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sander1985 flew Lufthansa Economy (short haul), on a CRJ700 (18/05/2010 17:22)

Flight performed by Eurowings on a CRJ-200!!! D-ACRJ Seat 9A, flight from London Heatrhow to Dusseldorf.

LondonCity flew Lufthansa Economy (short haul), on a CRJ700 (09/09/2009 13:45)

Dusseldorf to Bucharest (August 2009)

Note: This flight was taken on a 48-seater Canadair CR2 which is a shortened version of the CR7 displayed here.

Knowing that the CR2 is a rear-engined plane and that this Monday morning flight was likely to be full I took the precaution of checking-in online the evening before. I managed to grab seat 6F which is away from the engines and towards the front. I was just ahead of the wings.

As this was an early flight at 0910, I had overnighted at the Sheraton hotel which is located atop the airport car park. After a restful night’s sleep I had only to walk the 200 or so yards between the hotel’s lobby and the airport terminal.

I had chosen to depart Dusseldorf, rather than Amsterdam or Frankfurt, because I wanted to avoid the sort of “big airport” delays that can happen during the summer months. In that respect Dusseldorf did not disappoint. The airport was a pleasure to use and Lufthansa (the main user of this airport) still old-fashioned enough to provide racks of free newspapers (both German and international titles) within its terminal area.

But there was a potential problem. Even though it was August, the airport was shrouded in mist that morning. Fortunately departures were unaffected (only incoming services were delayed) and, for my CR2, this was its first flight of the day.

Bus boarding commenced at 0840. After a short delay passengers were seated just before 0900. The CR2 has limited space within its cabin (it’s basically an elongated executive jet) so those in the know deposited their hand luggage (for loading into the hold) with airline staff just before boarding.

The flight (operated by Lufthansa’s regional partner Eurwings) taxied away on time but were held at the end of the runway for a five or 10 mins because of the weather conditions before being allowed to take off.

The CR2 is an exhilarating aircraft in which to fly with engine noise (at least in row 6) subdued. The flight was almost full in economy but there seemed only a couple of occupants in the first few rows of business class.

Nothing happened service-wise until almost an hour into the flight. Then staff emerged from the galley to hand passengers a light meal on a tray: slices of ham or cheese plus a small dessert. There were two rounds of drinks.

We routed overhead Southern Germany, Austria and Hungary before beginning the descent to the Romanian capital.

Touchdown was more or less on time at 1245 (Bucharest is one hour ahead of Dusseldorf time). The CR2 parked on the apron in front of the terminal.

A bus took us to the arrivals area. After a few mins wait at immigration I was in the baggage hall with my case waiting on the belt.