Upgraded to “Smart Class” on Eurowings

Booked to fly in the late afternoon from Berlin to Düsseldorf and as it turned out the cheapest way to do this was to fly Eurowings via Nuremberg, with a connecting time of one hour and 45 minutes. There were obviously also some nonstop flights but they were significantly more expensive.

Everything started out well. Boarded the flight for Nuremberg at Berlin Tegel at 3 pm which departed right on time and about an hour later we touched down in Nuremberg. After the flight attendant had informed us it was safe to turn on our mobile phones I immediately got a notification on my screen from Eurowings. My next flight from Nuremburg to Düsseldorf was cancelled.

Inside the terminal building the departure screens confirmed the notification I had just received. Nuremberg is not much of a transfer airport and when you are dropped off at the terminal building by bus you are being led straight inside the arrivals hall and baggage reclaim with no chance to do an airside transfer.

I went to the departure hall where there was just one check-in desk open for Eurowings. Although Eurowings is part of the Lufthansa Group they are not a member of Star Alliance and my Star Alliance Gold card made absolutely no difference this time.

The check-in agent informed me I had been rebooked to the late evening flight to Düsseldorf, leaving at 8.50 pm. This would mean having to spend nearly five hours at the airport. I asked about any other options, flying Lufthansa to Frankfurt for example and then taking a train to Düsseldorf, but he was not really willing to discuss any options as it meant the arrival time to Dusseldorf would still be about the same. Perhaps he was right, but killing nearly five hours at the utterly boring Nuremberg airport was not how I was hoping to spend a Friday late afternoon/early evening.

I spent most of the time in the sterile and quite disappointing Dürer Lounge before heading to the main transit hall to make use of the food and drinks voucher I got from Eurowings.

But on the positive side it turned out I had been ‘upgraded’ from a Basic ticket to a Smart ticket on the Eurowings flight, which meant a better seat in the front section of the cabin and a complimentary snack during the flight.

Here is what the snack box looked like.

And here are the contents of the snack box. On top of this you can order a hot or cold non-alcoholic drink from the trolley such as a cup of coffee or a glass of orange juice.

Certainly nothing fancy, but at least it was a nice gesture after not the best of days. But although it is always nice to be upgraded, in this case I really would have preferred getting to Düsseldorf on time.