by Lufthansa Flyer | Jul 1, 2014 | Austrian, Featured |
AUSTRIAN has announced today that they are expanding their successful “Smart Upgrade” program to now include intra-European flights.
Until now, Smart Upgrade allowed passengers who had purchased Economy Class tickets for long haul flights to submit an auction-style bid in an effort to move to a Business Class seat. After submitting bids online, passengers find out if they were successful 72 hours ahead of their scheduled departure.
Since the program began last year Austrian has received 23,000 bids so on the heels of this popularity so they’ve decided to expand the program to cover flights within Europe.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Jun 29, 2014 | Airports, Featured, Plane Spotting |
When I was at Paine Field a couple of weeks ago, I was able to get a glimpse of what was one of the most powerful radial engine aircraft during World War II. The aircraft, a Focke-Wulf FW190, belongs to Paul Allen’s Flying Heritage Collection and is the world’s only FW190 that still flies. After seeing it for the first time and mentioning that fact to local spotters that I met during the weekend, they offered up a fantastic story about this specific aircraft. I looked up the history of the aircraft on the Flying Heritage Collection website to confirm the details:
This aircraft was built in 1943 and entered service with the German Air Force’s Jagdgeschwader (fighter wing) 54 based near Leningrad. Shortly after entering service, she was shot down during a raid on a Soviet train and had crash landed in a marsh field. The pilot was able to survive the landing but was captured by the Soviet Army and became a Prisoner of War until the early 1950s.
The FW190 high above Paine Field
Over the next 40-45 years, the aircraft laid untouched in the marshes and had become overgrown with trees and vegetation. After being discovered in the late 1980s by a ‘War Bird Hunter’, she was transported to England and then to the USA for a complete restoration which was completed in 2010.
An interesting part of this story was according to the actual pilot who crash landed the FW190, it was found EXACTLY as he had left it, including the hat that he left behind on his seat. Literally no one saw or touched this plane for 40+ years. Today you can see and hear her taking to the air at Paine Field.
Here is a video that shows her discovery by Russian War Bird Hunters:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30IfiuQTt_E
by Lufthansa Flyer | Jun 28, 2014 | Featured, Lufthansa |
Earlier today, Lufthansa took official delivery of their newest 747-8i, D-ABYP, which also happens to be the 1500th 747 to come from Boeing. Over the last 2 days, Boeing hosted an entourage of German media at Paine Field in Washington ahead of the delivery flight that took place today.
As part of the ceremonies, a special (albeit very small) graphic at the rear of the aircraft acknowledging the fact that this particular airplane is 747 #1500 was unveiled:
Courtesy: Lufthansa
Honestly, I am underwhelmed at the acknowledgement of #1500. Considering the milestone I thought that there would be a more obvious distinction for this aircraft. Photos are sparse at this point and apparently the majority of attendees were members of German media. For some reason, Lufthansa USA was not invited to participate in the events in Seattle this weekend. I’m not sure why this was the case, but it makes little sense to not involve the ‘local’ team.
Not that I matter as a ‘piece of media’ but I received no notification etc. at all from Lufthansa Germany. The only info on the event that I received ironically came from the excluded Lufthansa USA team. You would think they’d consider inviting one of their biggest fans to the event. Oh well, it’s neither here nor there.
From the photos that I have seen that were taken by Boeing and German media, I was not impressed. Hopefully additional (and better) photos will be published that capture the moment.
Honestly, I think it will be tough to beat the shots that I took of D-ABYP last week in Seattle on a perfect day. You can tell who used a cell phone and who used a real camera 😉 .
Anyhow, as of 10:43p Eastern, D-ABYP is approximately half way home:
