About Lufthansa Review
Flying to Europe, you can’t do better than Lufthansa First Class. The German airline has set the bar high with one of the most sought-after and luxurious first class seats.
And then there’s Lufthansa business class, where it’s a different story. Lufthansa business class has a reputation for being underwhelming, with an outdated seating configuration that can leave you feeling crowded even in business class with little-to-no privacy from your neighbors.
I put Lufthansa business to the test on a recent trip to Germany, flying on an Airbus A350 from Newark (EWR) to one of the airline’s hubs in Munich (MUC). It’s the airline’s newest and best business class seat you can find flying Lufthansa today … but is its best good enough?
Overview of Lufthansa Review
When mixed with its subsidiaries, it’s miles the second one-largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding participants of Star Alliance, the world’s biggest airline alliance, fashioned in
Here’s the good news: When it comes to flying business class to Europe, it’s not too hard to find a Lufthansa business class seat.
Other airlines are stingy with releasing award seats far in advance – and up in Lufthansa first class, the airline is incredibly protective with allowing seats to be booked using miles. But that’s not the case back in business class: You can almost always count on finding one (or more) seats in Lufthansa business class – though it varies from city to city.
Unlike most European airlines who from the U.S. to a single hub city, Lufthansa has got two: Frankfurt and Munich. The airline primarily flies its Boeing 747s in and out of Frankfurt, while more-modern Airbus A350s operate out of Munich . Between those two hubs, the airline has plenty of flights to the U.S. to choose from.
Flying Lufthansa first class on the Boeing 747-eight
That leaves Lufthansa because the holy grail in relation to the satisfactory feasible transatlantic inflight revel in you may enjoy with miles.
Personally, I’ve lengthy been keen on redeeming factors for Lufthansa first magnificence. It’s one of the motives I attempt to maintain a wholesome stash of miles in my Star Alliance common flyer bills.
I turned into recently in Paris for a long weekend with my wife. When we discovered a last-minute Lufthansa exceptional award for the adventure lower back to the U.S., we jumped on it.
The airline recently restarted flying its first magnificence-prepared jets to the U.S., and the one of a kind First Class Terminal also simply reopened in Frankfurt, Germany. Having remaining flown in the pointy end of a Lufthansa jet together in 2018, we figured it turned into really worth the splurge.
Booking
I had no problem finding a seat from Newark (EWR) to Munich (MUC) about three months in advance. And because Lufthansa is part of the Star Alliance, there are no shortage of ways to book. Some strong options include booking for 77,000 United miles or 70,000 Aeroplan miles.
But for a one-way trip, one of the best ways to book is using Avianca LifeMiles. The airline charges a reasonable 63,000 miles each way, plus less than $25 in taxes and fees for the one-way flight to Europe.
That combination of low mileage and low cash fees is tough to beat. Plus, you can easily earn LifeMiles as it’s an Amex transfer partner, Capital One transfer partner, and a Citi transfer partner, too.
Checking In & Lounge Access
After landing in Newark from an earlier positioning flight, I could have headed straight to Terminal B in Newark, the terminal Lufthansa uses. Lufthansa operates its own lounge here that business class can use, though the hours are quite limited.
I did pop in just before departure and … well, let’s just say it’s a little sad. It’s a tiny space, with no more than a 20 or so armchairs, a few high-top tables, and a limited spread of cold food and snacks. During my visit, the airline wasn’t serving alcohol due to the pandemic.
So if you’ve got more than an hour or so before your Lufthansa business class flight, you should instead beeline it straight for Terminal C and make your way into United’s Polaris Lounge at Newark. That same-day Star Alliance business class ticket will get you in just the same.
We’ve reviewed the lounge in full, so I’ll spare you a repeat. But this is an incredible lounge with tons of space, a la carte dining, and great drinks to kill some time before your flight across the Atlantic.
Lufthansa Business Class Cabin
Whether you’re on a Boeing 747 or an Airbus A350, what you’ll get flying Lufthansa business class is more or less identical. And let’s just say it: Compared to other business class offerings out there, Lufthansa falls pretty far short.
The seats in Lufthansa business class are laid out in a 2-2-2 configuration, which means not every passenger will have direct-aisle access.
But when that means you see almost all your fellow passengers throughout the flight – including in the seats in front of you – it’s another matter. Not only are the seats fairly low-profile, but there’s no shell behind each seating section to create some additional division. It’s almost as if these seats were intentionally designed to be as exposed as possible.
Fortunately, the business class cabin went out pretty empty on this flight with less than have the seats occupied. That was a huge win, as it meant that I not only had an open seat next to me: I didn’t have any neighbors directly across the aisle, either.
The Seat
Lufthansa business class is full of ironies and contradictions. Here’s the thing: For as lackluster as the seating arrangement may be, the seat itself is actually quite good! I sat in seat 5K, a window seat in the second-to-last row of the forward cabin. Thankfully, 5H next to me went out empty.
Perhaps my biggest takeaway was that these seats are incredibly well padded – moreso than most business class seats I’ve flown, in fact. That makes for a comfortable flight whether you’re sitting or laying down. The seats are 20 inches wide, which isn’t particularly large … but it never felt too narrow. Of course, the empty seat next to me helped immensely.
It starts with a very nice headrest, which can easily be raised or lowered. You’ll see there’s a built-in reading lamp here, which can be turned on and off with the press of a button.
Amenities in Lufthansa Business Class
Unlike up in Lufthansa First Class, doesn’t push the envelope when giving business class extra goodies throughout the flight. But they do enough. For starters, a duvet and pillow were waiting at each seat during boarding.
The duvet was right in the Goldilocks zone – not too warm, not too thin. The pillow could have been a bit more substantial, though I was able to grab another from the empty seat to my left.
There’s also a small amenity kit – but unlike the nice luggage-like kits you usually find them in, it was wrapped inside an (admittedly chic) reusable tote bag. The contents were nice though fairly basic: Some socks, an eyemask, toothbrush and toothpaste, ear plugs, and some nice La Prairie toiletries.
Service and Dining
This was a fairly short overnight flight to Europe, where meals and service are built around getting people fed and put to bed. But the Lufthansa flight attendants working this flight managed to keep things cheery and light while doing things quickly.
Throughout the flight, the flight attendant working my aisle was warm and funny, offering a refill of a glass of wine with a quick joke and a smile or asking if there was anything else he could bring me. Those are the small touches that make service memorable – it’s the little things, after all, that separate a great crew from a merely good one.
Service started promptly after takeoff with a small ramekin of mixed nuts and an aperitif – in my case, a glass of champagne, thanks. In business class, Lufthansa serves Duval-Leroy Brut Reserve. I’m no wine snob, but I liked it.
Entertainment
Every seat is equipped with a large and incredibly crisp monitor – much bigger and nicer than what you’ll have in front of you flying Lufthansa first class on the 747, in fact. They’re touch screen monitors, which you can also control with the wired remote. A small latch on the top helps pop the monitor out, which makes it a bit easier to watch.
The selection of movies and TV shows was decent but by no means great. It seemed like there were more classic movies than new releases, which might be great for some travelers but seems odd. It’s an area where Lufthansa business class could easily improve.
Lufthansa also offers Wi-Fi onboard, with a handful of packages based upon your needs. There’s a simple “chat” package available for $8 for the entire flight; a “mail and surf” package with slightly higher speeds for $20; and a “mail and surf plus” with a higher data cap for $34 for the flight. I connected to mail and surf and found the speeds were fast enough.
Bottom Line
I’m never going to complain about flying business class. Nothing beats reclining all the way back to a comfortable bed and getting a few hours of sleep on the way to Europe. At the end of the day, everything about this Lufthansa business class flight was fine.
But when you’ve got choices to use your points and miles, you can – and should – do much better than just fine. For the exact same mileage, you could fly SWISS business class, Turkish Airlines business class, or even United’s new Polaris seats and have a much better experience in better, more private seats.
I wouldn’t actively avoid Lufthansa, especially if it makes the most sense for a nonstop trip to Germany. But I wouldn’t go out of my way to fly it again, either.
