Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok

We checked out around 10:15 am and waited for the shuttle bus to the Kowloon Airport Express Station which arrived around 10:30. The ride to the airport, passing the Shangri-La Hotel took again approximately 15 minutes. We could use the check in desks of Lufthansa at the Kowloon station. Lufthansa, Air New Zealand and Garuda are handled together.

Our boarding passes were issued and we got an invitation for the “Star Alliance Lounge” as it read on the invitation, which is the Red Carpet Club. We headed for the airport express station to board the train to the airport. The train was again quite empty. Arriving at the airport, my colleague refunded her octopus cards, while I decided to keep mine since I had plans for a return to Hong Kong.

After we have cleared immigration and security we walked towards the Thai Airways Lounge skipping the SQ Krisflyer Lounge this time.

The Thai Airways Lounge was not that busy as during our visit the previous Friday and so we took a seat and I took a few German magazine for my colleague and me and in addition a cup of coffee for me. I used this opportunity also, to take a few more pictures of the lounge.

After twenty minutes we moved to the Red Carpet Club, the now favorite lounge of my colleague. The RCC was also emptier than Friday, the flight to Chicago had already departed while the flight to San Francisco was about to start boarding.

My colleague got herself a cup of coffee, since United “proudly serves Starbucks coffee”; which is one of her favorite coffees. I nipped on my Ginger Ale and read a bit in one of the German magazines. As boarding time was close, we took the escalator down and headed for our gate 47, where boarding had not started yet, but there were already some passengers queuing at the gate waiting to board the plane. The boarding passes and the travel documents of the people queuing for boarding were checked by an agent and marked as okay to speed up the process at the gate.

Boarding started with First and Business Class Passengers seconds before the Economy Passengers where allowed to board by rows. Economy Class used a different counter.

18. November 2009
HKG – FRA
[Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok – Frankfurt Rhein-Main]
LH 739 (Lufthansa); Boeing 747-400 (D-ABVN / 'Dortmund')
Gate 47
13:40 – 19:00 [effective 13:45 – 19:07]
Business Class
Seat 01 C

As we entered the plane we were greeted by a flight attendant. I stored my shoulder bag and the belongings of my colleague into the overhead compartment and a flight attendant put my jacket in the closet, where I later put also my laptop.

Already during the last moments of boarding, the captain came over the intercom and greeted us on board. He told us the expected flight time and gave us an update about the weather in Frankfurt.

As boarding was completed, the crew began to offer pre departure drinks while push back was prepared. Pre departure drinks were a choice of water, orange juice, apple juice or champagne. My colleague took a glass of orange juice while I took a glass of champagne. The safety video was shown while we were pushed back at 13:45, which was five minutes late. We taxied to the runway, where we let a cargo freighter,a  747-200 pass, which came from the cargo part of the airport. We let also an EVA Airways plane pass, which took off also ahead of us. Finally it was our turn and 14 Minutes after we pushed back the captain powered the engines and we accelerate and finally left the runway and climbed into the not so cloudy sky above Hong Kong.

We climbed into the sky and it was nearly 35 minutes after we took off before the fasten seat belt signs were switched off. As usual after take off a hot towel service was done. A few minutes later the tables were laid with linen and a beverage round started and offered also a packet of nuts. The purser approached and greeted me by name and wished me a good flight. She also handed out the menus for the flight. This time, the menus were arranged again by Max Wan, the master chef from the Shangri-La China World Hotel in Beijing.

I choose a Campari Orange as aperitif.

There was another beverage round done before the meal service started and while my colleague stayed with water, I changed back to a glass of the Jacquart Brut Mosaique Champagne.

Time to have a quick look in the menu (click on icon for menu)

Approximately seventy minutes after push back the meal service started with the first course.

The meal service was done from the cart. The first course came with the tray, which included the cutlery as well as the lettuce. We both went for Baked Pumpkin and Barley with smoked Duck Breast. I changed to the 2007 Columbia Valley Chardonnay from Washington State for the first course, while my colleague only took a glass of water. A selection of bread and rolls were also offered with the first course. The first course was okay in terms of size and taste.
The trays were collected before the main course was served. This time I opted for the fish, the Pan fried Halibut with Lobster Sauce, while my colleague took the Hazelnut crusted Tenderloin of Beef. The main course was also okay, the fish a bit dry, but that is more or less usual if you have fish on board an airplane, the beef was good according to my colleague.

The main course was collected and soon the cheese or fruit salad followed. I opted again for the fruit salad, while my colleague took again the selection of cheese. The fruit salad was quite tasty while the the three slices of cheese were nothing special and the usual selection you got in Business Class on Lufthansa. A tea and coffee as well as port wine, Willimams-Christ Birnen-Brand and Baileys, were offered along with some slices of cake later on. My colleague skipped the cake, but had a Bailey's.

The flight turned out to be a bit bumpy during coffee service and our coffee spilled over the saucer and part of the tray, but luckily not over us. The flight had been bumpier earlier, too, while we approached the Himalaya, but not that bumpy. The captain told over the intercom, that we had unexpected strong headwinds of more than 250 km/h. After ten minutes, it became a more quiet flight again.

Soon later the linen were collected and I folded the table away and used the bathroom. My colleague continued to read and dozed a bit while I decided to put some work into my trip report.

Duty free items were offered after meal service and soon later the cabin lights were dimmed.

A somehow funny think happened later, as the guy in the seat 1 K used the call button to ask the flight attendant to ask us to close the first sun shade. The flight attendant looked a bit bewildered and before she could address us, I told her, it would be okay, to close it. Well, the passenger could have asked me directly.

The flight attendants offered orange juice, water and apple juice during the flight in addition to a tray with glassed and water and orange juice on the storage board in front of Captain Kirk Seat (3 E)

I worked for approximately three hours. A few passengers were sleeping, but the most seem to work, using their laptops or watch a film or listen to music.

A mid flight snack was offered, which consists of a sandwich with either cheese or ham filling or noodle soup. Fresh fruit like apples or bananas were also offered. A beverage service was also done and wine or beer were also offered. I had already stopped working with my laptop but declined the offering and only had a cup of tea.

The flight was uneventful beside the bumps over the Himalaya. There were some minor turbulence later on during the flight, but the fasten seat belt signs were not even switched on at this time. We flew over China and the Himalaya Region towards Almaty and then on to Moscow and the Baltic States towards Leipzig.

I watched “The Proposal” and walked a few times through the cabin. The flight was full in all three classes. I also chatted a bit with the purser about Hong Kong and Singapore and my trip there and the living conditions in Hong Kong.

I also read in the magazines I brought with me from the lounge and dozed a bit lowering the seat in the Z position.

Around 100 minutes prior to scheduled arrival time, the cabin light were switched on and the tray tables were laid with linen. I decided to skip the dinner service, since on the one hand I was not really hungry and on the other hand I was not really feeling that well anymore.

Time to have a quick look in the menu (click on icon for menu)

The service was done from the cart. The food looked not that bad and my colleague, who had chosen the Braised Chicken as hot dish and told me it tasted not that bad at all. A beverage round was also done and all items from the list were available. Trays were collected later individually and a coffee and tea service was also done. I opted for a cup of tea.

Soon later the linen were collected and the crew began to prepare the cabin for our arrival in Frankfurt. We approached Frankfurt from direction of Offenbach offering great view to the illuminated skyline of Frankfurt for the passengers sitting on the right side of the plane.

We touched down at 18:54 but unfortunately had to taxi all the way back to the C concourse and the very last gate C 16.

We could disembark quite fast and were soon on our long way to the immigration checkpoint and then further on to concourse A.

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