Review of Lufthansa flight from Hamburg to Frankfurt in Business

Check In and Security

Lufthansa operates out of “Terminal 2” at HAM. Though, Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 are really the same terminal. It’s the same building. You just have to make sure you’re going to the correct check in area.

When you step inside, you can’t miss Lufthansa. It’s literally going to be the first check in area that you see no matter which door you enter from. The check ins are at rows 7 and 8, with Business and First class as well as Senators, Star Alliance Gold Members, and HON circle members at row 7. Also note that all Lufthansa group airlines, except Eurowings or Discover will check in here. So if you’re flying Austrian, Swiss, or Brussels airlines, this is where you’ll check in.

I told the man there that I was in business class and Star alliance gold, and he directed me to the First class line because there was a few people in business class and nobody in the first class line.

It only took the friendly agent a few moments to print my boarding passes and tag my bags and I was on my way.

HAM has a fast track lane for business class passengers and Star alliance gold members. You scan your boarding passes and go through the automated gates.

Security took no time at all since I was the only one there, and I was in my way within minutes, despite them making me go through extra checks- as is typical for me when in Europe.

The Lounge: Lufthansa Senator Lounge HAM

I made my way towards the A gates and found the sign to the Lufthansa lounges where you have to go up some stairs to get to. 

Upon scanning my boarding pass, I was invited to enter the Senator Lounge, with my Star Alliance Gold status. 

The Senator Lounge in HAM is one of the nicer Senator lounges that I’ve visited. In my opinion, Lufthansa lounges tend to look and feel more like school cafeterias than lounges. Other than the Panorama Lounge in Frankfurt, of course, which I’m praying that Lufthansa doesn’t change into its white and yellow color scheme in its normal lounges.

The Senator Lounge had some nice armchairs along the windows with plenty of power outlets to keep your devices charged.

As you head deeper into the lounge, you’ll find the food and drink selection: The food on offer was pretty decent with some cold bread and charcuterie like options but also some hot options such as a pesto pizza, and a stir fry. 

There is also a self serve bar with liquor, beer and wine.

I grabbed the pizza, some of the stir fry and a white wine. All were very good.

 The lounge also has an outdoor terrace that you can go out into if the weather is good. It was cold, windy, and misty in Hamburg today so that wasn’t an option but it’s nice to know that it’s there.

I settled in for the rest of my visit, which is uneventful. There aren’t any amenities like showers or waiter service dining or anything like that in this lounge. Not even a nap room or a place with day beds. It’s your very average airport lounge that has armchairs, food, drinks, and WiFi. The bathrooms were not that clean, and were shared with the business class lounge- which means technically you have to exit the Senator lounge to use the bathroom and re-enter.

Boarding

At 2:20, I got a notification from the Lufthansa app that said my flight was boarding, even though boarding wasn’t until 2:30 and our aircraft had just arrived 10 minutes before that. I gathered my things and headed down to the gate, A18.

When I arrived at the gate, people were still deplaning- what a surprise.
 
I decided to make a quick trip to the Lufthansa Worldshop. It was small. The ones in Frankfurt and Munich are much larger, and this one actually doesn’t have a lot of stuff. But the staff was super nice!

Boarding didn’t begin until 2:49, and there was a herd of gate lice which made getting to the boarding lane difficult. Lufthansa boards business class in group 2 after HON circle members, so I boarded with my group.

The Cabin and Seat

As is typical for business class within Europe, it’s just an economy class seat with the middle seat blocked from being booked. So the cabin is arranged in a 3-3 configuration but it’s kind of like it’s 2-2… 

I quickly found my seat, 6F, a window seat on the right side of the aircraft.

Let’s start with the positives about the seat, it offered a good amount of pitch and legroom. I was impressed. It had two windows which offered great views of the engine and leading edge of the wing, and it had nice bright LED lights and individual air vents.

If you notice the wing view, this is a special livery, it’s the Lufthansa Lovehansa livery!

Now let’s get to the bad, and I mean pretty bad. The seats are slim, and I mean slim. United provides more padding in economy. I mean, my back actually hurt because the guy behind me kept hitting my seat moving around and stuff. Additionally, the seat only reclines by about 1 inch. You can see how slim the seat is in this picture:

For a one hour hop to Frankfurt, this was fine, but Lufthansa operates its 320neos on routes that are 4 and even 5 hours long! I couldn’t imagine sitting in this seat for that long. 

The Flight

At 3:00, which was our departure time, boarding was still ongoing. If a US carrier was delayed in starting boarding by 10 minutes, the flight attendants would be on the PA system saying something, “In order to expedite the boarding process please…” and would list out things like where your carry ons should go or that you should step out of the aisle to allow people to pass… etc. it’s nice to see that in Europe, they don’t rush things so much.

And there was no need to! By 3:01, they closed the boarding door while passengers were still in the aisle.

 I didn’t have a seat mate or even a row mate on this flight. The entire row was empty.

At 3:02, the captain came on to welcome us aboard in both German and English, and informed of us our flying time of 55 minutes.
At 3:04, the safety demonstration began.

We pushed back at 3:08.

At 3:14, we lined up on runway 33 for departure.

What I chuckled at was, WHILE WE WERE ALREADY LINED UP ON THE RUNWAY, the captain came on and said “Cabin Crew prepare for departure.” I would hope they were already prepared because as soon as he said that, we were rolling down the runway!

It took about 10 seconds for us to reach an altitude above the clouds where it looked completely different than it did on the ground. After 2 weeks in a rainy and cloudy Hamburg, I thought to myself, “oh right! The sun exists!”

We reached 10,000 feet at 3:18, about 3 minutes after departure. At this point, I decided to switch into the middle seat because the guy behind me was really pissing me off with his constant hitting of my seat.

At 3:25, the flight attendants came around to offer a cake, which was plated. Though what was interesting was that there was no actual question of if you wanted it or not, he just kind of gave it to everyone and moved on to the next row.

At 3:30, the flight attendants came by to offer me a drink. I went with a gin and tonic. What I find funny is the tiny glasses that they serve drinks in on Lufthansa.

No WiFi or entertainment?

There is no WiFi or other in flight entertainment on Lufthansa’s short haul flights, which I’ve always found strange. This is supposed to a SKYTRAX five star airline, and there’s no WiFi or other in flight entertainment on an aircraft that’s less than 5 years old? Seriously- what’s up with that?

Descent and Arrival

At 3:37, I felt the aircraft start to descend.
 
At 3:43, the typical Lufthansa chocolate box was brought around. I was surprised to see Ferraro Rocher on offer, and not German chocolate.

At 3:49, the purser came by and asked me if she could get me anything else and cleared the trash out of my way.

At 3:51, we were approaching 10,000 feet and the crew began preparing the cabin for landing. I do appreciate that European carriers do this process much later in the flight, because US carriers would start preparing the cabin for arrival and the flight deck would turn on the fasten seatbelt sign right at the start of descent. So, it feels rushed, and then for the last 15-20 minutes of flight, there’s nothing going on.

Lufthansa does have a rule that all window shades must be open for taxi, take off and landing, which I thought was interesting.

We touched down at 4:05 pm on runway 7L, and began our taxi to the gate.

We arrived at the gate right on schedule at 4:10 p.m., and I was able to get a picture of the Lovehansa A320neo!