Last month I had to travel to India on short notice. I had to arrange a transit visa too. UK, France, Italy all took upto 2 weeks to grant the visa and I would have had to go to New York to get it. After some research, I found out that Germany had an Embassy in Boston and they would issue the Transit Visa in an hour. I booked my ticket on Lufthansa and went to the Embassy with my documents. There was one other person waiting for a visa! It took me all of 10 minutes to get the Transit visa. If only all Embassies in India issued visas so promptly.
The departure time from Boston was 9:50 PM. I checked in around 7 PM. There were only a handful of people in the queue. After a few minutes a Lufthansa dude came over and started requesting people in the queue if they would forfeit their ticket for that day’s flight and instead take the next day’s flight. It seemed that they were overbooked for that day. Lufthansa would provide the ticket and also give 700 Euros in cash and hotel accommodation in Boston. I was tempted but the thought crossed my mind, living in these troubled times, if something happens to my flight it better be on the one I was originally booked! I mention this just to remind myself that next time I’m taking up the offer! Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
The check-in was a breeze and the lady at the counter was very cordial. When I entered the plane there was a stewardess with a pleasant smile greeting me with a Hello and directing me to my seat. I did get to stow my cabin baggage just above my seat, which was a surprise as I was one of the last to board the plane and sometimes you can have problems finding that little space for your bag.
The plane took off on schedule. By the time Dinner was served around 11 PM I was famished as I had only a light snack before leaving home. There was a choice of Veg and Non-Veg. I dug into the chicken and salad with gusto. It did taste very good although not remotely close to our chicken curry. I settled down to get my eight hours of beauty sleep. There was enough legroom and the seat was pretty comfy, albeit with a pillow and blanket to cushion the uncomfortable edges.
There were enough rest rooms and all of them very clean. No overfilling toilets on this flight. Each seat had it own audio console with 12 different channels ranging from the Blues to Indian music depending on the sector. The Video monitors were strategically placed all over the aircraft so that we didn’t have to crane our neck to watch it.
The stewardess were every efficient and went about their duties with a friendly smile. You could ask for a Coke or water at any odd time without them jumping on you.
After a three hour stop in Frankfurt the flight to Mumbai took off at the scheduled time. We did get to eat Indian meals and watch Swades. It was interesting to watch the non-Indian passengers engrossed and seemingly enjoying the movie.
On my return flight, the departure from Mumbai was at 2:50 AM. I reached the Airport before 11 PM and was pleasantly surprised to see that the counters were already open. Here I got my first taste of bad service. The lady at the counter was Indian but her attitude was like she was doing me a favour by letting me on the plane. No courtesy smile and a brusque manner. When I asked if I could have an aisle seat, she said that the flight was already full. What has that got to do with anything? I was one of the first who checked in and I could request for my seat. She weighed my carry on baggage and told me that it was over the weight specifications and that I would have to check it in. I told her that my bag weighed inside 10 kgs. She was adamant and I pointed out that I didn’t have any other bag with me to carry my documents. Finally she relented and said that when I boarded the flight the bag might be taken from me to be checked in. To be on the safe side I went to the nearest kiosk and bought a bag and kept it with me in case I needed it. No one took a second glance at me and I boarded the flight with my bag without incident. The rest of the journey was uneventful and comfortable.
Frankfurt airport is as good as any other European airport I guess. One thing, which I noticed, was that there were not enough seats for the transit passengers. Many of them were just sitting on the floor.
On my return to Boston I realized that one of my bags was opened by security in Frankfurt as they found a ‘suspicious object’… It was a grinding machine! They did put a note saying that my luggage was opened and everything was found to be normal. I suppose nowadays you cannot take chances with security.
Overall I would recommend Lufthansa. I have flown KLM, Delta and Kuwait Airways but Lufthansa tops them all.
Service – 9/10
Entertainment – 8/10
Quality of food – 8.5/10
Punctuality – 9/10
Comfort – 8/10
Overall rating - 8.5/10