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I took a plane in February 2006 from Lufthansa, I think it was an Airbus A340 but not so sure. Can someone help me identify exactly this plane? (Don't mind the ostrich) enter image description here

Here is the outside of the supposed plane (not 100% sure this was the one):

enter image description here

Here is the inside of the plane:

enter image description here

And the wing :-)

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    $\begingroup$ So the date is February 27, 2006? Which airport was it? Which gate? Perhaps you can trace it through historical airport data? $\endgroup$
    – ROIMaison
    Aug 16 at 10:06
  • $\begingroup$ I think the date was not properly set on the camera, I think it was more like Februrary 1st. Are those datas accessible for free online ? $\endgroup$
    – pbonnefoi
    Aug 16 at 10:12
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    $\begingroup$ If the original picture has a higher resolution you can simply read the model on the side of the fuselage just under the last "a" of Lufthansa $\endgroup$
    – sophit
    Aug 16 at 11:27
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    $\begingroup$ Do you remember how many engines the airplane had (2 or 4)? Also, do you remember if there was a row of seats directly behind you or did you occupy the last row of seats? $\endgroup$
    – user22445
    Aug 16 at 19:56
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    $\begingroup$ Now that you posted the picture of the wing this game isn't funny anymore 😉 $\endgroup$
    – sophit
    Aug 17 at 11:22

3 Answers 3

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TLDR: The picture shows an Airbus A340-300, either registration D-AIGH or D-AIGI, parked at gate B49 at Frankfurt airport.

From the general shape of the nose of the aircraft, and the fact that the airline is Lufthansa, it is clear that we are looking at either an Airbus A330 or an A340. It is parked at gate B49 (now renamed to B42) at Frankfurt airport.

In 2006, Lufthansa was operating 10 Airbus A330-300's, 20 A340-300's and 11 A340-600's . All the A330-200 and A340-200's were phased out before 2006.

From the window arrangement & count, we can see it can't be an A340-600; too few windows between door 1R and door 2R, and too many behind 2R and the first window gap.

In your first picture, despite the low resolution, it can be seen that the first two windows behind door 1R (first door on the right hand side of the aircraft) are plugged. It also seems that behind door 2R, two windows are plugged, and then six are transparent.

In 2006, all Lufthansa A330-300 had their first and third window on the right side plugged (this can be verified by looking at pictures from 2006/2007 of each Lufthansa A330-300 aircraft registered D-AIK[A-J] on plane photography websites. (Note that the A330's of Lufthansa were reconfigured at some point, and now they fly with the first two windows behind door 1R plugged. However in 2006 this was not yet the case.) Also the second window after door 2R was plugged. See picture below for example. This is not consistent with the observations in your picture, and hence I conclude we are looking at an A340-300.

Photo of a Lufthansa A330 from 2007 Source: Airliners.net, photo copyright Florian Kondziela

But which A340-300...

Looking at some of the Lufthansa A340-300 fleet of the time, most aircraft had their first three windows on right side plugged, and not only the first two as in your picture. Nevertheless, if found six (registrations D-AIG[BCDFHI]) match the window arrangement of the aircraft in your picture.

The name, written below the aircraft type, on D-AIGB (Recklinghausen), D-AIGD (Remscheid) and D-AIDF (Göttingen) is too long to match your picture. D-AIGC was flying the Star alliance livery.

Thus remain registrations D-AIGH (Koblenz) or D-AIGI (Worms). I think your picture shows the latter.

Seen on the picture below is D-AIGI.

Photo of a Lufthansa A340-300 from 2006 Source: Airliners.net, photo copyright Paul Robbins

I am confident your picture shows an A340-300.

The photo of the wing, added after this answer was created, shows an engine in the outbord position, confirming that the aircraft is indeed a four-engined A340 aircraft and not the two-engined A330. Another indicator is the fuel dump pipe sticking out of the pylon, which I think is standard on the A340, but optional on the A330 and not installed on Lufthansa's A330-300 fleet.

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    $\begingroup$ "Elementary my dear Watson" 👍 $\endgroup$
    – sophit
    Aug 16 at 20:45
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    $\begingroup$ @nuggethead that is a game I play often with friends. They send a picture of an aircraft they are about to board, I tell them where they go. Here we go: Two LH wide bodies, likely in Germany. Prime candidates Frankfurt & Munich. Munich has only parallel parking. Frankfurt has non-parallel / non-perpendicular parking positions. Open Google Maps 3D. Look for candidate parking positions based on the angle between the two parked aircraft. ~5 candidate positions. Look at the facade of terminal building in the background with the 5 protrusions. Is that recognisable in the 3D model on Maps? Bingo! $\endgroup$
    – DeltaLima ♦
    Aug 17 at 5:36
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    $\begingroup$ Now determine the exact position of the aircraft and of the photographer by looking at details in the photo, drawing some lines on the satellite view. Positions established? Then go look for the gate map of the airport. There's the gate number. Next steps involve aircraft tracking websites and the airport information website, but that doesn't apply here. $\endgroup$
    – DeltaLima ♦
    Aug 17 at 5:45
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    $\begingroup$ Absolutely amazing! $\endgroup$
    – ROIMaison
    Aug 17 at 7:24
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    $\begingroup$ @TypeIA, give me break, that in-flight photo was only added this morning, and had to do work that actually pays in between! Approximate coordinates of the in flight picture: 54.381380, -56.84272 taken in a northwesterly direction. Destination Toronto?? I could give an approximate time based to shadow on the wing, and typical schedules for westerly transatlantic crossing, but I leave that up to the audience! $\endgroup$
    – DeltaLima ♦
    Aug 17 at 20:34
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It looks like an A330 or A340. It's very difficult to say for certain because of the image of the airplane parked at the gate. The cabin could be either an A330 or A340.

(image source)

enter image description here

Below is an image from this website showing the rear-cabin seating configuration, which is similar between both A330 and A340 airplanes with respect to the 4 across seating becoming 3 across seating. It's seems from the photograph that the OP was seated in the 5th row of the 3 across seats (between the dual-aisles).

enter image description here

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    $\begingroup$ Based on the number of windows between the 1st and 2nd door, I would say it's an A330-300 or A340-300 variant. $\endgroup$
    – Bianfable
    Aug 16 at 17:23
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If you look at the fleet history, it needs to be at least 17 years old (as of 2023), which narrows it down to an:

  • Airbus A319-100
  • Airbus A340 (3 subtypes)

The A340 is very long, so judging by the photo, I think it's an Airbus A319-100.

As for as the fluffy thing, I believe that is a Chocobo.

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    $\begingroup$ A319 is a single-aisle airplane. The picture of the cabin shows it's a dual-aisle airplane. (3 and 4 seats in the center. Similar to an A340 or A330 configuration) $\endgroup$
    – user22445
    Aug 16 at 14:57
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    $\begingroup$ Pretty clear the outside and inside pictures aren't the same aircraft. The interior is a wide body, looks like seven seats with the dual aisle. $\endgroup$
    – Zeiss Ikon
    Aug 16 at 15:00
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    $\begingroup$ Downvoted. The shape of the flight deck windows very clearly identifies this as either an A330 or A340. Lufthansa has operated both A330 and A340 aircraft during 2006 and many years before and after. $\endgroup$
    – Mike Sowsun
    Aug 16 at 15:37
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    $\begingroup$ What is listed is average age, not oldest age, so the age doesn't narrow it down at all. Also that looks nothing like a chocobo. $\endgroup$
    – Chris
    Aug 16 at 18:14
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    $\begingroup$ Thanks for trying :-) Down votes are a bit hard. $\endgroup$
    – pbonnefoi
    Aug 17 at 9:15

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