My flight routing from Munich to San Francisco took me through Frankfurt, with the first leg on Luftansa and the second on United. I chose this routing in particular because United had recently retired the 747-400 that flew the route with their new flagship, the 777-300ER. The new plane was one of the only ones at the time to feature the airline’s Polaris seats, a huge upgrade from the 6-across and even abysmal 8-across seating on some United aircraft at the time. Over the last couple years, United took delivery of more 777-300ER aircraft and refitted their 767-300s and most international 777-200s with these seats, so future flyers won’t have to be too specific with their itinerary to fly these special seats.

Anyway, I arrived at Munich airport around 8:30 a.m. this morning with my friends, on an early-morning bus from Nuremburg. This got me in 90 minutes before my flight, and it would have gotten my friends in 90 minutes before their Delta flight to Atlanta if it hadn’t been delayed by over 5 hours. I was left to bid my friends goodbye and walked over to the Lufthansa check-in counters. They were quick and efficient checking me in, which I appreciated since I didn’t leave myself a ton of time. Since my first flight was to Frankfurt, I had access to the Schengen-area lounge in Munich. It was upstairs soon after security, and I appreciated that it didn’t take a long walk to get there.

The lounge was in breakfast mode, with fruits, cereals, yogurt and granola being the main offerings I saw. The fresh fruit spread was heavy on fall apples, which I was happy to indulge in. I didn’t eat much else ahead of my flight though. Being 9 a.m. on a Sunday, the lounge wasn’t overcrowded but the most comfortable seats were already taken. After all, an enormous number of people have access to this lounge each day. There was a Christmas tree up, but the lounge wasn’t decked out any more than that for the holidays. Since I had a little more time to kill, I decided to explore the alcohol selection. In a first for me, there was beer on tap and I decided to give it a shot. Well I starting pouring and got more, and more, and more… foam! My glass ended up being 95% foam… and I was suddenly glad my friends weren’t here to see me making a fool of myself. Soon after that, my flight was ready for boarding and I left.

Lufthansa A320 Flight from Munich to Frankfurt

Scheduled Departure: 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, December 10th 2017

Scheduled Arrival: 11:10 a.m. on Sunday, December 10th 2017

Scheduled Flight Duration: 1 hour, 10 minutes

Class of Service: Business

The only thing that really surprised me about this flight was just how many business class seats were allocated. Unlike most airlines which make their business class seats larger, the trend in Europe is to have the seats be the same as in economy but with the middle one blocked off. This means that the cabin size can be adjusted by moving the dividing curtain further up when the load is light, and further back when demand is high. My flight had a staggering 16 rows of business class, equating to 64 people in the cabin. The curtain dividing us from economy was over halfway back in the plane! Otherwise, the flight really felt like an economy one where I lucked out in having an empty seat next to me. The only difference was that this time, I got a meal. It was pretty decently sized, with cheese, meats, muesli, bread, and a bit of fruit on the side. Since I was hungry I finished it all, though I wasn’t thrilled about the quality of anything. I spent the rest of this short flight leafing through the inflight magazine, which felt like a Christmas catalog this month.

Despite it being sunny when I left Munich, we descended into a light blizzard in Frankfurt. The swirling snow didn’t seem to delay our taxi to the gate, and we were off in time. Luckily for me, we exited right next to the line to clear immigration and leave the Schengen area. By the time I did, it was about an hour before my United flight back to SFO boarded. I went straight to the Lufthansa Senator lounge and requested a shower pager, since you never know how long the line might be. Even though the lounge was bustling, it only took me 10 minutes to get a room. It was sort of clear why once I got there, as the shower room wasn’t particularly nice and the toiletries were pretty bare bones. Still, I felt pretty filthy after my long morning and was glad to get more refreshed before my flight. 

Once I’d showered, I had about a half hour more to explore the lounge before boarding, so I walked around and snapped some food pictures. Contrary to the Munich lounge, this one was much more festive and featured snowy and woodsy-themed decorations. There were also Christmas-related dishes on offer, from bread pudding, fruitcake, and roasted apples. I nibbled on some fruitcake, but before long it was time for boarding. I had an additional document check prior to boarding, which sometimes happens prior to US-bound flights. One glance at my passport and I was let on right away. I was absolutely thrilled to be embarking on this last flight of a packed year, and experiencing United’s new business class product for the first time!

Overall, I’ll give a slight nod to the Lufthansa lounges I came across this time. The high point was the food and alcohol selection, and you definitely won’t go hungry in this lounge. They do include enough seating in these lounges that I’d be surprised if it filled up completely, but during busier times I could see nothing comfy being available. The shower room was a weak point, although at that point in my travels I was just glad that they had one at all. I guess another low point was my experience with the beer tap, but that one’s really on me… I wouldn’t build in extra time arriving to the airport or on a layover for these lounges, but if I have access I will certainly use it.