Our trip to Singapore began with a train journey from Halle (Saale) to Berlin. The journey time by ICE is just 1 hour and 16 minutes, although to be fair, this also includes the bus (line TXL) from Berlin Central Station to Tegel Airport. All in all, we were just as fast as by car, but the journey was more relaxed and, considering the high parking fees, considerably cheaper. For our flight to Singapore, we again booked... SWISS They decided and therefore had to change trains in Zurich.
Lufthansa Senator Lounge (Berlin-Tegel)
I've heard that currywurst is also served in the Lufthansa Senator Lounge. We've been there several times now, most recently a few weeks ago on our Road to Athens, ...and we were never successful. This time I was really looking forward to a Berlin currywurst, but unfortunately I was disappointed again.
Since it was already lunchtime, we looked at the selection at the hot and cold buffet. We opted for a variety of dishes, including Munich potato salad, Italian pasta salad, Berlin-style meatballs, and a mixed salad with American dressing. We also ordered a glass of Pinot Gris and a glass of water.
The lounge was pleasantly empty at first, and we spent the time enjoying a few long drinks while I tried to finish a blog post about my recent trip. We were offered a strawberry, banana, and pineapple smoothie, which we gratefully accepted. During a second round of smoothies, I chose a green-colored one. The main ingredients were spinach and banana.
As early as 1:30 PM, 1 hour and 20 minutes before departure, a 30-minute delay was announced for our flight. According to Flightradar24.com It will probably be even later, as the plane had only just taken off from Zurich at 1:50 pm.
At the scheduled departure time of our flight LX 967 at 2:50 p.m., LX 966 from Zurich had only just landed. So, shortly after 3:00 p.m., we slowly made our way towards Gate A11. The lounge was already noticeably more crowded when we left.
We could have saved ourselves the early departure from the lounge. Due to the bad weather, with wind gusts around 55 knots, the aircraft was not allowed to be loaded or unloaded. This is prohibited by law. So we decided to go back to the lounge. At reception, we asked the staff member to make an announcement over the loudspeaker when our flight LX 967 was ready for boarding.
Unfortunately, this didn't really work out, probably because the employee at the gate hadn't contacted the lounge, as we were among the last to board around 4 pm. The security staff at the passport control were already making their stupid remarks: „…stay in the lounge until the very end and don’t just wait normally!“. I responded with a smile and kept my thoughts to myself.
SWISS flight LX 967 to Zurich
The A320-200 (registration HB-JLP) was completely full. Our seats in 9D and F had already been occupied by other passengers who had rearranged themselves. After we had stowed our hand luggage and our seats were free, we still didn't take off. All ground operations had been halted again, and the wind was already rocking the Airbus considerably on the ground.
At 6 p.m., we finally received the welcome news that loading was complete. However, we still had to wait another 5-8 minutes before we were allowed to leave the gate. The flight time was announced as 1 hour and 15 minutes. At 6:20 p.m., we finally took off from runway 26L. As expected, the ride became very bumpy after takeoff heading west. Cabin Master They also announced that no hot drinks would be served today for safety reasons. However, once we had passed through the thick band of clouds, the sun finally came out again and the turbulence subsided.
As we flew over our hometown of Halle (Saale), the crew began the service. Today, on this one-hour flight, they served a filled puff pastry with cherry compote.
The captain made an announcement shortly before we flew over Stuttgart, stating that we would be landing in Zurich within the next 25 minutes. The weather forecast for Zurich promised another turbulent landing. Afterwards, the captain informed us that we were the only plane departing from Tegel Airport that also had passengers' luggage on board. We were delighted, as we would have been quite stranded in Singapore otherwise.
Are you still looking for a flight to Singapore?
Singapore International Airport is accessible year-round from many German cities. You can find cheap flights through online travel agencies such as Flugladen.de and Bravofly., ebookers.com, Expedia, lastminute.com or skyscanner.
The landing was thankfully less bumpy than the takeoff from Berlin-Tegel. We arrived at Gate A81 at 7:29 p.m., three hours late.
