LHR-FRA-MNL

I hope this is not too long to post,if it isn’t,then I hope its of interest!
3 December. Drove up to LHR from IOW leaving car in prepaid car park(APH).Cost for 26 days was £99, if we had not prebooked it would have been £286.Courtesy bus arrived promptly and we were at T2 with plenty of time in hand before our 1805 departure to FRA. Time indeed for a drink and some food in Weatherspoons eaten with plastic cutlery.(apologies from Weatherspoons, but this necessary for “security reasons”). Very commendable, except that,as we found out later, Lufthansa provide METAL cultery with their in flight meals.
The aircraft for the flight was A300-600 D-AIAT “Bottrup”. Now, everybody to their own opinion, but I really like the impression of light and roominess when I step into one of these, and in this case it appeared very new. But thats just an impression of newness, isn’t it? D-AIAT,ex F-WWAM is actually eleven years old. Well it certainly looked good to me.
Our flight time was estimated at 55 minutes, and in that time the cabin staff gave us a snack (choice of roll), and got around twice with the drinks trolley. Well done.
Arriving at FRA just a few minutes after schedule,we only had an hour or so before our next leg to MNL via BKK. Our luggage had been checked through so we had no hassle with that, but for peace of mind made sure before boarding that the bags had actually been transferred onto the aircraft for the next leg.
We boarded the 747-400 “Munchen” in good time and made our way to our seats including the windowless window seat (27K). Now, at this stage I had to commiserate with my wife who always wants a window seat because she tends to feel claustrophobic. I was actually well prepared for this because I had already realised. Thing was, when I reserved our seats through Lufthansa, I had worked out a choice of rows, but they were all “blocked” so I eventually accepted Row 27,thankful at least that we (three of us ) would at least be sitting together,and I saw nothing on the seating plan to suggest that there was no window.
Later on, however, having found a very nice picture of a Lufthansa 747-400 and set it as my desktop, I noticed that there were some windows missing! A little comparison between the photo and the seating plan soon revealed that one of the missing windows was in Row 27. So be warned. What IS good however is Row 26 – it has two windows.
Apart from this, the general impression of the aircraft was very good, indicating that Lufthansa Technik do exactly what you would expect from a German service company. Seat pitch is said to be 32″ and I would not argue with that. Seats by “Recaro”.
We were well looked after, fed and watered by the cabin staff on the 10 hours plus sector to BKK (there is cognac and other liquers on that after dinner trolley, but you have to ask!) Eventually arrived about 30 mins after schedule.
We were able to leave the aircraft during its planned one hour stop and had a wander through the very pleasant terminal with plenty of shops, etc. It was our first time here and we liked what we found. I do wonder however, how many pax get “lost” , leading to departure delays. Presumably the little “Condor” stickers attached to our clothing were to enable the ground staff to identify us during the panic search before delayed take off!
Back safely aboard however, we departed for MNL, the flight taking 2hr40mins with a snack served en route,arriving at NAIA about 30 minutes late.
All in all, a totally acceptable experience in what gave the impression as a well run,well flown,well maintained aircraft.(and excuse me if that sounds pompous or patronising – I’m just trying to sum up my feelings about the flight).
Into the Terminal, still the old one, the new one is completed but not yet opened as there seems to be some dispute over who it belongs to.All the luggage arrived in a short time with no damage, even to the “Fragile” package which came up out of the depths with everything else – which is a pretty interesting mixture when Philippino’s are going home for Christmas.
Luggage carts are now free at Manila,Yes, you used to have to pay for them on arrival, and we filled out our immigration forms (automatic free 21 day visa on entry), and made our way through Customs – no hassle, and in five trips there never has been.
Now, normally we would stay in Manila for a night or so, and then take the PAL A330 for the 55min trip down to Puerto Princesa (PPS) Palawan, which was our final destination. But this time we made the trip by Ferry, and thats another story all together!
Part Two(!) PPS-MNL-BKK-FRA-LHR follows later.