Lufthansa business class within Europe is definitely a very good product. As the first airline to fly the Airbus A320neo, the product in this review is the most up to date offering at the airline.
After spending some time in the Toulouse lounge, I headed off to the gate. Business class passengers are called first and as the only passenger flying up front, I was first on board.
LH1101 – Toulouse to Frankfurt (TLS-FRA)
3 March 2019
Airbus A320neo – D–AINJ
Seat: Business Class 1A
Departure: 07:15 Arrival: 09:10
Three rows of business class were set up for today’s flight and I was in 1A. Since I was first to board, I had time to take a few pictures before everyone else arrived. It pays to hot foot it down the aerobridge sometimes, even this early in the morning.
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- Lufthansa A320neo Economy Class
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- The Business Class Cabin
Yellow lighting along the overhead bins add as very Lufthansa feel to the cabin ambiance. I quickly stowed my cabin bag and sat down, before taking some more pictures.
Lufthansa A320neo Business Class Cabin
Seats are upholstered in grey, with head rests featuring the Lufthansa logo. Middle seats are kept free and the head rest notes this is your space, in both English and German.
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- Lufthansa Business Class
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- The bulkhead tells you where you are
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- Row 1 features two windows
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- Another look at the seats
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- I liked the logo on the right
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- Leg room
On the bulkhead is an elegant sign in silver stating Lufthansa business class. Further over to the right and visible as you board is the airline logo. It all comes together quite well.
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- Row 1 from the other side
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- Another cabin view
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- Seats on the right
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- Seats on the left
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- Looking to the front
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- Blue carpet
Dividing the cabins is a blue curtain which matches the blue carpet underfoot. Taller people would not be able to stretch their legs out fully in the front row as the bulkhead would get in the way. I prefer face space so I found it lovely.
Breakfast Service
After everyone was on board, it was time for the manual safety demonstration and soon enough we were in the air. Cabin crew are extremely quick at getting to the food service and quite shortly breakfast was served.
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- Breakfast tray is delivered
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- Looking delicious!
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- A continental affair
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- Can’t wait to try this!
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- Get in my belly!
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- Metal cutlery is standard
Featuring fruit, juice, warm bread, and a trio of continental breakfast treats, I was very happy. It is a perfect amount of food for a one hour sector and I found it all to be delicious. I cleaned my plates, as I always do!
Heading to the Toilet
The toilet for Lufthansa business class passengers is located by the flight deck. This is a pretty standard affair, with nothing special about it to note.
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- The throne
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- A stainless steel basin
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- Dual language notices
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- Even more on the back of the door
Everything functioned as it should and of course it was spic and span, which you would expect. Nothing really special to report, it did the job as advertised.
How About That Ferrari Sparkling Wine?
Asking for Champagne led to a satisfying pop from the galley and bubbles were duly delivered. Lufthansa offer Ferrari branded sparkling wine in business class and it was a pretty nice drop. Personally, I was delighted it didn’t taste awful, unlike some carriers offering – I’m looking at you, KLM!
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- Champagne is served!
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- A look at the bottle
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- There will be more!
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- Juice and tea and bubbles
In addition, I also had more of the delicious juice and some green tea, to try to stave off the effects of dehydration after a big enough weekend. Finishing the entire bottle, my glass was collected just before landing and we landed on schedule.
Overall Thoughts
My experience trying out Lufthansa business class was excellent. The food was perfect for the short flight, and who doesn’t like drinking all the sparkling wine? No point in letting it go to waste, at least, that’s my excuse.
The cabin crew provided stellar and attentive service. They were quite curious as to why I was taking photos of everything and were keen to know what I thought of their service compared to British Airways. My verdict was that it is just as good.
Would I fly Lufthansa business class again? You bet! Have you flown in this cabin with Lufthansa? What did you think? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image via Lufthansa.
Ferrari Brut is literally an “ersatz bubbling wine”. Only sparkling wines from the Champagne region of France are “Champagne “. Ferrari Brut is, unsurprisingly, Italian. It may be tasty, but it’s NOT “Champagne”.
Well, you make a very good point there, and thanks for mentioning it. I’ve had some godawful sparkling wine on some flights and I assumed this was actual Champagne. I’ll make an edit later about this. Appreciate it!
Not the best of experiences. Lufthansa website to begin with is one of the worst to use – expected far better from this country’s leading airline. Pretty basic seats only suitable for max 2-3 hours flights, and nothing to give a first time business class flier any incentive to book any more. Crew don’t seem to manage the business class area well, frequently passengers were queuing up in the front for the wc. On our last flight ( Frankfurt to Larnaca ) tea served was cold, so the staff member brought hot water & a tea bag for diy tea.
Thanks for sharing your experiences there – very interesting to hear! It’s a shame air travel involves people, as it makes the experiences so variable. Appreciate the comment!
Wow! The business class seats suck! Indicates Lufthansa don’t respect or value business class passengers. Cheaper airlines offer better business class seats. There is NO COMFORT VALUE in Lufthansa’s business seats, so why pay just for food service? The whole point of business is to get service AND comfort. Will avoid Lufthansa as there are so many better products.
As I said in another response, you get free food and drinks, plus you have lounge access before your flight. For this particular flight, the additional cost was €55 over the cheapest economy class fare on the day, which I think is excellent value. Virtually all the European airlines have business class like this, so Lufthansa is not doing anything differently to any other airline. Great to hear your opinion though, so thank you for that!
Good review, Trent. In your opinion, how does it compare with BA Club Europe?
Thank you Capt Hammond. It compares well. Service wise, I would say Lufthansa crew are far quicker at getting out of their seats and getting carts and meals out. Of course, the options did not require heating, which BA do for things like breakfast. I did like that aspect quite a lot – they are even very fast in economy. With regards to quality of the food, similar. BA serve proper Champagne in Club Europe which is better, in my opinion, than sparkling wine, so BA has that. Also, the BA crew are friendlier, however, as I don’t speak German,… Read more »
Interesting. Personally, I would agree that Club Europe has the edge – mainly for the reasons you say. BA’s frequent flyer scheme is better for opening up business class opportunities too, especially with reward flight saver. I haven’t tried KLM short haul business so I’d like to see that comparison article!
Oh, I definitely think the Executive Club is one of the best programmes out there. I used to be with Qantas Frequent Flyer, and I think there is better availability on BA which I quite like. Keep an eye out, I’m sure I’ll do the comparison down the track.
I don’t understand why European airlines get away with calling a regular economy class seat business class. It is at best, economy plus. Other airlines use nicer, wider seats on regional flights so why doesn’t Europe? It is baffling. They should just call it economy plus and only charge a minimum. Especially bulkhead seats that are narrower with fixed armrests so you can’t event spread out a little!
I guess the differentiation is the food and drinks, which are quite good. The European airlines tend to give food, drink and lounge access to their business class passengers in Europe, even though the seat is the same with just the middle seat free. To be quite honest, while the US carriers offer a bigger seat, I really really dislike how you get no lounge access on domestic first class itineraries and the whole “meals only in certain windows, otherwise you get virtually nothing” thing really annoys me. I mean, I got a single cookie on one American Airlines flight… Read more »