I had been in Romania for a few weeks when I decided to take a little trip to explore a corner of Europe. I did some searching and found an excellent fare to London on Lufthansa. I was eager to try out an airline that boasts itself as “5-StarHansa”. On the plus side, I also got to see Munich as I had a 9-hour layover there. I originated in Cluj (CLJ) and had a very uneventful regional jet flight to Munich. There wasn’t much to report there so I didn’t write a review.

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Booking:

I used Google Flights to book the ticket. Since I don’t have any frequent flier miles with a Star Alliance carrier, I opened an Avianca LifeMiles account and credited my miles there. Avianca had some of the best earning and redemption charts for Star Alliance carriers.

The total fare came out to just over €300. Not a bad deal for me. The other options were with Wizz Air, but I tend to steer clear of low-cost carriers.

My routing ended up as follows: CLJ-MUC-LHR. On the return, it was LHR-FRA-CLJ.

Online Check-In:

I booked an Economy Light fare so I checked in 23-hours prior to departure in order to guarantee my seat assignment. Luckily the cabin was quite empty and I found a great window seat option in the exit row!

The online process was fast and easy. Since I had a 9-hour layover, I decided to check my bag for roughly $27- about the same as checking a bag with a US carrier.

Boarding:

Boarding started promptly about 45-minutes prior to departure. Within 30 minutes, the boarding door was closed and we were ready to pushback. Due to congestion in London, however, we had to sit at the gate for 15-20 extra minutes. Flight attendants brought out water at that point.

On-Board:

Lufthansa flew an A320-200 on this route. The cabin felt nice and fresh and the seats, although slim-line, were comfortable enough for the short hop to London. I navigated to my seat 12A:

As any aviation geek could tell you, A320s are configured in a 3-3-seat setup. Due to the number of people behind me and the flight attendant’s ushering boarding quickly, I could only snap a picture of the seats after I had gotten in my seat. Luckily, the whole row remained empty for the entire flight.

The legroom, however, was quite generous. I’m 5’8” and I found plenty of room to recline and relax for the flight.

On-Board Experience:

There were no amenities for the flight since it was a short, Intra-European hop. However, there was excellent cabin service!

About 20 minutes after takeoff, flight attendants came around and offered beverages and a sandwich to all the passengers. Alcoholic beverages were complimentary for those 18 and older.

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I went with a cup of coffee and a chicken sandwich. I was quite impressed! For airplane coffee, it did not taste powdered like many other airlines I have tried.

The sandwich was also quite edible and I enjoyed it.

I visited the lavatory during the flight and found it to be clean. I was surprised at how many empty seats there were on this flight! The flight was only about 50% full in economy. Business was completely full.

Overall:

For a short hop across Europe, I was impressed by the service and on-board experience. It was nice to have a decent meal and a fair amount of legroom.

For a short-haul economy flight, this really was a 5-star experience. I wouldn’t hesitate flying 5-StarHansa again within Europe!

Would you want to fly Lufthansa's short-haul economy? Let us know in the comments below!