PART 1: LH441 (IAH-FRA)
Quick disclaimer: Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, I don’t advise anyone to travel unless it’s for work or other essential purposes. Between the time I went on this flight and the long journey from Doha, I have not been anywhere outside the state of Texas or in any plane. As my family has gotten a job position in Switzerland, I made an essential journey. Don’t be the kind of person who takes advantage of empty flights/better deals, but if you must travel, this post contains tips to make sure you feel protected on the journey, as well as a personal insight so you can get an idea of what flying is like in the midst of the pandemic.
Honest Review+COVID-19 Precautions
August 2020
It has been a while since I’ve flown in a plane. In fact, I didn’t fly in any planes since I arrived in Houston with Qatar Airways back in March. This whole time I have been mostly staying at home and monitoring the situation with the pandemic, but I never expected it to get this bad.
I don’t want to get off topic, but so much has changed that my flight experience was actually very different than it was when I flew to the United States. As I am writing this, I am in a strict quarantine where I can’t even leave my apartment for 10 days. It is crazy how things escalated and how many changes there were to flying in the span of a few months. But before I begin my flight, lets start with the empty airport in Houston.
This is the Lufthansa check in area at George Bush Intercontinental. As you can see, it is very empty.
There were no lines at all in the security since the terminal was practically empty. Although this is nice, I strongly do not advise anyone to take advantage of the short lines at the airport!
Shown in the photo on the right is the plane that took me to Frankfurt, an Airbus A330-300 (D-AIKL). What a shame! This flight used to be in an A380, the most comfortable and spacious plane ever. But the pandemic has accelerated the economical flaw of the world’s largest passenger jet. The A330 has given me some unpleasant flight experiences. I once flew one of these to Washington and it was obnoxiously loud and felt really old, so I wasn’t really excited for this flight. At the same time, It’s been a while since I’ve flown Lufthansa. And it wasn’t long until I noticed a slight change over the years…
Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of the interior of the plane, although this will be shown in the video. It appeared that they refurbished the seats a bit. The seats in Lufthansa used to have yellow at the top, but the new ones are just grey and slightly thicker. The TV screens are much bigger, but is the entertainment better? Find out soon.
I was assigned to one of the middle seats but it wasn’t long until boarding was complete and there were a few empty windows. I switched to a window seat and I was very surprised with how good the legroom was! The seat itself was decently comfy, (although I was definately spoiled with Qatar’s regular economy and KLM’s economy comfort!). I also noticed that there was no magazine, just a safety card and puke bag, the very basics. I had no problem with this but I am wondering if that was supposed to be a covid precaution.
Upon boarding, the crew handed out personal handwipes and a large enough bottle of water to last the entire flight with minimal service. That was a big plus because not many airlines do this and it is very efficient. Almost everyone was using their wipes to clean all surfaces that were never cleaned before the pandemic. And for anyone flying at any time, especially now, I reccomend you do the same just to be on the safe side. Because it sucks to be on a flight with the stench of (you probably know what I’m talking about)
Soon enough, we were taking off and the journey began. The first few hours were a bit uneventful other than dinner, which I opted out of. I wasn’t hungry and I hate mac and cheese anyway. I tried to go to sleep but for some reason it was impossible. It would have helped If I could get the same playlist that I got on pretty much every other flight, but the IFE of this plane was very limited. I have to say I was pretty disappointed with the entertainment on board in terms of content. Even though the screens were larger, there wasn’t a whole lot of content, especially the albums that I’m used to finding. I did watch The Art of Racing in the Rain, which I strongly recommend.
I also took a walk around the cabin and restrooms. Although I never showed it, the plane didn’t have restrooms in the rear. There was a huge one on one side, but on the other side it was tiny which I thought was very strange. Regardless, I was impressed by how clean the restrooms were. (I’d assume it’s because of the pandemic).
As the flight went on, I was getting a bit restless and starting to have a headache. I thought it was just me being tired but then I started feeling a bit nauseated. I thought that was a bit odd because I never feel sick in planes. However, I wasn’t convinced that it was a COVID infection from previous exposure. The headache turned unbearable but at some point it all mysteriously vanished. I’m not sure what that was, but I would’ve really enjoyed the flight if I were to be feeling fine the whole time. Luckily I was able to get a good few hours of sleep. When I woke up, it was morning and the sun was just barely setting.
On the right is what my view looked like. In the cabin, most of the lights were off so If I wouldn’t have opened the window I would’ve thought it was still night time! (This was to ensure the best sleep onboard). But when it was time to eat, the lights came back on and I was served a fruit salad with a cold veggie sandwich. I thought the food tasted good, but it felt a bit awkward that I got something cold instead of a fresh hot meal.
It wasn’t long after that when I heard an announcement that LH441 would start its decent into Frankfurt. And before I knew it, we were landing. The flight went by quickly although it was almost 10 hours (9 hours and 50 minutes to be exact).
Upon touchdown in Frankfurt, the first thing I noticed was that the runway I used to take off on every other flight out of this airport was completely closed. It was strange seeing what was once the active runway, now empty with signs and airport vehicles blocking both ends. You may have heard that most airlines are retiring some (or all) of their A380s, including Lufthansa, which was set to retire them in 2022. But with the combination of the already present economic challenges and the current demand for air travel, this process has been accelerated. It was strange seeing no A380s at the gates, not even from Emirates. I did see some at the hangars that looked like they had reached the end of their service life. However, the 747-8 was still operating at some of the gates, which I found very surprising.
In addition, I noticed that all of the planes at terminal Z were small planes like A320s. It used to be where all the A380s, Jumbo Jets, A340-600s, and many other huge planes would park. Instead the 747s were at terminal A. The airport was of course much less active than ever before. At this point I was still inside the plane but I was about to get off.
One thing that I really liked about this flight was that deplaning was set in stages. The crew would call certain rows to exit and passengers would have to wait to be called. That way, social distancing was very easy while deplaning. (It sounds weird saying this, right?) Well to be honest, I wish every airline would do this, not just during the pandemic. At any time I would rather not be crammed in the back of the plane for several minutes. Now that the flight was finished, I am going to sum up my final thoughts in a list below.
My next flight of this journey was in a Swiss A220 to Geneva. In case you haven’t seen it yet, I have flown in an A220 from Air Tanzania. Obviously, the quality in Swiss does not compare to that of Air Tanzania, but regardless of that the A220 is a comfortable plane. Also, I have a video of this flight from Houston which will be attached to this post. Unfortunately I was too tired to make another video of the second flight. Scroll down if you want to see part 2 of my Journey! Meanwhile, be sure to follow my Facebook and Instagram.
Rating for LH441
- Inflight Service: 4.5 stars (Amazing!)
- seat comfort: 3.5 stars (pretty good)
- Legroom: 4 stars (Excellent!)
- cabin cleanliness (including restrooms): 4 stars (pretty dang clean!)
- IFE (content): 2 stars (dissapointing)
- IFE (overall): 3 stars (could be improved)
- Crew: very friendly!
- BONUS- COVID-19 PREVENTION: 5 stars (Great job!)
- OVERALL EXPERIENCE:
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