by Lufthansa Flyer | Feb 4, 2014 | Airlines |
For the 3rd year in a row, BRUSSELS Airlines has partnered with ‘Tomorrowland’ to be the official airline of the festival. For those of you not familiar with Tomorrowland, it is an Electronic Music Festival that is held in Boom, Belgium each year attracting fans from around the world. Fitting to hold a music festival in a town called Boom isn’t it??
An example of a BRUSSELS crew in Tomorrowland spirit!
To meet demand, BRUSSELS will be increasing flight frequency during the event. Last year BRUSSELS flew 8,000 fans to the event. This year they expect that 15,000 fans will take advantage of 150 BRUSSELS flights from over 50 cities to get to the event that will be held over the last 2 weekends of July. On certain dedicated ‘Tomorrowland’ flights, the flights will be transformed into party flights complete with DJ entertainment and a complete Tomorrowland atmosphere during the flight.
To learn more about the event, you can visit the official Tomorrowland website that will provide all the info that you will need in order to register for the event and to purchase your tickets for the festival. You’ll also find information on booking packages that include BRUSSELS tickets and hotel accommodations.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Feb 1, 2014 | Airlines |
I finally had some free time to really start sorting through nearly 6,000 photos that have accumulated over the last 2+ years of my plane-spotting addiction. Lufthansa aircraft alone account for over 2000 images and nearly 60 giga-bytes of space on my hard drives.
Tonight I took some time to sort through my LH shots deleting duplicates and blurred shots. Along the way I pulled a few aside (both new and old) that were among my favorites and thought to put them together for other ‘Avgeeks’ to enjoy. Some you may have seen before, some you may have missed — but in my opinion it is hard to get tired of watching aircraft doing ‘their thing’!
Who knows, I might even be tempted to publish a calendar at some point! 🙂
Enjoy:
One of Lufthansa’s A380s is pushed back from her gate in Frankfurt
Though back-lit, this Airbus A321 is a favorite due to her retro-livery
This 747 is being taken to a Technik hangar to be prepared for her next flight
One of my all-time favorite shots—- This is Lufthansa’s FIRST 747-8i, D-ABYA, minutes before she departed on her inaugural flight from Frankfurt to Washington DC on June 1, 2012.
Lufthansa’s 3rd 747-8i, D-ABYD, departing for India
Lufthansa’s 6th 747-8i, D-ABYG departing Frankfurt
Up close to an A320 in Munich
An A330, D-AIKE, departing Frankfurt
Taxiing to her gate in Frankfurt
An A340 departing Munich on a beautiful fall day.
An A340 is being towed to her gate in Frankfurt for boarding and departure.
This A340 in Munich would depart for San Francisco
Another favorite shot, this A380 approaches the runway in Frankfurt for takeoff to Beijing.
A closer look……
This would have been a PERFECT shot had the doors been closed on D-ABYA. I tried, but could not reach to close them……
From a recent trip to Frankfurt, I caught this moment from Gate A10 looking back towards the new ‘Z’ gates which was full of 747s and even an A380
by Lufthansa Flyer | Jan 31, 2014 | Airlines |
In planning a Safari trip for later this year, I came across what I would consider very attractive Business Class fares from several of Lufthansa’s USA gateways to Johannesburg, South Africa.
Typically, Business Class fares from just the USA to most of Europe on LH will run in the $5000 range from the East Coast to over $7000 from the West Coast when there is no fare sale.
What I have found however are several windows of opportunity in 2014 where travelers can enjoy Lufthansa’s Business Class from several US gateways to Johannesburg (via Germany) for ONLY $5000-5200. In addition, these are NOT deep discount ‘P’ fares but are the more attractive Z fare. I say attractive because ‘Z’ fares usually credit more elite qualifying miles towards most Star Alliance Frequent Flyer programs.
After I expanded my search I discovered that these attractive fares are available from Chicago, Boston, New York (JFK/EWR), Houston and Los Angeles. Yes, you can fly LH Business from LAX to JNB which will yield 33580 ‘Elite Qualifying Miles’ for $5030. Thats 1/3rd of the way to Miles & More Senator status in just one trip! Additionally, current Miles&More members will earn an additional 25% Executive Bonus and walk away with 39122 miles.
The advanced rationalizer will see these fares as paying for Business Class between the USA and Frankfurt or Munich and getting the roundtrip flights from Germany to South Africa for free when you consider the fares. It was a no brainer for me to book our tickets today!
The dates that these fares are available vary considerably. The bulk of these fares are available for Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday departures between now and mid-May. The fares move up to the $7000-$9000 ($10,000-$12,000 in some cases) range during the summer months and come back down to the $5000 range in mid-August and stay that low through the end of the year. The best pricing for August-December fares is found when departing early in a given week.
Just to illustrate how attractive this fare is, if you book a departure early in a week you would pay the aforementioned low fares. If you were to depart on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday the fare nearly doubles in some cases.
The icing on the cake for these fares is that it gives you the opportunity to fly in 2 of Lufthansa’s best aircraft if you plan appropriately. If done ‘correctly’ you can experience Lufthansa’s A380 and 747-8i between the US and South Africa.
Please be aware that some fare options that you’ll find include flights operated by United or South African. I suggest being aware because the miles you earn may vary based on the airline operating your flights. Check with your FF program ahead time so you know what you’ll earn with a given carrier. The credit you will earn for Z fares can vary widely based on the FF program. For example if you fly on a South African operated flight and are a United Mileage Plus member, you would only earn the actual mile flow towards status. There are no bonus elite miles for Z fares on South African operated flights if you credit your miles to Mileage Plus. On the other hand, Lufthansa operated flights will credit 150% of miles flow towards elite status with Mileage Plus.
If you need any help with finding these fares please leave a comment or send me an e-mail!
