Easter trip to Berlin (part 3: BER-WAW)

I had a great long weekend seeing my friends in Berlin and getting to know some new friends of friends (who are now friends).  Unfortunately, come Monday, it was time to leave them and return to work.  They were staying a few more days to go to more events (and because they had much farther to travel). 

Since I had booked this trip relatively last minute, I had a relatively limited selection of plane flights.  I had a choice between a Brussels Airlines flight (via Brussels) with a 3:40 layover or a LOT Polish flight (via Warsaw).  Both left and arrived around the same time, so it was a wash in terms of cost/time.  I decided to book the LOT flights because, although I’ve never flown either airline, LOT seemed a bit more exotic to me.  Mostly that’s because I haven’t visited Poland yet and Brussels Airlines is part of the Lufthansa group, as was Swiss.  The LOT flights also had far more interesting aircraft, a Bombardier Q400 from Berlin to Warsaw and then a Boeing 737MAX8 from Warsaw to London.  This article covers the first flight on the Q400.

Upon arrival in the airport, I checked my duffel bag and cleared security.  Berlin airport does not offer a Star Alliance Gold Fast Track lane, which was a bummer because the standard security line moved remarkably slowly.

After clearing security, I made my way to the Lufthansa Lounge, which was the only Star Alliance lounge in Berlin.  The lounge itself was typical for their lounges.  I’ve found their lounges to generally be very consistent but unexciting. 

The food selection was definitely better than in the London Lufthansa lounge that I visited last year. I didn’t have too long in the lounge, so I just tried out a dumpling and poured myself a glass of water.

A few minutes after boarding started, I made my way to the departure gate. 

The flight boarded from a ground-level gate, which meant I got a great view of the airplane while I was walking in.

The flight was relatively full, and there were 3 rows of business class.  This was my first time in business class on a turboprop.  There was the standard moveable divider between business and economy, but there was no curtain for the aisle itself.  The overhead bin space for business class was pretty poor, which made it hard for me to find somewhere to put my backpack.

I selected seat 2D, which was in the first row of business class on the starboard side.  It was also an exit row seat.  One thing to note about the window seat is that the curvature of the plane’s fuselage impedes on the foot room.

Shortly after takeoff, the meal service began.  The flight attendants quickly brought out each business class tray and then began the drink service from a standard cart.  The meal was served on a single tray with the plastic wrap still on it.

The meal consisted of two small cold plates and a bread selection.  The first small plate consisted of potato salad and herring.  The second small plate consisted of roasted vegetables and prosciutto.  I selected a small croissant as my bread.

The flight itself was suitably short for a propeller aircraft, and pretty soon, it was time for the plane to begin landing.  We touched down on time and quickly found ourselves at a remote stand.  Arriving at a remote stand is not fun.  However!  There was a small, dedicated bus for business class.  Once the four of us were on the minibus, we got taken directly to terminal without having to wait for the rest of the plane to deplane, which was a great perk.

In summary, this short hop from Berlin to Warsaw was everything I’d hoped for.  The ground experience was pretty generic for a short-haul intra-Europe flight.  The Lufthansa lounges are pretty consistent, which isn’t a bad thing, but also isn’t exciting.  However, the dedicated small business class bus was a welcome surprise (4/5).  Business class on the Q400 is nice because the aisle seat is blocked, but the poor storage and fuselage curvature was not great (3/5).  The light meal was really good without needing to be overly elaborate, especially for such a short flight (5/5).  The service was efficient and professional (4/5).  The in-flight entertainment was non-existent, but that’s standard for intra-Europe flights (1/5).  If it weren’t for the fact that Finnair and British Airways flight often offer Wi-Fi on their flights, I wouldn’t even include that as a scoring criterion because it seems a bit unfair.  I definitely enjoyed this short turboprop flight: a fun, unique aircraft type supplemented by good food (17/25). 

From a points perspective, I used 53,000 United miles and spent $156 in total for the entire set of 4 flights.  The comparison flight is a return trip in Lufthansa in economy, which would’ve cost £450 ($585). I’d value 53,000 miles as being worth around $583.  In effect, I paid $78 each way for an upgrade to business class, which isn’t a bad deal for 4 flights.  The biggest advantage of using the miles in this situation for me, however, was to avoid the $585 sticker shock.  I paid for the taxes and fees with my Amex Platinum card, which earned me 780 Amex points.  Unfortunately, award tickets don’t earn any other type of points on United.