Barcelona El Prat
At the train station we bought a round trip ticket to Barcelona. Our plan was to take the train to Barcelona city centre and have a late breakfast and then to return to the airport. The train was scheduled to arrive at 08:38 but had not yet arrived while we were waiting there. We thought it might be delayed. After ten minutes an agent of RENFE – the Spanish train system operator – came along and told everybody on the platform that
the train service was cancelled and we should take the bus. Our ticket would be valid on the bus. We thought about taking the bus but knowing the bus and thinking of over 200 people from the train station heading for the bus and then go into downtown Barcelona might not be a good idea, as this probably would cut down our time in downtown Barcelona to a couple of minutes. So we decided to give our train tickets back (they offered a full refund) and to stay at the airport area.
To go to the Spanair lounge was the best idea, since hch and I had access and both could also bring one guest into the lounge. Unfortunately the staff sitting the OS desk was not very helpful and refused to print a boarding pass for the flight of hch, so he decided to buy a fully flexible C one way ticket in C to FRA to get the boarding pass so he could go airside.
We passed security where we were directed to the longer line but it was not a long wait and we were on our way to the Spanair lounge.
The lounge was not that full and we were able to get four lounge chairs and chatted for app. twenty minutes before I got a text message telling me that my flight to Milan was cancelled. Since this means that rampant, steffen0212 and I were not making our connections in MXP anymore we decided to immediately head back to the ticketing desk and look for alternative flights.
Steffen0212 rebooked on a direct flight back to FRA while rampant and I were able to get a seat on the delayed earlier flight back to MXP which was still at the airport due the weather situation in Milan, which was also affected by the severe weather in London and Paris.
Unfortunately the signs in BCN were not very informative; they showed the flight as closed and had no gate information. At the gate area M4 which was according to the information by the ticket desk was the gate area for the flight were no one of Lufthansa visible so I headed back to the ticketing desk. They made several phone calls and told us, there was a member of staff at the gate and waiting for us. So I went back through security for the third time in two hours and literally ran to the gate. This time I
saw the agent and also rampant. The agent told me they were waiting for another passenger, steffen0212. I was not sure, but he might have changed his direct flight back to FRA also to the one back to MXP so I phoned him. But he confirmed that he was still going to FRA. I told the gate agent the information and after a phone calls it was obvious, that there was a miscommunication between ticketing and gate and so rampant and I had together with another passenger a bus of our own who brought us to the plane.
02 February 2009
BCN - MXP
[Barcelona – Milan Malpensa]
LH 1791 (Lufthansa Italia); Airbus A 319 (D-AKNG / 'Varese')
Gate B 30
08:35 – 10:05 [effective 10:46 – 12:09]
Economy Class
Seat 21 D
The plane was only waiting for us and while we took our seats the doors were closed and we began to roll to the runway at 10:46 while the safety demonstration was done. So our time in BCN was cut to only two hours and a few minutes, not the way, we had planed it. Due to the cancellation of the train service we remained at the airport which was probably our luck since we definitively would not have made it on this flight if we had gone
into downtown Barcelona.
The safety demonstration was done in English this time, soon followed by a Spanish version from the tape. We were finally airborne at 10:55 and climbed into the sky.
After app. five minutes the fastens seat belt signs were switched off and the crew began to prepare the snack and beverage service. On this flight the plane was filled with more passengers than the flight from MXP to BCN. The snack service began after around ten minutes flight time and it was the same snack box than we already got on the previous flight, so I declined the offer and opted only for a glass of coke and a cup of coffee.
On this flight there was nothing special. There were a few members of LH friends and family on the plane but there was nothing special like interviewing passengers.
Trays were cleared about mid flight time and we got again the gift for the inaugural flight.
The closer we get to MXP the more clouds were in the sky and the last ten minutes of so were rather bumpy. The plane moved up and down and rolled to the right and to the left, so it was rather difficult for the crew to walk through the cabin and a few passengers screamed.
The landing gear was already lowered and we were still in the clouds and could not see anything. A mere ten metres or so before we touched down the runway was visible below us, so it was not only still snowing in MXP but it had also become foggy with very low clouds. We touched down at 12:03 and some passengers were applauding. We taxied to our gate, where we finally arrived at 12:09 and disembark to the jet bridge after we had waited a couple of minutes before someone was available to drive the jet bridge to
the plane.
We headed towards the terminal and up the stairs for connecting passengers and towards the SEN lounge were five or more passengers were queuing to get rebooked on other flights since their flights to Munich or Frankfurt had been cancelled. The Senator lounge was full but at this time not crowded so we were able to get two seats.
Rampant checked the airport and airlines homepages making use of the free wi-fi signal from the nearby Air France lounge and it seems that at least the later flights were operating with not that much of delays.