The Travelling Dassie: Lufthansa Economy Class Airbus A321

Route

LH1277, Malta Luqa to Frankfurt, 22 August 2012.

Duration

2 hours 45 min

On time departure and arrival

Departed 20 minutes late but arrived almost on time.

Ground crew and check-in

We were able to check in online 23 hours before the flight.
We dropped off our luggage at the Lufthansa check-in counters.
Our printed online boarding passes served as boarding tickets.
Check-in, and luggage drop off at the Lufthansa counters was handled by Malta airport staff.
Ground staff was friendly and very helpful.

Boarding procedure

Priority boarding for business class passengers, families with small children and assisted passengers. Boarding cards were manually scanned by the ground crew. I noticed some passengers using mobile boarding passes.
We boarded a bus to the aircraft.

Luggage allowance

Hand luggage - One carry on bag 8kg max
Checked luggage - 23kg

Seating

Number of seats - 200 in total, economy has limited recline seats. Lufthansa refitted most of their regional aircraft with new seats. These new seats are very comfortable and allow for generous leg room
The seating configuration depends on how many business class seats are allocated
Most seating websites, (even Lufthansa ) shows Economy starting in row 9, on our flight it started in row 6.
The configuration from row 9 - 11 is of particular interest as it is over the emergency exit.
Row 9 A- C are normal seats. 9 D and E, is a two seat row and there is a crew seat behind 9D
Row 10 only have two seats - E and F - these seats have extra legroom.
Row 11 A- C and 11 D have extra legroom.
Emergency exit row seats cannot be book online, they are allocated when checking in at the counters.

View more information at Lufthansa A321 seatmap or Seatguru A321 Economy seat information

The overhead locker space was adequate.

Amenities

None.

Entertainment

German and Maltese newspapers were available upon boarding. In-flight magazine available in seat pocket.

In-flight communication

None

Meals and refreshments

Lunch
No tray - We were served a traditional Bavarian breakfast. Weisswurst and a pretzel roll (Laugensemmel)
Any special meals must be pre-ordered when you make your reservation.
Coffee, tea, beer, wine and other beverages were served before our meal as well as afterwards.

Toilets

The toilets were kept clean, economy class can only use the toilets at the back of the aircraft.
Basin to wash hands and brush teeth.

In-flight shopping

Available.

Travelling with Children

Toys were handed out to children
Milk and baby food can be warmed up by the cabin crew
Read more on Lufthansa - Travelling with children

Crew

I found the crew competent and friendly. Instructions were given in German and English.

Disembarking

Business class disembarked first. We had an aircraft bridge to the terminal building. at Frankfurt airport.

Overall opinion

What I liked
The new seats are very comfortable and the food tasty.
The plane was quiet with not too many rattles and noise.

Not so good
There are only toilets at the back of the plane, this can be a problem when food is being served or in flight shopping trolleys are blocking the aisle.