I think the second passport check is a UK Home Office requirement - BA has the same thing on its Frankfurt flights, although generally done as you're boarding (which in turn slows down that part of the trip).  

(and the BA check is also done by Securicor)

Ah, yes, I should probably have been clearer about the reasons for my surprise: it's that this is done by an outsourced company of goons at the airline's main hub, as opposed to at an out-station like many airlines do. (And, in fairness, my criticism of BA's European contract staff is well on record.)

Nice review. I have to agree the business lounges at FRA are fairly awful, thank goodness for Star Alliance Gold and the slightly better Senator lounges (which I've never seen Securicor staff on the door of). 

With regards to it not being worth the price difference from economy, whilst I fully agree this is true if you are travelling on an discount economy ticket, I have often found that the upgrade from fully flexible economy tickets to fully flexible business tickets is often just a few Euros (on a recent trip business cost me 7EUR more each way!), in which case the upgrade is good value, and much appreciated.

Alas, the security goons were in place at the Munich Senator lounge and both Frankfurt Senator lounges I passed through a month or so ago.

And I don't rate the Senator lounges significantly higher than the Business lounges: same grim aesthetic, and the Frankfurt Schengen (B24 or thereabouts) one I passed through was simply dire -- dirty, no seats available, with the only redeeming feature a decent runway view.

Scarcely a single seat free in the Schengen A gates senator lounge when I was passing through on Friday.

Oddly enough, I recently read Lufthansa is actually supporting dentists with their Miles&More programme. They came up with a cooperation between a dental laboratory and their credit card, so every time a dentists gets stuff there, they credit Miles to his account.


Here you go - if you don't understand German, Google translate might be handy: http://meilenschwund.wordpress.com/2012/06/12/meilen-fur-zahnersatz/


By the way: This blog is a lot to read, but very interesting. It started off with a law suit because Lufthansa devaluated Miles&More Miles, illegally, as the court ruled, and now covers a lot of customer service and interaction issues with Lufthansa.

I wonder why you don't use the very good LH App instead of complaining about non working and tilting (which can be switched off in your phone) QR codes

The middle seats in business class are blocked because international flight law says so. Simple reason: max amount of seats is higher than allowed PAX for the amount of crew. therefore 6-8 seats are blocked this way permanently.

Complaining about German(sparkling) wine being served  on a German airline or in theier lounges is somehow weird. What do you know about German (sparkling) wine?

The new seats are perfect and comfortable for the short inter-European flights, don't need anything else. They are lighter and thus save fuel and the environment.

I have never seen Securicor staff at or in front of any LH lounge and never heard of it either. Also doubt your stories about the way entrance is granted to the lounges. Never met unfriendly staff. I guess its you..The extra security check for UK flghts is done by UK homeland security "partners" and a typical example for the typical British "Anti-European and non-Schengen behaviour" . It has nothing to do with LH.

In general I consider all your posts regading LH kind of "blunt bashing at its best".

I also note that you lack deep knowledge of European differences and certain laws, which is may be good enough for you, but not for well educated Europeans who question your stories.

So please do better and be more "positive".

And finally:

A lot of the LH lounges are fairly old and its unfair to compare them with brand new "Virgin" clubs....I'm looking forward to read your most valuable review on the new LH FRA Term 1 A-plus or MUC facilities.

Thanks very much for your detailed comment -- I always appreciate the opportunity to hear from our readers.

In answer to your questions, in order:

1. Turning off tilting on an iPhone requires an irritating multi-step faff. I like (and have used) the LH app, but electronic boarding passes that don't work on the most-used smartphone in the world without downloading a separate app are problematic, and LH needs either to fix the email pass problem or to send passengers to their app more clearly. 
2. I think you mistake law for staffing. Airbus A320 family aircraft are certified for a specific number of passengers, and certification is based on a high-density layout. If Lufthansa sold every seat on the plane in economy, they could fly that plane legally and safely. Depending on their staffing rosters, they might (or might not; I haven't crunched the specific numbers with the new Recaro seats) need to add one extra flight attendant if they sold more seats. This is neither unusual nor unique to Lufthansa.
3. I know a fair bit about German wine, as it happens. Riesling is one of my favourite varietals, especially in the air: the balance of acidity and citrus is ideal for my palate. I also love cool-climate Pinot, AKA Spätburgunder, and I'm fascinated by some of the new Dornfelder that's coming out. Our reviews of long-haul business note that I'm pleased to encounter the excellent German specials in the Vinothek selection. However, one can't help but note that Sekt as an appelation is less complex and refined than Champagne. Even airlines with widely appreciated wine regions like Australia and NZ serve Champagne in-flight, and indeed Lufthansa's Eurobusiness sparkling is Italian.
4. As economy seats, I really, really like the new Recaro offering, and I've said so in multiple articles. However, for people who don't come from Europe, the Eurobusiness seating is below business class expectations. 
5. I've never not seen Securicor people at a Frankfurt lounge, and I've been in a good half-dozen within the last year. I suggest you look closely at their nametags.
6. The separate passport-boarding pass checks for UK-bound flights are, in my experience of six Schengen-to-UK flights this year (from HEL, FRA, CDG x2, LYS, TLS) and innumerable flights in the past, solely a Lufthansa thing, carried out by Lufthansa's contracted Securicor staffers. It may be that it is required in order to allow the automated boarding gates at FRA, but since there's no "pen" after the check has been completed it's utterly useless: I could swap my boarding card for someone else's while we all mill around near the desk, board using the automatic gates and nobody would be the wiser until I got to London. There is no such thing as "UK homeland security"; the UK Border Agency (which is the relevant part of the UK Government here) and the security services are separate agencies.
7. I -- and we -- don't "bash" any particular airlines; we have no agenda beyond the desires of every business traveller. There is much that's good about Lufthansa -- I think Munich is among the best airports in Europe, that the new business class is decent (but "footsie" is a problem), that their business class crews are great, that their business class catering out of FRA is spectacular (especially shorthaul), and that the FRA longhaul Senator lounges are decent enough. And I can't get enough weißwurst and leberkäse when I fly through MUC. But the rest of Lufthansa's seats, other lounges and the FRA experience leave an awful lot to be desired, especially when compared with the competition.
8. The irony of your assertion about European differences is that I'm an EU national, fluent in French and with functional German, Italian, Spanish and Russian; I spend 4-6 months each year in Europe and have a European master's degree. I travel more in Europe than most Europeans, so I'm intimately aware of the cultural and legal (by which I assume you mean Schengen) difference than most Europeans. Sorry, but the "you're foreign so you don't understand" assertion simply doesn't wash.
9. We're positive where positivity is deserved, and critical where criticism is warranted. It does nobody any good to be either a cheerleader or a sniper; rather, our opinions are fair and firm. 
10. I'm not sure how it's unfair to compare across airlines when those airlines are competitors -- surely that's the point of any independent reviewer. We've been in the new and the old LH Business Lounges, and none have impressed me: that's the honest truth.
11. I, too, will be very interested to see how LH FRA T1 A+ works -- I had a chance to talk to the designers earlier this year, so I'll in particular be interested to see how they solve the almost 1km-long length issue.

Lastly, thanks again for writing in. Though we clearly disagree about some aspects of the Lufthansa experience, it's always informative -- and I always find it interesting -- to have that kind of discussion.

Lol, intra-europe business class is such a joke. I avoid it as much as possible. Also, for future reference on the mobile boarding pass issue, you can take a screenshot of your current screen on iPhone by holding down top right 'lock' button simultaenously with the home button at the bottom of the phone.  This gives you a screenshot (accessible in the photos section of your iPhone) that can be used just like your actual mobile boarding pass.

I flew LH Business class DXB FRA CDG.  DXB FRA was on a A340, with sloping flat seats which offered little opportunity to sleep (I am 192cm).  Worse to come, after a stand off arrival, a long wait for the bus to fill, and officious German border guards double checking passports, we were totally abandoned. There was no help whatsoever, nor guidance let alone any Business Class priority in finding one's way through the rambling maze of Frankfurt airport for the one hour connection.  (Therefore no chance to comment on the lounge.)  It was a combination of long queues, rude German customs and security staff, and then rush, rush, rush to firstly find where we were supposed to be going then getting there.  Altogether a totally negative experience.  Then the "Business Class" seating on an A320, as your correspondent pointed out, was an economy seat with a vacant seat beside - fortunately a very short flight to CDG.   Although it was a cheap fare, but I certainly would never use LH again, especially with a transfer through FRA.