Trip Report: Lufthansa, London Heathrow to Frankfurt (September 2018)

Trip Report: Lufthansa, London Heathrow to Frankfurt
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I was returning from my European trip and had booked my return from London Heathrow to New Orleans via Frankfurt.  The ticket was booked through Condor but the first leg of the trip, London to Frankfurt, was being operated by Lufthansa.  I had received my Lufthansa booking reference number through Condor and immediately I could go online, or through the app, and manage my reservation.  The only thing I was not able to do was pre-select my seat, which was only available 24-hrs prior to my flight.  My flight was scheduled to depart London at 7:30am and arrive into London Heathrow at 10:05am.  24-hours prior to my flight time, through the app I was able to check into my flight, select my preferred seat (at no additional cost), and receive my boarding pass.  Managing my reservation and keeping tracks of my flight was very convenient through the mobile app.

I arrived into the airport very early as I was not sure how busy Heathrow would be in the morning.  I went to the line to check-in my bag, only to be told to turn around and use the self-service baggage kiosk.  I went there, entered my information, and out came the baggage tag.  I applied the baggage tag to my bag and then went to check-in my bag.  The first agent I went to was very strict about the weight allowance - I was allowed one bag of 23kg and my bag was over so I asked how much was it to pay for overweight and she replied "23kg is the max!"; not the most friendliest of attendants.  I went to repack my suitcase and got it closer to 23kg, and then the next attendant was more helpful and checked my bag through.  The flight was scheduled to depart at 7:35am, boarding time was listed as 7:05am, and check-in closed at 6:40am.  I went through security and even though the monitors in the airport had not listed the gate, the app had already informed me which gate the flight was going to depart out of.

Around 7:05am, boarding was announced but there were no groups and no differentiation between the boarding; it was a come-one, come-all boarding.  Luckily the flight was not completely full, load factor seemed somewhere between 80-90% with most passengers connecting to other international flights.  Even though Lufthansa had indicated that only one personal item was approved to bring onboard, this was not enforced nor was the weight of the carryon ever checked; this meant that many passengers brought on multiple carryons in various weights and sizes.  Once boarding was completed and all passengers were in the seats, manual safety demonstrations were done, we pushed back and took off for Frankfurt.

The operating aircraft for this flight was an Airbus A320neo in a 3-3 configuration.  The seats were relatively comfortable, with a decent seat pitch and seat width (I am 6'1 and my knees were not hitting the seat in front of me, which is always a good sign!).  There was no seatback entertainment nor any visible USB ports, instead the seatback contained a pocket for the airline magazine, duty free magazine and safety card.  Below that was the tray table and below that was a small pocket to house personal items.  Flight time was scheduled at 1hr35minutes so as soon as we reached cruising altitude the inflight service started.  The service consisted of complimentary tea, coffee, water, juice or soft drinks plus a complimentary cinnamon and raisin pastry roll.  I was not expecting the pastry roll (as in the U.S. its mostly just peanuts and pretzels) so the pastry roll, especially for the morning flights, was a nice and welcomed gesture.  Once the service was completed, there was not that much time left before we started our decent into Frankfurt.

We landed in Frankfurt ontime but then it took a long time to taxi to the gate.  Also, once we got to the gate we had to deplane via stairs (and only one set of stairs in the back of the plane was available) and then take the bus to another set of gates as we were coming from a non-schengen country to a schengen country.  While I understand the security and immigration of it all, it was a pain and the bus system at Frankfurt really needs to improve. 

Overall, it was a pleasant intra-European flight with Lufthansa.  I had previously flown with Lufthansa long-haul (check out that review here) and the overall experience was ok so I did not have high expectations for this flight; however, the service and the overall experience on this intra-Europe flight exceeded my expectations.  While they may not be my first choice for long-haul service, I would definitely choose them again for intra-European service.