LHR-FRA-AMM with Lufthansa

Left Heathrow on LH 4733 on Dec. 23 at 17:00 bound for Frankfurt. Airport was very very busy but queues at check in desk and passport control moved reasonably fast. I was expecting an A320 for the Frankfurt leg of the journey and was very pleased to see that we were flying on an A300-600. It was my first time on this type and I was impressed; nice aircraft, if noisier than later Airbus models. The plane was more or less full but we left on time and arrived early. A bit of a hard landing at FRA which provided more amusement than concern for everyone.

90 minutes later I departed aboard an A320 on flight LH3510 bound for Amman. Again we left on time and arrived slightly early. Nothing to remark on this flight other than I had without doubt the best ever meal I have been served on economy class anywhere. An absolutely delicious chicken and sauce plate with salad and all the usual side bites. Not very big as you would expect, but very very tasty. I was surprised to see that we were handed real cutlery on the flight, as opposed to the plastic jobs that have become customary after 9/11.

In addition to the 3 Iraqi 727s parked indefinitely at Queen Alia there was an Iraqi 767 that is apparently used regularly for the Amman-Baghdad route. Sadly it was far away from my position and it was dark so photos were out of the question.

Returned on LH3511 on Dec. 28 at 3:05 on an A320. The meal didn’t quite measure up to the previous experience sadly. Being 3 in the morning we were given a breakfast meal (omelette, fruit, yogurt) but I still got my glass of red wine to wash it all down. No real cutlery either- back to plastic.

Arrived on time at FRA and departed on my final leg 50 minutes later, at 8:10 a.m. on LH4722. I was pleased to see they were using the A300 again. There was a bit of excitement on this flight as seconds after rotating the captain called out on the crew to check the toilets as a smoke alarm had been set off. The stewardesses quickly left their seats and checked all the toilets, all still while we were steeply climbing and a few passengers watched with concerned faces. It all turned to be a false alarm and the flight proceeded normally. There weren’t as many people aboard and I managed to get the four sets in the middle all for myself and lay down for a proper nap- the first time I get to do this. Shame it wasn’t a long haul flight!

In all a pleasant trip with the odd unusual bit (first time on an A300, very nice meal, real cutlery, smoke alarm ‘drama’ 😉 to keep me amused. Have signed up for LH’s ‘miles and more’ programme as well- might as well save up the 3,500 odd miles one gets awarded for it.