Background
Having spent a great few days in Germany test driving a Tesla, it was time to return home. Oddly, the cheapest fare that I could find from Berlin to Manchester was with Lufthansa via Frankfurt. Even my usual airline on this route, easyJet, was more expensive and at the time, easyJet was suffering network-wide short notice cancellations - so I wasn't really minded to book with easyJet this time anyway.
With a few exciting options to try out, detailed later in this article, I decided to take the Lufthansa option.
Today's flight is the last flight of three daily sectors from Frankfurt to Manchester and is on the workhorse medium range airliner, Airbus A319 - one of the smaller airframes of the narrowbody aircraft built by Airbus.
Lufthansa sold me this one way Berlin-Frankfurt-Manchester flight for just £80. Lufthansa also offers a 'bidding' system to upgrade to business class. I submitted an offer of £49 per sector to upgrade. Whilst the first Berlin-Frankfurt sector didn't clear (it was a very busy flight), the second sector back to Manchester did clear, at the 48 hour point.
Check In
I always seem to struggle with using the Lufthansa app to check in and get a boarding pass. Tonight was no exception. I was able to check in and select my seats for both flights, but as usual, I couldn't get a boarding pass so had to visit a check in desk to obtain them. What makes it even odder, is that when I ask for a boarding pass with Lufthansa agents, I usually get the comment back "you know you can save some time and get this in the app".
The Lounge
Here's a controversial view: I like the Lufthansa Senator lounges. But like all things German, there's a hierarchy, procedure and rules that are more complex to design than the problem they try to solve. Let me try to explain.
Flying from Frankfurt, Lufthansa has many lounges across the airport. The entry level lounge is the Business Lounge. This lounge is for people flying in Business Class without any other form of status. One of the lesser known benefits of the American Express Platinum card, is that you can access Lufthansa Business Class lounges even when flying economy. Lufthansa's business class lounge's are fairly basic, but comfortable.
Next up is the Lufthansa Senator Lounge. Access to these lounges is for people with Star Alliance Gold status, those with Lufthansa Senator status in their Miles & More frequent flyer programme, or those with American Express Platinum (but to access Senator lounges with your Platinum card, you must also have a same day business class ticket ie economy will only get you access to the business lounges with Platinum).
For today then, I'm in the Senator Lounge courtesy of both my Amex Platinum / Lufthansa business class ticket.
The lounge is very nice. It has bags of space, German beer on tap (amongst other alcoholic beverages), and a decent selection of self service hot food. I have some schnitzel and it's great! The lounge is a decent place to watch the hours fly by, with great views over the airport apron.
The Senator lounges are a gargantuan step up from Lufty's business lounges - the business lounge at Heathrow T2 is nice enough but they are, generally, fairly sterile places. Senator lounges have much nicer seats, way better food and a much wider choice of complimentary alcohol.
Readers should note that the Amex Platinum benefit is for Lufthansa lounges only. You cannot access other group airlines' lounges such as Swiss or Austrian, with your Platinum card. The benefit also does not extend to third party Lufthansa contracted lounges - although if you have Amex Platinum you'll have Priority Pass for those third party locations anyway.
It's worth stating, although few readers of this blog will have it I suspect, but if you do have Lufthansa's top tier 'HON Circle' status in Miles and More, you can use Lufthansa First Class lounges as well as the First Class terminal in Frankfurt. I've tried the latter and it is incredibly nice!
Boarding
There's a lot of work being done at Frankfurt Airport in 2022. I find it generally a blot on the page of Germany's otherwise excellent transport infrastructure. Today is no exception.
Called to board about 45 minutes before departure time, I sat and listened to endless drilling and banging at the gate as yet more modifications are made to the airport structure.
Boarding was done in typical Germanic style, adhering to the rules, so I boarded amongst the first group to be called forward. However, we were then lead to a bus. As was every other passenger. No real premium benefit here, but that's nothing new on this route.
I was soon in my row 3 seat, immediately in front of the moveable curtain. With a blocked middle seat, and a handy tray in what would be the 'B' seat, I had the row to myself (always a bonus!) - and unlike BA, the seat tray remains.
The Flight
I was welcomed onboard by an immaculately dressed flight attendant who addressed me by name and showed me to my seat. The safety announcement was done professionally and pleasantly and wrapped up in just under two minutes. We were told all we needed to know, and nothing more, which given the lateness of the hour, was welcomed by me.
The seat itself is typical of European business class cabins. A standard economy seat but with the middle seat blocked and a moveable curtain between economy and business class, dependant upon demand. On tonight's flight back to Manchester, just three of us in front of the curtain.
Soon after take off, I was served a welcome drink and having been on the go all day, I simply wanted a soft drink. To be fair to the flight attendant, he ended up returning with five more soft drinks - every time my glass got empty in fact!
Lufthansa does have wifi onboard most of their aircraft, called FlyNet, and for flights up to 90 minutes the fee is between €3 and €10, depending upon what speed of service you want. European business class passengers do not get this free.
Passing over London, descending towards Manchester
Food and Drink
It is fair to say that I have had some truly lousy meals on Lufthansa over the years. Today however was different. Whilst the meal was small, tonight's main of salmon with pickles and a nice cream and chive sauce was nothing short of excellent. With a delicious dessert of fruit cheesecake and an interestingly constructed topping which burst open with a touch of the spoon, this was way better than I usually get in any European business class product. For such a short flight, I was very impressed.
To wrap up dinner service, the flight attendant offered me a nice cognac.
Faultless.
Arrival
The arrival experience was as you'd expect on a European business class ticket. There's no red carpet, fanfare or even priority immigration cards handed out.
At the time of this flight Manchester Airport was in the national headlines for all the wrong reasons but arriving near-midnight meant I was through immigration in prompt order, and into my hotel within 30 minutes of landing.
Verdict
Overall, I was surprised by this Lufthansa flight and in a very positive way.
I love the fact that with my Amex Platinum Card, I can access Lufthansa lounges without any Star Alliance status. This benefit alone brings me to Lufthansa equally as much as British Airways at the moment. Long time readers of my blog and viewers of my YouTube trip reports will know that airport lounges are a big part of the travel experience for me, so huge kudos to Lufthansa and Amex for agreeing this deal.
In flight service was excellent with a very welcoming and friendly flight attendant who never let my glass go empty! I was also surprised about the great food service today. As with most European business class airlines, food size and quality has been decimated since the advent of low cost airlines (with the exception of Aegean Airlines) and certainly tonight's meal service was small, but very, very tasty and visually enticing.
The only problem I had with this flight, and wider Lufthansa, is that because I credit Star Alliance flights to the Greek carrier Aegean's Miles + Bonus scheme, Lufthansa is notorious for not awarding full points where you buy cheap base fares. So even though I was flying in business class, with a cash fare, I got no points at all for this flight.
All told, this wasn't a bad experience at all. Unlike some, I do like the Lufthansa Senator lounges. Combined with an excellent onboard experience, I really enjoyed this flight.
Flight Facts
Aircraft Type: Airbus A319
Flight Duration: 1 hour and 21 minutes
Price (for both flights): £80 + 'bid up' upgrade £49 - Total £129
Seat Configuration: 3 x 3 (with middle seat blocked / tray table)
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