Review: Lufthansa Business Class A320 Frankfurt to Kraków
Lufthansa 1368
Frankfurt (FRA) – Kraków (KRK)
Airbus A320
19 June 2016
The flight from Dallas landed in Frankfurt ahead of schedule and parked at a remote position. The seven First Class passengers, including myself, were driven directly to the main terminal in a Mercedes van. I asked to be taken to Baggage Claim as then I could walk to the Lufthansa First Class Terminal after exiting the main terminal.
The other passengers in the van seemed to get excited about the Lufthansa First Class Terminal and asked to also be taken to baggage claim and that they’d walk over there, too. I mentioned I had to do some shopping first and then I would meet them there.
I know Frankfurt Airport extremely well, mainly because I’m here all the time since I fly with Lufthansa the most. Also, it may have something due to the fact that we were stranded here for 5 days in 2010 because of a winter snowstorm.
Anyway, after going through the EU Passport gates to clear immigration and exiting baggage claim, I found myself in the main terminal where I spent a few minutes watching the departures board, which I love. After printing my boarding pass for my flight to Kraków, I headed to Lufthansa’s WorldShop which is located in the A and B departures area. The B WorldShop is bigger, offers more products, and the staff are more competent.
After my quick shopping adventure, I headed outside and walked to the Lufthansa First Class Terminal, which is located about a five-minute walk from the main terminal.
Lufthansa operates the First Class Terminal and two First Class Lounges in Frankfurt. The main difference between the Terminal and Lounges is that you’re guaranteed to be driven to your flight in a fancy car from the Terminal as it isn’t connected to the airport’s main terminal at all. I’ve reviewed the Lufthansa First Class Terminal and Lufthansa First Class Lounges many times before, so I won’t again as nothing has changed (and that’s a good thing)!
Reviews:
Lufthansa First Class Terminal Frankfurt
Lufthansa First Class Terminal Frankfurt
Lufthansa First Class Terminal Frankfurt
Lufthansa First Class Lounge (Pier A) Frankfurt
Lufthansa First Class Lounge (Pier B) Frankfurt
Lufthansa’s First Class Terminal is unique and offers one of the best First Class ground services of any airline. Within seconds of arriving you are already sitting comfortably inside and having a drink, enjoying the fine dining, or taking a bath with a duck.
Lufthansa maintains a strict access policy to the Terminal and Lounges and basically it goes like this: you must be departing or arriving in either Lufthansa or SWISS First Class on the same day to access the lounge. To access the First Class Terminal, you must also have a onward connecting flight operated by Austrian, Lufthansa, or SWISS (in addition to the First Class flight). This is because they can only drive you to a a flight operated by one of those three airlines.
Once inside, my personal assistant asked me to enjoy the many amenities of the First Class Terminal and said she would let me know when my flight would be ready for boarding.
I asked the spa attendant for a bath and she said it would be a few minutes as she was still preparing the bath/shower room, so in the meantime I had a look at the breakfast buffet menu. I was still full from the breakfast on the aircraft and therefore I figured I would wait and have lunch after my bath.
There seems to be only one shower room that also features a bathtub (or I always get the same room) in the First Class Terminal. There are also four or so additional shower rooms that apparently don’t have a bathtub… and that kind of makes sense since normally people just want a quick shower in the lounge before their flight and I assume there aren’t people like us who sit there for eight hours and purposely book a longer layover. 😉
It seems that the bath amenities have also been updated. They are still Etro, but they now come in colourful tubes instead of plastic containers. The amenities consist of body lotion, shampoo, bath foam, etc. There is also some bath salts next to the bathtub. Additional amenities such as a comb, hair tie, etc. are now located in the box next to the tissues.
Lufthansa’s newest signature First Class duck was featured in German colours for UEFA Euro 2016.
After my nice, long, and relaxing bath, it was time for lunch as I was getting a bit hungry. I went with some vegetable consommé soup and wiener schnitzel. Lufthansa’s catering in the First Class Lounges in Frankfurt is done by DO&CO and therefore the food is absolutely mouthwatering and delicious.
After lunch, I enjoyed some tea while reading my emails and talking to family. I relaxed a bit more, and later my personal assistant informed me my flight was ready for boarding – and my Porsche was waiting! All in all, I really do recommend a longer layover if visiting the First Class Terminal, as time will go by fast and you need at least five hours to enjoy all of the amenities. Eight hours is ideal.
The Porsche ride took about five minutes – way too quick. I’ve written more about the Porsche transfer before, so I will let you read more about that: Porsche Transfer 1 and Porsche Transfer 2.
My flight to Kraków was operated with one of Lufthansa’s A320 aircraft. There were only a few people in Business Class, which consisted of three rows on this flight. My driver introduced me to the crew and I thanked him for the awesome ride.
I quickly took my seat, 2A, and was welcomed by the crew. The seat next to me, 2C, was blocked off so that I would have an entire row to myself. This is normally the case if the flight isn’t too full – and also since I’m a Miles & More status holder.
Intra-European Business Class is usually just a normal Economy Class seat with the middle or aisle seat blocked. The food is also significantly better and premium drinks are available.
We pushed back a few minutes late and departed shortly thereafter, heading straight towards Kraków. We had a great view of Frankfurt Airport during the departure and it really does show you how absolutely massive it really is.
Once we reached cruising altitude, a snack was served. It consisted of some fish, ham, crème fraîche, pudding, and chocolate. The fish wasn’t especially good, but the ham was delicious. The dessert was average, but the pralines were great. Some warm bread was also offered with the snack.
For my drink, I requested some tea with lemon and sugar.
The meal service was concluded about halfway through the flight and with about thirty minutes remaining, I listened to some music and just looked out into beautiful Europe below me.
We landed in Kraków a bit delayed, but it didn’t matter to me at all since I was finally happy to be home again.
At baggage claim, I waited.. waited.. waited.. and nothing! It turns out United didn’t deliver the baggage to Lufthansa on time in Dallas (even though they had 1hr30min), however I received my baggage the next day, about 20 hours after my flight landed in Kraków. Even though it wasn’t Lufthansa’s fault, they kindly credited my Miles & More account with a few thousand miles.
It is great to be home in Poland with all of my family. I’ve got one more year of university left, which means that perhaps this time next year I can “permanently” be located in Europe and Poland throughout the year, and not elsewhere.
It’s going to be an amazing summer, stay tuned for the trip reports!
