2021.12 Germany and Christmas Markets (Part 10)

The Squaire is the name given to the building that houses both the Hilton and Hilton Garden Inn, as well as the intercity train station.  After check-out from the hotel it was a short walk to the terminal.  We past the massive departure board to get to the Air Canada check-in counter.

Check-in was effortless as it was devoid of other passengers.

The lack of other passengers was on purpose as we purposely arrived early to be able to visit the lounge, and to ensure no delay or snafu would upset our journey.  We were through security without any wait.  Passport control wasn’t long probably between 10-15 minutes.  Given the setup of a long line of stanchions setup, the potential line could have been much longer.  From there we headed straight to the lounge.

frankfurt maple leaf Lounge

This was our second Maple Leaf lounge outside of Canada to visit, with Paris being the first in 2017.  This lounge was definitely better, however in fairness when one lounge is in the basement (Paris), and the other provides excellent views of the apron, it’s not a fair comparison.  There was no line to enter and we easily found a spot beside the windows to watch the darkness give way.  Given the cloud, or fog, it was certainly not a sunrise!  There was already a collection of people in the lounge, and I inferred that the majority were connecting as overnight flights from Asia would have already started to arrive at Frankfurt.

Here are some of the seating areas in the lounge:

Hot food was dished by staff, and cold items along with beverages were self serve.

We gladly had breakfast as we skipped that option at the hotel knowing that we’d have food available in the lounge.  The food was good, and as both of us like pretzel dough, the pretzel dough croissant was tasty.

From our seats in the lounge we had a view of some of the gates once it was light enough outside to see.  The quantity of Lufthansa 747s was almost mesmerizing.

Flight

Boeing 777-300ER
Seat: 5K & 6K
Scheduled Departure: 9:45am
Scheduled Arrival: 12:20 pm

After enjoying the lounge we left and headed straight to the gate.  As we arrived the gate agent was requesting families with young children to board.  The individual who scanned our boarding pass at entrance to the lounge was at the front of the Zone 1/2 signboard, and instantly let us in to board the plane.  Both doors were used for boarding and that had us use the first door to get to our seat in business class.

We got settled into our seats that had the same amenities as our flight over at the start of our journey.

The first door was closed before 9:30, and boarding was complete with the second door being closed at 9:35.  The Service Director did the welcome message on behalf of the flight crew in which the flight time today was planned to be eight hours in the air and an additional half hour on the ground between gates.  Pushback was delayed as other aircraft were occupying the space our plane would use to start up engines before beginning taxi.  Finally by 10:05 pushback started, complete with the safety video being played.  The next gate over had this plane with a cool livery:

We arrived at runway 26C where take-off was smooth, and gradual.  To me, long-haul flights out of Frankfurt allow aircraft to have some of the slowest climbs.  I took more pictures as we took off:

Frankfurt airport

At 25C for take-off

View of Frankfurt Airport

View of Frankfurt Airport

Here is the menu for the flight.

Just under 30 minutes after take-off beverage service started.  Then table clothes were delivered and with the appetizer arriving an hour after take-off.

Twenty minutes later the plate was cleared and was quickly replaced with the main course.  I selected the beef for this meal.

To finish up the meal was then dessert.  This time I had the cheese plate and the chocolate and skipped the fruit.

Meal service finished two hours after take-off and I settled in by watching a movie.  Even though planes increasingly offer internet connections or live tv, I prefer to find movies to watch.  I did try and have a nap but wasn’t too worried.  When I’ve taken a westbound transatlantic flight, I typically try to stay awake in the attempt to radically adjust to the new time zone with one really long day, followed by lots of sleep the first night.

One cool design feature I like is that some bathrooms on Boeing 777 and 787s have a window!  Most people had closed their window shades after the meal so it gives you a chance to look out without the light disturbing other passengers.

The flight was smooth, and it reached the start of North America by flying over Labrador directly pointed to fly over Happy Valley/Goose Bay. A few pictures of Labrador and Quebec:

Just past 11am (Toronto time) new table clothes were distributed, with food arriving ten minutes later.

At 11:56 the flight deck gave the 30 minute warning for landing and a few minutes later the descent toward Toronto Pearson began.

Buttonville Airport

Suburbia

Landing at Pearson

We landed on the east/west runway on the north side of the airport that resulted in a 7 minute taxi to our gate.  Due to crowd control limits in place at time, the order of disembarking the plane had us wait for 15 minutes before it was our turn to head to customs and border control.  The upside of waiting was that our luggage was already on the baggage carousel and we were waiting for our taxi less than 20 minutes since getting off the plane.  It was quick as it’s a 5-10 minute walk from the international gates to customs alone!

Happy to be home, I was already looking forward to our next trip in April 2022!

Explore other parts of this trip:

Part 1 – Introduction, Maple Leaf Lounge Toronto and Flight to Toronto (this post!)

Part 2 – Hampton Inn by Hilton Frankfurt

Part 3 – Frankfurt and area Christmas Markets

Part 4 – Hilton Mainz

Part 5 – Hilton Dusseldorf

Part 6 – Dusseldorf Christmas Markets

Part 7 – Cologne Christmas Markets

Part 8 – Frankfurt Airport Hilton Garden Inn

Part 9 – Day trip to Paris

Part 10 – Frankfurt Maple Leaf Lounge and Air Canada Frankfurt to Toronto (this post!)