Weblog eines Informatikers

I started in Windhoek at half past 10 to the Intl. Airport 40km outside of the city. I checked in and my bag had over 26kg – no problem. I was so happy!

I waited another 2 hours until boarding started. When I was before the plane a man told that I can’t take the bag into the plane, because too big, too heavy… At the flight to Namibia, there was no problem with it. Ok, my bag with the long trousers and pullover is now not available 4 me during the whole flight. Happy freezing. Stupid guy!

The flight to Joburg was ok, but I must eat beef, because chicken was out. I’m a little bit disappointed because of my bag and now only beef.

I had a stay in Joburg of about 5 hours until 8 o’clock pm. Time to go shopping and buy cigarettes and whiskey in the duty free shop for my sister and my father.

The first bad news after we have waited for about 30min waiting for boarding: The flight is delayed for about one hour. After 2 hours delay the take-off in Joburg. After 45min in the air the pilot informed us, that there is a problem with the wheels, which are not be in the right position and we must go back to Joburg. Oh no! But before we can start landing we have to consume a lot of fuel, because we were to heavy for landing. So we had to fly loops for another 2 hours.

The first try to land the machine failed because of wind near the ground and high weight. So we take another round over Joburg. The second try was very rough and we hit the gound with a higher speed than normal. The machine shaked from right to left and the wings get up and down. I was very scared! Behind our plane were 3 or 4 firefighter verhicles and on all sides of the runway were emergency vehicles in position. So I’m sure that was not normal landing, because of all the security measures and the very rough landing. After that, they tried to fix it and we stayed at the plane. After 2 hours it was 2 o’clock at night and the informed us to go out, take our luggage, get a voucher and go to the hotel. At this time I haven’t eaten anything for 10 hours and my stomach started paining.

The claiming of my luggage took over an hour, because there was something damaged… After one hour I gave up to get my second bag, because there was nothing left. I thought about this stupid guy again, who said its too big! Luggage lost in Joburg – that happens too often.

The queue for the hotel vouchers was over 200m long and only two Lufthansa employees were at the desks. At 4 o’clock I had the voucher and 10min later I was at the hotel. First I ordered a Lasagne and was so happy too eat something. Then I slept for 3 hours, because the checkin started at 9 o’clock and the flight should go on 12. The checkin was horrible and the queues very long! 2010 the FIFA Wold Cup shall take place in South Africa. I don’t know how they wanna do that?!?

At 11:15 boarding should start but nothing happened. Everyone was tired, disappointed and really pissed off, because most people had connection flights in Frankfurt, which they didn’t got. Then they send us to the the restaurant, where we got cool drinks and sandwiches to eat – ONLY sandwiches – hey I’m hungry! All the people were complaining and decided to write complaints to Lufthansa or never fly again with them. I will do so!

At 2 o’clock boarding starts and then the next issue: The vehicle to take us into the start position was not there. What the hell are they doing there?!? They had so much time to organize this. The take-off was at 3 o’clock and the landing was 12 o’clock local time midnight in Frankfurt. Here I got also my lost luggage back. Thanks to this employee at Frankfurt Airport, who was very friendly and helped me immediately. Thanks you made my day.

Thanks god, I’m safe at home now. To Lufthansa: Sorry that was not ok, how you dealt with the situation and how long it all takes!