BRU-FRA-BRU with LH (9 May 05): in business for EUR30 more

Post by **sn26567** » 10 May 2005, 09:54

Thanks to a company policy that allows travel in business class if the price is not more than 5% over economy and thanks also to the outrageous prices of Lufthansa on BRU-FRA, I travelled on a business ticket at no less than €732.71 (flexible economy would have been some €702). I was booked on LH4593, etd 7:05.

I arrived at the airport parking at 6:20. The queues at the check-in desks at Brussels airport were very long everywhere, especially for Virgin Express whose passengers were filling half of the main departure hall. I quickly decided for an automatic check-in machine. From the 30 seats in business class, only 2 aisle seats were still free. I selected 5D. Than started the long walk to gate A61. The queue at the baggage scanner was immense. It took 15 minutes to get through. When I arrived there, boarding was almost completed. I sat in my seat at 6:55. The plane, a Boeing 737-300 registered D-ABEA, had arrived in Brussels the night before. The load factor was 100% (so why decrease the price?). Seating in business was 2-2, normal 3-3 seat configuration with the middle seat always empty; the Recaro seats could be changed to a wider 3-2 configuration, but this had not been done.

D-ABEA landing in Frankfurt on 25R: large image

We left the gate 10 minutes because of late passengers (the queues!). Take-off from 25R was delayed a further 5 minutes by ... a queue. Service started soon after take-off. Not less than 3 stewards were serving in business. The breakfast consisted of a fruit salad (melon and strawberries), a camembert sandwich, a chocolate muffin and a Kelloggs Frosties cereal bar. As for drinks, I asked for orange juice (in a glass) and coffee (in a plastic cup); the fork, knife and spoon were also plastic (not really business-like). Arrival in Frankfurt was 10 minutes late at 8:15. The plane docked at Gate A42, the farthest away in Terminal 1A, which meant a 15 minute walk over more than one km (you can check!) to get out of the airport.

For the return flight I was booked on LH4586, etd 17:00, also a Boeing 737-300. However, I arrived early at the airport, and my business class ticket allowed me to change to the earlier flight (only 40 minutes earlier: the LH monopoly has made it a policy to gridlock all slots to Brussels at every time of the day, in order to block any possible competition). I thus tried to change my ticket on an automatic machine. It did not work: the machine swallowed my LH FF card. I had to call a supervisor to open the machine and retrieve my card. I than went to a ticket counter, where a friendly lady changed my reservations to LH4586, a Boeing 737-500 registered D-ABIA, etd 16:20. I got seat 3A. I had again to walk 15 minutes through the whole length of terminal 1A to gate A40. I had my daily dose of exercise today...

D-ABIA taxiing in Frankfurt: large image

Business class was pretty full, with some 16 people for 18 seats. Seating was the same 2-2 as in the morning flight, normal 3-3 seat configuration with the middle seat always empty. Take-off was on time. A snack was served: a vegetable salad, a veal sandwich and strawberries. With that I had a glass of white wine served from the bottle and a glass of still water. The glasses were in glass, but the cutlery was plastic again. Service by 2 stewardesses was smiling.

After landing on 25L, arrival at the gate in Brussels was 5 minutes early. Although we docked at a gate in Terminal A, we were bussed to the main building, which was nice because it avoids walking through half of the Terminal and the endless tunnel from terminal A to the main building. A notice in the main building said that all passengers from Munich and Frankfort were transferred that way for 'security reasons'. I wonder which ones, as I did not see any control.

The 30 euros over economy provide some advantages, but is it worth this amount?

Post by **airbuske** » 10 May 2005, 10:20

Thanks for the nice report.

Sad from the LH monopoly

The cheapest solution is if you have time enough
taking the ICE train from Brussels Midi to Frankfurt HBF

Flying via Paris CDG or AMS will cost you +- 270 €

Post by **sn26567** » 10 May 2005, 10:54

airbuske wrote:Flying via Paris CDG or AMS will cost you +- 270 €

Also for a day return?
Anyway, when on a business trip for a meeting starting at 10:00 I don't have time to make a detour...

The ICE? I thought of it, but it is still too long right now. I would have to leave from Brussels Midi at 6:00, and the station is further away from my home than the airport.

Comet · Post by **Comet** » 10 May 2005, 11:21

A snack was served: a vegetable salad, a veal sandwich and strawberries.

Pity more airlines don't serve veal. I love the stuff :fork:

Post by **airbuske** » 10 May 2005, 11:32

sn26567 wrote:
airbuske wrote:Flying via Paris CDG or AMS will cost you +- 270 €
Also for a day return?
Anyway, when on a business trip for a meeting staring at 10:00 I don't have time to make a detour...

No sorry , I didn't think about a day return.
For a day return is LF the cheapest 303 € taxes included.
But only if you book in advance.

And indeed like you said if you have to go via CDG or AMS when your meetings starts at 10:00

And about the ICE.
The train can't ride at full speed in Belgium so it takes 3:30 from Brussels to Frankfurt HBF

B744skipper · Post by **B744skipper** » 10 May 2005, 14:15

Thanks for sharing this great trip report, it's really crazy that one can fly business class for just E30 more then the economy class ticket would cost 8O

Too bad Lufthansa has a monopoly on that route, same was it with KLM on the Amsterdam - Berlin route, KLM also would charge more then E700 (I thought E747) for a days return trip. But luckily Air Berlin flies between both the cities also (since 1st of May), so that monopoly is history.

JetB · Post by **JetB** » 10 May 2005, 14:21

"The queue at the baggage scanner was immense"

Do I smell a privatization ?, and its not even summer..... !

Sabena_690 · Post by **Sabena_690** » 10 May 2005, 15:21

Thanks for the report, André!

Competition would indeed be logic, but who would be able to operate that route, except for LH?

SN would only be able to attract connecting pax at low prices (= low yield), and LH would most probably lower their fares so much that SN also wouldn't be able to attract O&D traffic. And besides all this, their flighttimes would be bad due to slot restrictions at FRA, and they would never be able to offer as much frequencies as LH.

I'm afraid that the LH monopoly is there to stay

Frederic

Post by **sn26567** » 10 May 2005, 17:18

Sabena_690 wrote:I'm afraid that the LH monopoly is there to stay

Also my opinion. LH has secured a schedule of almost one plane per hour in both directions. Anyone wanting to break that monopoly will have an impossible task if he wants to ensure an equal flexibility.

Post by **Apuneger** » 10 May 2005, 18:33

These day such a price is quite high I must say. One can almost travel to the other end of the world for such a fare... Shame on you, LH.

On the other hand, I hva respect for their courage to put such a high price tag to such a short journey. They might have been normal 30 or 40 years ago, but now they are extraordinay for sure. I can only assume the amount of money they're making out of it.

Most of the pax are probably business people anyway, so the company pays it. And, as we all know, it are the enterprises who have the réal money

Ivan

Avro · Post by **Avro** » 10 May 2005, 19:58

Thanks for the nice report André.

It's indeed a pity to see how LH is making so much money out of that position.... But as many others I'm also afraid that the monopoly will stay for a long time to go.

Chris

chrisflyer · Post by **chrisflyer** » 13 May 2005, 15:23

Thanks, André, for depicting once more what complete lack of competition does to a market, and to fares.

The reason for all this is that the network carriers (LH, BA, AF and friends) have pushed the European Commission hard enough not to bother about single route competition any more and instead focus on the 'big picture' of network-wide competition. Airlines/alliances can dominate a single route and simply get away with it. All that for the sake of promoting consolidation.

I remember that, when LH teamed up with SK and OS in the late 1990s, the Commission gave them a hard time over the FRA/CPH, FRA/ARN and FRA/VIE routes. Adria Airways (JP) even had to start service between FRA and VIE before LH/OS would be granted antitrust immunity. This has long gone. The situation we experience today on FRA/BRU is worse than in the most restricted markets regulated by bilateral agreements.

Maybe it's time for someone (SN?) to start service between BRU and FRA? If at all they are able to get slots at LH's home fortress. And if not, maybe it's time they spoke to DG Competition...

Will be continued.

Happy landings,
Chris

Jumbolino · Post by **Jumbolino** » 15 May 2005, 12:45

wha not dba, send them an email with your request, because gexx and dba merged and gexx had some slots in FRA I think all of them are used by now, but maybe it would be a nice decision to add BRU and they are meanwhile a full frill carrier again and the only "real" full frill competitor of LH inner germany so if they claim more slots I think they have a good chance to get some

heathrow · Post by **heathrow** » 16 May 2005, 01:38

Nice report! Cheers!

VC10 · Post by **VC10** » 18 May 2005, 17:16

Nice report Andre (I thought you'd given up doing them, glad to see that you haven't!)

OrientThai · Post by **OrientThai** » 18 May 2005, 17:54

Great report!
These fares are incredibly high. Even if comparison is hard to do, for 200 euros less you could to BKK, LAX, IAD...

heathrow · Post by **heathrow** » 18 May 2005, 23:58

Lufthansa is really expenisve from YYZ. YYZ-FRA is around $4000, while on AC codeshare, its something like $500!!!

Post by **sn26567** » 19 May 2005, 09:31

VC10 wrote:Nice report Andre (I thought you'd given up doing them, glad to see that you haven't!)

Thanks, Trisha. As I am often flying the same routes (BRU-FRA and BRU-MAN), I only write a report if something special happened.