Review of Lufthansa flight Chennai → Frankfurt in Business

Airline Lufthansa
Flight LH759
Class Business
Seat 11C
Aircraft Airbus A330-300
Flight time 09:30
Take-off 11 Aug 18, 01:50
Arrival at 11 Aug 18, 07:50
LH   #65 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 1596 reviews
Blazingburst2016
By 5619
Published on 5th November 2018
Welcome to this trip-report reviewing Lufthansa Business class onboard their A330-300 from Chennai to Frankfurt. The Chennai to Frankfurt route was operated by Lufthansa CityLine for a short period in 2017 but since then it has reverted back to Lufthansa.


I was going to Detroit for a business trip and the only one stop option was Lufthansa and Jet Airways-Air France. The Jet Airways - Air France was too expensive and the cheapest option for me was Lufthansa anyway.


My trip was simple

Lufthansa Business Class Chennai - Frankfurt A330-300 You are here

Lufthansa Business Class Frankfurt - Detroit B747-400

Lufthansa Business Class Detroit - Frankfurt B747-400

Lufthansa Business Class Frankfurt - Chennai A330-300

I arrived at Chennai International airport hours before my flight. Outside the airport was the passport and ticket check. This process is very annoying as the lines are very long because there are so many international flights at this time.
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Lufthansa has specialised Business class kiosks. The check -in agents worked for Air India as Air India and Lufthansa are star alliance members. Air India employees also work for Thai Airways and Singapore Airlines in the Airport.
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Some pictures of the check in terminal.
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My boarding pass for the flights. The boarding passes in Lufthansa are beautiful.
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Immigration and Security check took a really long time and they have no specialised business class lines. The departure schedule for the day. As you can see the departure schedule is heavy during midnight. During the day the terminal is almost empty with just a few international departures departures to Colombo( SriLankan Airlines),Kuala Lumpur( Malaysian and Batik), Dubai (FlyDubai and Emirates) etc….
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The new international terminal which was not really an effective upgrade from the old terminal to my eyes.
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The terminal also had a connection to the old terminal.
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I visited the travel club lounge in the new terminal. keep in mind there are only 3 lounges in the terminal. They are the lounge in the old terminal, travel club lounge in the new terminal and the Air India lounge in the old terminal. I was suprised to hear that Lufthansa passengers are not allowed to use the Air India Lounge. The travel club lounge was good anyway so nothing to complain. The other lounge in the old terminal is too chaotic and i dont recommended it.
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The lounge had a good variety of food it was bland but i appreciate there effort. I didnt eat a lot anyway because it was midnight.
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The lounge was almost empty which i liked
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Some pictures of the lounge
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Then it was time to board the flight. My flight was departing from the old terminal just like Cathay Pacific, Thai and Air India.
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The boarding gate
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Boarding began and Business class passengers were called first. We walked through the corridors to our bird.

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We were greeted by the lovely flight attendants
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My seat was with a blanket and a pillow .
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The flight attendants soon came around with welcome drinks.
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They also distributed some slippers that were comfy
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The content of the seat pocket

The very soft blanket that gave me some good sleep
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Some features of the seat.
A unique kind of remote that i have never seen in an aircraft before.
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The menu for this flight. Lufthansa has a good selection of vegetarian food which is a good attachment.
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A coat hook is placed next to the screen.
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They also had over ear noice cancelling headphones which were nice.
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I unfortunately did not have the window seat but we departed on time . I made a visit to the lavatory . It was clean and neat.

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Trays were up a few hours after take off and i was served the vegetarian option. The food was nice and i am impressed by Lufthansa.
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They offered us an amenity kit in the beginning of the flight. Here are the contents of the kit
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Not quite sure where i am
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The screen onboard the flight. The entertainment was diverse and featured many languages. The flight is also equipped with Wi-Fi
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We landed on time and one last picture of my seat
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We deboarded and did went through the transit area.
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Thank you for reading this trip-report and i hope you enjoyed it . Please check out some of the other trip report i have created
Including:
Air India B787-8 Shanghai to Delhi Economy
link
Thai Airways B777-300 Chennai to Bangkok Economy
link
China Eastern B777-300ER Shanghai to New York Economy
link
ANA B787-8 Shanghai to Tokyo Economy
link
See more

Verdict

Lufthansa

7.0/10
Cabin7.0
Cabin crew8.0
Entertainment/wifi6.0
Meal/catering7.0

Travel Food Services Lounge

6.3/10
Comfort7.5
Meal/catering5.5
Entertainment/wifi6.0
Services6.0

Chennai - MAA

5.9/10
Efficiency4.0
Access6.0
Services6.0
Cleanliness7.5

Frankfurt - FRA

8.0/10
Efficiency8.0
Access8.0
Services7.5
Cleanliness8.5

Conclusion

Lufthansa was definitely an amazing airline for me. Lufthansa has tough competition from Chennai. The main passengers from Chennai are the passengers to North America. Lufthansa has competition with Emirates, Qatar, Etihad, Jet Airways- Air France and British Airways. Considering the fact that almost all the passengers were transiting through Frankfurt the competition is tough. Lufthansa has to also excel British and Jet Airways in the European customers and right now I think they are second (with Jet Airways at the top and British at the bottom).

Chennai International Airport needs a huge upgrade in terms of service and cleanliness factor . Considering the fact the Chennai International Airport is the third largest airport in India it is far behind than the other airports in India. Hyderabad and Bangalore airport with their stunning interior and carpeted floors Chennai International is nothing. They also have to improve in efficiency, there is always a traffic jam in front of the airport, the check-in lines are ridiculously long, immigration takes about an hour and the waiting lounges (for economy) are so hot.

Frankfurt on the other hand, very nice . It is a complete opposite of Chennai airport

Related

5 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 473869 by
    ThomasDutch SILVER 640 Comments
    Lufthansa is definitely a nice airline to enjoy, however I find their Business class on longhaul lacking. The seats are quite narrow and the footholder is tiny. Thanks for your report.
  • Comment 474148 by
    KévinDC TEAM SILVER 6731 Comments
    Hi, thanks for sharing this thorough report. The airport experience doesn't seem so great, as you point out, and the lounge just ok, though it was nice that it was mostly empty. On board the product looks good despite being in a 2-2-2 configuration, though the footwells do seem very small. Thanks for sharing!
  • Comment 474160 by
    STAR-ALLIANCE-FLYER 48 Comments
    Hi, really nice report, enjoy reading it!!

    FEW TIPS:

    As Star Alliance Members, AI is really NOTORIOUS, for playing dirty tricks..... I assume the lounge is not bust at all, if they do not let you in, is more likely that they try to DITCH you. To me AIR INDIA is even worse than AIR KORYO, from every single perspective.

    Next, try to depart from Larger Airport Next Time, like BKK. They have MANY fabulous Star Alliance Lounges, like Eva Air and Singapore Airlines. I've been to both, all of them are, AMAZING!!

    For LH, how much did you pay for your round trip? To me you really have to use Air Canada Lounge @ Frankfurt. New Lounge, food offering is amazing, better than LH own lounge////

    LH is doing budget cut for Business Class Product, its J class seats look HORRIBLE...... Even on the new A350, is certainly a bad design.
    • Comment 474234 by
      Blazingburst2016 AUTHOR 9 Comments
      Thank you for all the opinions . I have visited the Thai Airways lounge at BKK but that still does not rival Eva Air or Singapore . Honestly I do not exactly remember how much I paid for the trip because it was like 6 months before the actual flight. Air India does not allow any airline to use the lounge(sources: One if my friends and the gate agent). To be fair the travel club lounge is much better than Air India .
  • Comment 539054 by
    monika 1 Comments
    Good article! Been to Chennai 5 times (most of the time via Frankfurt) and one thing which really pisses me off is not being able to connect to wifi @ Chennai Airport. Tried every single time with no luck. It should be a common sense, that if someone travels from US (or any other far away land)- they might need to inform family, that they landed safely or order Uber. But, no ... wifi works only for people with Indian phone providers. I am with T-mobile in US and no luck (my coworkers tried as well, no luck). Soooo dumb! Sorry, but it is 21st century and it really should be basic

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