Whenever I fail to offer a glowing review of a business class product, it seems the following disclaimer is necessary: context matters.
There is no question that Lufthansa Business Class aboard the 747-8, offering a lie-flat bed, enhanced service and meals served on “real” dishes offers a far better product than in economy class and premium economy class. There is also no question that the flight was fine overall.
But remember that I compare business class products for a living and this flight once again confirmed that Lufthansa is uncompetitive in many ways on longhaul flights in business.
I flew upstairs on the 747-8. The upper deck is arranged in a 2-2 configuration with eight rows (32 seats) on the upper deck. I chose a window seat in the bulkhead row because the foot cutout offers additional legroom. Even so, the Lufthansa business class seat is simply not the most comfortable any position, especially in the lie-flat position when my feet were mere inches from my seatmate.
Lufthansa now has excellent bedding plus a mattress pad in business class, so that is a nice improvement.
Disappointing Service
Service was the most disappointing aspect of the flight. The ladies working upstairs were pleasant, but either very recent hires or just having an off day. Lufthansa does not use trays in business class. Prior to meal service, a FA floated a tablecloth to me…it landed halfway on, halfway off the tray. Moments later, she handed me a bread dish, butter dish, napkin with cutlery inside, and salt & pepper shaker. Service protocols calls for a FA to step in and arrange it on the tray table.
It’s not that I could not do it myself. Rather, it struck me as odd an unprofessional that this was handed to me without any explanation. Furthermore, the tablecloth was stained. Attention to detail is vital.
Throughout the meal service, empty plates were not collected nor were glasses refilled. I was not offered wine during dinner, nor was the HON member sitting next to me.
The meal itself was fine. It is asparagus season in German and the main course of asparagus and veal was tasty. While the appetizer and salad were fine, what struck me was that there was no Laugenbrötchen (pretzel bread) available. Come on, even United manages this favorite German bread on all of their flights in business class. When a U.S. airline has better bread than a German airline, something is wrong. Call it idiosyncratic, but the pretzel bread is one of my favorite parts of the meal.
With the exception of a brief appearance during the German World Cup match to offer snacks, FAs disappeared until the pre-arrival service 90-mintues prior to landing. Pretzels did appear with the pre-arrival meal of soup and salad. Sadly, they were not served warm. The soup was also lukewarm.
A couple other notes. The internet did not work for the entire flight and the cabin became so hot upstairs that I could not sleep…a far cry from my ice-cold cabin from Los Angeles to Munich earlier this year. There are no individual air vents.
CONCLUSION
I credit Lufthansa for its improvement in business class over the last couple years. The mattress pad and plush comforter were very much appreciated. But part of me feels Lufthansa still “throttles” service in business class deliberately. If the service is too good or the amenities too nice, passengers will never pay extra for first class. Whatever the case, Lufthansa should realize that in many ways its business class is mediocre to average at best. The seat is below average…I don’t see how anyone can argue otherwise.
Thus, the flight was “fine” but hardly memorable in a good way. That’s disappointing.
This is why people have no respect for skytrax. They rated Lufty a 5 star airline when their Business class sucks! Most of the time you have to climb over your seatmate to use the restroom if you are in seated by the window and their seats are not that great.
I have found that American Airlines & United Airlines are far better in Business Class than Lufthansa.
American and United absolutely have a superior business class product.
“American and United absolutely have a superior business class product.”
Uh, no, not all the time. The last time I flew AA Transatlantic they flew me in an old worn-out plane with angled seats and the IFE was old beaten up tablets and headphones. A total disgrace. I guess they knew what they were doing to their customers because when I got home, without complaining or doing anything, they sent me a complimentary 25K AA miles to my AA account. After that terrible experience, I swore to avoid flying AA business if at all possible.
I have photos to prove this and it makes the lousy Lufthansa seats look absolutely marvelous. I fly from the west coast, and as bad as BA Business Class is, I always choose them over AA (Always Awful) and UA (Usually Awful).
The angled seats are no longer in service with AA. All int’l widebody aircraft have flat beds with direct aisle access in business class; the 757s have 2-2 flat beds.
@Jay: O2NZ is correct – all those horrible angle lie-flat 2-3-2 seats on AA have been retired.
dude you should re-read this post. you need to have more gratitude. this post reflects very poorly on the author.
Why?
United’s Polaris seat (1-2-1) is better than Lufthansa, but very few aircraft have that seat. The B/E Diamond seat (2-2-2 on the 787 and 777) is comparable to Lufthansa’s seat, but on the formerly Continental 777’s they’re getting awfully worn. The pre-merger United seats (2-2-2 on the 767 or 2-4-2 on the 777) is definitely a step down from the Lufthansa seat, and there are still a ton of those flying.
With United, while they will call their Business Class sections “Polaris”, most of them are not the 1-2-1 preferable configuration found on the 777ER 300s, with the upgraded “real” Business Class setup.
“Bad dog”, United. Stop misleading people and setting them up for disappointment by the indiscriminate use of the word “Polaris”.
“… all those horrible angle lie-flat 2-3-2 seats on AA have been retired.”
How do you know that this information 100% accurate? Do you trust AA to be telling you the truth that the angle lie-flat seats no longer exists on any of their planes? I was expecting a newer lie-flat seat for my flight and was shocked that they still had an angle plane available. (This happened to me around 18 months ago. )
Other than the seat issue, does AA ground and lounge staff still snap/bark at business class passengers? They were doing this to others, not just me. It was such an awful and jarring experience because I am so used to the level of service that SQ, CX, JL, GA etc ground staff give their customers.
What is it with US airline employees that they are such vastly inferior people compared to their counterparts across the Pacific? That’s right, I am comparing them as people, not just as employees because this rude arrogant disrespectful behavior transcends company training and is a human nature issue versus a lack of training issue.
Sorry, I clicked on the wrong Reply button. My comment was supposed to be in reply to Matthew’s Reply regarding the seats.
AA has confirmed it.
https://thepointsguy.com/2017/08/aa-widebody-lie-flat-by-october/
But I hear you on the bad service. Nothing is worse than horrible FAs with a rude attitude.
Jay actually commented on the AA ground and lounge staff, not the FAs.
Based on your most recent reports, except for First Class, Lufthansa seems like a mediocre airline. The seat configuration is terrible, how could anyone think that the angle of the seats is something that anyone would like? Why couldn’t they just make the seats parallel to each other instead of angled to each other?
Agree. When I fly business I appreciate the solitude and privacy the seats provide as do, I expect, 90% of business class passengers. This seating configuration creates almost constant unwanted interaction with your seatmate. These days when seat pods and suites are an aspiration obvious to airlines and passengers alike, this has one of the greatest seat design mistakes of the decade.
Wow, surprising to see this much decay in the service on LH. Like you say, might have been just an off crew, but a stained tablecloth? A good FA would check that first and never float it to the customer.
Thanks for the review.
My flights in LH business class have been pretty much the same. Funny thing is, they keep talking about how they’ve enhanced this part or that of the service, yet it’s pretty much the same always – reasonably efficient but never anything close to memorable. I don’t understand why they don’t just switch to Do&Co catering, like Austrian uses. As for the hard product – it was barely competitive when they started it rolling it out in 2012, and it’s now well below average. And they’re doing the same thing with the A350 and they did earlier with the A380 – putting already obsolete business class seats on brand-new aircraft, so that they’ll have to replace the seats in just a few short years.
Skytrax 5 star airline based on improvement coming in the future …
…for sure, fairly similar to giving a Nobel Peace Prize to a politician based on what he promised, but subsequently failed, to deliver…
I have flown Lufthansa business class many times I agree with the reviews of the seats and service. However I think some of the service issues may be cultural. I fly United mostly business class and the lie flat etc are comfortable. Not all the flights have the true Polaris which is definitely a step up. I’m am also looking forward to using the new Polaris lounge in Newark next month when I fly to Reykjavik Iceland. The business I probably however would likely not fly again is Asiana especially when flying we my under 8 year old son. The seats to make everyone have aisle access does not allow me much control of keeping my son in his seat if he chooses to not want to sit down. I only fly united as their alliance best out of USA but not to Middle East. Fly all 3 middle eastern airline business or first as they are the best!
Thanks for your comment. Culturally, I am more sympathetic to Lufthansa because I speak the language. Sadly, this flight was not at all a language/culture barrier because I communicated with the FAs in German.
@ Christin Antoine — Your comment makes no sense. Emirates has the exact same seat as Asiana, Etihad has a similar configuration, and on Qatar you’re seated even further apart. Next time on Asiana I’d personally advise you to pick the two middle seats which are smack next to one another.
I really don’t think I’ll fly LH business clsss by myself again. Was so disappointed last time I flew (last month Frankfurt to Ord on the 747).
Odd to say that I much prefer the united bulkhead!!
Felt so akward next to my Seatmate!!!!
Mind you, it is often almost the only option to Europe from Ord. And there doesn’t seem to be many times that 2 sears are offered in F this month.
Review pretty much sums up my experience on LH in business class in the last couple of months. Catering continues to get worse and worse. I hate the stupid soup prior to arrival and it’s always just lukewarm at best. Suprisingly I though I would try Swiss recently and to my horror it was even worse. On the flight out of JFK they didn’t even offer an appetizer…just a small bowl of salad greens and the main course. When I asked they said it was an abbreviated service due to the short flight and time….BS…it’s an 8 hour flight and it leaves JFK at 6pm. Only LH Group airline even worth booking in Business Class is Austrian. Great catering and wonderful staff! Just wish the footwell wasn’t so claustrophobic when in the lie flat position.
Original A340 flight from FRA-LAX might have been better. 😉
I recently flew business class with LH on the 747-400 (upstairs in 83a) from Toronto to Frankfurt. Normally fly Air Canada, but wanted to try the 747.
Just terrible vs. AC 777 or 789. These both have 1/2/1 seating vs. LH 2/2.
Food not as good, service poor.
On the way over, we didn’t even have a gate. Climb off with 400 others and get in the bendy buses. I’m sick of the quality of LH.
Completely agree. There is nothing 5 star about it. I recently love AA’s new business class. Great product
“I chose a window seat in the bulkhead row because the foot cutout offers additional legroom”
The center seats in the main cabin are actually the best with regards to legroom and foot-space when in the lie-flat position. True, upstairs does get you extra storage, but I’d still take the extra legroom, aisle access for both passengers, and a bit more space between you and your seat mate over that. It’s a worth trade off to the storage space you get upstairs.
What was the routing on this flight? I have an ord to fra on 747-8 coming up…
FRA-LAX
I have been on AA’s business class as well as Lufthansa’s recently alot too. AA’s seats on most aircraft especially 787/777/330 are way better. Much more privacy and space. The food is of higher quality and the service doesn’t take as long as on LH but you still end up getting more and higher quality food.
And the difference become unbelievably big when you take a connecting narrow body flight on AA versus LH. On AA you have wide domestic First Class seats. On LH you sit in a coach seat. A bad coach seat that is. Horrible product. No idea whats 5 stars about it. Skytrax is a joke. My guess is Lufthansa paid for it.
If there is one place to avoid, it is the business class lounge Lufthansa runs at Boston airport. Last time i used it, 2 weeks ago, on a BOS-FRA leaving around 5 PM, the lounge was overcrowded to the point there was nowhere to even sit down. The attendant at the door could care less and kept waving people in knowing they’d turn around and walk out.
To me, the seats are about the same as UA, but service has been better than UA in my experience, while the food has been much better. So I have a slight preference for LH in TATL business class.
were you able to get your seat assignment 23hrs before departure?
Concerning seat assignments, this was the Twitter post I wrote about.
Pretzels are not supposed to be warm! 🙂
I agree it is not usual in Germany. But Lufthansa always serves them warm and I like it that way.
Tell that to the national chain Ditsch. They have made their fortune serving pretzels warm in virtually every train station in Germany!
I also have a very bad experience in Lufthansa Business class. I used to flight in Emirates Business Class, but this time I decided to stop over in Europe and not Dubai. Very bad experience. I ordered gluten free meal. The meal was: vegan, sugar, milk and gluten free. An horrible smashed potato with one (just one) small broccoli. The kids meal to my daughter also doesn’t have proteins, just white pasta, she hated. I ask for help to upstairs (just one small 5 kg luggage) to the superior deck and the guy say no and explain that he can injury him shoulder if help everyone. Totally normal didn’t help a woman with a child to carry 5kg luggage. And, they finished broking my luggage and never answered me in the e-mail that I sent telling everything. Probably I change the go back flight to any partner.
ahaha, Following an accident I had a frozen shoulder (2 years to recover). My arm was obviously blocked and unusable. So I asked the FA if she could help me put my handbag in the locker. She looked at me and said: “if you cannot put it by yourself, it is too heavy. And she left.” I was flying Business.
ahaha, Following an accident I had a frozen shoulder (2 years to recover). My arm was obviously blocked and unusable. So I asked the FA if she could help me put my handbag in the locker. She looked at me and said: “if you cannot put it by yourself, it is too heavy. And she left.” An other kind passenger helped me. I was flying Business.
LH in Business is interesting for parents with young kids. We fly with our 3yo boy. He is super quiet. As we “invest” a lot of energy to occupy him so that he does not bother the other passengers (we never can watch movies). We like the missing privacy because we both parents can check him. Also, we seat him window-side so he cannot “escape” or is tempted to travel.
All the other critics are correct. The service is so “Unionized” German style. Sometimes I feel like in an Hotel in NYC with unionized front-desk guys chitchating instead of working…
Have any of you tried Jet Airways? Like Air Canada, they offer a herringbone configuration (as does Air Canada) in all their long haul flights. I don’t know whether other airlines offer this but a herringbone seat configuration guarantees a proper lie flat experience without overlapping of any air space with your neighbour. And I don’t mean to be racist in any way but most Asian carriers have significantly better service levels than American or European carriers (you need to experience Singapore Airlines just once to get a feel of these service levels. Check out service levels on Singapore airlines, Emirates, Malaysian airlines, Jet airways, Cathay Pacific and Thai airways. Even Air India gives good service. And to be fair, service on BA is also decent though their business class dear configuration sucks if you happen to be seated in the centre section. Internal flights in the USA are awful in the extreme with grumpy air hostesses who are also visibly racist (in a majority of cases). Singapore Airlines tops the charts in service, to my mind
As long as I have known them, Lufthansa has had the indifferent service you describe. However, after spending several months in Germany, I have developed the impression that this is the norm for service in the country. The attitude almost seems to be that the business (or airline) is doing the customer a favor by taking care of him/her.
There is one major exception. They are one of the best airlines in the world for pet care. When I flew my cat from Singapore to Europe on Lufthansa, he spent his stopover in Frankfurt at a custom designed pet lounge with food, water and a veterinarian in attendance. I had a crowded business class lounge with no one visibly in attendance.
I have to pretty much agree with the author and the overall consensus of the reviews. Travelled LH Business Class ORD-FRA in the 747-8 and was not particularly impressed. It was not terrible but average at best.
Such a shame. For the money that is charged for Business Class, the product is simply unacceptable.
Food – Average
Wine – Average
Service – Above Average
Seat Comfort – Average
Privacy – Below Average
We’re flying ORD to FRA to Prague in May, booked on the LH 747, biz class upstairs. I kind of dread the FRA connection. Sounds like an ordeal. Also, the negative LH 747 review and comments here spook me a little. Should we try to switch to Austrian through Vienna, then to Prague? Or LH through Munich?