StarMegaDO4-Frankfurt Lufthansa Welcome Reception

This is the 6th post in a series recapping my StarMegaDO4 trip.  I’m one of the organizers of the event and the last few days proved to be particularly challenging.  So, no more live blogging, just cleaning up on some old posts that didn’t get done during the trip.  Previous posts are:
StarMegaDO4:  Getting Under Way

StarMegaDO4: Sheraton Gateway LAX Review

StarMegaDO4: Lufthansa LAX-FRA Departure And Star Alliance Lounge

StarMegaDO4: LAX-FRA On a Lufthansa 747-400

StarMegaDO4:  Media Roundtable With Jeff Zidell and Other Hyatt Execs

I woke up from almost 7 hours of restless sleep to find I’d missed breakfast and we had started our initial descent into Frankfurt.  The seat I was sleeping in was an earlier generation of the slanted Business Class seat that Lufthansa uses.  Even though it looks similar I found my recollection was that the A380 version was much better, especially around the area where the seat bends at the knees (I would confirm this again when we flew the A380 the next day).  That being said, 7 hours of restless sleep was by far the high water mark for sleep throughout the rest of the trip.

We would be landing at the new terminal in Frankfurt, which turned out to be very nice.  We had landed just a bit late which meant no time to stop at the clubs.  My father, who was supposed to fly in coach, ended up getting a battlefield upgrade to Business Class, so he was alive and well and ready for Champagne.  I was still waking up, but ready for a glass myself.  Lufthansa had set aside a large gate area for us to have a quick party, complete with light snacks, Champagne and juice.

The goodie bags contained some discounts for the airport and some Lufthansa/Star Alliance paraphernalia (more on that later, I’ll be giving some of the swag away).

We got to listen to a few speeches, including our friend Martin Riecken who is Director of Lufthansa Group Communications. We also met a pilot that had started a charity with Lufthansa called Cargo Human Care.  The charity raises money for providing medical care to impoverished areas of Africa.  This is one of a few charities that Lufthansa has introduced us to, and one that I’m sure we will support financially.  It’s great to see Lufthansa giving their employees the ability to build these kinds of efforts.

A short while later we were whisked off in a bus to our next plane, heading to Zurich.  For those that don’t travel to Europe often, it’s quite common to board a bus to get to a plane, walking across the tarmac to board.  It’s also common to board a plane using more then one door.  We were boarding an Airbus 319 (a narrow body jet), and we boarded from both doors.

It’s such a more efficient boarding process.  It’s a shame they don’t use it more in the states, as we were able to board the plane (with a pretty full load of passengers) in less then 20 minutes.

A short while later we were on our way for the short flight to Zurich.  More on Zurich later.