Tried & Tested

Lufthansa A321 economy class

23 Aug 2011 by BusinessTraveller

DESCRIPTION Lufthansa flies the Frankfurt to London Heathrow route direct 11 times a day, and also offers connections at Brussels, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Munich and Hanover.

CHECK-IN I arrived at Zone A of Frankfurt International Terminal 1 at 1110 to find an extremely busy airport. Check-in queues were very long, although they were being monitored and were moving quite quickly. I used a self check-in machine to obtain my boarding pass and then joined the queue to drop my bag. Make sure you check yourself in before queuing, as many people queued for ages only to be told that they had to leave the line and use the check-in machines, as they could not drop luggage without a boarding pass. I queued for just over 20 minutes, but once I was at the desk I was served very quickly and the friendly member of staff asked if I would prefer a window seat. I accepted her offer and my seat was changed from 15B to 5F. She then sent me in the right direction to gate B27.

The walk to Zone B and security took five minutes. Once again, queues were long, but were managed efficiently, and I was through security in ten minutes. I noticed that once the trays for people’s belongings had been used, they were transported back to the next passengers using a conveyor belt system, which I personally hadn’t seen before. The walk through passport control and Duty Free to my gate area took a further ten minutes.

There were plenty of seats at the gate, about half of which were occupied, a “Grab & Fly” café (where a bottle of water cost about £3) and a fast food restaurant. Free newspapers were provided in the seating area, including Le Monde, The Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times. I grabbed one and sat at one of the vacant tables by the gate window.

BOARDING At about 1220, we were asked to show our boarding passes at the gate - so that when the time came to board, we could walk straight on. Then, at 1230, we were called to board the flight. The queue moved quickly and after a short walk down some stairs, I was sitting in my seat by 1240.

THE SEAT This double-class A321-100 was mainly economy class configured 3-3, with four rows of business (separated from economy by a curtain, and distinguished by the middle row being kept free – click here for the seatplan).

I was seated in 5F, the first row of economy behind business. Seat 5E was free, and there was a passenger with a baby on her lap in 5D (it was extremely well behaved). The seat itself was upholstered in grey leather. It was comfortable with a reasonable amount of legroom, although I was grateful for the extra personal space thanks to the middle seat being kept free. There were two retractable coat hooks on the seat in front of me and a magazine rack with Lufthansa’s in-flight magazine. The fold-down table was a decent size, although there was no plug socket.

WHICH SEAT TO CHOOSE Being the front row before the toilets, seats in row 11 had a little more leg room, and thankfully people seemed to gather for the toilets on the other side where there was space, so there wasn’t much disturbance. Seats in row 24 also had more leg room as they were behind the fire exit, so would be good ones to go for. The back rows of economy were served food first, but the front rows were the first to disembark at the end of the flight (after business class).

THE FLIGHT We took off at about 1310, 15 minutes late. About 20 minutes into the flight, passengers in economy were given a snack and business class was served a meal. My row was the first in economy to be given a bread roll with a cheese and herb spread filling - it was reasonably tasty. Shortly afterwards we were offered a choice of soft drinks, tea or coffee. Cabin crew were pleasant and served everyone their food quickly.

ARRIVAL We ended up landing around 20 minutes late at 1350 Heathrow Terminal 1. It took around ten minutes to travel to passport control, where I opted for the e-passport gate. This was by far the quicker option- there were only two people before me in the queue, the instructions were clear and it took under a minute for my passport to be checked. It was then a further five minutes to baggage claim, where my bag took just under ten minutes to arrive. I followed the signs to the lift down to the underground, and was on the tube by 1420.

VERDICT I appreciated the offer for a seat change and was impressed with how the boarding process was managed at such a busy time.

PRICE: A mid-week return economy flight in September costs from £123.

CONTACT lufthansa.com 

Rose Dykins

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