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Before you ask, no, I do not have any pics. Most pictures I took are non-digital, hence I’d have to scan them first, and I’m to lazy to do that for now 
.
So there I was, standing in my room on a cold Christmas Saturday morning at 7:30am, preparing myself for my first trip to the US in almost 3 years, together with my dad. Quite a long span, considering there used to be a time when I would go to the US 3 times in 1 year. Oh, how times have changed. Anyway, I was obviously pretty excited to finally go back, also considering I would get to fly to one new airport, on one new airline and two new plane types, but more on that later. One last check of everything important (passports, tickets, GREEN DAY CD, list of words not to say onboard a plane, etc), and it’s off to the airport at 7:45 for a departure time of 9:30. Arriving at Hamburg-Fuhlsbüttel was pretty easy, as the parking tower was still basically empty, as was the Check-In for our flight. Not Skyteam-partner AF (yuck!) to CDG (big Yuck!), but dba (formally Deutsche BA) to STR, so no miles for the intra-German flights. The friendly agent had a few problems with formalities relating to our luggage, but those were solved, we got our boarding passes for the STR flight, dba 4607, operated by a 733 (first time on that type). Just some more talking with my mom’s, and off we are through security at a quick pace and on our way to gate C61, where our plane had not yet arrived. Thankfully, HAM has lots of glass (albeit a bit dirty, so no chance for good pics), so I decided to observe the movements while waiting. Knowing that the CO EWR flight had not yet departed, I was hoping to see it take off. But first I was treated to a few LH 737/CRJ take-offs (yawn). Then, you could hear two RB211s power up from out of view, and up next there was CO’s 757, with winglets of course, moving down the runway and rotating faster than the previous CRJs, typical 757 rocket ship take-off, impressive. After that, while still waiting for our plane to arrive, another plane takes off, and since I couldn’t take pics, it just had to be a special scheme, namely the Germanwings Berlinairbus (damn!).
Anyway, after that, both our flight to STR and the dba flight to MUC arrive within minutes of each other, stopping at gates next to each other, with the ground crews obviously trying to see who would be faster. Boarding went pretty fast, but still allowed time to grab a free newspaper onboard the clean 733, reg D-AGEF. Flight was roughly 4/5ths full, and my dad and I had a row to ourselves, with an empty middle seat (3A/B/C), though the seat pitch was ample enough to not have any problems. Not much longer, and we were taxiing to the runway on-time, with the MUC flight departing ahead of us. Take-off smooth, and soon we broke through the clouds, leaving a rainy Hamburg below us and cruising towards STR and our HOLIDAY at FL350. Service came up pretty fast, and included a beverage of your choice (except booze), and either a pretzel bread or christmas bread. The pretzel bread was fresh out of the oven, and tasted excellent and crispy. Not much longer, and we were alreay decending into Stuttgart, over the rolling hills of South Germany. A smooth landing and 5 minutes taxi time later, and we are at our gate on time at 10:47am, deplaning for our connection flight, DL 116 to ATL onboard a 763ER (What else? in Ron Allen colors).
Security once again was pretty fast (no hassles), we got our boarding passes at the gate, and not much later, we’re boarding our flight through gate 109. BizElite was pretty empty, 5 pax at most, but we were stuck in Eco anyway. Namely, 32C/D, though 32E remained empty, so we again had three seats for ourselves. The flight was pretty full in eco around 5/6ths, though the lack of BizE pax made this flight a money loser.
Departure was on time again at 11:40am, and not much later (and after passing yet another special scheme, the LH Euro CRJ) and after a fast take-off, we reach our initial cruising altitude, with FA’s passing out peanuts and beverages, followed by a second round of beverages, a round of water, and then lunch time was up. Options were ‘Roasted Chicken Breast with Spinach Risotto’ (very good!) or ‘Cheese Tortellini’, with the typical sides, including ‘Chocolate Mousse Cake’ (delicious!). After that, it was back to watchint movies, of which there were 4, including Wallace&Gromit (hilarious). Around 1:30 prior to arrival into ATL, it was snack time, which consisted of a veggie pizza, which wasn’t too bad, and a caramel cookie. After that, time to prepare for landing, and not much later, we are landing on 08L, offering a good view of the full ramps at TOC North and Midfield TOC, showing how DL has reduced flying over the holiday days. Not much longer, and we arrive at our gate E-6 on time once more at 3:57pm after an uneventful flight, except for some AMERICAN IDIOT that thought it funny to kick my seat on a regular basis.
To our enjoyment, the first thing we noted was that the arrivals area now has moving walkways, a welcome improvement. Immigration was pretty full, but still it, took less than 15 minutes for us to go through, thanks to TSA having opened enough lanes to handle the demand. Baggage takes a few minutes, but after that, we’re rechecking it pretty fast, and go through the expanded security checkpoint, and down to the transportation hall, heading toward Concourse to grab a pizza at Sbarro’s, only to see their prices and head back to E to go to Pizza Hut. We got ourselves some window seats, though that didn’t too much, as it was raining cats and dogs in Atlanta that day. What I realised now that there literally hundreds of soldiers walking around the entire airport, either going home for Christmas, or on another mission to the Middle East.
Soon, we make our way to the T-Gates, waiting for our 757 to JAX to arrive. Boarding finally started at 6:30pm and we boarded the plane soon. The plane was oversold by one and ready to go, but we had to hold for connecting pax, which delayed our departure by 20 minutes, and at 7:25pm, we finally take off to JAX. Beverage service on this flight didn’t happen due to some severe turbulences, and pretty soon we were already landing on runway 07 at JAX under a crystal clear Florida sky, getting into our gate at 8:27pm Was pretty impressed with the new central court area in JAX, though I still think their masterplan is megalomaniac. Luggage took it’s time to arrive, so I went over to Avis to get our car (and to hear that the Jaguars had just won their game, yes ). I had no idea what a car my mother had booked for us, but the agent told us it would be a silver SUV. So after finally getting our luggage, we are exited to see that we had a brandnew Jeep Grand Cherookee Laredo, with only 403 miles driven. Very sweet car, too bad it was only a rental car for our vacation. Then we went to the motel to relax after the trip contemplating our next days.
The next day, we’re off to Orlando, bypassing JAX, on I-295, and then going south on US-1 towards St. Augustine, only to see the awesome sight of the Nimnicht cardealer, with some 150 Hummers standing there (when you only see an average of 1 Hummer per month, that is impressive!). But anyway, back on focusing on our drive to Orlando, also passing Daytona Beach, and going on I-4, only to be struck by all the major changes that have taken place since the last time we were there many years ago, especially long the BOULEVARD OF BROKEN DREAMS aka International Drive. We also had to realise that we were a majority, seeing as how we appeared to be the only people there whose car didn’t have chrome wheels
. Not to mention the masses of Hummers, new Mustangs, and many old-school looking cars like the Dodge Magnum. Subsequently, we spent 1.5 nice days in Orlando, before making our way towards Montgomery via the Turnpike, I-75, I-10 and US-231. The drive went pretty smooth, though traffic in the other direction was massive, with a 10+ mile long traffic jam at the toll station, wowzers. On the afternoon of the 27th, we arrived in Montgomery, and in the evening went on to visit our friends there, who we hadn’t seen in 5 years, and after a long evening with lots of talking and a visit to Longhorn’s, we’re back to our motel and on the next day, we are on our way again, this time going to St. Augustine, to have 2 full days of just plain relaxing. Surprisingly, we had trouble getting a room downtown, as the whole city was flooded with tourists, so we went to a Best Western by I-95, where we stayed until departure. Would have loved to jump into the pool, but the water was freezing, and I didn’t want to catch a cold, so I decided to drop that idea. Speaking of freezing, during one of many phonecalls home, my mother told us that Hamburg was literally getting buried under snow. They sheer irony. For year, I wanted to have a real snowstorm hit Hamburg, and when does that happen? Correct, exactly during the single week in a 3-year period when I’m not there 
. But anyway, I DON’T CARE, we enjoyed the rest of our stay, and on December 31st, it was time to head home again to our personal CITY OF THE DAMNED.
We went to the airport pretty early, sadly handed over our DEARLY BELOVED Jeep, and checked-in for our flight to JAX, departing at 2:00pm. After taking one short look at the model of what JAX will look like in 2020, we’re through security (why do I have to show my boarding pass to 4 people?) and at our gate, waiting for our flight. This time we boarded an MD-88 (first time again, N905DL), and went out on an on time departure and a full load of pax, with subsequent on-time arrival at ATL. Though I would like to note that being able to see the wiring atop the cabin through some gaps between the sidewall and the panel below the baggage compartments wasn’t that nice of a thing.
Having arrived in ATL, first thing I noticed was that the ‘Sprit of Delta’ was parking at Concourse A, so naturally we went there to catch one final glimpse of the plane that symbolises the pride and passion employees can develop for their airline. Anyway, when it departed, we headed over to our departure gate, again E-6, the same where we arrived, waiting for our 6:00pm departure. Waiting their the first thing we noticed was a little boy who was throwing a major temper tantrum, screaming for over half an our, leading me to wish that somebody would GIVE ME NOVACAINE.
While waiting, I observed the movements of the planes, including a Hooters Air plane, FlyI, Frontier, and an AC A319 in the new colors. As the departure time got closer, it was obvious that the flight wouldn’t be too full, which also showed during boarding.
“We’d now like to board passengers sitting in Zone 1” *waits a minute* “We’d no like to board passengers seated in Zone 2” *waited another minute* “We’d now...” Long story short, less than 10 minutes later, “We are now boarding passengers seating in all zones”
Fastest.Boarding.Ever. BizE was empty again, with only 2 people, and Eco was barely half-full, at most, with people, including us, soon stretching out to take advantage of the many free seats, so that most passengers had 2-3 seats for themselves. Sweet for us, bad for DL.
Once again, we make an on-time departure aboard N171DL, and also get to the runway fast, being only #3 in line, taking off into the clouded skies, leaving Atlanta below us, flying towards the new year. Can’t remember much of the flight, except for yet another child with a tantrum, as I managed to sleep rather fast. After having slept 6 hours, I woke up in the new year, with our plane already being over the UK heading towards STR. Breakfast came up, basically some kind of croissant, which I deeply regret eating, as I felt very miserable after eating eat, and couldn’t enjoy the rest of the trip . Germany was still covered in snow as we arrived at STR on January 1st, once again on time, and once again with another special scheme, this time Germanwings’ T-Mobile Airbus.
Deplaning was very fast logically, and since our luggage was checked through to HAM, we only had to get our boarding passes, which proved a problem, as the dba counter in terminal 3 was not yet opened, and there were hardly any chances to have a seat, so I choose a seat in the airport lavatory, as I was really feeling the effects of that damn French bread then. ARE WE THE WAITING unhappy this time? Yes, sure were, but thankfully, the dba counter was soon opened, and we got our boarding passes and went through security one final time. We waited at the gates, along with our plane, until boarding time, and once more, we had one row to ourselves, this time in the back of the plane. Service was the same as on the trip from HAM, though I couldn’t enjoy it this time. We arrived in HAM on time at 12:50, concluding our long overdue departure, but not before having our luggage checked by customs (of course).
To draw a conclusion, I was very pleasantly surprised by the service level at dba, and would rate them 10/10. Now Delta, well, there weren’t any major problems, but their service was just not on the level of dba, so only 8/10. Now if only DL would replace AF with dba, but that won’t happen.
Hope you enjoyed this trip report, brought to you by GREEN DAY
.
. So there I was, standing in my room on a cold Christmas Saturday morning at 7:30am, preparing myself for my first trip to the US in almost 3 years, together with my dad. Quite a long span, considering there used to be a time when I would go to the US 3 times in 1 year. Oh, how times have changed. Anyway, I was obviously pretty excited to finally go back, also considering I would get to fly to one new airport, on one new airline and two new plane types, but more on that later. One last check of everything important (passports, tickets, GREEN DAY CD, list of words not to say onboard a plane, etc), and it’s off to the airport at 7:45 for a departure time of 9:30. Arriving at Hamburg-Fuhlsbüttel was pretty easy, as the parking tower was still basically empty, as was the Check-In for our flight. Not Skyteam-partner AF (yuck!) to CDG (big Yuck!), but dba (formally Deutsche BA) to STR, so no miles for the intra-German flights. The friendly agent had a few problems with formalities relating to our luggage, but those were solved, we got our boarding passes for the STR flight, dba 4607, operated by a 733 (first time on that type). Just some more talking with my mom’s, and off we are through security at a quick pace and on our way to gate C61, where our plane had not yet arrived. Thankfully, HAM has lots of glass (albeit a bit dirty, so no chance for good pics), so I decided to observe the movements while waiting. Knowing that the CO EWR flight had not yet departed, I was hoping to see it take off. But first I was treated to a few LH 737/CRJ take-offs (yawn). Then, you could hear two RB211s power up from out of view, and up next there was CO’s 757, with winglets of course, moving down the runway and rotating faster than the previous CRJs, typical 757 rocket ship take-off, impressive. After that, while still waiting for our plane to arrive, another plane takes off, and since I couldn’t take pics, it just had to be a special scheme, namely the Germanwings Berlinairbus (damn!).
Anyway, after that, both our flight to STR and the dba flight to MUC arrive within minutes of each other, stopping at gates next to each other, with the ground crews obviously trying to see who would be faster. Boarding went pretty fast, but still allowed time to grab a free newspaper onboard the clean 733, reg D-AGEF. Flight was roughly 4/5ths full, and my dad and I had a row to ourselves, with an empty middle seat (3A/B/C), though the seat pitch was ample enough to not have any problems. Not much longer, and we were taxiing to the runway on-time, with the MUC flight departing ahead of us. Take-off smooth, and soon we broke through the clouds, leaving a rainy Hamburg below us and cruising towards STR and our HOLIDAY at FL350. Service came up pretty fast, and included a beverage of your choice (except booze), and either a pretzel bread or christmas bread. The pretzel bread was fresh out of the oven, and tasted excellent and crispy. Not much longer, and we were alreay decending into Stuttgart, over the rolling hills of South Germany. A smooth landing and 5 minutes taxi time later, and we are at our gate on time at 10:47am, deplaning for our connection flight, DL 116 to ATL onboard a 763ER (What else? in Ron Allen colors).
Security once again was pretty fast (no hassles), we got our boarding passes at the gate, and not much later, we’re boarding our flight through gate 109. BizElite was pretty empty, 5 pax at most, but we were stuck in Eco anyway. Namely, 32C/D, though 32E remained empty, so we again had three seats for ourselves. The flight was pretty full in eco around 5/6ths, though the lack of BizE pax made this flight a money loser.
Departure was on time again at 11:40am, and not much later (and after passing yet another special scheme, the LH Euro CRJ) and after a fast take-off, we reach our initial cruising altitude, with FA’s passing out peanuts and beverages, followed by a second round of beverages, a round of water, and then lunch time was up. Options were ‘Roasted Chicken Breast with Spinach Risotto’ (very good!) or ‘Cheese Tortellini’, with the typical sides, including ‘Chocolate Mousse Cake’ (delicious!). After that, it was back to watchint movies, of which there were 4, including Wallace&Gromit (hilarious). Around 1:30 prior to arrival into ATL, it was snack time, which consisted of a veggie pizza, which wasn’t too bad, and a caramel cookie. After that, time to prepare for landing, and not much later, we are landing on 08L, offering a good view of the full ramps at TOC North and Midfield TOC, showing how DL has reduced flying over the holiday days. Not much longer, and we arrive at our gate E-6 on time once more at 3:57pm after an uneventful flight, except for some AMERICAN IDIOT that thought it funny to kick my seat on a regular basis.
To our enjoyment, the first thing we noted was that the arrivals area now has moving walkways, a welcome improvement. Immigration was pretty full, but still it, took less than 15 minutes for us to go through, thanks to TSA having opened enough lanes to handle the demand. Baggage takes a few minutes, but after that, we’re rechecking it pretty fast, and go through the expanded security checkpoint, and down to the transportation hall, heading toward Concourse to grab a pizza at Sbarro’s, only to see their prices and head back to E to go to Pizza Hut. We got ourselves some window seats, though that didn’t too much, as it was raining cats and dogs in Atlanta that day. What I realised now that there literally hundreds of soldiers walking around the entire airport, either going home for Christmas, or on another mission to the Middle East.
Soon, we make our way to the T-Gates, waiting for our 757 to JAX to arrive. Boarding finally started at 6:30pm and we boarded the plane soon. The plane was oversold by one and ready to go, but we had to hold for connecting pax, which delayed our departure by 20 minutes, and at 7:25pm, we finally take off to JAX. Beverage service on this flight didn’t happen due to some severe turbulences, and pretty soon we were already landing on runway 07 at JAX under a crystal clear Florida sky, getting into our gate at 8:27pm Was pretty impressed with the new central court area in JAX, though I still think their masterplan is megalomaniac. Luggage took it’s time to arrive, so I went over to Avis to get our car (and to hear that the Jaguars had just won their game, yes ). I had no idea what a car my mother had booked for us, but the agent told us it would be a silver SUV. So after finally getting our luggage, we are exited to see that we had a brandnew Jeep Grand Cherookee Laredo, with only 403 miles driven. Very sweet car, too bad it was only a rental car for our vacation. Then we went to the motel to relax after the trip contemplating our next days.
The next day, we’re off to Orlando, bypassing JAX, on I-295, and then going south on US-1 towards St. Augustine, only to see the awesome sight of the Nimnicht cardealer, with some 150 Hummers standing there (when you only see an average of 1 Hummer per month, that is impressive!). But anyway, back on focusing on our drive to Orlando, also passing Daytona Beach, and going on I-4, only to be struck by all the major changes that have taken place since the last time we were there many years ago, especially long the BOULEVARD OF BROKEN DREAMS aka International Drive. We also had to realise that we were a majority, seeing as how we appeared to be the only people there whose car didn’t have chrome wheels
. Not to mention the masses of Hummers, new Mustangs, and many old-school looking cars like the Dodge Magnum. Subsequently, we spent 1.5 nice days in Orlando, before making our way towards Montgomery via the Turnpike, I-75, I-10 and US-231. The drive went pretty smooth, though traffic in the other direction was massive, with a 10+ mile long traffic jam at the toll station, wowzers. On the afternoon of the 27th, we arrived in Montgomery, and in the evening went on to visit our friends there, who we hadn’t seen in 5 years, and after a long evening with lots of talking and a visit to Longhorn’s, we’re back to our motel and on the next day, we are on our way again, this time going to St. Augustine, to have 2 full days of just plain relaxing. Surprisingly, we had trouble getting a room downtown, as the whole city was flooded with tourists, so we went to a Best Western by I-95, where we stayed until departure. Would have loved to jump into the pool, but the water was freezing, and I didn’t want to catch a cold, so I decided to drop that idea. Speaking of freezing, during one of many phonecalls home, my mother told us that Hamburg was literally getting buried under snow. They sheer irony. For year, I wanted to have a real snowstorm hit Hamburg, and when does that happen? Correct, exactly during the single week in a 3-year period when I’m not there . But anyway, I DON’T CARE, we enjoyed the rest of our stay, and on December 31st, it was time to head home again to our personal CITY OF THE DAMNED.We went to the airport pretty early, sadly handed over our DEARLY BELOVED Jeep, and checked-in for our flight to JAX, departing at 2:00pm. After taking one short look at the model of what JAX will look like in 2020, we’re through security (why do I have to show my boarding pass to 4 people?) and at our gate, waiting for our flight. This time we boarded an MD-88 (first time again, N905DL), and went out on an on time departure and a full load of pax, with subsequent on-time arrival at ATL. Though I would like to note that being able to see the wiring atop the cabin through some gaps between the sidewall and the panel below the baggage compartments wasn’t that nice of a thing.
Having arrived in ATL, first thing I noticed was that the ‘Sprit of Delta’ was parking at Concourse A, so naturally we went there to catch one final glimpse of the plane that symbolises the pride and passion employees can develop for their airline. Anyway, when it departed, we headed over to our departure gate, again E-6, the same where we arrived, waiting for our 6:00pm departure. Waiting their the first thing we noticed was a little boy who was throwing a major temper tantrum, screaming for over half an our, leading me to wish that somebody would GIVE ME NOVACAINE.
While waiting, I observed the movements of the planes, including a Hooters Air plane, FlyI, Frontier, and an AC A319 in the new colors. As the departure time got closer, it was obvious that the flight wouldn’t be too full, which also showed during boarding.
“We’d now like to board passengers sitting in Zone 1” *waits a minute* “We’d no like to board passengers seated in Zone 2” *waited another minute* “We’d now...” Long story short, less than 10 minutes later, “We are now boarding passengers seating in all zones”
Fastest.Boarding.Ever. BizE was empty again, with only 2 people, and Eco was barely half-full, at most, with people, including us, soon stretching out to take advantage of the many free seats, so that most passengers had 2-3 seats for themselves. Sweet for us, bad for DL.
Once again, we make an on-time departure aboard N171DL, and also get to the runway fast, being only #3 in line, taking off into the clouded skies, leaving Atlanta below us, flying towards the new year. Can’t remember much of the flight, except for yet another child with a tantrum, as I managed to sleep rather fast. After having slept 6 hours, I woke up in the new year, with our plane already being over the UK heading towards STR. Breakfast came up, basically some kind of croissant, which I deeply regret eating, as I felt very miserable after eating eat, and couldn’t enjoy the rest of the trip . Germany was still covered in snow as we arrived at STR on January 1st, once again on time, and once again with another special scheme, this time Germanwings’ T-Mobile Airbus.
Deplaning was very fast logically, and since our luggage was checked through to HAM, we only had to get our boarding passes, which proved a problem, as the dba counter in terminal 3 was not yet opened, and there were hardly any chances to have a seat, so I choose a seat in the airport lavatory, as I was really feeling the effects of that damn French bread then. ARE WE THE WAITING unhappy this time? Yes, sure were, but thankfully, the dba counter was soon opened, and we got our boarding passes and went through security one final time. We waited at the gates, along with our plane, until boarding time, and once more, we had one row to ourselves, this time in the back of the plane. Service was the same as on the trip from HAM, though I couldn’t enjoy it this time. We arrived in HAM on time at 12:50, concluding our long overdue departure, but not before having our luggage checked by customs (of course).
To draw a conclusion, I was very pleasantly surprised by the service level at dba, and would rate them 10/10. Now Delta, well, there weren’t any major problems, but their service was just not on the level of dba, so only 8/10. Now if only DL would replace AF with dba, but that won’t happen.
Hope you enjoyed this trip report, brought to you by GREEN DAY
.