More Plane Spotting From Zurich……

More Plane Spotting From Zurich……

As I find time to go through and process photos taken from my transfers through Zurich a few weeks ago, I’ve come up with the next batch of shots that I think are worthy of being posted.

Having a 13 hour layover on the outbound and a 7 hour layover on the inbound segments gave me plenty of time.

These shots were taken from the SWISS First Class Lounge in Terminal ‘E’ which gives you a fantastic view of all of ZRH’s runways.   The only issue is that the sun is not your best friend during most of the day because it either ‘back lights’ or ‘top lights’ the aircraft so it’s tougher to get a nice vibrant profile of any plane.

Regardless, ZRH is still one of the best all-around airports to spot in and is extremely ‘spotter friendly’ whether you are in a pre- or post security part of the airport or outside the airport property altogether and just hanging around the perimeter fences with your ladder looking for that perfect shot.

I’ll post more as I get through them.

a plane on the runway

SWISS 777 Spools up for departure…….

a plane flying in the air

Austrian’s Dash8 is Vienna bound….

a white airplane flying in the sky

Another one heading for Vienna…..

a plane flying in the sky

Delta’s 767 departing towards the Alps before turning west for the USA

a large airplane taking off

Dubai-bound Emirates A380

a plane on the runway

Arriving from Keflavik Airport in Iceland

a plane with stickers on it

SWISS C-series sports a new livery…..

a plane on a runway

A very clean C-Series arrives

a plane on the runway

Thai’s 777 heading to Bangkok

a plane taking off from a runway

United 767 heading for the States…

 

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LUFTHANSA Group Introduces ‘AnyWay’

LUFTHANSA Group Introduces ‘AnyWay’

LH group announced a new way of booking trips to a limited group of destinations that help reduce your costs and add a bit of mystery to your trip.

The way it works is that you first tell LH the dates you want to depart and return on and then book your trip as usual.   Two days before your departure, you’ll get an email from LH letting you know what flights you’ll be taking.  Don’t fret, you’ll depart and return on the days you booked, but you might get some creative routing for the trip.  Your flights will be operated by a combination of Lufthansa, SWISS, or Austrian aircraft. 

This new program is dubbed ‘AnyWay’ and it covers travel from most of Lufthansa’s German gateways including Stuttgart, Hamburg, Munich, Frankfurt, Berlin, Dusseldorf, and Leipzig.   However, the ‘AnyWay’ concept only covers 10 destinations thus far:   Miami, Bangkok, Mumbai, Dubai, Boston, Delhi, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Peking, Shanghai, and Tel Aviv.

Keep in mind that this is only available to Economy Class bookings made for travel on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.

For your willingness to be this flexible, the fares will be a bit cheaper than the lowest prices usually offered on a given route.  In most cases, I observed fares being €50 to €100 less.

Sounds like fun if you’re into saving a small bit of money, but there can be some consequences to being frugal…..

The biggest issue that I see and would have with this program is that you’ll be steered to aircraft that will already be near capacity and the airlines are trying to squeeze every last ‘sardine’ into the tin.   What this might mean for you is that you may be stuck in a middle seat on a very overcrowded A340 aircraft as you jet off to Asia.   Since you’ll be among the last passengers to be put on a flight, your odds of getting a good seat diminish dramatically.   If you book for you and your family, your odds of sitting together all but vanish if the plane is full.

However, if you’re into sitting at the back of an A340 in the seat next to the stairs going down to lavatories, you’ll have virtually everyone sitting in coach walking past you at least twice during the flight so you might be able to make a few friends as a result!  😉

‘AnyWay’ is set to launch on October 23 and will be available for travel from Mid-December to Mid-March in most cases.

To learn more about the program and to book travel under ‘AnyWay’, please visit the AnyWay webpage.     However as of this writing, it appears that the webpage is not yet functioning even though the launch was set for October 23.

 

a close-up of a plane

 

LUFTHANSA Group Introduces ‘AnyWay’

LUFTHANSA GROUP Expanding Widebody Capacity to Berlin For Certain October Dates….

Due to the demise of Air Berlin, and the fact that many Air Berlin loyalists are ‘stranded’ without their favorite carrier, LH Group has announced that it will continue to send widebody aircraft to Berlin in order to accommodate travelers wishing to travel to and from Berlin. This announcement follows on the heels of Lufthansa’s use of the 744 during certain flights between Frankfurt and Berlin during September.

Lufthansa in their press release feigned surprise at the fact that they’re seeing increased demand from Berlin, but with AB’s shutdown looming what was to be expected?    With LH being able to buy a significant chunk of AB’s operations, aircraft, and staff this obviously did not really come as a surprise to anyone.

So with that in mind, here are the changes that are coming for the next few weeks:

From October 23 to October 25 SWISS, Austrian, and Lufthansa will schedule most, if not all flights to be operated by A321 aircraft in order to increase capacity from Berlin to Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich, and Vienna.

During this 2 day period, Lufthansa flights not being operated by the A321 will see the A346 operate the flight between October 23 and 25.   For it’s part, SWISS will send their A333s to fly between Zurich and Berlin on October 24 and 25.   Austrian will run their 767s between Vienna and Berlin on October 24.

 


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SWISS Schedules Limited 777 Service From Zurich To Geneva, Hannover, and Vienna!

SWISS Schedules Limited 777 Service From Zurich To Geneva, Hannover, and Vienna!

SWISS has updated their timetable to reflect the assignment of their 777 aircraft to 3 European destinations during this coming Winter.   This has happened each year since the addition of the 777 to LX’s fleet as it provides an opportunity for SWISS to continue to train and certify crews for the 777 aircraft.

This winter’s  777 destinations include Geneva, Hannover, and Vienna and will operate as follows:

Zurich – Geneva will see the 777 between December 4 and March 23 on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays.   Flight number LX2802 from Zurich, and Flight LX2807 from Geneva.

Zurich – Hannover will see the 777 between December 4 and March 22 on Mondays and Thursdays.  Flight number LX816 from Zurich, and Flight LX817 from Hannover.

Zurich – Vienna will see the 777 between December 4 and March 22 on Mondays and Thursdays.  Flight number LX1582 from Zurich, and Flight LX1853 from Vienna.

Now before you get excited about being able to book a First Class ticket for these short haul flights, SWISS will not open the ‘F’ cabin for booking.    However, passengers booking Business Class tickets will be able to enjoy the 777’s Business Class cabin.

There have been anecdotes from past years that passengers have been allowed to sit the ‘F’ cabin, but that would be at the discretion of the purser.   From personal experiences in seeing how SWISS pursers behave with even the most trivial matters, I would be surprised if any of these stories are true.    

H/T: AirlineRoute.net

 


a plane flying in the sky

 

Only Two Days Left In Lufthansa Biz Class To USA Sale…As Low As €1500…To Canada Only €1300!

Only Two Days Left In Lufthansa Biz Class To USA Sale…As Low As €1500…To Canada Only €1300!

If you haven’t acted yet, you have 2 days left to take advantage of Lufthansa’s fare deals for travel to the USA.   The fares cover travel on Lufthansa Group airlines as well as Air Canada and United.

The sale covers Business Class with fares starting as low as €1500 from most Lufthansa / SWISS / Austrian origination cities in Europe.  Most of the USA’s east coast can be reached for only €1500-€1600, while the midwest and west coast can be booked for only €1800-€2000.

Canadian destinations have even better pricing with fares to Montreal or Toronto coming in at only €1300.

This fare sale is set to expire on September 6 so there is are 48 hours to take advantage.

The rules and fine print of the deal:

Minimum stay of 7 days is required

Tickets must be booked 60 days prior to departure

Travel must be complete by October 12, 2018

 

a close-up of a plane