YYZ-FRA (BUD-STT, FRA-YYZ to follow)

Title should be STR
Hello, haven’t been on here for a while. From Toronto and thought I’d post my most recent trip over the holiday to Germany, Prague and Budapest (though no flying through Prague).

YYZ-FRA
AC773
23/12/2008

My 17:30 flight from Toronto’s International pier, my first departure from the modern and spacious arm of the new structure, was delayed by 90 minutes to due heavy snow fall and de-icing. The aircaft had been sitting for some time during the day and accummulated a fair amount of buildup on the wings. Our aircraft actually taxied to the north west end of the airport before backtracking to Toronto’s substantial de-icing facitily. This circumvation was likely due to heavy traffic on the de-icing stands. It was very neat to read the “stop”, “hold” and “go” illumination to the pilot on the de-icing tarmac. An old B742F was resting next to us undergoing the same, though more time consuming, procedure. On our final taxi to the threshold we passed LH’s 340, on-time-argh, proceding to follow us after our take-out and subsequent ocean crossing. The take-off role was relatively short, about 3/5 of the runway, due to the powerful engines, as anyone who knows this route can testify the AC physically puts meaning into the term “heavy”. Two substantial right banks put us on course for eastern Canada and the Atlantic.

AC’s 773 is a well appointed machine. The new inflight service is definitely an upgrade. The seats are quite comfortable and entertainment system is current, easy to use and plentiful. The meals, dinner followed by breakfast, were quite tasty and hot. A particular feature I enjoyed was the changing colours of the lighting system, meant, I assume, to simulate a sunrise. Very nice.

As we were late leaving, we were late arriving over Europe, and thus got to see the sunrise, awesome. There was a far bit of traffic both above and below us, which made for consistent spotting into Frankfurt’s airspace. We banked left and right quite often, proving the wide-bodies agility, and the captain advised we would hold for 15 minutes as we asked to slow down to compensate for slightly worsening conditions at FRA. In short order we began our final surge to FRA’s 25R.

Our slow down was quite rapid and exited with what looked like a fair amount of runway to spare. We made a 180 and backtracked to the terminal, which was under construction.

Aircraft: 9/10
Service: 8/10
FRA: 6/10 (very dated_
YYZ: 8/10
AC:8/10 economy class.