11. February 2026
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Praising a Flight Crew – My Recent Eurowings EW 1778/1779 Experience

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

My recent two day trip to Dubai was meant as a mileage run, i.e. a trip which is majorly meant to gain status miles. I am working on coming back to the Lufthansa Senator status. However, the flights have been rather eventful – and I felt it is a good opportunity to honor flight crews and their training. In situations like I had last weekend, you simply see that these people are much more than Saftschubsen (“Juice pushers”, a very disrespectful slang word for flight attendants…).

 

My Mileage Run To Dubai – The Flights

Last weekend, I had flights from Dusseldorf (DUS) to Dubai World Central (DWC). I already introduced you to this Eurowings Airbus A320neo service, which is somehow special. However, as it is an intercontinental business class service for a rather low price (the return ticket was about 500 EUR), it is very popular among status hunters. On my Thursday flight, a couple of people did the direct turnaround, i.e. flying back immediately to Germany after arriving in the United Arab Emirates – a very cost-efficient strategy if you do these services for gaining miles only. I had two days in Dubai, though:

Date Flight From To
29.01.2026 EW 1178 Dusseldorf (DUS) Dubai World Central (DWC)
31.01.2026 EW 1179 Dubai World Central (DWC) Dusseldorf (DUS)

The flights were done by the same cabin and (as far as I remember) cockpit crew. However, they were not served by the same plane. The outbound flight was taken by the plane registered as D-AENA, the return by D-AENG. The latter had an unscheduled stop in Antalya (AYT) in Türkiye – I will come to that during this posting.

 

My Mileage Run To Dubai – The Outbound

The Thursday flight was rather easy and straight. There were some delays in Dusseldorf (DUS) due to snowy weather and necessary de-icing. However, a key factor for a minor delay at departure was an incident at boarding. Having flown over 1,500 times, I have never seen something similar. The passenger in the front row window seat, 1A, was paraplegic and could not move her legs, even having issues to move her arms and hands. She had to be lifted into the seat. During that process, she seriously hurt her lower arm on the coat hook mounted at the bulkhead. I could not even imagine that a coat hook could lead to an issue like that. The purser disinfected and treated the wound, bandaging and cooling the arm. A typical first aid thing, but it was absolutely slick, calm and professional.

Honestly, I expected that they have to unload the passenger, including all the hassle linked to that (e.g. unloading the luggage). But the flight crew work finally allowed her to fly and lead to the relatively minor delay. The flight thereafter was absolutely professional, no further issues – you will read more about it in my next Food I Had Onboard.

 

My Mileage Run To Dubai – The Inbound

I have to state that the passengers in the front of the cabin were rather strange. There were young ladies who felt to take a video of the safety instructions at the beginning of the flight, people who intensively used the bathroom for redressing during boarding and other issues. Nonetheless, we managed to depart ahead of schedule. As Lufthansa Group currently avoids the airspace over Iran and Iraq, which leads to longer flight routes and times and – potentially – even to an additional fuel stop en route, I was really happy about that. The service worked efficiently at the beginning of the flight.

The story of the flight changed dramatically after some two hours. We were likely somewhere in Saudi Arabian airspace when multiple call button lights in the cabin lit up and people became hectic. A passenger collapsed, lost conscience, and also felt having thrown up. The crew immediately asked for medical staff onboard and initiated the necessary measures. The person could recover somehow, at least he was able to go to the bathroom thereafter. The situation must have been rather messy, as it produced two large bags of rubbish and the crew also stated that they cannot fully clean the cabin thereafter. The people stayed rather calm and the flight continued for some more two hours.

Diversion to Antalya (AYT)

We were over the Mediterranean Sea, when I was just putting back my backpack into the overhead bins. Again, suddenly people were shouting, the call button lights went on. I could see the passenger, who really looked bad. Again, he felt to loose conscience and collapsed. The flight crew came back with the first aid kit and it maybe took about a minute until the purser went into the cockpit and we took a right bend North. We diverted to Antalya (AYT), where we landed just some twenty minutes later. The medical emergency staff waited next to the runway. It took ages (meaning: some ten minutes) to come onboard, treating the passenger and taking him to hospital (as he recovered again, he did not feel too happy about that). After that, we went to a parking position, refueled and finally got a new flight schedule, which allowed us landing at Dusseldorf with a rather minor delay of 90 minutes. We profited from an exceptional allowance to break the night curfew at Dusseldorf Airport (DUS). I rather expected to the night-open Cologne / Bonn Airport (CGN) and then take a bus transfer. This was already excellent handling.

 

Why I Write This Post

I just wanted to say thanks to the amazing crew. They handled the situations very professionally. On the inbound, you saw that they were at their limits. Some flight attendants felt really mentally and physically stressed. The purser was amazing, managing the situation well. She also organized that people can take the lavatories in a one-by-one order. Honestly, when I saw the staff in Antalya (AYT), I expected that we have to unboard and have to fly on the next day. It must have been an absolute nightmare for them, they were under a lot of pressure.

I also liked that they reduced service on the 3:17 hours leg from Antalya (AYT) to Dusseldorf (DUS), just to give them more time to mentally and physically relax. Thanks a lot to all of you, I appreciate that you took that decision that all of us passengers came home on the same night. I also have to say (and I guess, many people see that differently): I would have been absolutely fine if the crew would have decided that they need a rest and are unfit to fly on after all of that happened. Yeah, having a night in Türkiye and a flight home the next day is not convenient, but also not serious. Shit happens – and a lot of shit happened on this flight.

I typically smile when people applaud after landing. On this flight, when we landed in Dusseldorf (DUS) 15 minutes after midnight, I felt ashamed that people did not do that. The crew would have deserved it.

 

Why I Write This Post – Part 2

Most of the passengers stayed rather calm and also did not try to take pictures or similar of the situation (there are just symbolic pictures in this post, of course). However, some people made me really angry – and I feel it is worth reflecting about our behavior. I just wanted to point out some things where people simply are disrespectful to the crew. I want to give you a few examples:

  • While the crew was still dealing with the first collapse, my seat neighbor (who slept during meal service) used the call button asking whether he could have a warm meal
  • After the sick passenger has been taken to the ambulance in Antalya (AYT), two young ladies took smiling selfie pictures in the cabin.
  • When the captain announced that they have to refuel the plane (it is quite obvious that this is necessary…), a passenger loudly complained about that
  • After taking off from Antalya (AYT), the captain kept the seat belt light on for quite long. I felt the cockpit crew did that to have some calm time in the galleys. There is no crew rest on this flight, so there is no spot for the flight attendants where they can relax a bit. I was surprised that so many people had to have an “urgent pee” and use the bathrooms during that time.
  • I was very grateful that there was a snack service on the Antalya (AYT) to Dusseldorf (DUS) leg at all. Do you really have to order warm meals or ask for things which are not in the menu in that situation?
  • The luggage delivery in Dusseldorf (DUS) was amazingly quick. People had to work overtime just to serve that flight. Still people were complaining that services were so slow (which was absolutely rubbish)

The flight illustrated to me again: be respectful to the flight crews. On many flights, they might not do more for you than helping you to find a spot for your oversized hand luggage and give you food. But in serious incident flights like this one, they really help to manage a cabin of 200 people and maybe even saving somebody’s life. Thanks to the flight attendants and cockpit crew on these EW 1778 and EW 1779 flights!

 

All “classic” blog posts

No reviews – just debating and certain topics. These are my “traditional” blog posts in the categories Just blogging, Just blogging on music and Sports Blogging:

 

Lufthansa Group

Here are all my postings related to the Lufthansa Group:

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