CHECK-IN I arrived at Frankfurt Terminal 1 via a shuttle bus at 1450 for my 1710 business class flight to London Heathrow (to read a review of my outbound flight, click here).
The bus dropped me at the arrivals level on the ground floor, so I went up the escalator to departures and, as I had already checked in online, passed straight through to security, going past the quiet Lufthansa desks on my right.
At Frankfurt Airport the security zones are separated as A, B, C and Z with B straight ahead of me, C to my left and the others my right. After a minute of checking my boarding pass I went straight ahead through B and there was no queue. I was ushered down the First and Business lane but this immediately joined the rest, a bit pointless really but all four queues were two people deep so it wasn’t a problem.
I then struggled to find signs for the business lounge and did a loop until I hit a dead end. The signage was very poor, the area quite cramped and no information readily available. I took a gamble and decided to go through passport control, but only after getting an extremely rude response from the guard when I enquired if I was making a mistake or not.
THE LOUNGE After passport control there are a few shops and a bar/cafe. I finally saw a sign for the business lounge and turned left, past the Senator lounge and saw the business lounge desk straight ahead of me.
I handed over my boarding pass and went upstairs where the girl at the desk told me I was actually in the wrong place and that there is a lounge when I turn right after passport control which would be nearer to my gate. However I opted to stay put as the lounge was nice and quiet and I wanted to get some work done before the flight.
The lounge had no more than ten people in it and is a large space that sweeps around to the right with mixed seating, lots of power points and a bar running around the middle wall serving hot and cold snacks such as airplane shaped gummie sweets, peanuts, bread and asparagus soup as well as rice and another creamy asparagus dish to top it with (it must be in season). There is a good selection of drinks including Weissbier and Becks on tap, bottled beers and wine, spirits and soft drinks as well as two coffee machines.
I made myself a coffee and couldn’t resist a white chocolate covered donut. I took these back to my seat and plugged my laptop into the European socket and logged in to the free wifi (the network is Tmobile).
There were lots of newspapers available but none were British and there was a lack of magazines. To the far end of the lounge there is a small business centre with two computers and there are a couple of TVs dotted around showing rolling news.
BOARDING My boarding time was 1640 so I left the lounge at 1630 as I had a bit of a walk. I sat in the waiting area, located next to the other business lounge, and waited for boarding to commence. A short delay to boarding was announced and business passengers were called forward at 1655.
THE SEAT I was in my seat, 2C, by 1705. The seat was separated from 2A by a fixed table for added space and the cabin again was looking fresh and clean. The business class section of the aircraft stretched back to row 13 on this flight and had 16 passengers in total. The seat is the new style ultra-thin Recaro design, upholstered in leather (for more information see online news December 2010).
WHICH SEAT TO CHOOSE In business on the A321 (to see a seat plan click here) it is probably best to be at the front in row 1 for quick disembarkation and a little extra space, otherwise row 10 also offers extra legroom as this is where the emergency exit is located.
THE FLIGHT Boarding was complete by 1710 and take off was at 1725. I was served a meal at 1740, another strange selection of a mousse with a fillet of smoked eel, roasted carrot mousse with breast of guinea fowl confit, gelled vegetable soup with spicy tomato chutney and a gelatinous elderflower ‘soup’ with pink grapefruit.
I took my laptop out and tried to get some work done with a coffee. I was offered a top up at 1800, but only after the friendly cabin crew had pushed me towards a glass of champagne, only for me to stick with coffee. The coffee itself was pretty awful and served with cream not milk.
ARRIVAL We began our descent at 1820 and landed at 1835. We were held shortly at the gate and eventually disembarked at 1845. After a short walk to an empty immigration hall the e-passport gate failed me once again and I was checked quickly by a guard. I made my way out of the terminal and was on the tube by 1805.
VERDICT A very short flight that was punctuated by a very odd meal and friendly cabin crew. The discomfort of the seat is not dissipated by the extra space and would become quite unbearable on a longer flight.
CONTACT lufthansa.com
PRICE Internet rates for a return business class flight in June starts at £601.
Scott Carey
