Trip to Germany on Delta.

[flyingcow]

Hello everybody! well, I am back from my very fast trip to Dusseldorf and I will give you some insights on my flights.
Monterrey Mex- Atlanta GA ona CRJ-200 ( but it only fited 40 pax,not 50) and it was completely full. Flight lasted 2.30 hours and they ofered drinks and pretzels ( very American!). When we arrived at Atlanta at 3.00pm I noticed that exactly at that very hour is when all the flights returning from Europe arrive!. Well, LONG lines at imigration but very fast. Service of the imigration officer was horrible, I mean this people sometimes are just angry at life although sometimes you find extremely nice officers..but this was was just way below par. After imigration I proceeded to the gate where my Delta 777-200 was parked ready to depart to Frankfurt. Delta has a LOT of European flights from Atlanta but sadly I mostly saw 767-300 (I hate this airplane) . I saw AF A340-300, South African A340-600 ( wow) . Taxiing for takeoff was ETERNAL, they were 15 airplanes ahead of us, imagine the wait. Well, we took off after 30 minutes or so. The flight was completely full and I was on a window in row 37 exactly in the middle of the wing ( beautiful by the way). The service started 2 hours after departure because they were several thunderstorms along the east coast of the USA. Service is better than average, I will say a 9 in a scale of 10, the flight attendants very friendly and helpfull. My only concern here is that ALL of the flight attendants were, well, a little old...lets say all above 45 years old. When I say "concerned" it means nothing else that it was a flight with lack of young beautiful American flight attendants..nothing more. Dinner was served at around 8 pm almost when we were starting to cross the Atlantic. Chicken or Beef was the options, I chose Beef. It was EXCELLENT!!! very very nice, dessert was coffee cake, deliscious. The in-flight system is just average and not so greta movie selection. We arrived at Frankfurt on-time and we were greeted by almost robot-acting imigration officers ( were they alive??) well, I still prefer them over the Atlanta guy by 100%. Well, I waited at the airport for about 3 hours to take my next flight on Lufhtansa to Dusseldorf. The airplane was a A 320 and it was 40% full. No drinks or food since the flight lasted 30 minutes. The airport of Dusseldorf in my opinion is WAY WAY MUCH better than Frankfurt. The day after my arrival to Dusseldorf we got hit by a MEAN MEAN MEAN thunderstorm with lots of hail, wind, lighting, etc ( I believe that same thinderstorm was the one that hit Berlin the next day..did you read about that about 12 days ago?). I believe Trevor, even though he lives in the midwest of the USA does not see this thunderstorms very often!. Dusseldorf is a lovely city as well as Moenchengladbach.
My trip back hoem was on a A321 that was 70% full and after 25 minutes of flight we were in a "holding pattern" for 30 minutes because of congestion in Frankfurt. My flight to Atlanta was again completely full and I got seat 37 A, again in the middle of the wing. The flight went 100% smooth and it was in fact a boring flight. All the way from Europe to Atlanta you couldnt see outside the window since there was a lot of haze all the way!. Food and service was good again. Seats on board this 777-200 are definitely not very confortable since you do not have support for the head for sleeping and it is tight. Atlanta- Monterrey lasted 2.20 hours and we were 13 people on board. Drinks and pretzels again!!!. Hope you enjoy my report.

[liebensd]

Thanks for your report flyingcow.

The day after my arrival to Dusseldorf we got hit by a MEAN MEAN MEAN thunderstorm with lots of hail, wind, lighting

I know where you were talking about because I only live aprox. 80 km from Dusseldorf.


Greetz,

Dave

[killerwhale65]

thats probably the one that blow away the belgian coast? 8)

[A318]

Thanks for the report, I really enjoyed reading since I will fly Delta in November to Peru.
Not with the 777 though
I will AMS-ATL with a 767-300 and ATL-LIM with a 767-400!
However, I do like the 767 also.

Greetz,

Erwin

[sn26567]

Thanks for your nice report, flyingcow. The CRJ200 part between US and Mexico was very interesting for us Europeans. I am surprised you did not get anything to eat or drink on the German domestic sectors!

[nwa757]

Great report! Thanks for posting it here!

My only concern here is that ALL of the flight attendants were, well, a little old...lets say all above 45 years old. When I say "concerned" it means nothing else that it was a flight with lack of young beautiful American flight attendants..nothing more.

If you are "concerned" about having beautiful, young, flight attendants, you have to fly on a Northwest Airlink flight operated by Mesaba. I have found that most of thyeir f/a's are young and many of them are quite hot !

[chunk]

Meybe someone can confirm this but is it not always the case with US based airlines that crews on atlantic routes are, well, older than average? I have seen this on EVERY Continental flight across the pond and back - I heard it was because the longer serving staff get first pick of the routes on the roster. Don;t know if its true....but it looks like it.

Interesting that the Delta flight was good - I have friends that travelled them a lot a couple of years back across to atlanta and consistenlty called it the worst airline ever. Maybe impending bankruptcy has given them impetus!

[Avro]

Thanks for the nice trip report fliyingcow.

Chris

[nwa757]

Meybe someone can confirm this but is it not always the case with US based airlines that crews on atlantic routes are, well, older than average? I have seen this on EVERY Continental flight across the pond and back - I heard it was because the longer serving staff get first pick of the routes on the roster. Don;t know if its true....but it looks like it.

Yep, this is true. That is why all of the young and hot women are on the regional routes.

[A318]

Meybe someone can confirm this but is it not always the case with US based airlines that crews on atlantic routes are, well, older than average? I have seen this on EVERY Continental flight across the pond and back - I heard it was because the longer serving staff get first pick of the routes on the roster. Don;t know if its true....but it looks like it.

Interesting that the Delta flight was good - I have friends that travelled them a lot a couple of years back across to atlanta and consistenlty called it the worst airline ever. Maybe impending bankruptcy has given them impetus!

This totally crap, no crew is picking their own roster or flight plan.
This is done by the crew scheduling and planning department which knows who can fly with who, when and where.
Sure, they can give their preferences but no planner will make his job more difficult then needed to fill the roster.
No CA can choose the route they want to fly just like that!!!
Some airlines require a certain amount of flying hours before they allows a CA to fly on the intercontinental routes, and that's why you see young staff on regional flights and the older ones on the intercontinental flights.
Maybe Bart can explain also how this works with SN.

Greetz,

Erwin

[flyingcow]

Meybe someone can confirm this but is it not always the case with US based airlines that crews on atlantic routes are, well, older than average? I have seen this on EVERY Continental flight across the pond and back - I heard it was because the longer serving staff get first pick of the routes on the roster. Don;t know if its true....but it looks like it.

Interesting that the Delta flight was good - I have friends that travelled them a lot a couple of years back across to atlanta and consistenlty called it the worst airline ever. Maybe impending bankruptcy has given them impetus!

Well even though I fly several times a year to the USA, this is my very first flight with Delta and I had a very positive experience. In my own personal view, American Airlines has to be the worst I fly them on a regular basis BUT the space you have between seats is GREAT. I find America West and Continental my best choices for flying with an American carrier. For European carriers I happen to DISLIKE Air France and KLM. I LOVE SAS and Lufthansa. I have just made 4 flights to Europe so my opinions are based on very limited experience. Greetings!!!

[chunk]

Actually i think it varies from airline to airline but I believe Trevor - domestic crews in the US are almost always younger...and anyway if you have to have 'x' hours before intercon travel does that only apply to US airlines?? Can't say the same about the European airlines I have been on....usually a mix.

I happen to know a FA for Emirates and she was telling me that crews get to choose routes every so often. Each crew member is given a choice every few months for travel a few months further forward. However - they only get to do this once or twice a year - that way everyone gets the opportunity. The rest of the time they do what they are given.

I dunno what they do in SN but given it is running predominately European short haul then it really doesn't make any odds if they can choose or not 'cos they will end up back in Brussels in many cases anyway.

[sn26567]

I dunno what they do in SN but given it is running predominately European short haul then it really doesn't make any odds if they can choose or not 'cos they will end up back in Brussels in many cases anyway.

Bart wrote once in this forum that if the flight number and date are announced sufficiently in advance he can select some flights. That's how I got to fly with him last year to and from Nice.