May 26

May 26 Lufthansa Business Class - Queen of the Skies

I am extraordinary excited to be writing this blog! For the first time in more than 2 years, I will be saying goodbye to North America and flying to Europe (with the excuse of verifying that my firm has an office in Brussels). Given we’ve reviewed Air Canada business class a bazillion times on the blog, I thought an excursion on Lufthansa’s Business Class product class would be appropriate. Lufthansa, the flag carrier of Germany, is a Skytrax 5 star airline, sharing that designation with esteemed airlines like ANA and Cathy Pacific - however, people in the past have doubted that designation. It’s a bit like calling myself 6 ft, when I am clearly 5’10 ft :).

Booking

In the spirt of last minuteness, I booked this flight a week out. One of the more special things about this flight was that is on the Boeing 747, nicknamed “The Queen of the Skies” for its design, space and cool double decked nature (more to come later). The other thing about why this flight is superior to the Air Canada flight was that is left at 4:15PM YVR time, as opposed to 1:20PM. That means that you could leisurely eat and drink, nap for 6 hours, and then be refreshed upon landing in Frankfurt.

Flight: LH 493

Departing: Vancouver (YVR)

Arriving: Frankfurt (FRA)

Operated by: 747-400

Cabin: Business Class

Boarding

Both Air Canada and Lufthansa business class passengers get access to the Maple Leaf Lounge (reviewed here). I will spoil the blog a bit by saying I wouldn’t blame you for fortifying on the ground, even with the slightly tasteless dim sum that was served. Boarding was delayed from 4:15 to 5:20PM - while the Germans are known for efficiency, I did find that beyond this flight, there were quite a few trains that were delayed during my time in Frankfurt. Thankfully business class lines were short on this flight, particularly are business class passengers had a separate physical entranceway separating them from the masses.

For now, let’s admire the Queen of the Skies - there’s sadly not that many more of them left.

The class divide was more pronounced in the walkway, with a special lane for business class passengers (there was no first class on this flight).

The Seat

Once I entered the cabin I was confronted with a nearly full business class. From what I understand, there was a major KPOP festival that weekend in Frankfurt, which was why the plane was full.

The Boeing 747-400 also has an upper deck comprised of business class seats, and to reach it one must go up a flight of stairs. To think that, a flight of stairs on an airplane!

The upper cabin was more exclusive, and consequently quieter. At least for intercontinental flights, you can selected your seat free of charge, so hurry to get the good seats!

Back to the seat. I, as well as many others, are convinced that Airlines that have both business and first class purposefully have a slight worse than average business class in order for there to be product and price differentiation between the two classes. Or, you know, you could do an Emirates and have a floor to ceiling suite. The 67 member business class was arranged in a 2-3-2 configuration - yessir, a middle seat in business class. As for the seats themselves, I foundt he seat quite narrow, and I am 5’10.

As the plane first entered service in the 1980’s, the seat was showing its age. Case in point: the entertainment system, which looked like something straight out of the 90s.

At the bottom of the seat was a cubbyhole that contained the amenity kit. One annoying thing as that as a first time flyer, I wasn’t told that the amenity kit was there beforehand, and so had to discover it.

The kit contained all the essentials, including some lotion, cream, toothpaste and toothbrush, disposable socks. Note that eyemasks had to be requested - given that was the case, I think LH should have just done the Singapore route, whereby high quality amenities were given on demand or in the bathroom.

On the left hand side of the seat was the tray table and remote control that to be honest wasn’t that useful in 2022. Furthermore, the tray table was a bit troublesome to put back in, and required some shoving.

The bathrooms on this plane were on the smaller side, but still functional. Unfortunately, they were similar to economy class bathroom, particularly on their level of (or lack of) cleanliness throughout the flight.

Thankfully, a bit of champagne should make the seat look better!

And this is a perfect segue to the next section!

Food and Drink

Predeparture champagne and orange juice was handed out rather mechanically (we’ll get to that later). LH serves Champagne Jacquart Brut, which retails for around $50 a bottle. Personally, I was not a fan, both of the taste and also that the champagne was still warm.

I did appreciate that paper menus were provided. Interestingly though, it looked like the menu has remained rather static since other bloggers did the same review pre-pandemic, because we were able to order the exact same dishes.

As you can see, for an international business class, the menu as quite limited. The flight attendants rolled over a drink cart, and I of course selected champagne as the first drink (after all, champagne is still champagne).

I began with the ahi tuna on a bed of salad - I would say this was the tastiest out of all the dishes, with the tuna actually packing some good flavor.

I was debating between the artic char and beef tenderloin - in the end, out of a duty to ensure a cows life was not wasted, I chose the beef tenderloin. This was however overcooked, although the flavorful sauce saved the day.

I ended the meal with a cheesecake desert, and was disappointed that this ended up being more cake than cheesecake.

There was the option of either a healthy or full breakfast on the plane; however, as this flight was just under 10 hours, I chose to sleep during this. One other thing: the portions of these meals are a bit small, so if you eat more then make sure to fortify yourself in the lounge.

Service and Other

Let me start by saying that 1. It is a privilege to fly business class and 2. The plane was understaffed in terms of the number of flight attendants to passengers. That being said, the service was…probably the worst business class experience I had. When I asked for certain items, such as drinks or eye masks, they were promptly delivered to me. However, in true German fashion, the responses were a bit curt, with the flight attendants saying “done” quite abruptly. During the flight, service was also quite cold, as opposed to some other airlines that tend to have more expressive or effusive flight attendants. Finally, one small thing was that the flight attendants made is obvious that they were using a paper to remind themselves of our names; at least try to make it seem effortless lol.

The bonus amenity was that LH actually has an arrivals lounge! It is open from 500 to 1300, with last admission at 1230. However, when I arrived at 1220, I was told that the lounge was closed. SAD. One point for future travelers is that the lounge is past security and luggage in B terminal, so if you arrive in A terminal be prepared for a walk.

Final Thoughts

I have fond memories of my time on Swiss Business class and Turkish Business class: the former had great food and efficient yet kind service, while the latter had fantastic food and kind service. If LH wants to step up its business class game, it needs to take a book from its competitors, and realize that it is possible to have both efficient and kind crew. Furthermore, the business class cabin is woefully out of date by at least 20 years, and this shows when comparing against their competitors. While this experience may have been crowded by a full cabin and COVID shortages, I will say I will not be flying LH business class in the future unless there is a direct routing from where I can go to. There are just too many good competitors in that region of the world, and one can always do the longer way through the Middle East!