TRIP REPORT
Flew with Lufthansa recently after a while. The morning flight to Frankfurt departs at 6.10AM meaning you need to be at the airport at an ungodly hour. I arrived at 4.20AM and the airport was very busy with a lot of Air Serbia flights departing in the morning wave.
For some reason, Lufthansa Group check-in has now been moved to T1, but it wasn’t too busy when I went to the counters.
Since I was flying business, I could use the fast-track lane for passport control and security and passed through quickly, although I have to note that the line for passport control was moving along smoothly with a lot of people using the eGates.
Security was also a breeze. There is now a dedicated lane for business class passengers (where boarding passes are checked), a dedicated lane for incoming transfer passengers (with a huge lime green Air Serbia cardboard gate), and another 7 security lanes were working at the time. So, there were no queues at the security check.
I walked around the airport a bit and looked out onto the apron and saw the new cargo flight from Urumqi incoming. Around an hour before departure I received an email from Lufthansa with the assigned boarding gate. As I was walking around the terminal, I saw a board with a before and after photo, and despite all of the airport's flaws, it is an upgrade.
Lufthansa passengers can use the “Business Club” lounge. While the Air Serbia lounge was already working full swing, the Business Club lounge opens only at 5AM, but in reality, it usually opens late as the staff does not show up on time. I remember flying out once when the staff member opened the lounge at 5.45, explaining that the staff bus was late… On this occasion, the lounge opened at 5.15 and there was a whole queue of people waiting.
The lounge has been heavily degraded in the last few years. It has been halved in size, so the entrance has been moved to the other side and now the entry is next to the toilet (the doors are the same so you might enter the toilet instead). The lounge also no longer has a toilet. There is still a selection of some food, sandwiches, coffee, and non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks but the whole lounge is a far cry from what it used to be. The airport lounge will move to the Air Serbia lounge, once the Air Serbia lounge moves to its new premises.
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Lounge enterence (it's the glass door) |
Operating today’s flight to Frankfurt was an A319. Boarding started at 5.35. We were greeted at the entrance by a senior cabin crew member who was holding a basket with wrapped Lufthansa-branded chocolate bars, which is what, I believe, constitutes the airline’s economy class service on this flight. By 5.50 boarding was completed. The doors were closed 5 minutes later, and the pilot came on the PA to tell us that thankfully we would be able to depart on time because we were given our actual landing slot in Frankfurt, for which he voiced surprise.
There were 10 of us in business class that morning. The seats are usual LH, like an ironing board which has become the norm in Europe.
As we taxied, I noticed that there was no longer a huge “X” sign on the former “inserted” runway and that it was in fact open for traffic as a parallel taxiway to the runway.
We pushed back on time and took off some 10 minutes later. Around 15-20 minutes after departure breakfast was served, accompanied by the crew going around with a breadbasket. It’s interesting that on this very same route Air Serbia offers business class passengers a menu and a selection of three hot food items to choose from. If they only improved the meal presentation, it would be miles ahead of what Lufthansa offers, not that food is important on this 2 hour flight but it leaves an impression.
I connected onto the airline WiFi portal which had a nice moving map and also some eJournals. I connected onto the internet as I spent the rest of the flight working. I must say that internet was working really well and was very quick with opening webpages. I used it on my continuing long-haul flight and the WiFi also worked really well, to the point you could open social media and the pictures loaded fine.
The crew didn’t appear in the cabin anymore after clearing the plates and we landed in Frankfurt on time. We taxied to a remote stand and were all put onto a bus. The bus first made a stop for connecting passengers and then for passengers going to baggage claim. Interestingly, just 5 passengers stayed on the bus after the first stop, meaning pretty much the entire flight was transferring. Unfortunately, they didn’t read out the gate information for connecting passengers onboard, which is something they used to do in the past and I liked it since you could hear where the passengers were transferring to.
All in all, the flight was ok. Most importantly it was on time, which is not so common in Europe anymore, especially in summer. The rat-infested Frankfurt Airport left a lot to be desired.
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I am flying on Lufthansa in a few days and in my ticket it writes 'Refreshments' on the BEG-MUC flight. I don't know what it means and if they are maybe brining back something free in economy, coffee would be more than welcome.
ReplyDeleteThey give chocolate and a very small bottle of water.
DeleteDespite the spartan food offering on this route for business passengers (a joke really) what differentiates them from JU and it drives long term loyalty is this:
ReplyDelete"I connected onto the airline WiFi portal which had a nice moving map and also some eJournals. I connected onto the internet as I spent the rest of the flight working. I must say that internet was working really well and was very quick with opening webpages. I used it on my continuing long-haul flight and the WiFi also worked really well, to the point you could open social media and the pictures loaded fine."
For the type of pax that consistently pay the most expensive tickets and are the most valuable customers for a business to have the ability to have fast internet to work is far more important than the food offering or its presentation.
+100
DeleteNot even business class passengers, vast majority of business passengers end up in economy class and they are the ones paying €450 to €500 for their tickets. Why do they chose LH over JU? Exactly because Lufthansa is a business friendly airline, Air Serbia is not.
DeleteAlso, JU doesn't block the other seat in business on their Embraer which exclusively flies to FRA. So you end up in a cramped business class product with a mediocre soft and hard product.
Marek promised to improve this but unfortunately he failed. That is why LH is killing them on BEG-FRA.
And where do you conclude that LH is killing them on BEG-FRA? You have a break down of their cost structure, revenue per passenger to make this conclusion? Why make things up for the sake of making them up? In fact, the reviewer even said JU was better than LH in some segments.
DeleteLufthansa operates triple daily A319/320/321 while JU operates barely double daily E90.
DeleteПаметном довољно
How is it 'barely' double daily when it is double daily. Also, until a year or two ago they had daily.
DeleteHe said barely as it is 13 weekly.
DeleteOn the level of whole Germany JU has more flights to German cities than LH to BEG.
DeleteWhich makes sense since LH only flies out of two cities in Germany. So the comparison makes literally no sense.
DeleteMost JU pax on FRA-BEG are P2P whereas most LH pax are transfers, so the comparison makes no sense anyway.
DeleteWhat's your source to back that claim last Anon
DeleteWould always prefer to fly JU over them from Belgrade, its 10x better airline.
DeleteNot if you are flying on the Bulgarian E90.
DeleteI flew recently LH. The experience is like Ryanair with free water and a small candy. The seat is extremely uncomfortable. The Crew is acting like they were forced to be there. I really try to avoid them whenever possible.
ReplyDeleteLH has a VERY poor business class product on European flights- so I avoid them on European flights
DeleteLH is a very poor product in any class, and how they get any pax except the bottom of the barrel in terms of yield is beyond me. Cardboard seats slammed against each other, harassment for bringing 9 kg of hand luggage on a TATL flight, incessant delays, and a largely useless frequent flier program. I avoid them at almost all costs
DeleteI have been to 100s of airport lounges with my Priority Pass and I've never seen something close to this disgusting place in Belgrade. Rude staff! Fridges not working properly! Every single table scratched! Floor, walls... Like every single component of it is disgusting
ReplyDeleteThe airport was privatized in order to change this and have properly maintained and respectable amenities. Why is this situation continuing well into 2025 is beyond me.
DeleteAlso what is happening with the new JU lounge? When it will actually be ready and open to the flying public?
Slika i prilika zemlje Srbije, vidno na svakom koraku.
DeleteNew Air Serbia lounge will not be open to Lufthansa passengers anyway.
DeleteAs always, detailed and really good experience onboard. Looking forward that see and GetJet report from Spain. Is it going to be soon?
ReplyDeleteThank you! Very good trip report. The state of dufry business lounge in BEG is shamefull. I avoid it for some time now. Its also ridiculous how late AirSerbia new lounge is... don't wanna comment eternal and infinite works at the Airport.
ReplyDeleteLove Lufthansa
ReplyDeleteNot some much.
DeleteLufthansa feels like Ryanair compared to Air Serbia
Delete
ReplyDeleteI am thinking about booking BEG–FRA–Canada but not sure yet. Anyone know if you have to go through security again in Frankfurt when connecting to a non-Schengen flight in B gates? Last year I flew through Munich and didn’t need to, but FRA gets me to Canada earlier so I'm thinking about it.
No, when coming from Serbia and continuing to B gate departures you do not go through security again.
DeleteThank you :)
DeletePathetic lounge experience in BEG. Even during communist times the lounge looked better with natural light, better amenities and a dedicated toilet. Well done VINCI.
ReplyDeleteThere was no business class lounge during communist times. Nice try to smear Belgrade.
DeleteBelgrade Airport has had a lounge since the late 1970s.
DeleteInteresting. Never seen a photo or any mention of it from 70's or 80's
DeleteHere are some photos. I can provide some higher quality images later in the week.
DeleteThank you!
DeleteLufthansa is clearly a better choice than JU for any destination they fly to.
ReplyDeleteToo limited catering
ReplyDelete