Munich Airport – Bumpy start to vacation – Munich


This time it’s just an abandoned suitcase that almost slows the start of their vacation for thousands on Saturday morning – and at Munich Airport immediately brings back memories of a security breach two years ago when a young tourist accidentally walked through an emergency exit. At that time, a good 190 flights had to be canceled while the police searched the airport. So this time no chaos, just a lonely suitcase, the owner of which is just thinking about the item of luggage just as the security apparatus in Terminal 2 is just starting up. So all good for this start to the summer vacation. For most vacationers anyway.

For Munich Airport, Saturday is the peak day of the entire summer vacation, which after months of travel poverty represents something like the great hope of tourism experts and airport managers. More precise figures are always only available with a delay, but in July the flight load was at least around 50 percent compared to the pre-Corona times, reports Robert Wilhelm, press spokesman for Flughafen München GmbH (FMG). 24,000 take-offs to 175 destinations worldwide have been registered between July 30 and September 13 – in the summer of pandemic 2020 there were almost 20,000 flights to 130 destinations, and the airport was located before the mask and lockdown time during the 2019 Bavarian summer vacation still on more than 53,000 flights.

Again a full display board: 561 flights start in Munich on Saturday

(Photo: Marco Einfeldt)

561 flights have been registered for Saturday alone, the peak value of the entire vacation, in which the six large display boards in Terminal 2 have to display an average of 517 flights per day. In winter 2021, one of the six boards was enough for all flights of the day. Currently at the top of the popularity scale: the Balearic Islands, generally Spain, Greece, Turkey. The business of long-distance travel to Asia or the USA, on the other hand, is more difficult because of the strict Corona travel restrictions. That is probably why Lufthansa is now using a few of its long-haul aircraft such as the Jumbo Jet (Boeing 747; from Frankfurt) and the Airbus A350, as an exception, in Mallorca. Means: More legroom for the two-hour hop to Palma de Mallorca, and almost 300 seats instead of the good 200 in the usual A320 family aircraft – and 20 percent less kerosene consumption, emphasizes Lufthansa spokeswoman Bettina Rittberger. The long-haul luxury to Mallorca will premiere in Munich this Saturday, and the A350 crew will also be flying to Mallorca for the other holiday weekends.

Torn between Grant and amusement

That all sounds like a good start to your vacation. Carolin from Regensburg stretches out in her summer dress at noon on a small piece of artificial turf under the airy roof between the terminals, casually between her family’s suitcases. Like many other travelers, she prefers not to read her family name in the newspaper, not that unwelcome guests could abuse her absence from vacation. She’s torn between grant and amusement. Together with her two teenagers and her husband, she gets up in Regensburg at 5 a.m., arrives at the airport by train at 7.30 a.m. – and still does not reach the Barcelona flight with Lufthansa at 9 a.m. The queues in Terminal 2 are too long, almost impenetrable.

All the corona formalities at the check-in apparently paralyze operations unexpectedly. They let the three families in front of them pass in the end, but then the computer won’t work for a while, says Carolin, and really gets going. “There were a lot of people who missed their flight,” she was standing in line with them at the Lufthansa service counter. Many were badly eaten. She has now digested it herself. “I’ll just read my book here instead of at the pool,” and at least they were nice at Lufthansa and rebooked the family on the second Barcelona flight of the day at 4.30 p.m.

The vacation planning was “not as carefree as usual this time”: Father Marc, son Henri, mother Anja and daughter Marie on the way to vacation

(Photo: Marco Einfeldt)

The Lufthansa recommendation is currently to be at the check-in at least two hours before departure. For Marc and Anja and their teenagers Henri and Marie from Ulm, the queue is apparently no problem. Everything seems to be going well with the trip with friends to Croatia and Montenegro. They praise that everything can currently be booked very flexibly due to the corona, but also admit that vacation planning “this time was not as carefree as usual”. Again and again looking at the incidence values. “But I think once we’re down there it’ll be fine,” says family man Marc, and hopes that he will now escape the heavy rain in southern Germany for a while.

In the airport, this is also possible with last-minute bookings directly at the travel agency counter. For example at Atiye Çamyesil-Kurudayana from “Travel FM”, but “with at least one day in advance for all tests and documents”. Because travel is currently an extremely advice-intensive business, with a constant eye on the travel advice of the Federal Foreign Office. After months of the travel agencies’ struggle for survival, Çamyesil-Kurudayana hopes that customers will appreciate this service. “Nobody on the Internet tells you that you can get inexpensive insurance against Corona with package tours” and get a reimbursement of up to 1500 euros “if you have a positive test one day before departure”. After all, people keep coming to their counter this Saturday. She advises “with passion,” she says, and smiles because there is real life in the airport again.

Carlos, Sandra, Leonidas and Leonidas best friend Jakob (right) on the way to departure

(Photo: Marco Einfeldt)

“You get used to the idea that the world is big again.” This is how Carlos, who works at the airport himself, sums up his feelings. Today he is on his way to see his grandparents in Gran Canaria with his wife Sandra and son Leonidas. “The wanderlust is slowly coming back,” he says. This is what Flo Ragossnig exudes, a Viennese who is pulling a huge, long, heavy bag through the terminal. What is he transporting there? “Granny!” Ragossnig is a pretty cool and laid-back windsurfing professional and doesn’t skip a joke on the way to Fuerteventura. Surfboards, boom, sails, mast, surf suits, and no grandma, that’s what his luggage looks like.

Has a lot to transport: Flo Ragossnig on the way to Fuerteventura

(Photo: Marco Einfeldt)

Because he is sponsored as a professional, he has to travel with his equipment. “Travel light” is that, he jokes on. The man is in a good mood, clearly. Probably a very positive long-distance effect of the shallow water and the waves of Costa Calma.

Family father Sven from Ried in Austria is also relaxed and humorous. Los Angeles is the destination of Sven’s family of four, and he too fails at the check-in columns on this holiday start day at Munich Airport. “We were there really early,” he asserts, at 8:30 am – for a flight at 12:05 pm, you might think that it was quite generous. Nevertheless, time is running out: After long attempts at the self-service machine to check in, the frustration at the end of the message that he should now turn to the service counter. Then the snake thwarts all hope. Lufthansa was “super friendly and helpful”, but they still didn’t get the plane.

The sons are comforting themselves with typical American fast food in the airport, the woman is guarding the luggage under the cowbell decoration of the “Sportalm”, and now they are allowed to fly on Sunday at 12:05 pm. Really this time. They already have the boarding passes.

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