal. If you travel First Class or be a Hon, you could use the Fast Lane.

After five minutes queuing I passed security (this time no need to put of shoes and belt) and was on my way to the Business / FTL Lounge at Munich. As it was a foggy day, several flights were delayed or cancelled and many passengers had to be rebooked on other flights, so the entrance area of FTL and SEN Lounge was a big zoo. Luckily the lounge itself was not that full.

As I had only 30 minutes till boarding for my next flight to DUS I decide to skip my beloved shower (I like a refreshing shower after a long haul very much) and take it a home. With a espresso and some fruit I sat down, phoned my colleague and wished her a “Happy birthday” and called some people back who have called me during my holiday. Boarding was announced for 10:55 and at 11:00 I left the lounge and headed for the G 18 Gate. Looking on the monitor with the flight information I got a little bit confused, as there seemed another gate indicated, but this was a delayed earlier flight that was running late and now had nearly the same departure time than the later flight I was booked on. Arriving at the gate there were many passenger waiting to board. It happened there was an equipment change and there was now an Airbus A 321 instead of the Airbus A 320. So several passengers needed new boarding passes for this flight including myself. This took some time. One could use the ETIX self boarding gate, but this machine rejected all those passengers who needed new boarding passes. So every time this happened the gate agent had to leave the check-in for the passengers with paper tickets and got the new boarding passes for the passengers with ETIX. It would have been better not to open the self-check-in gate in this case. As boarding was not in zones the situation in the plane was a little bit chaotic.

20 January 2006
MUC – DUS
[München – Düsseldorf]
H 832, Airbus A 321
11:25 – 12:35 [11:35 – 12:39]
Economy Class
Seat 26 F

I had a seat in the rear part of the plane. Luckily in this part the overhead compartments are not that full. Therefore it was easy to store my trolley there and I put my small bag under the seat in front of me. Though there was this big mess, I was surprised to see some seats remaining empty. I had thought that the flight was fully booked, but load was some 80 or 85%. The middle seat remained empty and I put my bag in front of the middle seat after I asked the passenger in 26 D if it this was okay with her, which was.

Safety demonstration was done at the gate before we pushed back with a ten minutes delay at 11:35. Before we took off the co-pilot came over the micro and told us the weather in Düsseldorf and the flight route; he also expected to land in Düsseldorf on time. We were airborne five minutes after push back and headed to the north.

Although this was just a sort hop, LH had a beverage service on this flight. Crew was fast and very efficient and friendly.
Flight time was short and we touched down at 12:30 at my home airport and where at our gate just in time. I was a little bit confused entering the terminal as I thought we would be on the left side of the terminal but were in fact on the right side and therefore headed a few metres in the wrong direction. Should have take a longer look out of the window but thinking back I up to now I have had always a gate on the left side when I arrived. Funny, I have never thought about it …
No need to wait for luggage and passed customs and was on my way to meet my mother, who picked my up at the airport and got a short first hand report of my time in the US on the way to my flat.

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