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ameya

The pictures can be seen on the blog Link to blog

Having made our way to gate Z58 clearing security from the regular lane, since the flight did not yet feature on the fast lane yet, we were 10 mins away from boarding time, still ample to click some pictures and the first obviously was to be of our ride to MEX. As I neared the glass, I was stunned and surprised to see “Fanhansa“at the gate! The same one which ferried the winning German football team from Brazil to Germany.

Boarding started late, long lines were formed, and soon we were settled on our seats. The pilot came on PA to announce that we would wait for connecting passengers and the FA around said that 30 seats are empty as we hoped the one between my colleague and me is one of those 30. Also onboard was the Mexican youth Olympic team which got a rousing welcome at MEX.

Soon doors were closed as we awaited information, the pilot came on PA and said that we have lost our slot & the next one could be an hour away and that he would brief us later, which he did, saying that we are now scheduled for push back at 1420 local time. The crew sprang into action, starting with water and juice and later distributing immigration forms to keep the passengers occupied.

The entire bank of flights on both sides left as we waited and waited some more. Finally the engines came to life as we pushed back and made our way to take off from runway 18.

The flight was uneventful except for the grouse I have that the flight info wasn’t working for the entire duration & the Indian audio channel was missing on this flight, there was none. A drinks run, in which I opted for Finlanda, along with the meal – Ravioli, followed by another one 4 hours later which was a tea coffee juice and biscuits and then another one - light snacks with drinks.

All along juice and water was available in the galley and crew helpful to offer some light snacks as and when somebody asked for it.

We overflew the ocean all along and descent started as soon as there was landfall over Mexico. The weather changed for the worst as we neared MEX and amidst clouds, we banked multiple times to land on runway 05R at Benito Juarez International Airport, Mexico City followed by a long taxi back to our gate.

There were long lines for immigration after a long walk, but immigration process was fast and hassle free. My US visa was checked and the number noted down on the form, along with questions like “How long in Mexico?” , “Business or Tourism?” nothing else was asked.

Baggage was already rolling on the belt and we proceeded to customs, which was a total lucky draw and here is why I say so. There was a button and two lights above that, Red and Green and each person had to press the button, if the red light glows, you go ahead and put your baggage in the scanner and wait for officers who would ask you to open baggage and if it’s green, you just walk off. In case of my colleague and me, it was green. But looks like Mexico believes more on statistics to find out who is evading customs duty!

Mexico City airport has two terminals, and we were at Terminal 2. Our next flight was from Terminal 1 but the day after and we made a long walk to our shuttle which was to come at Gate 4 and checked in at Ramada Aeropuerto which gave me a room with a view of the airport!

I got up to a view of A320s lined up for takeoff and a lot of new airlines – Interjet, Viva Aerobus, Volaris, Iberia, AeroMexico and the standard ones American Airlines, DHL, Delta, United amongst others.

The dinner was a challenge, due to language but we got Quesadillas, and the breakfast which I thought would not be a challenge turned out to be a challenge too.

Flight Summary
Aircraft Registration: D-ABYI Named Potsdam
B747-800, MSN 37833, delivered to Lufthansa in May 2013

STD/ATD: 1325/1425
STA/ATA: 1825/1835
(All times local)

On-Time: 3/5
Website &Check-in: 5/5
Check-in & airport experience: 3/5 (Boarding needed better management)
Aircraft Cleanliness: 4/5
In-flight experience: 3/5 (Flight Info not working)
Food: 5/5
Alighting & Arrival experience: 4/5
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jbalonso777 · Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2014 8:38 pm Post subject:

Great second part, Ameya sir!
Boy, the B747 does look beautiful!
Lucky you with the Fanhansa 747!
Nice to see the SQ A380 at FRA! Wink

Meal looks a bit underwhelming to be honest, I mean, even UL serves a much larger tray with more contents on a flight which is of the same length, if not, a bit shorter...

Looking forward to the rest!

Regards
Jish
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ameya · Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2014 8:46 pm Post subject:

stealthpilot · Member Joined: 19 Dec 2006 Posts: 2325 Location: BLR, DXB

The 748 she is good looking!

How was the food? On a 12 hour trip I would hope for 2 meals not a light snack service.
How was the 748 experience? Was it noticeably quieter than the 744/343? Guess you'll answer that soon .....

Edit - I demand pictures of the Iberia 346 at MEX!!!
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ameya · Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2014 9:08 pm Post subject:

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

Wow Ameya Sir, in my quest to complete my backlogs of TRs to read, you keep teasing us with your latest TRs, fresh from the oven! Thanks for a lovely part 2. I might have postponed my reply to after I go through your Ladakh TRs, but I got stuck reading some part of your TR. And held on, rivetted.
- The 1500th 747 is an LH B748 D-ABYP, which coincidentally, pushed in right next to us at ORD's T5 (Int'l) as I was seated in seat 50K on VT-ALQ `Manipur', and this was just a few day back 31 Aug 2014. I was on AI 126, with a full Economy class once again, going back to Delhi. I got some nice close-ups of D-ABYP from inside `Manipur'.
- Nice contrails around the engine: nice shot!
- The food looked quite nice to me. Galleys with solid food and not jus tjouce and water: I got some nice quick bites on my flight AI 127 DEL-ORD 25 Aug 2014 on `Odisha'.
- Finlandia: a nice vodka Smile

Air India too serves this.
- What about spotting at MEX, more so, from your hotel? I am sure this will be coming for us, in Part 3.
Cheers, Sumantra.

ameya · Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2014 12:24 am Post subject:

Nimish · Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2014 12:09 pm Post subject:

Great TR Ameya - and glad that the delay did not impact your connection too much.

Folks - the food on LH has always been good, and they typically end up with always having the delicious (pictured) vegetarian pasta as an option on the trans-Atlantic leg. So even if you don't book the AVML - there's a good chance that the flight will anyway have 1 veg option even in Y. On the typical trans-Atlantic leg - you get fed enough by LH - though the meals look small, they're quite filling (probably lots of butter and cheese in that pasta Sad

). In addition LH offers the following as mid-flight snacks - not just are they left in the galley for your picking, the crew also do a walk through the aisle once and hand them out.

I've got multiple variants of the Milka chocolate over the years - they are delicious! Sometimes there are cookies as well. This snack does require you to walk over to galley and it's self service for most of the time.
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sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

Hmm...Milka. I remember Papa getting quite a few Milka bars from the then Czechoslovakia when he visited Prague on an official trip in the early 1980s. I did not know about its origins, but a casual read on the Wiki page confirmed that it was indeed produced in Bratislava.
Cheers, Sumantra.

ameya · Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2014 4:41 pm Post subject:

I shall keep a watch on the galley and milka on the return leg from dallas
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Nimish · Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2014 5:06 pm Post subject:

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

sri_bom · Member Joined: 22 Dec 2006 Posts: 2365 Location: Singapore

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi