Author Topic: Frankfurt Master Thread  (Read 103037 times)

Offline Lev

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Re: Frankfurt Master Thread
« Reply #40 on: October 18, 2012, 12:05:37 PM »
Someone once told me that they went to Michelstadt by train, and that it was quick and easy.  If that's really the case, I don't see the need for driver's etc..

Has anyone ever heard of the train option?
Taking a train is a great option, it can be had for only 19 euro, but once you arrive you'll need to take a 5 min. cab to the cemetery (the name of the street is Am Stadion).

Offline YudiG

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Re: Frankfurt Master Thread
« Reply #41 on: October 18, 2012, 12:08:15 PM »
Taking a train is a great option, it can be had for only 19 euro, but once you arrive you'll need to take a 5 min. cab to the cemetery (the name of the street is Am Stadion).

does the train leave from the airport? you are referring to michelstadt?

Offline YudiG

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Frankfurt Trip to Kevarim
« Reply #42 on: October 18, 2012, 12:41:59 PM »
If anyone will be in Frankfurt this Monday - October 22 between 9am and 9pm...i'm trying to get together a group of 3-4 people to tour kevarim and save some $$..

A tour of michelstadt and frankfurt is about $325 by the driver I used last time...he's very good just pricey...I've got 2 people myself included..

If interested, please PM me.

I'm leaving FRA on the LH flight to TLV and would get back to the airport probably by 8pm to cacth the 10:15 pm flight.

Offline L'Chaim

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Re: Frankfurt Master Thread
« Reply #43 on: October 18, 2012, 03:28:54 PM »
does the train leave from the airport? you are referring to michelstadt?
Yes,  that's what I understood.

Offline miles

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Re: Frankfurt Master Thread
« Reply #44 on: October 18, 2012, 04:39:40 PM »
Someone once told me that they went to Michelstadt by train, and that it was quick and easy.  If that's really the case, I don't see the need for driver's etc..

Has anyone ever heard of the train option?
I heard its not close to train station

Offline Lev

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Re: Frankfurt Master Thread
« Reply #45 on: October 18, 2012, 04:45:15 PM »
does the train leave from the airport? you are referring to michelstadt?
Yes and yes.

Offline YudiG

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Re: Frankfurt Master Thread
« Reply #46 on: October 18, 2012, 05:13:18 PM »
any reason not to rent from hertz with neverlost gps?

Offline YudiG

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Re: Frankfurt Master Thread
« Reply #47 on: October 21, 2012, 05:09:35 PM »
looks like i will drive from fra to michelstadt....anyone on the dtw-fra flight tonight or going to be connecting and on the ground tomorrow - oct. 22 - and wants to join?

hoping to go to the baal shem and maybe frankfurt on way back...

Offline YudiG

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Re: Frankfurt Master Thread
« Reply #48 on: October 21, 2012, 09:47:01 PM »
looks like i will drive from fra to michelstadt....anyone on the dtw-fra flight tonight or going to be connecting and on the ground tomorrow - oct. 22 - and wants to join?

hoping to go to the baal shem and maybe frankfurt on way back...

make that tuesday, oct. 22...ended flying a day later...

Offline YudiG

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Re: Frankfurt Master Thread
« Reply #49 on: October 23, 2012, 02:44:14 PM »
Well...here is some info from my stopover in FRA...rented at enterprise...was about 1/3 of what hertz wanted so that kind of made the decision simple.

Problem is that they are in Terminal 2 and most LH flights come into 1 so it was a little confusing getting there. Service was understaffed and slow but they did give upgrade from reserved compact automatic to VW Toureg - although Amex CC Ins. only covers up to $75K so I opted for the Ford Mondeo strech.

The GPS is built in and works quite well. Just make sure you know how to spell the street name exactly. Drive to Michelstadt (Baal Shem's kever) was 1 hour each way..easy/scenic drive.

Cemetery is open 24/7 and there are restrooms and parking outside. It's across from the swimming center - Waldschwimmbad. In Frankfurt, I went to the old cemetery where the Pnei Yehoshua is buried. It's locked so you need to get the key from the Jewish Museum next door or just look in and daven (or scale the wall if you are so inclined).

For food, it was Sohar's Restaurant at the Jewish Community Center. Menu was pretty good as was service and food. Prices were fair. Parking can be tight and dependent on time of day.

Including gas, the car was only 52 euro vs the 250 euro the driver wanted and the whole driving/renting idea wasnt half as bad as I feared. If you got a stopover, it's worth a shot. I had 13 hours but 8 hours should suffice as well.

FYI - Hertz doesn't allow gold rewards in the eu on automatic cars and they charge 900 points anyhow instead of 600...so check enterprise or another company...

Offline Galitzyaner

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Re: Frankfurt Master Thread
« Reply #50 on: October 24, 2012, 03:08:19 AM »
Well...here is some info from my stopover in FRA...rented at enterprise...was about 1/3 of what hertz wanted so that kind of made the decision simple.

Problem is that they are in Terminal 2 and most LH flights come into 1 so it was a little confusing getting there. Service was understaffed and slow but they did give upgrade from reserved compact automatic to VW Toureg - although Amex CC Ins. only covers up to $75K so I opted for the Ford Mondeo strech.

The GPS is built in and works quite well. Just make sure you know how to spell the street name exactly. Drive to Michelstadt (Baal Shem's kever) was 1 hour each way..easy/scenic drive.

Cemetery is open 24/7 and there are restrooms and parking outside. It's across from the swimming center - Waldschwimmbad. In Frankfurt, I went to the old cemetery where the Pnei Yehoshua is buried. It's locked so you need to get the key from the Jewish Museum next door or just look in and daven (or scale the wall if you are so inclined).

For food, it was Sohar's Restaurant at the Jewish Community Center. Menu was pretty good as was service and food. Prices were fair. Parking can be tight and dependent on time of day.

Including gas, the car was only 52 euro vs the 250 euro the driver wanted and the whole driving/renting idea wasnt half as bad as I feared. If you got a stopover, it's worth a shot. I had 13 hours but 8 hours should suffice as well.

FYI - Hertz doesn't allow gold rewards in the eu on automatic cars and they charge 900 points anyhow instead of 600...so check enterprise or another company...
Thanks for the great report!
Still wanting to find out how to get to Michelstadt by train (anyone??), however if there are a few people going together (even 2) it's (judging from the prices you paid) definitely worth renting a car.

Regarding the Sohar food, IDK why they get such a bad review from posters here for their airplane food.  Relatively speaking, I thought their (first class) food on my LH (biz) flight was amazing, and yes it was IMHO better than the Hermolis meal that I got on another Biz flight.

Offline YudiG

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Re: Frankfurt Master Thread
« Reply #51 on: October 24, 2012, 01:53:00 PM »
Thanks for the great report!
Still wanting to find out how to get to Michelstadt by train (anyone??), however if there are a few people going together (even 2) it's (judging from the prices you paid) definitely worth renting a car.

Regarding the Sohar food, IDK why they get such a bad review from posters here for their airplane food.  Relatively speaking, I thought their (first class) food on my LH (biz) flight was amazing, and yes it was IMHO better than the Hermolis meal that I got on another Biz flight.

funny thing is that my meal on lh was from sohar and it wanst that good...i suspect that it's because they may not get that much for it...it was 2 rolls, cake, gefilte fish and some rice with sauce...

the food at the store though is much better and might be better in biz vs eco

Offline YudiG

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Re: Frankfurt Master Thread
« Reply #52 on: October 25, 2012, 06:41:30 PM »
forgot to mention...you also get to drive on the autobahn where people will try and pass you in the left lane even if you're going 100mph...

Offline L'Chaim

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Re: Frankfurt Master Thread
« Reply #53 on: October 25, 2012, 06:57:17 PM »
forgot to mention...you also get to drive on the autobahn where people will try and pass you in the left lane even if you're going 100mph...
FTFY

Offline YudiG

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Re: Frankfurt Master Thread
« Reply #54 on: October 26, 2012, 05:06:21 AM »
TR Travel Experience on LH:

We volunteered and got bumped off the flight.

In addition, they rolled out the red carpet surprisingly and really gave us first class service for the rest of the trip. What had happened was the previous flight was cancelled and rather than going with the plan to fly two planes, they needed people to get bumped and go the next day.

They kept our bags overnight and - and allowed us to take one home, which came back heavier :) - and when we brought a 6th bag to check in the next day, they said don't worry it's on the house! It would have been $200...

They originally said the comp. was in $ but when the were issuing the voucher I asked them, being that they are a EU airline, don't they need to issue it in euro? They called the supervisor and they looked at past vouchers and said yes, it's euro! That was a difference of 30% so always make sure to ask.

*G (A3) only got us 4 x 50lb. on LH and our carry ons were twice the limit...in DTW *G and Biz class pax. can do curbside check in for free and the agent actually asked to weigh our carry ons....:)

When he saw the problem, he said no worries - I'll just check one for you (free!)...with the 13 hour layover in FRA planned, that was quite helpful not having to shlep an additional 35lbs...

As I was headed to the airport the next day, I realized that they most likely never reconfirmed SKML and my call to LH confirmed that was the case. They were able to order the FRA-TLV w/o a problem as there was 24 hours left but not on FRA-DTW...as I remembered before, I was able to pick something up.

On the plane, the head steward came out and asked if there was anything he could do and brought out some fruit and nature valley bars.

As far as compensation, they didn't have that much cash at the DTW station so they issued a voucher which can be redeemed for cash at any LH station. When we got to FRA, LH said if you don't want to travel with cash, we can just swipe a CC and issue a credit!

They said it could take a week to post but it only took a couple days. Only catch was that Cap1 systems thought it was a return and subtracted points and I had to call and ask them to credit them back. They did say this happens when a credit is issued even if the original purchase was not made on  the Cap1 CC.

In FRA, there are like  6 different lounges you can access, but I just stuck to the Senator lounge (*G). There isn't much kosher food other than fruit. But there was Glenfiddich (14 year, rich oak). As long as there is a shower, wifi and drinks, I'm a happy camper.

An additional plus is that unlike USless Airways, LH lets *G (even in eco) board in the First/Biz lane even if the ticket doesn't say *G which would be the case if you are having the miles post to UA and your *G is w/ A3 or Turkish for example.

(USless Airways refused to allow a second free bag by showing my *G card on a domestic flight and even the supervisor wouldn't budge.

When they lost (delayed to next flight) the bags of many pax. of that flight including 1st pax. with priority bag tags, I asked them to refund the fee and they did.)

All in all, LH went above and beyond and we were quite surprised.

Offline Ergel

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Re: Frankfurt Master Thread
« Reply #55 on: October 26, 2012, 06:29:57 AM »

And maybe this should be somewhere else?
« Last Edit: October 26, 2012, 06:34:27 AM by Ergel »
Life isn't about checking the boxes. Nobody cares.

Offline YudiG

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Re: Frankfurt Master Thread
« Reply #56 on: October 26, 2012, 06:42:02 AM »
And maybe this should be somewhere else?


i thought there was a thread for it but i couldnt find it...would this be better placed in the airline comp. thread? i figured it was too much details...

Offline L'Chaim

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Re: Frankfurt Master Thread
« Reply #57 on: October 27, 2012, 12:38:57 PM »
i thought there was a thread for it but i couldnt find it...would this be better placed in the airline comp. thread? i figured it was too much details...

I think Airline compensation is better for such reports.

Offline YudiG

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Re: Frankfurt Master Thread
« Reply #58 on: October 27, 2012, 12:43:18 PM »
I think Airline compensation is better for such reports.

ok. next time

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Re: Frankfurt Master Thread
« Reply #59 on: October 28, 2012, 01:12:14 AM »
Thanks for the great report!
Still wanting to find out how to get to Michelstadt by train (anyone??), however if there are a few people going together (even 2) it's (judging from the prices you paid) definitely worth renting a car.

Regarding the Sohar food, IDK why they get such a bad review from posters here for their airplane food.  Relatively speaking, I thought their (first class) food on my LH (biz) flight was amazing, and yes it was IMHO better than the Hermolis meal that I got on another Biz flight.


   I was there a couple of years ago and went to Michelstadt by train. I don't remember the exact train routing but when I went you took a train from the airport and then transferred to another small local train.

EDIT: go to the DB website http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query2.exe/en?getstop=1&S=&Z=&date=28.10.12&time=01%3A09&timesel=depart&ticket-information_advanced-search=  All the info is there.