LH 174 Frankfurt - Berlin
Michael and I arrived at Frankfurt Airport at about 5:30 CET after some problems with the "Deutsche Bahn". First we went to Lufthansa's Check-In aera, which is huge in Franfurt because this airport is Lufthansa's biggest hub. We got our boarding cards very quickly, because the check-in area was empty. After receiving the tickets, we started our business day with shooting the first scenes for our flight reviews and after that we went to the security check. I past the check without problems but one of the security agents had a problem with Michael's keychains. He thought it was a knife although it was a keychain of Dubai's Burj al Arab. When he finally got through, we went to the Duty-Free area at Terminal 1. Frankfurt has a large variety of everything (alcohol, cigarettes, toys, souveniers, etc.).
Our second stop was the big waypoint behind the Duty-Free. From there you get to every gate at T1 and we decided to shoot a timelapse while talking a bit and after ten minutes we went off to our gate. At this day it was A50. A quick sidenote: A50 was also the gate where the first A350-900 for Lufthansa docked on when visiting Frankfurt in February.
Instead of a brandnew A350, our aircraft already parked there: A Boeing 747-400 with the registration D-ABVO and named after a city in Nord Rhine-Westphalia, "Mühlheim an der Ruhr". A friend of mine flew with this aircraft back in 2013 from Brazil to Frankfurt.
As we took some photos, the first catering trucks arrived. We decided to walk a little bit through the new A-Plus Terminal. In this Terminal you can find a Lego-Store, restaurants, a smoking area and a gaming room with four XBOX One, where you can play Forza and much more.
Back at the gate we sat down and after a few minutes the gate agents arrived. Michael and I went to the gate desk and asked if we can board the aircraft first to not film any passengers.
After another waiting time of about 20 minutes, Lufthansa flight 174 to Berlin Tegel was ready for boarding. So we boarded the plane along with the business class passengers.
As we walked down the jetway and into the aircraft, there was no flight attendent welcoming us. One stewardess was dressing up when we boarded the plane and another two talked. I know that the first passengers were only business class passengers but in my opinion there is no point that no flight attendent waits at the door. As we walked down the aisle, one stewardess saw us and "ran" to us to tell Michael and me very unfriendly that we aren't allowed to film passengers and personal onboard.
With the pushback we began the journey to Berlin. Out of the windows we saw three Lufthansa A380 parked alongside. Then the pilots lowered the flaps and with absolutely no thrust we started to taxi and welcomed Lufthansa's "Siegerflieger", a Boeing 747-8 with the registration D-ABYI which landed some minutes ago. After we lined up runway 25C, I saw another special livery airplane of Air China standing at the gate. With the lowest allowed amount of thrust we took off in Frankfurt and climbed towards Berlin.
Shortly after takeoff we received a beverage and a Corny. Then I talked a bit to Michael and explored the IFE. For an aircraft that old it was a very solid IFE but when you compare the IFE built in Lufthansa's 747 which is LH's newest IFE system to other airlines like Emirates or Etihad, it looks like garbage. Next to the display there is a headphone jack and a USB plug located. I was totally fascinated by the precision of the GPS system which showed us passengers the exact position of the aircraft. Lufthansa did a great job with it, not only with the precision but also with the camera rides (cockpit view e.c.).
Unfortunately we didn't see the sky during this flight although we climbed to 31.000 feet. We literally stayed there about two minutes before we began the descent to Berlin. Like in Frankfurt the weather wasn't the best.
During the descent, a flight attendent came to my seat and asked me what I was doing there. He saw my suction cup to hold my cellphone for the wingview shots and I told him what I did. This steward was the only friendly flight attendent on board I met.
We did a very fast approach into Berlin Tegel but the landing on runway 08L was wonderful. Because the 747 is an so massive aircraft we needed to taxi to the very end of the runway and we even needed a Follow-Me escort to the stand.
All passengers were escorted by bus to the terminal where we had to leave the transit area to get to our flight back to Frankfurt.
