Round The World and other travels

Flight Log 6: LH962

Frankfurt (FRA) - Edinburgh (EDI)

If the aircraft used on my outbound EDI-FRA flight was unusual, this one was doubly so: the scheduled A319 had been replaced by an A321. What's more, it was said to be full in Economy, with passengers told that they would be restricted to one carry-on item each. Having heard about the appalling storms in Central Scotland the previous day, I speculated that the flight on 03 January had probably been cancelled and that the A321 had now been rostered in an attempt to clear the backlog of delayed passengers.

The aircraft featured the Neue Europakabine, but in a variation that I had not previously encountered: just as on SWISS A321s, the front few rows had a plastic table permanently blocking the middle seats, in order to bring the seating capacity down to 200 and therefore below the threshold for requiring an additional cabin attendant. We had nine passengers in Business Class, distributed among five port-side rows of seats and four on the starboard side. I did a double-take when the captain announced the flight time as 2hrs: surely that's a mistake?! In fact it was correct; the strong winds that had pushed my long-haul 747 to nearly 620mph were now going to be acting against us and slowing this flight down dramatically.

The security demonstration took place at the gate, as the scheduled departure time slipped past. We eventually pushed back at 1243, but then had a further long wait at the holding point for 25C as first a 747 and then a 737 took off in front of us. We eventually managed to escape at 1257 local time.

The in-flight meal once again consisted of a well-presented selection of cold snacks:

These are the creations awaiting you on board today:

Pointed cabbage herb salad with cured pork and dried-fruit chutney

Candied sturgeon on swede and sweet potato salad

Delice of vanilla crescent cookies and cherry sauce

I had an apple juice to begin with and a coffee when the trolley made its return. Unlike my outbound flight the previous week, both drinks were freely topped up. After that, there was an exceptionally bumpy patch - you always know it's going to be bad when the captain makes a terse announcement ordering the cabin crew to secure the galleys and take their seats immediately!   The seat belt signs stayed on for the remainder of the flight, although the cabin crew were released in due course in order to complete their duties properly.

Our approach was over a very murky-looking Firth of Forth; I could barely see anything through the low cloud until a soggy-looking Cramond emerged from the mist during the final approach. We touched down at 1353 local time and strong braking sent several items flying onto the floor and sliding towards the front of the cabin. Thankfully there were no delays getting to the gate; this flight had been long enough already!

Date: Wed 04 Jan 2012

Aircraft: Airbus A321

Scheduled dep: 1235

Actual departure: 1243

Scheduled arrival: 1325

Actual arrival: 1356

Cabin: Business Class

Seat: 2F

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