Review of Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Washington in Business

Return to Asia

This is the last leg of my very last-minute booking to get home.  It's quite unfortunate that LH switched to a 744 on this route, It would have eased the pain of my ruined plans somewhat if I could have booked LH F on the 748 last minute.  I had just flown that product a few months earlier and had a great flight.  Let's see how the J product compares.

Lufthansa Senator Lounge Z

Gate A11 was very close to passport control and there was no line at all.  For once I zipped through the Frankfurt passport control and headed straight for the familiar Senator Lounge in Z. 

No lines for the lounge today either, I was processed through very quickly.

The lounge was a normal amount of busy–plenty of people, but not packed.

I headed straight for the showers.

I do like Lufthansa's shower facilities at their lounges, it's quite standardized and reasonably sizeable.  The La Prairie amenities are also a nice touch.

Here's a look at the lounge.  In over a decade of using this lounge, I've never been able to photograph it without a bunch of people here.  The different seating arrangements speak for themselves.

The buffet was constantly refreshed and while there weren't many hot options, it was decently tasty.

There is also plenty of coffee, juices, sparkling and mineral water on offer.

Self-serve alcohol is also available, with a few wines and beer.

I grabbed a small plate since I did not eat at the Lufthansa lounge in CDG and only nibbled at my meal on the flight over.

The lounge would offer a great view of the international gates except for the fact that these blinds are in the way.  I stayed in the lounge for about 90 minutes before heading over to my gate.

LH418

My last flight of this trip was on D-ABVY, a 23 years-old Boeing 747-400.

Boarding began at 12:21pm, 11 minutes behind schedule.

Lufthansa has 3 business class cabins on its 744s: one in the nose, one between the first two doors, and one encompassing the upper deck.

It's crazy to think that Lufthansa only finished retrofitting these cabins in the mid-2010s and thought a 2-3-2 layout was acceptable in the main business class cabin between the first two doors.  That middle seat, as you can see, is incredibly tight and exposed, with no storage.  I'd avoid these seats at all costs.

Right behind business class is the stair ways leading up to the upper deck.  While not having the grandeur of the A380 staircase, I just love stairs on an airplane.

The upper deck really has a lovely feel to it even though it's not direct aisle access.  There are 22 business class seats arranged in 5 and a half rows of 2-2.

Because I booked this flight literally within 24 hours of departure, I was stuck in 82C in the second row.  I was happy to just get an upper deck seat at all.

These Lufthansa business class seats, even though less than a decade old, are very uncompetitive and dated.  They lack storage, are exposed, and have a narrow footwell,   A blanket and pillow awaits at your seat, in addition to an amenity kit.  There is absolutely no privacy from the aisle in the aisle-adjacent seats.

By comparison, 82A, like other window-adjacent seats on the upper deck, has not only a much more open footwell, but also additional storage on the side.  There's a huge difference in the comfort of the seats.

Lavatories are in the front, as is the cockpit.  You'll notice that the bulkhead seats has a much winder footwell as well.

The cabin is broken up by a service station in the middle, where the emergency exits are.

I opted to have a glass of sparkling wine for my PDB.

The amenity kit was a large Porsche Design mesh bag, it was reasonably practical but a bit large for normal travel use.

Lufthansa uses AKG headphones in business class now.  I vaguely remember Lufthansa having Bose headphones in business class last time I flew their long-haul product 5 years ago.  These AKG headphones are a bit of a downgrade.

I was also offered a menu before takeoff:

Here's the wine list:

After most people boarded, the captain announced that one of the runways had closed due to winds, which led to a significant backup at FRA.  I received an email shortly afterwards that the new estimated departure time was 1:30pm.  

The captain came back on at 1:20pm saying that he was still waiting for pushback clearance and that it should about 30 more minutes, but promised a shorter flight to IAD and estimated we would be about 20-25 minutes late from the expected arrival time.

At 1:49pm, we finally pushed back, 54 minutes behind schedule.  We then taxied for quite some time and took off at 2:14pm.

Approximately 15 minutes after takeoff, service began with a hot towel.

The tray table is a bit clunky and not very deep, but it gets the job done.

I opted for a glass of the Heidseick Monopole to start, which was accompanied by a ramekin of nuts.

For my appetizer, I had the duck breast with red cabbage, cashew nut, and lingonberries.  It was served with a seasonal salad.  This was actually a fairly decent appetizer.

A bread basket was offered at the same time, but no pretzel bread.

For my main, I had the a duck course that served as a replacement for the beef goulash.  It was accompanied by potatoes and cabbage.  All things considered, it wasn't that bad.

For dessert, I had the opera cake with red berry compote.

After lunch service, I checked out the lavatory, which was tiny.

There is a decent amount of amenities available though, including eye masks and mouth wash.

Waiting for me back at my seat was a set of Lindt pralines.  They were good.  Everything was cleaned up about 2 hours after takeoff.

I dozed off for a while after the lunch service before waking up with about 2 hours left in flight.  I did not take note of when exactly the pre-landing service started.  I had the skin fried corn-fed chicken with creamy polenta, fresh tomato sauce and leafy spinach.  It was dry and bland.

I asked for a glass of tea to wash it down.

Around 3:25pm ET, the captain announced that there was about 40 minutes left in flight.  We landed at 4:10pm ET.

We reached our gate 5 minutes later and then it was off to the people movers.