Review of Lufthansa flight Munich → Barcelona in Business

SPONTANEOUS TRIP TO EUROPE

This is the second leg of my last-minute trip to Europe.  I was connecting onward to Barcelona after my delightful Lufthansa First flight from JFK to MUC.  As you might expect, the highlight of this particular report is the Lufthansa First Class Lounge in Munich.

lufthansa first class lounge - terminal 2

We arrived quite early at Gate H18.  Luckily the MUC LH F lounge was very close by (less than a 5-minute walk) and easy to find.

One of the big advantages of Lufthansa's first class lounges in general is that they have their own passport control.  I was one of the first passengers in the lounge and quickly checked in and directed to the customs agent who checked my passport and welcomed me to Europe.

Lufthansa's lounges all look more or less the same.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.  There is more than enough seating given how few passengers go through the lounge at any time.  As you can see from the pictures of when I first arrived, it was quite empty.  The departure boards show all flights, as opposed to the FCT where only flights of departing passengers are shown.

There are also a few well-apportioned office rooms if you need to crank out some work in private.  A printer is also available.

There is a cigar lounge available, but as of a few years ago cigars are no longer complimentary.

I slept reasonably well on my flight, but I was still full and also quite tired, so I asked to be immediately taken to the bedroom.  The attendant explained that if other guests later queued up to use the room, that I would be asked to limit my time to 3 hours, but otherwise I could sleep as long as I want in there.  On transatlantic flights with connections, sometimes I'll build in a long layover just for this purpose–the extra sleep in the lounge helps me adjust to the time difference.

As for the room itself, it's very quiet and turns completely dark.  All the amenities you'd expect are in there: beverages, night masks, ear plugs, etc . . .  Also, in contrast to my last visit to the FCT, the bed at the Munich lounge seems a lot more substantial and it was quite comfortable.

Before going to bed, I asked the attendant if I could have a rubber duck, but the shower attendant said she was out and she said they were having a shortage, but she'll check up front.  Needless to say, I was a bit worried that I wouldn't get a duck this trip.  I laid down and passed out quickly. 

After getting another ~2.5 hours of sleep, I woke up, packed up, and asked the shower attendant if a bath or shower room was available.  Someone was using the bath, but shower rooms were available.  Rather than wait, I opted for a shower.  The shower rooms are quite spacious and clean; not much else to say about them.

After showering, I went to the main area of the lounge to sit in (right next to the dining room).  I was immediately presented with a breakfast menu and asked if I wanted to have breakfast.  I politely declined–still full from the flight.  Here's the breakfast menu though:

I did have a cappuccino and a glass of water to help wake up.

There are chocolate truffles available for self-service on several tables in the lounge.

The earlier attendant from the front desk stopped by to ask if I slept well–I did!  I took this chance to ask her about a duck again and she went back to the front to check.  After a few minutes, she came back and presented me with my duck for this trip: the Porsche duck!  I was ecstatic as I had originally contemplated a European vacation in LH F just to grab one of these ducks back when they first came out.  I had no idea they were still in circulation.

As a general note about Lufthansa First lounges, pretty much any time you sit down an attendant will seemingly appear out of nowhere and ask if you need anything–the advantage of having a lounge where there are as many staff as passengers. 

Here's another look at this masterpiece.

Later during my visit I looked at the normal bathrooms, nothing much to report here.

Here is the bar.  I was detoxing a bit from the flight and did not opt to partake.  It had the same great whiskey selection from my previous experience with Lufthansa's first class lounges.

I sat down in the dining area at close to 1pm CET.

I was immediately welcomed with a menu and offered drinks.

In addition to the regular menu, the lounge seemed to be promoting a "Veganuary" special.

Here is the lunch menu:

Here is the beverage menu.  Compared to a few years ago, the wine list has considerably shrunk in both quantity and quality.  The champagne selection was quite disappointing compared to before.

I asked for just a glass of water to start and decided to wait for my entrée to have a drink.

I had the salad to start.  It was fresh and delicious.  It also doesn't hurt that I just love oyster mushrooms in general.

I had the filet mignon for my entrée, cooked to a beautiful medium rare.  Not pictured, I also had a glass of the 2014 Avignonesi Desiderio–probably the only decent wine I saw on the menu–it was a pretty good Tuscan merlot.

For dessert I had the crème brûlée; its presentation was beautiful.

After dessert I opted for some jasmine tea.  It was presented with a small chocolate.

After my meal, I walked around to grab some pictures of the buffet.  I'll let it speak for itself.

I got an email announcing my flight was delayed by about 15 minutes, so I held off my departure from the lounge for a bit before walking out.  It ended up being about a 15 minute walk to Gate K12 (a Porsche transfer would have been great!).  Given the tarmac transfer rules currently in place at MUC, I really wished I was leaving from a remote stand.

lh1814

My flight to Barcelona was on D-AIBM, an 18 years-old A319.  Boarding began around 3:30pm CET, about 25 minutes behind schedule.

Lufthansa has the normal European J setup: economy seats with the middle seat blocked.  As is my preference on these flights, I prefer bulkhead so that I could have slightly more legroom.  There is also a small coat hook in the bulkhead wall to hang your coat/jacket.

Originally there was a passenger in 1D, but when she realized the row behind us was empty, she moved to 2F, leaving me the whole row.  Overall the load in J today was 12/16.

We finished boarding quite quickly, less than 15 minutes.  It makes me wonder why does it always take so long in the US by comparison?  The purser passed out pillows and bottles of water while we were still at the gate.  We pushed back at 3:52pm (~20 minutes behind schedule) and took off at 4:01pm.

Service began about 10 minutes after takeoff with drink orders.  I just had a glass of water. 

The meal was an interesting cold plate.  It was some sort of fish wrap?  I couldn't really tell and in any case it was not very good.  I took a few nibbles and left the rest.  Good thing I ate in the lounge.

Of course, there was a piece of chocolate to finish.

It was an uneventful flight the rest of the way.  Soon enough we could see the beautiful Spanish coast coming into sight.

Our approach gives us a great view of Barcelona:

We touched down at 5:38pm and reached our gate 5 minutes later.