Trip Report: Lufthansa Business MLA-FRA

Malta For A Song

More from this series:

• Trip Report: Lufthansa First to Europe, part one
• Trip Report: Lufthansa First to Europe including the First Class Terminal, part two
• Trip Report: InterContinental Malta
• Trip Report: Six days in Malta
• Trip Report: Lufthansa Business MLA-FRA
• Trip Report: InterContinental Frankfurt and a fun evening
• Trip Report: Lufthansa First to the US with some twists and turns (and attitude)

We decided to take the hotel car to the airport, which was 21 Euro, the same price as a cab. It actually looks just like a cab (even says “Taxi” on it), but it apparently belongs to the hotel. While the ride to the hotel took about 25 minutes, the ride to the airport took only ten minutes. This guy was going well over 150km/hour at times, and we weren’t driving on anything even remotely like an Autobahn.

We proceeded to check-in, where there was one person in front of us. The agent was able to check me in all the way to TPA, and it was nice to be passenger “001” for the 747 that would be taking us to EWR the next afternoon.

Check-in

We got lounge invitations and proceeded upstairs to the departures hall, which surprisingly enough wasn’t even as nice as DPS, in Bali! It wasn’t awful or anything, but was far from nice.

Departures Hall

There are no gates at the airport so the departures area is pretty small since all of the “gates” are basically right next to each other, just big enough for a few buses to pull up.

The lounge, “La Valette Executive Lounge,” is contracted by all airlines that have lounge needs, including Emirates.

Entrance to the lounge

The lounge was surprisingly nice, actually, considering the modest entrance. It was large and was still empty when we arrived. There was tons of seating and while there was no gourmet buffet, it had a decent beverage and snack selection. Apparently there’s free Wi-Fi, although I had a tough time connecting.

Lounge seating

Drinks

More “local” snacks

“Quiet Room”

As we were in the lounge I realized that we didn’t have seats next to each other, so we headed to the gate to try and change that. There weren’t any agents there yet, so I proceeded back to the lounge. My brother and I both left the lounge about 10 minutes prior to scheduled boarding yet again, at which point there still wasn’t an agent there. One finally got there about five minutes before scheduled boarding, although as it turned out the flight was 15 minutes late, so all was good.

They were able to assign us seats together in row three, which was fine by us.

Eventually the door opened and without so much as an announcement, boarding began. There was no boarding by seating areas, rows, etc., but rather a free for all. I had warned my brother about boarding for LH flights, especially at contracted stations, and he was still shocked when he saw this. We were in no rush so stayed to the back of the “pack,” since we really weren’t that interested in joining the stampede.

We boarded the bus (and as it turned out were right by the door, which was convenient), and a short ride later made it to the Lufthansa A320, where the ground crew was just waiting for clearance from the flight crew to let us board. After a couple minutes longer the second stampede began, this time up the air stairs.

LH4129, MLA-FRA, 1340-1620

Boarding was efficient (no surprise when people won’t stop pushing and shoving), and we quickly pushed back. We taxied to the runway, held short, and then back taxied to the end of the runway, at which point we rocketed off.

Emirates 777

The seatbelt sign was turned off shortly after takeoff, and service quickly began. The purser on this flight was friendly, efficient, and had a great attitude. Throughout the flight she addressed me by the wrong name, and it cracked me up. While addressing someone by the wrong name isn’t all that rare, the funny part was the frequency with which she addressed me by it. The name she addressed me by was that of the American guy sitting across from me, so we kept exchanging chuckles. It got to the point where I almost burst out in laughter every time the FA addressed me, although she didn’t catch on and I didn’t feel the need to tell her.

Scenery on departure

Once we leveled off the service began, starting with beverages. I went with a Diet Coke, and as always, Macadamia nuts came with it.

Cola Light and nuts

By the time she got to our row (C only had three rows on this flight) there was only one beef option, which I took, while my brother went with the duck. It was a pretty good meal all around.

My lunch

My brother’s lunch

We were curious what exactly was on the salad (that cheese-looking thing), so asked the FA. She gave us the funniest response which I can’t do justice to in writing or in English for that matter, but was basically along the lines of “well, I’d love to know too, Malta catering never tells us what exactly we’re getting, so it’s a mystery.” She always had a few jokes, and was one of the best FA’s I’ve had.

The flight flew by (no pun intended), and before we knew it we were already on approach into FRA, having made up the 15 minutes we lost due to the late departure.

We got into gate A28, which is quite a haul… gotta love FRA!

We headed to the train station to get to our hotel, the InterContinental, and prepared for a trip to Wiesbaden to meet our relatives.