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Düsseldorf International
I spent the night in the Dusseldorf Hilton, since I wanted to sleep a little bit longer, esp. as this was New Years Eve. In the end I woke up at 04:25 and decided to get up. I showered and checked out before 05:00. The lady at check out, told me, that I was the first person to check out in 2010. I waited for a taxi to the airport and it was quite busy with people coming back from parties. It is not possible to call a taxi at this night and you just have to wait until one arrives. Therefore I had left plenty of time and also a backup plan if I failed to get a taxi and therefore could use public transportation to get to the airport in time for my early morning flight to Zurich. But I was lucky and a taxi showed up almost at the same time as I left the hotel.
So I arrived at the airport much earlier than expected and much earlier than needed. Anyway, better early than miss my flight.
The airport was very quiet, a handful passengers were queuing at the Economy Counters, but I used the empty check in counters of the First Class area which also hosts the Star Gold check in area. Check in was fast. I chatted a bit with the agent about new years eve, being the first customer at this desk in this year (second time) and the joys of being up quite early on the first day of the new year.
Security was also fast, with no one I front of me. I caused a “beep” this time and had to be checked manually a second time. But after all it was one of the fastest checks and this time the security people were friendly. I strolled around the already open empty duty free shops, since the lounge did not open before 05:30 and it was only 05:20 right now. The lounge opened a few minutes before 05:30 and I was friendly greeted and wished a Happy New Year and chatted a bit with one of the agents, who welcomed me as the first guest in 2010 (that is the third time I am the first in 2010). The FTL Lounge is closed between Christmas and new year and so this was the only lounge available. For app. 15 minutes I was the only guest in the lounge. I used this opportunity to take a few pictures of the lounge and then grabbed an espresso, a sparkling water and a croissant, took a seat and had an early breakfast. The T-Mobile Hotspot did not work, it was down to maintenance which I discovered as I tried to connect to it. In the first moment I thought it was something wrong with my new computer, but I could connect to the Vodafone network and therefore decided to ask the lounge agents, who confirmed that it was down until 15:00. So I read a bit in the papers. Time passed quickly. As boarding time had come, I headed down for gate A 83b which was close the stairs to the Senator Lounge.
Boarding had already started, but since it was a bus gate, it did not matter. There were not many passengers on this flight and so we did not had to wait long and were driven to the waiting plane.
01 January 2010
DUS – ZRH
[Düsseldorf International – Zurich Kloten]
LH 3760 (Eurowings); CRJ 200 (D-ACRI)
Gate A 83b
07:25 – 08:35 [effective 07:21 – 08:34]
Business Class
Seat 02 A
Hand luggage was collected prior to boarding and I was the last passenger, who boarded the plane.
I was greeted by one of the two flight attendants as I entered the plane and took my seat at the second row.
The safety demonstration was done while we were still on the tarmac and soon we were pushed back. The captain welcomed us also on board and told us we had to be de-iced which would need approximately 10 minutes. We pushed back a bit ahead of schedule and rolled to the de-icing and soon later were on our way to the runway. At 07:38 it was finally our turn and we accelerated and climbed into the sky. After five minutes the seat belt signs were turned off the crew began to prepare the inflight service which started five minutes later. I skipped the breakfast service, a Bircher-Müsli was served in Business and a sandwich in Economy for those who care about these details. However, I opted for a coffee and a water and was offered a refill later. The crew was okay, not overwhelming friendly but at least they were not turning away while talking with the passengers. I read in the January Issue of the Lufthansa inflight magazine and the paper I brought with me from the Senator Lounge in Düsseldorf.
Later the flight attendants collected the items from the beverage service.
Around 08:00 the captain updated us with flight time and the weather conditions in Zurich. The flight was uneventful and we touched down at 08:29 and had a bus gate, where we arrived five minutes later after we crossed the other runway. A bus brought us to the main terminal.