FRA ➡️ BGO

The remainder of our BLQ-FRA flight was uneventful. LH283 was at the gate by noon … 5 minutes ahead of schedule … deplaning through a jetway into Terminal A.

This being a Schengen to Schengen flight, there were no formalities to go through. Checking the nearest departures board for the gate information for our next flight, we verified that LH874 would be departing from the same terminal … from gate A20 just down the concourse a bit.

Time to find ourselves some lunch.

We ended up at a place that had a variety of hot dogs on the menu … from bratwursts to frankfurters. That there was sit down service as well was a bonus. Our ‘dogs’ came with warm potato salad, and lemon-lime sodas completed our lunch. Not an outstanding meal, but we were satisfied.

With boarding for our FRA-BGO flight scheduled for 1:50p, we found a nearly empty gate not far from where we expected to board LH874. No sooner were we seated that a series of text messages from Lufthansa started popping up on my phone. First our gate changed to A16 … across the concourse from where we were. Ten minutes later there was another gate change … this time to A15, just down the concourse from where we were whiling away our time. I kept an eye out for more texts, but that was the last change.

Boarding began on time. Since we were once again in Group 2, we got in line at the priority lane. We have no standing with Lufthansa, so I think the perk is a result of being Premier Silver on United.

Anyway, there was no aircraft at the jetway … a clear indication that we would be bused to the Airbus A321 that would be taking us to Bergen. The reason for this became apparent soon enough … the aircraft was parked at a jetway on the non-Schengen side. Taking us to the aircraft by bus and boarding us via the mobile stairs meant we could be kept in the ‘secure zone’ and not have to go through security. OK by us.

When I was selecting seats for this flight, I lucked out with what has to be two of the three primo seats on the entire aircraft! On this version of the A321, passengers board from what is the emergency exit door between rows 9 and 11 … no row 10 on the portside of the aircraft. Seated in 11A/B, there’s at least five feet of legroom. I did say that these were primo seats.

The aircraft pushed back 10 minutes late at 2:30p. FRA is a big airport, so it was another 15 min before we were wheels up for what the cockpit announced would be a flight that is 1 hour and 35 minutes long.

We’ve received our complimentary bottle of water. Waiting for the bite-sized Lindt chocolate. In the meantime, we’re flying above the clouds, so not entertaining views to enjoy. I’m going to put away the iPad and do some reading.

More when we get to the apartment we booked in Bergen …

P.S. Yes, the flight attendant has come around with the complimentary chocolate … honoring the 100th anniversary of the founding of Lufthansa.

P.P.S. On approach to BGO, we were below the cloud deck, so we did end up getting some enjoyable views after all.Read more