Saga De Ammerikka - The departure

While Emirates Airlines is my favorite one to travel, it is not part of Star Alliance and thus, I could not choose it for my travel to US. I had to choose between Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa. All SQ flights from Ahmedabad to Singapore were overbooked till mid of August. SQ flight from Delhi to LAX was Rs. 30K+ expensive then Lufthansa flight and thus, I had to fly Lufthansa this time.

Recent luggage restrictions have limit the check-in bags weight to be 50 lbs (23 Kgs). As I was carrying some equipment to get repaired, each of my bags were overweight by few Kgs. I was mentally prepared to pay the charge for this overweight...

Sunday evening, friends at New Delhi Airport were informed about my travel and they were requested to help me out in getting export documentation for equipment I was carrying with me.

I reached New Delhi airport at 7am and soon, a senior level officer along with his two coworkers came to receive me at the entrance. One coworker pulled my cart and other carried my cabin luggage while the officer and me proceeded to Lufthansa counter. Though I was flying economy class, he brought me to Business class check-in counter. The staff at the counter stood up from his seat and greeted me warmly while I handed over my travel documents to him. While the officer continued talking to me, back of my mind was nervous for the excess luggage charge. Then following dialogue happened:
Lufthansa staff: "Sir, which seat you would like to have?"
Me: "I haven't slept for two nights. Give me a window one which is most comfortable to sleep."
LS: "Sure. Let me give you 28A and also block 28B so that you have both seats at your disposal."
Me: "Thank you very much". He than handed over me my boarding card... !!! No charges for excess luggage! Then LS told one of Lufthansa girls to escort me to the gate and make me board the plane with Business class.

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Lufthansa seats were colorful! After I took my seat, a crew member came and relocated me to even better seat where I could stretch myself at full length.
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This three-seats combo was even better than business class seat.

Once the flight was airborne and seat-belt sign turned off, I stretched myself in those three seats and fell asleep in moments.

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Lufthansa does not offer any special meal with no-onion and no-garlic and thus, I ended up getting a fruit platter. Fortunately, Rutu Chachi had prepared and packed two meals for me to carry in this flight that I could survive whole journey. After lunch, I again resumed my sleep. When it was time to land, a crew member woke me up.
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I switched my position back to my original seat and had cool glimpses of Munich terrain.

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I had two hours layover at Munich airport. The section of the airport from where US bound flights were to take off looked empty.

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My US flight arrived at the gate in time and I soon boarded the flight. This time, flight was very full but I was fortunate to get a comfortable seat to continue my sleep.

After almost 18 hrs of travel, I arrived at Newark International Airport at 1830hrs local time. Long line at immigration took up an hour time to clear it. No pictures as TSA does not allow cameras or cell phones in immigration area. Mitulbhai came to pick me up at airport. As we met after a long time, we talked talked till past midnight before going to bed.

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