• 

  Frankfurt Airport

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  FRA/EDDF

  CEO:

  Stefan Schulte

  Passenger Count :

  24,814,921 (2020)

  Runways :

  07L/25R 2,800m (9,240ft) | 07C/25C 4,000m (13,123ft) | 07R/25L 4,000m (13,123ft) | 18 4,000m (13,123ft)

  Terminals:

  Lufthansa First Class Terminal | Terminal 1 | Terminal 2 | Terminal 3 (Under Construction)

  Country:

  Germany

Flying from Naples to Vilnius and transferring at Frankfurt, my travel companion and I had the opportunity for an extended visit at Lufthansa’s Business Lounge at A26. With more than three hours spent at the facility, this will be a comprehensive review of what’s on offer. If you’re interested in the Lufthansa intra-European in-flight experience associated with this lounge visit, a review on the trip was also completed.

The hardest part: Getting into the lounge

Now, this part of the review won’t apply to most people but it’s a story worth telling as a warning to future visitors - those who intend on paying in advance online for Lufthansa lounge access. Please skip to the next section if you’re only interested in the lounge itself.

Realizing we had an extended layover at Frankfurt Airport, I wanted to be proactive and purchase lounge access ahead of time through the Lufthansa website. Entering Frankfurt as the location, a long list of Lufthansa lounges appeared. Indeed, 10 Lufthansa lounges are available with access available for a fee. As economy class passengers without loyalty status, this was the only option. However, seeing as many airlines don’t even have this as an option, we were grateful to have the opportunity.

Entering the required information (lounge, date of visit, first and last name, email address, and airline associated with trip), It’s important to know that I was not required to include a reservation code. I was taken to the payment page. Access to the Lufthansa A26 Business Lounge would cost €49.00 per person. I entered my credit card information and clicked on ‘Pay Now’ button. This, unfortunately, would be the moment issues would arise.

I made the payment on my phone and it moved me to the confirmation page. Happy that everything was working, my wife and I checked out of our hotel, had breakfast, and then headed to the Naples Airport. Along the way, I realized that I had not received any confirmation email of my purchase. Opening up the confirmation page again, it had automatically refreshed on my phone and my purchase information was no longer visible. After checking every single folder of my email account (spam, deleted, archive, etc), I was not able to find any record of my purchase. I was, however, able to see that my credit card had been charged. Hoping this would be enough, I continued on to the lounge after arriving in Frankfurt.

After talking with multiple lounge staff, it was clear that I needed to have the voucher code associated with my online purchase - a purchase made through a third-party named Yilu. Lufthansa lounge staff were sympathetic to our situation, but they made it clear that we would not be allowed in, despite having a credit card record showing the purchase. As the purchase was not linked to our flight reservation code, it was completely independent of Lufthansa’s information systems. This meant that Lufthansa customer service could not help us and we would have to contact this third-party company, Yilu. With a strategy of disputing the credit card charge and/or requesting a charge-back from Yilu, we then purchased lounge access on-site.

This lengthy story brings me to my first (and only) warning: Your purchase is as good as gone without the voucher code as far as Lufthansa and its lounge staff are concerned. Thus, should there be an issue with your email account, or internet connection, it would be wise to take a screen capture of the confirmation page after purchase as a failsafe.

With all that said, let’s move on to the actual lounge experience.

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Lounge space and general atmosphere

The overall lounge vibe is warm and modern. The space is lit with warm tones, with grey flooring and tan and grey seating. There is a roughly 50/50 split between restaurant-style tables and chairs and soft, leather armchairs. Located at almost every lounge chair is an electrical outlet, which includes some USB-A ports.

A good amount of natural light comes in, with the lounge’s location offering a fantastic view of the apron and runway. This is perhaps one of the best features of the lounge - for avgeeks and planespotters at least. Here, on the upper-level of the terminal, guests have great views of aircraft taking off and taxiing to and from the runway. During my visit, multiple Lufthansa 747s passed by, as did Tarom’s A318 baby bus, an ITA Airways aircraft still in Alitalia livery, a Qatar Airways 777 and Saudia 787. With Frankfurt being such a major airport, you’ll definitely see aircraft from all over the world pass by the lounge window.

Outside of the general lounge area are a few special rooms:

• A room with additional bar-height tables and seating. Here, there are wall outlets as well as lounge computers for use.
• One private napping room with a single ‘bed’.
• And finally, a handful of private, enclosed workspaces.

This offers guests a diversity of environments to eat, work, or relax. Something that works well for a diversity of travelers.

Lounge food and drink

The alcohol here is not self-serve. Rather, a bartender is on-staff to cater to your needs, with the selection appearing to be quite extensive. Available for self-service was still and sparkling water, as well as coffee. Tomato, apple and orange juice were also available.

As for food, a white-asparagus cream soup was on offer, along with large ‘full-size’ pretzels and rolls. Hot food available included:

• The German noodle known as Spätzle,
• Chicken wings
• And roasted baby potatoes

Two salads were on offer: A spinach and egg salad, and a creamy pasta salad with spinach and cherry tomatoes. Off to the side is a ‘candy bar’ full of sweets and snacks for those looking for something more sugary.

Having visited the KLM Crown Lounge (Schengen and non-Schengen), as well as Air France's Salon (Schengen) in recent years, I would say that this Lufthansa lounge's food diversity was about the same, or just slightly below its SkyTeam competitors. Nonetheless, what was offered was quite tasty.

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Other facilities

The toilet facilities were clean and spacious. Toilets are placed in fully enclosed rooms (as opposed to stalls), which, for men, include a private urinal. Showers are also available at this lounge, but this is not something I enjoyed myself.

There is also a locker room, allowing guests to stow away their belongings to maximize their personal space.

Overall thoughts

I found this lounge to be a truly enjoyable experience and would say that it is worth the €49 price of admission - especially with longer transit periods. In addition to comfortable seating and a hot meal offering, the private rooms and shower facilities will essentially guarantee you leaving the lounge refreshed for your next flight. And, of course, there's that fantastic view of the apron for planespotting! At the same time, however, I would not likely pay for this privilege if I had less than a two-hour layover.

As for the online payment fiasco, while they couldn’t help directly with our Yilu/pre-purchased lounge voucher situation, the Lufthansa lounge staff were courteous and understanding with our situation. Due to my own experience with the online purchase and the lack of a ‘fail-safe’ on the side of the vendor, my preference in the future would be to purchase access on-site rather than in advance, online. With that being said, Lufthansa and Yilu should integrate their systems better to prevent similar situations in the future. Thankfully, after a few rounds of emails with the Yilu support team, I was assured that the online purchase would be refunded after showing them receipts for our in-person lounge purchase - although they never explained what exactly went wrong.

Will you be visiting a Lufthansa lounge any time soon? Share your travel plans by leaving a comment.