I was invited to create a review of Lufthansa Business Class and the experience onboard the relaunched A350 service from Singapore to Munich route and create a video. All opinions are always honest and my own. This article was first published in Sept 2018 and updated on June 2020.
Lufthansa is one of Europe’s best known airlines and the flagship airline of the Lufthansa group which also includes Swiss Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Austrian Airlines and low cost airlines Eurowings.
The airline is a founding member of Star Alliance and has Europe’s largest loyalty program. As a German carrier, it is usually associated with professionalism and precision. It is reliable and safe. So I wanted to see for myself how it fared, and partnering with them for this article and a video was a great opportunity to review Lufthansa Business Class. I will share my thoughts here.
Talking of which, watch the video of my experience below.
Background for this article
On occasion of my summer trip to Europe, Lufthansa invited me to try the relaunched Singapore – Munich service on the new A350-900 cabin, an opportunity that I could not pass up on. I have flown Lufthansa before, when their Business Class seats still had a slope and you would slide down to the bottom.
Living in Singapore, I tend to favor Singapore Airlines with which I have status and miles. However, I often fly other airlines to stay abreast of the industry and try out new products. Being a Star Alliance member, Lufthansa would be my European airline of choice.
Experiencing the flight as a media influencer was a great experience too. It was fun and fascinating to work together with Lufthansa to create a video I am very proud of and also write this review.
Obviously, the entire crew were aware they were being filmed and did their best to make our experience enjoyable. I also flew back with Lufthansa, this time on the A380, as a regular guest, so I could compare if the service was any different. Check out my review of Lufthansa A380 Business Class for more info and the comparison to this flight.
Lufthansa A350 aircraft and new brand look
Lufthansa has always been easily recognisable thanks to the bright yellow color. In 2018, the carrier has embarked in a brand refresh including a sleeker crane logo and a new palette of colors to be used in uniforms and in the cabins.
As the Singapore-Munich route is served by the new Airbus A350 aircrafts, the cabin already showed the new brand livery and crew uniforms so this flight gave me the chance to see how it all played together.
The new brand livery feels much more elegant. A new shade of blue dominates and instead of the former yellow, the secondary color is based on a color similar to copper that is used both on the pillows as well as on the partitions between seats. It is a color that I have seen used by other brands like Bawah Reserve also relaunched with a similar shade, as well as and Six Senses Singapore at Duxton Hill.
As you can see from the color wheel below, the color palette changes depending on the cabin but all three feature similar color ranges.
Lufthansa has only eight A350 aircrafts in 2020 and 19 more on order to be delivered until 2025. The Airbus A350s are known for being the most efficient of the range, fast and designed to minimise the impact of jetlag thanks to various smart features like the air control, lighting and the lowered noise levels.
The aircrafts consume a quarter the amount of fuel of comparable aircrafts and their Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines are 30% less noisy so the cabins feel more silent and calm. They have also been dubbed the most environmentally friendly aircrafts as they produce 25% less emissions.
As the A350s are far smaller than the two-storey beluga A380s, they are more nimble and engineered best for a three-cabin configuration. Lufthansa has foregone the First Class cabin in their A350 and gone for 224 seats in Economy, 21 in Premium Economy and 48 in Business Class.
Some carriers like Singapore Airlines, have started to use A350 aircrafts for super long-haul flights because their efficiency allows them to serve those route in a financially viable manner.
The crew onboard my flight provided additional insights into the A350 experience which I was quite curious about. I had flown A350 before but it was interesting to see how Lufthansa has adapted the aircraft and made the most of it.
For example, the flight between Singapore and Munich is barely 11 hours, sometimes even less, one of the fastest connections between Asia and Europe, so we had to wait a little to depart from Singapore to ensure we would not reach Munich before the airport officially opens.
I must admit that the flight went by really quickly and, when compared to my usual 16h Singapore Airlines flight to Barcelona with the 1h stopover in Milan that always feels like it never ends, this felt really quick and we barely had time to have dinner, breakfast and sleep.
The aircraft has several mood lighting settings which can take up to 5min to turn on and are designed to simulate various times of the day and better adapt to the body’s rhythm. For example, you can see the difference between the nighttime and the morning mood lighting in the two pictures of the galley above. Here is a video where artist Keith Sonner explains the importance of light in flying.
These settings take about five minutes to come on so the light changes progressively and slowly. I actually tested this with the cabin crew when they turned the lights on for breakfast service, and it did indeed take 5 min for the lights to fully turn on.
One of the complaints I have in planes, and which determines what I wear on my flights, is how cold airplane cabins can be. I always freeze and wear a fluffy jacket to keep warm. The crew told me that the A350 has individual AC controls per row and so the temperature can be adapted differently for different passengers. This is a #win for me and anyone who always freezes in planes.
The crew told me that the since they fly the new A350 aircraft (some of them almost exclusively for a year) they have felt their jetlag getting better.
For several years I used to fly more than airline staff, and got quite used to living in a time zone that didn’t exist. I no longer do and struggle with jetlag more than I ever used to (age they say!) so I was keen to see how I would fare.
I have to admit that it took me and my partner only a couple of days to get used to European time instead of the usual five, although the generous amount of sunlight and time we enjoyed outside under the sun with lots of Spanish meats probably helped too.
Arrival and check-in for Lufthansa Business Class
Check in for Lufthansa in Singapore is at Terminal 2. There were a couple of Business Class counters which were empty when I arrived so check-in was swift.
If you have downloaded the Lufthansa app and signed in, you will receive your luggage tags via email as well, and any changes in gate will be sent via email too. The gate was changed on all of my flights and finding out via email was very convenient.
I was also met by the Lufthansa media team at check in and, after shooting some videos of Changi Airport and the check in procedure, we went through immigration and towards the lounge. Changi Airport is such a great airport to fly from.
Lufthansa uses the Singapore Airlines Business Class lounge at Terminal 2 which has a dining section with lots of food options from the cuisines that make Singapore unique and a larger sofa area to relax, read or work. There are also cubicles to get some work done.
About an hour before the flight we went to the gate to meet the crew before boarding. On the way, we managed to lose one of the boarding cards (not sure how/when) which the gate staff easily resolved with a copy, thankfully.
Boarding of Lufthansa flights in Singapore, as in other airports, is done by priority/class. Business Class passengers and Star Alliance Gold Members get to board first together with families with small children.
Lufthansa Business Class cabin and seat onboard the A350
As you can see in the seat map above, Lufthansa A350 Business Class cabin has a reverse herringbone 2-2-2 configuration with direct aisle access for all passengers except for the window seats.
The Business Class cabin was split into two sections, a larger one at the front with six rows and two additional rows after the galley before Premium Economy. Watch the video below where the Purser shows me to my seat and through the cabin.
My partner and I were on the last row of Business Class and had the two seats by the window so that we could record the experience without interfering with other guests or catching them on film. This small mini-cabin felt much more private than the larger one upfront.
I liked these two seats by the window because they were cozy and felt quite private. If you are flying with a partner, these are the best seats, while if you fly alone, you will probably prefer any of the aisle seats.
If you, like me, prefer window seats, jumping over the seat mate when the beds are flat and they are asleep is pretty easy to do without disturbing them. I tested it to record this in-flight Facebook Live video while my partner was asleep.
As you can see from the seat map above, Lufthansa Business Class A350 cabin has two more seats per row than the configuration of other carriers using the A350. For example, Singapore Airlines A350 Business Class configuration only has 4 seats per row, same as Finnair.
This may seem a little cramped but it did not affect my experience. Far from my United Business Class experience to San Francisco a couple of years ago when me and my seatmate actually shared an armrest, in Business Class. For extra privacy, choose a window seat in the 1st or 7th rows which have extra footrest space than the rest.
The cabin on the A350 was as new as the aircraft, about three months old, and already decked with the new brand livery and aircraft design. I thought the new cabin was very elegant-looking using the metal silver and grey color as the basis and complementing it with the new blue and the shade of copper. It looked appealing and modern. One of the nicest cabins I have seen recently.
Lufthansa’s Business Class seats on the A350 are 50cm wide and almost 2m long when completely flat, so they are comfortable even for tall German passengers. This makes Lufthansa an excellent alternative to Singapore Airlines which, while having wider seats by 20cm, forces you to sleep at an angle, something which is inconvenient even for shorter people like me who sleep on their side.
The operation of the seats was very sleek and intuitive. I loved the mechanics to pull the seat up and down and the touch controls which were not only easy to use and fuss-free but also fast and practical.
The bed went completely flat quickly and you could go up and down without having to stand up (as is the case with Singapore Airlines where the seatback is actually the bed). You could also control the seat firmness.
The seat was also comfortable when seated. The folded table was easy to retrieve from inside the armrest and was of a decent size. Like with most business class folded tables, it can get a bit wiggly if you are trying to type on your laptop so I always put the pillow on my lap, under the table, to stabilise it.
The only downside I could find on my Business Class seat on the A350 was the lack of personal space to store small items right by my seat (there is a good amount of overall storage space).
The seats are compact in width so the only space you have handy is the compartment where the headset is, which is already quite full, and a small area under the armrest or on top of it, but it is easy for items to slide if there is a bit of turbulence.
Check out this video where the Purser shows me my seat.
I had a lot of equipment on this flight so I resorted to storing it on the space where the USB plug is. The only issue with leaving things there is that every time you bring the seat down, the items will slip and end up under the seat. It happened at least three times.
Thankfully, the seats were designed with that issue in mind and it is easy to retrieve anything that falls through the cracks as there is a lining under the seat that prevent items from ending in the seat’s mechanics.
I also need to mention the electrical facilities in this review of Lufthansa Business Class, as the seats on the A350 have a personal USB plug in the space under the armrest and an international electricity socket near the floor level on the armrest. I used this to charge all my electronics during the flight.
In terms of other storage areas, there is space under the TV inside a pull-out compartment where the amenity kit and a bottle of water are stored. While this is handy and can even fit a laptop, it is not easy to reach when you are seated as it is quite far, so less practical than the space on the wider body A380 which offers large compartments to window seat passengers.
As the seats on Lufthansa’s Business Class are in a reverse herringbone position there is quite some space between the seat back and the wall, which I used to store the Dream Collection items as well as some of my personal belongings.
Lastly, there is also space under the footrest where my handbag ended up. This space does not disappear when the seat is flat so you can keep shoes or smaller bags there without being crushed by the seat.
The entertainment system and WiFi onboard Lufthansa Business Class
I found the entertainment system on Lufthansa Business Class not as good as with other airlines. It was not terrible, but I felt that it was not as amazing as the rest of the experience. I did not have any time to enjoy it on this flight, but browsed through it to test it and find out more.
There is a list of TV series and movies to watch, but instead of the usual latest movies there were lots of classics and all time favorites available. While this is not a huge issue per se, the way they were organised was not very user friendly and made it quite time-consuming to find something to watch.
I could filter by genre and language but then simply got a long list of titles. Whenever I clicked on one, the system was very slow to load it for me to read the plot and decide if I wanted to watch it. The text was also very small (perhaps I need glasses) and far from the seat, so despite the screens being bigger than the standard, it was hard to read it properly. Loading the movies took some extra time too.
On the flip side, the entertainment selection featured movies in several of the European languages so there were a few non-English options. I was reminded of the last time I flew Business Class with Singapore Airlines to Barcelona via Milan and the many Italian and Spanish passengers onboard had nothing to watch (and could not even get the system to work in their language to even search) because there were practically no European foreign language options available (despite Spanish being the fourth most spoken language in the world).
The TV screen slides, so you can tilt it to face you better and bother the passenger next to you less, as the bright screen does not face them. The headsets were another plus. They were proper noise cancelling ones, comfortable to wear and from the professional AKG brand.
The headsets are stored inside their own compartment and are plugged in, so you cannot take them with you (I bet a lot of people would take them home if they could). This means you cannot end up misplacing them like it has happened to me on Singapore Airlines before.
Alternatively, Lufthansa onboard WiFi service from FlyNet was impressive. I have mentioned the strength of the signal and the fact that I could even do a Live Facebook video. Trust me when I say this, Facebook is very moody and picky, if the internet connection is not of the highest standard, it will not connect. My Live video went smooth and worked fabulously. I was impressed. Watch it here.
I also tested it to watch Netflix and can say it did well. So, even if you have not managed to download any movies before boarding, you can still stream or download them onboard. Problem solved. I did that on the way back.
Prices for FlyNet service on long haul are valid for 24h and cost $19, which is industry standard pricing. You can also buy smaller chunks of one or four hours instead. The only downside to FlyNet is that the service can be unstable and while it gave me great speeds when it worked, it stopped working two-thirds into the flight and I could not get it to work again. Nothing under Lufthansa’s control.
Aside from movies and other TV shows, Lufthansa Business Class passengers also get the chance to download digital magazines to read onboard. Newspapers will be offered after take off but there is a large selection of magazines in several languages available for download pre-flight via the Lufthansa app which will take you to the eJournals app.
All passengers, even Economy Class, get to download at least one title to read onboard. As a Business Class passenger you actually get 3 titles. Miles & More status members can download even more titles. I downloaded three travel magazines at the lounge.
Amenities onboard Lufthansa A350 Business Class
I have always had a bit of a hoarding side which forces me to collect the many Business Class amenity kits that I have accumulated over the years. Except for Singapore Airlines, which doesn’t actually give you an amenity kit (they did briefly hand out 70th Anniversary ones in 2017), all airlines will give you a bag containing some amenities for the flight.
Since July 2018, Lufthansa has a set of three new kits by German functional brand Reisenthel for their Business Class passengers. On my A350 flight I was given the pencil case version, while on my return onboard the A380 I got the handbag.
The idea behind the new amenity kit is that of environmental consciousness so the three kinds are reusable either as pencil cases, grocery/travel bags or as make-up cases. I like this idea (see my hoarding issues above) because I always end up giving away the content of the kits to charity while keeping the cases for my makeup.
Inside the amenity kit I found a set of cosmetics from the Provence-inspired brand L’Occitane. The pencil case amenity kit has a lip balm and a face cream while the grocery bag came with a small travel size hand cream (super cute) and a premium face cream. I will say this, the lip balm saved me for the duration of my trip. It was so rich and good that I used it all throughout Montenegro and Albania and even went back to L’Occitane to buy a full size version.
Those who know me know that I had a stroke when my favorite brand of lip balm (which I used for 20 years!) stopped producing it at the beginning of this year and I have been trying to find a replacement so I was really happy to find this one. Double high-five for Lufthansa for this.
Aside from the cosmetics, there is a dental kit with whitening toothpaste and a toothbrush, a mint, a pair of ear plugs, eye shades, covers for the headsets and a pair of socks.
Business Class passengers also get their own sleepers and a set of items from the Dream Collection. Now, this is the next level of comfort onboard.
The Dream Collection includes a soft and warm blanket-duvet, a large pillow, a non-slip mattress topper and a pyjama shirt. I tested them all to give you the ins and outs.
So, was that just a PR stunt or did it actually help me sleep better?
I will be honest, I was actually busy shooting for the duration of the overnight flight on the way out so I did not have that much time to sleep but the few hours when I actually put my head down were pretty good. The mattress topper did help make the seat softer and it was indeed non slip, so it did not move even when I brought the seat up and down for meal service.
My last two Business Class flights before this one this year were on Ethiopian Airlines and on Fiji Airways and they both had huge seats that went completely flat but were pretty tough to sleep on. I sleep on my side and there are a lot of bones on my hips (well just one) and not a lot of cushion so I tend to land pretty beaten up. The mattress topper actually solved that.
Lufthansa is not the only one giving you these cushion-y covers, Emirates has been doing so for years, but I applaud the airline for adding this for the comfort of the Business Class passengers, it does make a difference and may have as well helped award Lufthansa with the 5th star from Skytrax. On the way back I actually slept all the way and woke up a mere two hours before landing.
As per the duvet, I found it to be very soft and nice to the touch. It is also thick so people like me, who always freeze in planes, can survive. I even had to take my fluffy jacket off because I was too hot.
I also tested the pyjamas from German shirt brand Van Laack. I don’t usually change into any clothes other than my own because I have specific clothes I wear onboard. Basically, my inflight attire always consists of loose pyjama-style pants. But this time I was dressed for the occasion and so the pyjamas were a nice addition.
You only get the pyjama shirt top, and no pants, but they are useful to avoid getting food stains on your clothes (which through the years I have learned planes tend to be prone to), to keep warmer and to avoid getting your shirt creased. They were also quite soft so I kept them on and my partner may have taken them home. And I confirmed you can indeed make them your own!
Good to note that the packaging in which the mattress topper, blanket and pyjamas are kept in is made of recyclable paper and not plastic.
The food onboard Lufthansa Business Class
One of the most important parts of a Business Class flight is the food. My best friend never eats in planes, even if the flight is 15h long. I never understood that. To me, the culinary experience onboard is something I look forward to.
I am fascinated by the cooking that can happen at 33,000 feet where our taste buds are not the same and the flavors and smells change so much. On the A350, the galley and kitchen are even more sophisticated and modern and the crew has a fridge and very technologically advanced ovens to cook each type of meal.
So how did Lufthansa Business Class food taste?
Pretty good. And very filling. We were so full by the end of the dinner service it would be fair to say we approached food coma. It did not help that the crew were so nice and let us try all the dishes on the menu.
Lufthansa Business Class service from Singapore to Munich, like all other Asia to Europe services, takes off at night and lands in the early morning, so both dinner and breakfast were served.
Before take off, we were offered a drink. We had some sparkling German wine while settling into our seats. After take off, before our meal orders were taken, we were again offered a drink and some warm, toasted and salted almonds on a ramekin. On the Singapore flights, Lufthansa has a premixed Singapore Sling drink on offer. The crew then passed through the aisles to take our orders for dinner.
The dinner menu had three starters and three mains to choose from. There is always a vegetarian option available, usually pasta, as well as a fish and meat dish. The menus change every other month so frequent travelers don’t have repetitive meals (something I used to get really tired off when flying every week and basically eating the same for two days of the week).
For starters there was:
- Roaster king prawn with chickpea mousseline, salad and herbs
- Roasted Angus beef, asparagus salad and baby carrots with mint taboule
- Red bell pepper quenelle, roasted vegetables and salsa verde
The mains included:
- Grilled veal loin, sweet potato mash, cherry tomato and mixed zucchini
- Sweet and sour garoupa fillet with mixed vegetable and egg fried rice, broccoli and mushrooms
- Sage butter potato gnocchi with blue cheese cream sauce, bok choy, carrot and asparagus puree
We got to try two of the starters (the Angus beef and the red pepper quenelle) and then all three of the mains but we could not finish half of the portions as they were very generous.
The red pepper quenelle was very beautifully plated, looking like silky dollops of red pepper mousse, it was my favorite dish. The mains were filling, and very rich, mimicking German cuisine which tends to be thought for the cold weather that looms over the country for most of the year.
The gnocchi was very creamy and something straight out of a Sicilian food advert, and the garoupa and veal were both tasty. I thought the portions were very big, with two pieces of fish and meat instead of the usual one piece you would find in other airlines.
Between the starters and the mains we were also offered a green salad with a macadamia dressing and some shaved parmesan cheese which was very tasty.
For dessert, there is always a selection of cheese with crackers, nuts and dried fruits, a selection of fresh cut fruit and a cake, in this case a dark chocolate cake with caramel hazelnut and marinated cherries. Again, on condition of media, we were given the chance of trying all three of them. I, of course, obliged.
The drinks menu onboard Lufthansa Business Class always includes a selection of wines. There are usually two whites and two reds, one champagne and two liqueurs, Baileys and Tawny Port wine. The selection also changes every other month with the menu.
The red wine list always includes a French wine while there is always a German white, usually a Riesling as it is one of the most traditional German type of wines. The other choice is always an international option. In my flight there was a New Zealand white and a South African red wine. The German white was from Lufthansa’s Castle Collection.
These were the wines available on my flight:
- Champagne Jacquart Cru, France
- Rheingau Riesling trocken from the Lufthansa Castle Collection, Germany
- Awatere Valley 2016 Marlborough Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc, Yealands Estate, New Zealand
- Château Loirac 2014, Cru Bourgeoise Médoc
- Cape Cuvee 2014 Limited Release, Lance Bouma, Coastal region, South Africa
The crew shared an interesting insight with me. Business Class passengers always have an additional choice of wine from the First Class wine selection. This is not mentioned on the menu and you will not know unless you ask the crew, but it is an insider tip for your next flight.
In my flight there was a Chardonnay from Argentina. Note that my flight did not have First Class yet the wine was still available. Ask the crew and let me know what wine was available on your flight.
Aside from wines, there are also a few types of beer. This could be expected from the national airline of Germany, home to so many different beer brands. On my flight there was a premium lager from Warsteiner, and a wheat beer from Erdinger Weiber, also the same two were available in alcohol-free versions.
Those who prefer to drink spirits can choose from the few options: Bombay Sapphire gin, Bacardi rum, Gorbatschow vodka, wild raspberry brandy, three whiskey options: Jack Daniels, Johnnie Walker Black Label and Glenfiddich Cask Collection, Remy Martin Cognac VSOP, Amaro Ramazzotti, Kuemmerling and Campari, all in small individual bottles. On the Singapore route you can also order a Singapore Sling and authentic Mexican tequila is available on Mexico flights.
Coffee lovers like me who are used to terrible onboard coffee will appreciate Lufthansa’s onboard Nespresso machine, unique to the A350. The machine only makes espressos, so if you like milk-based coffee, the milk cannot be frothed but at least the base coffee will be far better.
For breakfast, the menu also had two choices of hot dish, some dim sum with chilli or an omelet. We had them both, to try them of course. There are also a selection of warm pastries and breads as well as butter and jam, plus my favorite: Nutella! How could I say no to Nutella.
For drinks we were offered fresh orange juice and also another fruit smoothie, proper coffee and bircher muesli. By the end of it were so full we could not even finish half of the food on our trays.
Aside from the two services for dinner and breakfast, Lufthansa Business Class passengers have a snack bar at their disposal located in the galley. There, they can help themselves to cookies, popcorn, chocolate bars, drinks and any other snacks.
The crew also prepared some other small bites for passengers to take back to their seats like antipasti with prawns or small slices of cake. Non-Alcoholic drinks were also available for self-service.
The service onboard Lufthansa Business Class
All Lufthansa A350 flights have 5 cabin attendants for the 48 passengers in Business Class. In comparison, there are 6 for the entire Economy Class cabin (with 224 passengers). This means that your needs will always be taken care of and as soon as you call the crew one will materialise straightaway.
On this flight, my crew was excellent, as expected. You can see both the cabin crew and the second purser that were serving us in my Facebook Live video.
The second Purser, Alex, and the lovely cabin crew member, Tania, who was in charge of our row, were some of the best crew I have ever come across in my 15 years on thousands of flights. It is true that they were aware of our collaboration, but they exceeded my expectations both in professionalism and kindness.
You could wonder if this was because they knew of our collaboration, and it could well be the case. But I have worked with dozens of brands in the past and this is not always the case. Nonetheless, for the more skeptical, I also flew back to Singapore on Lufthansa, as any other regular passenger, and the cabin attendant assigned to me was equally nice and friendly. And he was put to the test.
My nose was bleeding for the last hour of the flight before landing, and continued to do so after we touched the ground, so I needed to get help to bring my suitcase down from the overhead bins, and he was pretty helpful and kind through this inconvenient time. He also made sure I had enough tissue and was quite caring through the awful experience.
So it is fair to say that the service onboard Lufthansa is at the top-end of the scale.
Munich Airport
My flight was connecting in Munich, Europe’s Best Airport, to take me to the final destination in Barcelona. Munich Airport is partially funded by Lufthansa and is one of the newest in Europe having undergone recent refurbishments. I had heard a lot about it, its bright and green look and how convenient the airport was for connections.
I have transited via Frankfurt several times, most recently on my few flights to New York with Singapore Airlines, and find the airport a bit grey. It is also very large and has several terminals some of which are quite far apart. Transiting from non-Schengen to Schengen, as is usually my case, can sometimes be very time consuming too.
Munich Airport was as promised. It is much smaller than Frankfurt and more convenient. When we landed, most of the shops were still closed as it was just 5am and we were the first flight of the day. As I was shooting some footage around I did explore a bit and found what was promised.
The common areas are very green, and because of the large glass walls, a lot of light was coming through. I could see the sunrise through the planes.
The several dining options looked appetising with many bakeries and cafes ready to serve the breakfast crowd with healthy options. It all felt so nice and inviting that I considered whether I should head to the lounge or just sit there. But I am glad I went to the lounge because it was equally pleasant and quieter.
The airport has free WiFi for everyone and there are a few high-end shops for last minute purchases. I crisscrossed it to find the right lounge for me. We had 3h between our flights because I had asked for enough time to explore the airport for this review but there were faster connections to take us down to Barcelona.
Lufthansa Lounge at Munich Airport
There are 11 Lufthansa Lounges at Munich Airport, two for Business Class and two for First Class passengers. It took a bit of time to find the right one, as I was being sent to the closest to my gate for convenience, but I finally found it.
The Business Class Lounge was one of the most tranquil lounges I have ever been to. Maybe it was very early in the morning and people were still waking up, or maybe it was the type of people using the lounge, as I found the same on my way back, when I spent 8h at the lounge in Frankfurt.
Lufthansa’s Business Class Lounge users must be Business Class ticket holders or Star Alliance Gold members. The vast majority of the guests using the lounge were traveling alone and looked like they were on business.
Suits and men dominated, with very few women and lots of formal attire, ties, Rimowa or Tumi carry-ons and expensive and elegant leather bags. This was a primarily business crowd, probably traveling to other short-haul European destinations on business maybe even just for the day.
Although not in writing, Lufthansa does have an unspoken dress-code for its lounges to keep the atmosphere premium and comfortable for everyone, so you are not going to see children running around and screaming or people in tracksuit pants.
I am used to Asian airlines where passengers are from a much more diverse kind. There are more families, more business passengers traveling together, more women and more of the start-up casual wear. And definitely no dress-code.
Lufthansa is not the only airline with a dress-code, Qantas regularly makes headlines when they turn away customers who are not properly dressed, even celebrities.
The lounge had a relaxation area with semi-flat armchairs, a row of booths with more privacy and with tables for team discussions or meetings, individual desks for work, a section with comfortable sofas and a dining area with proper tables and chairs to eat at. It was located by the windows with views over the parked aircrafts waiting to take off from some of the gates.
The self-service food selection was adequate, with some pastries, eggs, breads, sweets and snacks. There was also a fridge full of ice cream and proper coffee machines. I was expecting some of Germany’s delicacies like sausages or pretzels on offer, but I only saw them in Frankfurt on my return. They brought back some of the memories flying through Germany when I lived in South Africa and seeing the locals drinking beer and having a sausage in the early hours of the morning.
The drinks selection was vast with lots of soft drinks, detox water (with lemon and mint) and several types of beer, wines and spirits.
I found the lounge very pleasant and quiet, the perfect place to relax and indulge in some food and drinks or get some last minute work done. If you wanted to freshen up, there were also several showers for complimentary use.
Review of Lufthansa Business Class on the A350 – The verdict
I very much enjoyed testing the relaunched A350 service from Lufthansa to Munich and partnering with Lufthansa to make this video. Having traveled with many airlines in Business Class through the years I would rate Lufthansa at the top end of the choices.
Some of the best parts were the new cabin, food and drinks and the seat comfort, including The Dream Collection. On the downside, partially the entertainment and the limited personal storage right by your seat, something which would have probably not been an issue if I was not carrying so much equipment.
But how does Lufthansa compare to other airlines connecting Asia to Europe?
Singapore Airlines has wider, larger seats (perhaps unnecessarily) but is also priced far above Lufthansa. The Middle Eastern airlines like Qatar Airways, Etihad and Emirates all offer service to Europe but the flights are broken into two pieces of 7h which makes it harder to sleep through and land rested.
Emirates uses a combination of newer A380 and older B777 which are spacious but slower. Etihad serves the route with the Dreamliner B787 which I reviewed on my trip to New York. Qatar Airways is the only one using A350 aircrafts. While their products may be superior, the connections in the middle of the night are inconvenient.
Other European airlines like KLM, Air France and British Airways could compare to Lufthansa but they do not fly the new A350, so flights are longer and less comfortable and transfers are less convenient.
KLM combines the Singapore-Amsterdam route with their connecting flights to Bali, one which I have taken a few times before, and uses old B777-300 aircrafts. Air France uses the same aircrafts. British Airways flies the A380 to Singapore but London is a far longer flight than continental Europe.
The only contender could be Finnair, who launched their first Asian route on the A350 with much pomp and fanfare in the 2017 ITB travel fair, but their connections to Barcelona are not as frequent or convenient and their cabin has not received as much praise and seems a step down from Lufthansa.
Lastly, Turkish Airlines is one last option that always comes up when looking for affordable options between Europe and Asia on Business Class.
While they tend to be very economical and their business class service has received much praise, their connection times to Barcelona are not good so it would not be an option for me. Also, Istanbul airport is still quite chaotic and I have lots of friends who have missed connections.
In conclusion, Lufthansa’s Business Class service on the A350 is definitely a great alternative to the more expensive and longer Singapore Airlines option and because it uses A350, also a more comfortable and jetlag friendly choice.
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More Business and First Class reviews:
- Singapore Airlines A350 Business Class review
- Lufthansa Business Class A380 review
- SWISS Business Class
- Old Singapore Airlines A380 Business Class review
- Etihad A380 Business Class review
- Singapore Airlines Suites Review
- Emirates A380 Business Class review
- United Airlines Business Class review
- Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300 Business Class review
- Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300 ER Business Class
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