For the next and final part of our European Whirlwind vacation, last March/April, my husband and I flew Singapore airlines from Frankfurt back to New York-JFK. This came after an extended vacation where I first flew business class with Air France from New York-JFK to Paris CDG and from Paris CDG to Lyon LYS and also visited the very nice Air France Lounges in JFK and Paris CDG (which has a truly beautiful design!). Then, after taking the train from Lyon to Paris, my husband and I flew Air France business class from Paris CDG to Zurich ZRH, where we started a 6-day long Switzerland vacation that culminated in Geneva, from where we flew to the Netherlands to see the flower fields.
I was quite excited for this last part of the trip, as I was eager to fly Singapore Airlines business class after hearing so many good things. As part of that ticket, we were invited to visit either (or both) the Lufthansa Business Lounge, or the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge. We were able to visit both, and I will review both – this review is dedicated to the Lufthansa Business Lounge, located in Frankfurt’s Terminal 1.
For context, Frankfurt is a Lufthansa hub and given the extent of its operations there are multiple Lufthansa lounges. That said, I didn’t realize that there were two of them just in our area of the terminal. So, here I’m reviewing the Lufthansa Business Lounge B-Ost (meaning East – as opposed to the Lufthansa Business Lounge B-West), nearby gates B44-48.
I had heard that this lounge reminds of an office canteen, and unfortunately I kind of have to agree. The design and furnishings seem rather utilitarian and sterile, though the seating was comfortable. Since we arrived very early in the morning, the lounge was fairly empty (but filling up fast). The food and drinks were solid, but not amazing. Considering that Frankfurt is a major hub for Lufthansa, I frankly expected more of this lounge, and would probably suggest to visit the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge instead, about which I will post a review in the near future.
Entry requirements
The Lufthansa Business Lounge can be used by business and first class passengers of Lufthansa and its subsidiaries, including Swiss, Austrian, Brussels Airlines, Discover, Air Dolomiti and Eurowings (though First class passengers can use the dedicated First Class terminal, so they wouldn’t ordinarily end up here).
Other than that, as per Star Alliance rules, business and first class passengers of Star Alliance members flying on a Star Alliance member airline can also access this lounge, as well as Star Alliance Gold members. Though, for this latter group there are some not-so-straight forward restrictions, as it matters what airline you’re flying with and through what airline you were able top get Star Alliance Gold. As per the Lufthansa website:
Entry with a boarding pass for a Star Alliance flight. Passengers with a boarding pass for a flight with Air Dolomiti, Lufthansa City Airlines, Eurowings, or Discover Airlines will have access if they are Star Alliance Gold members of United Airlines or Air Canada. In addition, passengers with a boarding pass for a flight with Air Dolomiti or Eurowings will have access if they are Star Alliance Gold members of All Nippon Airways.
In other words, you may face some restrictions if you’re a business class passenger on one of Lufthansa Group’s intra-Europe or low-cost subsidiaries.
Location and hours
The lounge is open daily from 6:00AM to 10:00PM.
When you get out of security, you will be at the ‘base’ of a V shaped part of Terminal 1. The lounge will be in the left arm, all the way at the end at the center of the rotunda, around gates B44-48. There will be clear signage for most of the way but we did lose our way a little halfway there. Just keep wlaking and you should bump into it at the center of the rotunda at the end of the corridor, marked by a yellow block hanging from the ceiling.
You will walk up to the attendant who will scan your boarding pass, and then let you enter. There, there will be stairs or an elevator to get to the upper floor, above the gate area.
Out of the elevator there is a narrow corridor that opens into the lounge proper, where you wil lfirst bump into another desk, which is mostly for welcoming new guests and to provide information, if necessary. There is a dedicated door to exit just next to the entrance, marked yellow (see above).
As you can see, first impression of the lounge is mostly… grey. Grey from the linoleum flooring, to the grey counters, to the base molding on the walls and counters made out of metal. It all feels a little sterile and utilitarian, but it’s functional and easy to maintain, I suppose.
Seating and design
The lounge’s layout is circular, owing to the floorplan of the terminal. At the end of each arm, in this V-shaped terminal, is a rotunda on which sits the lounge. As such, there is a center area that probably has staff rooms, and the lounge circles around that, with a walkway of sorts being the main avenue of passage. You enter the lounge toward one end, and can then walk all around the lounge, with the buffet on the inner side of the circular walkway, and the various kinds of seating on the outer side of the circle.
When you enter you’ll bump into the information desk which prompted a friendly welcome from the staff. To the left you’ll find a bunch of lockers to store smaller items, though I’m not sure the larger carryons will fit.
Turning around, right next to the welcome desk, is a children’s play area. This is a nice addition, because even if you wouldn’t typically think of kids in business class, that doesn’t mean there are non. I particularly like the lego pilot!
Then turning to the right you will enter the lounge proper. The circular walkway with grey linoleum circles around the central buffet, with various seating areas taking over the areas to the left of the walkway.
There is all sorts of seating available. What stood out to me was how spacious everything had been set up, and I wondered if perhaps it’d make sense to make the seating just a little bit denser, so as to accommodate seating more passengers. Most of the lounge had the same three or four kinds of seating, from dining setups such as seen below, with round tables with four seats each, to high-top tables along the windows with stools…
…but also these sorts of lounge chairs, which are either lower, square chairs, or taller swivel chairs. I found both to be quote comfortable. The side tables by each of these chairs had multiple power outlets, which I thought was a nice feature.
Throughout the lounge are also special kinds of seating built as dividers between the main walkway and the seating areas, functionally separating areas of movement from seating areas. On the seating side, these dividers are benches with low tables and stool-like furnishings. I’d think they may be ottomans if they weren’t as high as the actual bench…
Further in the lounge were more lounge chairs, either the squares chairs, the rotating, taller chairs, but also shorter rotating chairs. Suffice to say that I’d think the setup here could be a little bit denser as well. Some of these chairs are positioned to face a screen, so perhaps this is supposed to be something of a media area?
If you follow the walkway passed the buffet you’ll end up in area with exclusively high-top tables, which are either long with a few high-top stools, or of a square shape, without any stools. My best guess is that this is a busines area, for those that want to get some work done, given the multtiudes of power outlets. It just wasn’t clear to me where there seemed to be so efw stools around here? Did they think passengers would want to stand while working?
Those high-top square tables were interesting, as they included dividers for increased privacy. The lack of stools made them seem rather uncomfortable however. And finally there was a long table with dividers made with frosted glass, for those that like a seated work environment. This seemed like the more comfortable place to work, in my opinion.
Finally, there were an array of small, soundproofed rooms for the purpose of making calls. These were reasonably functional and well-furnished, with an L-shaped desk with power outlets, though the large glass door wouldn’t give you necessarily a ton of privacy.
In short, this is a rather large lounge with plenty of different seating options that accommodate dining, relaxing and working. However, the design seems utilitarian and is rather sterile. On the plus side, the spacious setup should mean that you’re not sitting shoulder to shoulder with other passengers, though I can see that at peak hours it may be hard to find seating. For those times, I’d wonder why the lounge wasn’t setup more densely to accommodate more people.
Food and drinks
As I mentioned, the buffet encircles something of a central ‘column’ that is otherwise inaccesible. As such, the buffet is mostly very long, but I wouldn’t say it’s particularly filled with things, at least not at breakfast time, which is when we visited.
In terms of drinks, there is a good variety of various non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks. There’s plenty of beers, both from draught and from bottles, though not the most impressive range of styles and brands. I do appreciate the draft beer though.
Then there is a large selection of liquors, so if you’re into that you’ll probably be well entertained, though it didn’t strike me as a particular high-end selection of drinks. In nthis same sections you will also find a variety of wines, and cold non-alcoholic drinks. These predominantly include juices from cartons and sodas.
Finally there’s also the selection of hot drinks, which inlude a coffee machine that can make various coffees and hot water. For teas, there’s a selection that appeared quite good, and then there was also a tap for regular water.
In terms of food, it was my impression that there was a lot of empty space that could have been better utilized, for example by having additional dishes. Of course it’s possible that for lunch and dinner there’s indeed a larger selection, so I would be interested to return for an evening or late-night flight. Be that as it may, there was a hit dish of meatballs, and some kind of tomato dish. On a separately hot plate was a dish of scrambled eggs as well.
For cold options there were yoghurts and fresh fruits, and also various cereals, pastries and breads, which were quite good. Germans are known for good bread, and this didn’t disappoint (if you like this style of bread). A variety of spreads and cold cuts were also available to go with the bread.
Finally, there was something of a dessert section with various cakes and cupcakes. There was also a large selection of candies and sweets, which I think is also a German thing… I’ve never actually seen something like this in any other lounge.
So, overall, the buffet is solid, but not amazing. The foods that were available and that I tried were good quality, and I appreciated that there was plenty of those items, but I’d preferred if the selection was a little bit more extensive than it was. Keep in mind, this is supposed to be one of Lufthansa major gateways, so I thought it could have a little bit more going for it, in the food department.
Restrooms and showers
This lounge has restrooms (of course) and showers. Unfortunately, these were as spartan as they get, with a sterile, all-white-tile design that really doesn’t feel like it would be at an airline’s major lounge. While I didn’t take pictures of the restrooms, I was able to take a quick peek at the shower. As you can see, it’s spacious enough with a shower in the corner and the toilet right beside it, and the sink by the door. I didn’t see much in the way of special amenitie,s besides towels and such. It all struck me as a little but basic.
Summary
We visited the Lufthansa Business Lounge in Terminal B-Ost, which is off to the left, at the end of the of one the arms of this V-shaped terminal. Overall, this lounge is solid, in that there’s plenty of seating of various kinds, and the seats that there are, are comfortable. There’s places to lounge, to relax, to work and to have phone calls in private, and there’s plenty of power outlets by all seats. The buffet, is quite large but doesn’t have as many options as I would have thought.
On the other hand, it’s also not as inspiring as you might hope from a lounge that’s located at a major European carrier’s primary hub. The design of the space was utilitarian and sterile, and I especially didn’t like the metal base moldings, but remind of a workplace cafeteria. I think Lufthansa can do a lot to make this space more chique. But to be clear: it’s a fine lounge overall. Just not the prettiest one out there…
Points to Seats 
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