Review of Lufthansa flight Munich → Dubai in Business

introduction

Lufthansa’s business class product has had a good reputation for decades, but has started to earn a lot of criticism over the past years. It is not that their seats look particulary dated, but rather the cabin configuration, which is not up to todays standards.

In the last years, their service and catering seems to have deteriorated as well, something that has always been their strong suit.
I’ve until now, only traveled LH on short haul flights in business class, which weren't very memorable. Before jumping to conclusions I wanted to make a picture for myself, flying them long-haul, or in this case on a medium-haul route. 

Side note: Lufhansa was still considered a 5-star airline (at least by Skytrax) by the time of this flight.

ground experience

Lufthansa as well as most Star Alliance carriers are based in terminal 2. There are several business class check-in counters, which can be very crowded at peak times. There is a separate business class fast track security lane available in terminal 2.

As the sign at the entrance of the first class check-in area shows, Star Alliance Gold members / HON Circle members / first class passengers are allowed to use the first class check-in wing and security lane, on the right side of security. 


Me and my girlfriend dropped off our baggage and were on the way to the lounge in under four minutes.   

There is usually no wait there. I really prefer flights leaving from MUC T2 over flights departing from FRA, because the airport is better designed and thus more "transit friendly" in general.

The security / passport control is located in the center section of the terminal, with the boarding gates going to either end. This saves you valuable time when connecting or trying to exit the airport.

airport lounge

Munich being a LH hub, offers quite a few business class lounges in terminal 2 and its satellite building, although some of them are still closed. By the time of writing the following lounges were open, according to their website:
 
For Schengen departures:
-Lufthansa Business Class Lounge (G28)
-Lufthansa Business Class Lounge (Satellite Building – K11)

For Non-Schengen departures:
-Lufthansa Business Class Lounge (H24)
-Lufthansa Business Class Lounge (Satellite Building – L11)

We were visiting the Lufthansa Senator Lounge (H24), accessible by Star Alliance Gold members and Star Alliance first class passengers. If you are traveling on LH first class, be sure to head to the first class lounge though, as they are better in every aspect.  

The lounge is located near gate H24. Simply follow the signs to the entrance.

The lounge was very tidy and clean. 

Since the flight to DXB was the last one out of the H gates, the lounge wasn't much going on. The lounge sadly had no outside views. The windows faced into the building.

You can find the dining area behind the entrance to the lounge. The tables and chairs were well….. typical Lufthansa furniture. 

The buffet had hot as well as cold options. The food tasted really good, although there was't that much of a variety. 

There was a full serviced bar with a wider selection of alcoholic drinks than usual. The staff was very friendly, despite it being late in the evening.

Of course there was an array of sparkling wines and white / red wines.

We settled down in the seating area in the rear part of the lounge. The armchairs were in the typical Lufthansa colors. They looked a bit dated, but were comfortable nevertheless.  

There were a few relaxation pods, but sadly there was no bedding provided. Maybe the staff already stored them, since the lounge was about to close.

Our stay at the Lufthansa Senator Lounge H24 was very relaxing and we got what we were expecting. The business class lounges are usually a bit more crowded and have slightly different interior. Despite of fewer premium liquors, there isn’t much of a difference in my opinion.

aircraft

Carrier:                          Lufthansa
Type:                              Airbus A350-900
Registration:               D-AIXK
First flight:                   19/04/2018
Cabin configuration: 48J / 21W / 224Y 

cabin / seat

The majority of Lufthansa A350’s are fitted with the dated 2-2-2 business class cabin, first introduced in 2013. Lufthansa has recently acquired a handful of A350s from Philippine Airlines, which come with staggered 1-2-1 configuration. Keep an eye on the seat map during the booking process.

There are 48 business class seats split into two cabins. Rows 1-6 are located between doors 1 and 2, while rows 7 and 8 are placed in a smaller cabin behind doors 2. The window seats are angled towards the window, while the center seats slightly face towards each other and "share" a foot rest, with a small divider in between. This could lead to arkward situations, with a stranger sitting nearby, by mistaking your foot rest for his / hers.
The bulkhead seats in row 1 and row 7 come with much larger foot rests, as there is no seat in front.

Behind the J cabin, there is a premium economy class section with 21 seats, followed by economy class with 223 seats in total. 

Lufthansa Airbus A350-900 business class layout @aerolopa

What are the best seats for couples?
As a couple, you more or less can’t go wrong with any seat pair in general. That being said, the bulkhead seats in row 1 and row 7 should be your first pick.
 
What are the best seats for solo travelers?
The window seats don’t offer direct aisle access. As a consequence, you might have to climb over your neighbor to reach the lavatories. All seats in rows C, D, H, K are located next to the aisle, with the C and H seats having the advantage of featuring their own foot cubby.
As mentioned above, try to go for the bulkhead seats (1C, 1D, 1H, 1K, 7C, 7D, 7H, 7K) if you can. 

There were overhead lockers above each seat. Lufthansa has gone for a very open design, which is a good aspect for some, while being a bad aspect for others.

We were sitting in 8A and 8C in the mini business class cabin. The bulkhead seats were not available during booking. The rear cabin felt much more intimate and quieter, with only 12 seats installed. All seats were occupied in business class.

There was a blanket and a pillow waiting on each seat.

The seats in general didn’t look that old and I kind of liked the design and colors. You will notice that they aren’t very wide though. There is not a lot of privacy, as there are no privacy dividers whatsoever. This was perfect for couples, but rather strange if I were to be flying on my own.
 
There was a reading lamp built into the headrest. The armrest could be lowered to gain a bit more space while lying down. Once we've settled in, my girlfriend noticed that there was red wine spilled all over the lower seat console from the previous flight. Her seat was filthy and not cleaned at all. Something unacceptable if you pay thousands of Euros for a seat, in my opinion.

In between the pair of seats were the seat controls. This seat can be converted into a fully flat bed and also enabled the passenger to control the firmness of the cushion. Next to the seat controls was a flap containing the tray table.

There were literature pockets and a small storage bin containing the “amenity kit”. This storage bin wouldn’t close after I opened it. A common problem of these seats, as the flight attendant explained. I didn't bother putting any of my valuables in there, in the fear of locking them in forever.

I am very indifferent about LH's current business class seat. I think it is a decent option for couples, although there are many 1-2-1 layouts with “honeymoon seats” in the middle out there. These have the advantage of sitting even closer togehter and of being further apart from the aisles. For solo travelers this seating arrangement is a nightmare and there is no privacy at all. The seats are not the widest and LH is introducing new seats, which is long overdue (let’s just hope they finally do this year).

Lufthansa should have introduced 1-2-1 seating when they introduced this seat back in 2013 in my opinion. Other carriers started to install seats with direct aisle access even earlier than that. So even back in 2013 these seats weren’t state of the art anymore.

food / beverages

There was a physical menu on this flight.

The options were written in either German or English.

During boarding, there was a welcome drink offered for business class passengers. We both ordered the prosecco, which tasted good. Other carriers do serve Champagne pre departure. 

Dinner was served shortly after reaching cruising altitude. 

It was Champagne o’clock and the crew finally opened the first bottle of Champagne de Castelnau, which is by far not the most premium you can get on business class, but was a real treat. There were also some nuts as a little snack. 

Dinner started with a goat cheese tartar and mushrooms. The taste was fine and the cheese went along well with the provided bread.

There were three main dishes to choose from. I went for the cod, accompanied by smoked salmon, Venus rice and vegetables. Though the fish was unremarkable, but the vegetables and the Venus rice tasted really good with the sauce. Me and my girlfriend went for the Riesling wine, which is great with fish meals in general. This combination was spot on.

I’ve never heard the name Venus rice and simply refered to it as “the black rice” beforehand. I will definitely order it again if opportunity presents itself. 

Enough about my educational gap regarding culinary, the dessert was quickly rolled out. Dessert was either a cheese plate or an almond pudding with berries and crumbles.

The dessert was the highlight of the meal in my opinion. It just tasted so good and the texture, mixed with the crumbles was simply fantastic.  

Breakfast was simply what you would expect. Nothing fancy, but nothing bad either. I was perfectly satisfied with this meal, as it was just a small snack and a good dose of caffeine prior to landing.

This is way better than some carriers offering a wrapped sandwich with nothing else during the height of the pandemic.
Nice to see the industry recovering.

Overall, the meal service was decent. There was no real highlight, apart from the pudding dessert maybe. Nothing was particularly bad or uneatable either. There are way more exclusive Champagne’s out there, as this is not something you would see on an airline, considering themselves among the world’s best.

From a passengers perspective, it was good to have the option to sleep for the majority of the flight, as others wanted to have breakfast. 

lie-flat bed

Since this was a short overnight flight, it was time to go to bed after dinner. The bed can be transformed into a bed using the seat controls.

There was no matress cover unfortunately. The pillow and the blanket still were of good quality.  

The foot space was restricted by the quite narrow foot cubby on this seat. I am 180cm tall and felt a bit cramped in. Shoulder space was not great, even though I’ve lowered the armrest. 

As it was time to get some sleep, the cabin lights were dimmed accordingly.

The bed is certainly not the best there is out there. It felt a bit “claustrophobic” in bed-mode and the seat certainly lacked personal space. It was okay on this six-hour flight, but I would avoid this seat on longer flights. The absence of the mattress cover is also worth mentioning. 

service

The flight attendant assigned to us was friendly, although not as enthusiastic and engaging as on other carriers. As my girlfriend asked for some cleaning cloths to get rid of the red wine on her seat, the flight attendant brought her some.
The female purser, upon noticing the situation, quickly came over and sincerely apologized for the inconvenience. She was insisting to clean the seat for my girlfriend. While the purser was taking care of the issue, I had a very pleasant conversation with her. The purser was very talkative and simply fantastic. 

We thanked her once again, since the problem wasn't caused by the cabin crew, but rather by poor ground cleaning. She really cared about the passengers’ experience and did everything in her power to elevate it. 

ife

The entertainment screen was an updated version of the one found on the rest of the fleet. The screen is noticeably larger than the one on the A330/340 and B747 fleet. The screen was still not touch sensitive. I didn’t check out the content on this short flight, but I would suppose it is extensive enough. The screen swivels to the side, but cannot be tilted downwards. The viewing angle from the bed was good enough however.

amenity kit

Now, to the amenity kit. The kit was poor in terms of presentation and quality. It basically was a very thin shopping bag.
I wouldn’t go shopping with it, since the material is so thin and of poor quality. There are different cities on the bags, with ours featuring the Burj Al Arab. I don’t know why Lufthansa has gone for a design like this, but it is most certainly another cost cutting measure. 
 
I took the amenity kit back home, in the hope I'll find some use for it…..
By the time of writing, I was wondering why I took it home in the first place. 

I asked the flight attendant for a sleep mask, but this should be provided at each seat in my opinion. At least on a overnight flight like this one. She brought me one of course.

Sad to see some more cost cutting measures…. 

Here's the small package containing basic amenities like a toothbrush, toothpaste and some socks.