Trip Report: KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Milan to London via Amsterdam - Business Class (December 2023)

 Trip Report: KLM Dutch Airlines, 

Milan to London via Amsterdam Business Class 

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I wanted to travel from Milan to London and when I looked online, there were not a lot of direct options so looked for connecting options.  Each time I travel, I am also looking for the best options and looking at points redemption versus payment, and in this search I found I could redeem Delta Skymiles points to get an intra-European business class ticket on KLM from Milan Malpensa to London Heathrow via Amsterdam.  I booked the ticket through Delta using my Skymiles points and then contacted KLM to confirm the booking and obtain the KLM booking reference number.   Once I had the KLM booking number, it was somewhat easy to manage my booking through the KLM app as well as through customer service. 

My flight was from Milan to London Heathrow via Amsterdam.  The first flight was approximately 1h55min while the second flight was 1hr20min and with an originally layover of 1hr30min.  Both sectors were flown by Boeing 737 and both were in 'intra-European business class' which means that the seats are the same as the rest of the plane with extra legroom and the middle seat blocked off.  As part of business class, both sectors included complimentary meals.  The experience on both sectors were similar so I will combine all experiences into one review.                                                                                                                                                                                    Our flight was scheduled to depart Milan at 4:55pm.  We had both Business Class access as well as Sky Priority status so we were able to use that check-in as well as fast track security; although there were not many people in check-in line so either line would have been fine.  The business class lounge in Milan was through a third party and the lounge was small but decent and had complimentary soft drinks, water, alcoholic beverages, as well as a wide variety of snacks and small foods.  The drinks were plentiful and the snacks were decent enough to fill you up but not to overstuff.  There was also complimentary wifi.  During the layover in Amsterdam I was able to try out the renovated KLM Crown Club.  The club was massive with lots of seating but also lots of people.  The food was disappointing as it was minimal snacks and I expected better quality and quantity of food from a lounge in the airlines home airport (in face, the food on the plane was better than the food in the lounge).  The drinks were weak and not good either; overall it was a disappointing experience in the Crown Club in Amsterdam.

KLM has a departure time and a scheduled boarding time and for both flights, the flights were delayed and boarding time came and went without any communication.  Boarding is to be conducted by groups, with Business Class and Sky Priority in Group 3 but each time boarding was chaotic and many people were unsure which group was going when.  There was a lack of communication and order during the boarding and regarding any delays.                                                                                                                                                                                    Once onboard, both planes were laid out in a similar fashion as they were both Boeing 737-800.  Both were in a 3-3 configuration and as mentioned above we were in 'European Business Class' which meant that the seats were standard but there was extra legroom and the middle seat was blocked.  The major difference was that the Milan to Amsterdam sector was operated by a newer plane with newer seats while the Amsterdam to Heathrow sector was operated by an older plane with the old style seats.  The newer seats were more slimline and thus had less padding but were more efficiently designed.  The older planes had a bit bigger seats but the wear and tear had made them uncomfortable towards the end.  

Both seats were designed in a similar fashion with the updated ones having somewhat more modern features.  Both featured a tray table as well as pocket underneath, and neither had a monitor.  The older plane's tray table was a standard tray table while the newer plane had a bi-folded table.  The newer plane had a USB port on the back of each seat as well as plugs underneath the seat; the older plane only had plugs underneath the seats. The newer plane had a literature pocket on top as well as while the older plane did not have this.  Neither plane had wifi nor stream to your own device entertainment, which meant that you had to bring your own entertainment or occupy yourself.                                                                                                                                                                                            In Business Class, KLM offers a complimentary meal as well as complimentary drinks, including complimentary alcoholic drinks.  The meals come in prepared boxes and cannot be modified - ie no special meals can be ordered nor requested and there is only one option for the meal choice.   Prior to the meals, a warn nuts and a menu card was handed out explaining the meal box along with a berry burst drink, which apparently is very popular but after trying it, is an acquired taste.  Due to the short flight time, once airborne the meal boxes were served immediately.  The meal boxes contained a main meal which was vegetarian and included a veggie protein with a salad and another box containing dessert; warm bread and your choice of drink were served afterwards.  The quantity of the meal box was sufficient for the short-duration of the flight, and as I said earlier the quality of the food was better than expected.  I tend to not enjoy airplane food, as most of them are not good, but this food was actually good quality and taste and in fact the food in the plane was better than the food in the lounge.

We landed in Heathrow late as we departed late and even though we had business class tags and sky priority tags, our luggage did not come out first but rather came out in the middle.  Overall, it was a mixed bag experience with KLM.  I haven't flown with KLM for over 20+ years so I was unsure as to what to expect.  Positives were the better-than-expected quality of food that was given and the average seat quality and pitch.  Negatives was the lack of wifi and/or entertainment provided, a lack of customer service nor attention even paid to business class passengers, lack of communication regarding delays, and finally confusion and lack of order regarding boarding.  

Trip Report: Virgin Atlantic, London Heathrow to Atlanta (August 2019)

Trip Report: Virgin Atlantic, London Heathrow to Atlanta
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I was traveling from London Heathrow back to Atlanta.  I had booked the ticked through Delta with the outbound sector being operated by Delta (check out that review here) while the return was being operated by Virgin Atlantic.  Once the ticket was booked, I was able to go onto Virgin's website and/or app and manage my booking which included preselecting my seat, adding special meal requests as well as adding other special requests.  Delta and Virgin Atlantic have a joint venture in which they share and market flights between the U.S. and Europe.  This joint venture was indicative throughout our return as the flight was marketed as a Delta flight number that was being operated by Virgin Atlantic (even the Virgin Atlantic boarding pass indicated this).  24-hours prior to my flight I was able to check-in and receive my boarding passes (mobile boarding passes only though, I was never able to receive an electronic copy of my boarding pass - neither through the website nor the app).  As part of the joint venture, they have a separate Sky Priority lane at the Virgin check-in desks in London so that is where we went to drop off our luggage.  Check-in process was fairly quick and we then proceeded to to the gate for our flight.  In the check-in area, Virgin was offering complimentary ice cream for its passengers, which a nice gesture as it was hot outside but generally it was a bit extra customer service.  

When we went to the gate, the plane was there and the screen had the Virgin Atlantic sign but the flight number was the Delta flight number (I still found this odd, that I had to search for the Virgin flight number).  The operating aircraft was an Airbus A330 in a 2-4-2 configuration.  The red distinct color of Virgin was prevalent throughout the cabin, but the plane did look a bit dated.  The seat also looked a bit dated, especially with the red fabric.  The seat itself was decent, not too narrow but not too wide either and the seat pitch was decent enough for the flight time.  The seatback contained a small PTV with a remote next to it, a USB port, a tray table, and a pocket which contained the safety card and airline magazine.  Each seat also contained a wrapped blanket, a pillow as well as complimentary headset.  Once boarding was completed and the doors closed, a safety video was shown and we took off for Atlanta with a scheduled flight time of 9hr 15min.  Even though Delta provided an amenity kit, no amenity kit was provided on Virgin's flight.

Once we reached cruising altitude, the attendants came back to hand out menu cards.  There were many announcements throughout the flight of Virgin trying to go green, so instead of passing out menu cards why not just put the menu on the PTV as other airlines do?  While the menu cards were a nice gesture, they seemed to be a waste of paper (in my opinion).  The first service was drinks only and a variety of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks were served along with pretzels, in Virgin's distinct color glasses.  The second service was the main meal service, with special meals served alongside regular meals.  Virgin's claims its meals to be healthier and incorporate better ingredients than its competitors, but the portion was small.  I ordered a vegetarian meal and that came with a small main dish, a salad, and dressing (the main meals did not come with much more).  While it was nice and healthy, it was neither flavorful nor substantial at all.  Water and drinks were available in the back cabin throughout the flight, but there were not as many snacks available on Virgin as were available on Delta.  About 2 hours prior to landing, an English Tea Service was provided which was a small sandwich, a dessert, as well as coffee or tea.  The Tea Service was definitely tastier than the meal service, but again it was small in portion size.  

In between the meal service, passengers could do what they wanted to occupy the time.  As it was a day time flight - the flight departed London at 10:10am and arrive into Atlanta at 2:40pm - most passengers were up and occupied their time with the entertainment system.  There was a nice variety of movies and TV shows and it was enough to cover the 9hr flight time.  The flight attendants were also always present throughout the flight, either walking down the aisles, talking to passengers, or relaxing in the back. 

Overall, it was an average flight with Virgin Atlantic.  Based on their reputation and branding, I expected to be wowed but I was not.  Positives were good customer service, friendly FA's and decent entertainment system.  Average were seat pitch and seat comfort, while negatives included small food portions and no amenity kit.  The ultimate decision maker is whether I would fly them again - and the answer while I would not avoid Virgin, they wouldn't be my first choice either.  Both them and Delta were nice, but it was an expensive ticket so what was paid for and the reputation I expected something great and what I received was a bit above average.

Stay Report: Moxy London Heathrow Airport (London - August 2019)

Stay Report: Moxy London Heathrow Airport

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There are many options available if you are looking to overnight near Heathrow Airport.  The hotels are spread across the various terminals so it depends on how close or how far you want to be away from your Terminal.  My selection criteria was a little different as we were three people traveling together so I needed a room that could fit all of us in one room; that narrowed the options greatly.  I found the Moxy hotel had a family room in which there is a large bed plus a sofa bed that can sleep 3 adults - this was perfect for my travels and I wanted to try this Marriott brand.  It was very easy to book the hotel through the Marriott website and very easy to manage the booking through the app - Marriott does not provide email addresses for their hotel so when I had a question I messaged them through Facebook Messenger and they were responsive.

Moxy hotels were designed for Marriott's Millennial clientele so their layout and design are a bit different than standard hotels.  This hotel is near Terminal 3 and the hotel does not provide a shuttle, but the hotel is on the Heathrow Airport bus route (which has a charge for transportation to the airport).  It is very easy to spot the hotel as it is large and there is a huge MOXY in pink letters that makes it unique.  The pink theme continues inside as the lobby walls were also painted in the pink color.  As you enter the lobby, its a huge space that incorporates many things - waiting area, lounges, check-in area, bar, restaurant, business center, and just relaxing area.  The check-in area was on one side of the bar which made it somewhat loud (depending on the time of day you are checking-in). Checking-in was quite easy, I received my key, and proceeded to the elevators.  Considering this is mostly a transit hotel with lots of airline guests, and the hotel is very large, you would think they would have large elevators/lifts to accommodate guests + luggage but instead the hotel had three small elevators, one of which was broken and the other two were struggling to handle the load and capacity of guests plus luggage.  Complimentary luggage carts were available so this made transporting the luggage easier.  

As we entered the room, there was a large entrance-way that in which on the left side had large wall to floor closets.  There were three doors of the closets, two with hanging areas and one with shelves - there was LOTS of closet space - and in the closet was the safe.  Across from the closets on the wall was a mirror, hooks to hang your jackets, and a place to hold your keys.  The main part of the room was divided into two sections - one with the bed and one with the sofa/tv.  One would think the sofa/tv area would come first and the bed near the bathroom, but it was opposite in this room.  The first part of the room was the large queen bed which sat against the wall.  There were nightstands on either side of the bed - with USB ports and plugs next to the bed -, in front of the bed on the wall was a TV, there was a large window and a chair in front of the window  - there was not a lot of room, either width wise or length wise for anything else and it was somewhat of a tight squeeze to get past bed to the bathroom or the main entrance.  The TV wall was the sharing wall which led into the other room which contained a sofa - which turned into a sofa bed - a desk and a chair.  There was definitely more room in this area so it allowed for more movement.  On the desk contained the coffee maker and on the wall were more plugs and USB ports.  There was also another table and chair against the wall between the desk and the window - the window faced a large parking lot.  The bathroom entrance was next to the desk and it was very spacious with a sink, a toilet, and a walk-in shower (again, a lot of was constructed and devised for those with a disability).  There were toiletries available, but these were in refillable bottles with a shampoo and body wash in the shower and a soap next to the sink.  Overall, the bathroom and the entrance-way were quite spacious as well as the sofa area, the sofa bed had already been made and fitted prior to our arrival.  The only negatives on the room were the lack of lighting (it was very dark) and the tightness of the bedroom area.  The main bed was comfortable and the sofa bed was decent, not great but decent enough for one-night.  As I said we had booked a family room which is supposed to hold 3 adults so this description may not be comparable to a standard room at the hotel - this room was also built as a handicap room.

As this hotel is targeted to a different clientele, their amenities also catered to them.  There were no phones in the room as to contact staff you were just supposed to email them.  For this, wifi was provided and it was free, fast, and there was no limit to the number of devices that you could connect.  There was a restaurant, a bar, and a business center with a computer and printer all downstairs in the grand lobby.  Parking was available for fee and while the hotel did not provide shuttles to the airport, the hotel was a stop on the Heathrow Airport Shuttle which was also available for a fee.  There is also a fitness center, but as we were there for about 12hours I did not get a chance to use it.

Overall, it was a nice experience at the Moxy.  The hotel is comparable to Aloft by Sheraton as both were targeting millennial and both gave off the 'new-age, funky' vibe.  The free and fast wifi was a plus as were the nice toiletries in the bathroom.  The spacious room did exceed my expectations as I was preparing for a small and narrow room, but this room was spacious and provided a nice and comfortable bed.  

Trip Report: British Airways, Edinburgh to London Heathrow (July 2019)

Trip Report: British Airways, Edinburgh to London 
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I was traveling to Edinburgh from London, and on the outbound I choose to travel by train but for the return I wanted to travel by plane.  British Airways, RyanAir, EasyJet, and FlyBe all fly between Edinburgh and London but only Flybe and British Airways (BA) fly to London Heathrow.  I wanted to fly into Heathrow as I had another international flight from Heathrow the next morning.  Also, I had checked baggage and when adding that fee into the overall price the difference between BA and LCCs was not that significant (also, with BA you get 23kg checked baggage while most LCCs give you 20kg).  Booking the ticket on BA's website was very easy and my ticket included checked baggage, however my ticket did not include preselecting my seat (even though with the upgraded price it should have).  After booking my flight, it was easy to manage the reservation either through the website or through the app.

24-hours prior to departure I was able to check into my flight and select my seat assignment.  BA had already preselected our seats and luckily we were sitting next to each other, but we could also change the seats to any open seats in our cabin.  The ticket purchased included one checked baggage at 23kg and prior to check-in I could add another bag at a lower cost or add it at the airport at a higher cost.  We had a lot of stuff so I prepurchased another bag, checked-in, and received my mobile boarding passes.  Even though I checked-in online, I could later go to the computer and print my boarding passes as well.  When we arrived at the airport, the line to check-in was very long but the self-service kiosks had no line so we went there to check-in our bags.  We checked-in our bags, self-tagged them, and dropped them off to the belt with almost no interaction with anyone from BA.

After security we made our way to the crowded gate area and waited for boarding to commence.  Boarding was done via groups, with the first groups for Priority members and groups 3-5 for economy class.  We were seated in row 17 and following RyanAir's model, BA also boards from both the rear and the front of the planes with rows 16 and higher boarding from the back of the plane.  The enforcement of which side you board from is haphazard, as half of the rear of the plane boarded from the back while the other half boarded from the front; and BA should take note of seniors or others who would have difficulty going up and down the stairs instead of boarding directly through the jetbridge.  When we boarded from the back, there were two BA attendants there but neither of them made eye contact, neither were smiling or pleasant, and neither greeted any of the passengers.  We made our way down the aisle, put our carry-on bags up, and sat in our seat ready for take-off.  The BA attendant who was in the back came down to close the bins and was muttering to herself, somewhat loudly, about passengers behavior saying 'who is going to close this lid with the bags like this, seriously' and other such comments against the passengers -- poor behavior and service from the BA staff!

The operating aircraft was an Airbus A319 in a 3-3 configuration and the flight time was scheduled at 1hr 20minutes.  The seat pitch and seat width were decent given the seat pitch, however the seat was not very comfortable.  The seat itself was basic with no PTVs and had a pocket up top - for the magazines, the safety card, and the airline sickness bag - below had a tray table and underneath that had another pocket for your personal items.  It was a decent seat for a short intra-European flight.  There were video screens that dropped down throughout the cabin and the safety video was screened on these videos, and throughout the flight the flight path was shown on the video screens. There was no wifi and no screening of entertainment to your personal devices, so the flight path was the only entertainment provided.  Once we reached cruising altitude, the inflight service commenced.  Similar to LCC's, BA has started a buy-on-board service where everything from snacks to drinks needs to be purchased; nothing is complimentary, and I believe water also needs to be bought as I did not see complimentary water being handed out.  The FAs spent most of their service time in the front section of economy - those in 'economy plus' -  and given it was a short flight they did not have time to spend in the back section so just rolled quickly buy towards the back galley.  We started our descent into Heathrow, landed and deplaned, and then waited almost 45 minutes for our bags to arrive.

Overall it was a disappointing flight experience with British Airways.  On their intra-European flight it seems there is no difference between them and a LCC in terms of pay for extra services and buy on board product.  Given BA has to compete with LCCs on this route and with the train, one would think they would try and help them stand out by offering better onboard service but that is not the case.  Their fares are higher than both the train and the LCCs with the only advantage BA has is that they fly into Heathrow and are part of a oneworld alliance.  These two factors are not enough for me to choose BA again. 

Trip Report: SAS Airlines, Copenhagen to London Heathrow (September 2018)

Trip Report: SAS Airlines, Copenhagen to London (LHR) 
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In looking for flights between Copenhagen and London, there are many options available including both mainline and low-cost carriers.  The various airlines also serve the various airports in London, so which airline you choose largely depends on price, your airline preference, time of day, and which London airport you would like to arrive at.  My only criteria for my flight was that I wanted to leave Copenhagen in the evening, everything else I was flexible with.  

As I said there were a number of options available including easyjet, Norwegian, Flybe, British Airways, Ryanair, Eurowings, and SAS.  In looking at base prices, initially the low-cost carriers were the lowest in price; however, once I added on extras such as a checked baggage, the price went up dramatically.  When I looked at mainline carriers - SAS and British Airways - both had a variety of options available.  They had 'light fares' which were comparable to low-cost carriers to 'packaged fares' which included other amenities in the fare.  When I compared the package fare of SAS (which included a 23-kg checked baggage) with that of the low-cost carriers, it was only a price difference of 10euro.  To me, that is not that much of a price difference especially given that with the mainline carrier I would land at Heathrow (which is more central), the timings of the flight was better, and I would have the option for miles accrual.  Based on all these factors, I choose to fly with SAS.  

My flight on SAS was scheduled to depart Copenhagen at 8:35p and land at Heathrow at 9:35p.  The flight was scheduled to be operated by an Airbus A320 and a scheduled flight time of 2hours.  Through the app I was able to manage my reservation and create flight notifications.  24-hours prior to departure I was also able to check-in and preselect my seat for the flight (at no additional charge).  I went to the airport very early (as another airline had lost my luggage and had found it two days later) and while I was at the airport I wanted to check my bag in.  It was about 5hours prior to the flight so I inquired with SAS who informed me that they accept checked baggage up to 24-hours prior to departure!  As with most European airlines, there were self-service kiosks where I printed out the baggage tag, tagged my own bag, loaded it up on to the scale, and it was scanned and sent to holding.  

Even though I already had my boarding pass and my luggage was already checked through, I still arrived at the airport about 2hours prior to the flight time.  Boarding was scheduled to begin at 8:05pm, but I also knew I had to go through security and immigration so that could take a while; and it did.  The security lines at Copenhagen airport were ridiculously long, and it took a while to get through the entire process.  Once that was completed, those who were going to non-Schengen countries or who were going somewhere else internationally also had to complete immigration protocols - this also took some time but was quicker than the security line.  I finally reached the boarding gate for it only to be closed.  Apparently the boarding gate was closed until the boarding time listed on the ticket, so most of the passengers were crowded in the hallway waiting for the boarding gate to open (seems like an inefficient system).  The boarding gate finally opened, our boarding passes were scanned, and passengers proceeded to sit and wait at the boarding gate.  While waiting at the boarding gate, the inbound aircraft came in late and the ground crew did not seem in a rush to quickly turn the plane around; it looked like it was going to be a late departure.

Boarding finally started but there was no system to the boarding.  Business class and priority members were called first, and then it was a free-for-all so passengers could board at their leisure.  The operating aircraft was an Airbus A320 in a 3-3 seat configuration.  The seats were slimline seats but were comfortable enough for the short flight.  The seat width and seat pitch were also pretty good - better than some airlines but not as good as others; it was good for the intra-European flight.  The seatback did not contain a personal screen, but rather had a slot for the airline magazine and safety cards.  Next to the slot was a USB port, which was a welcome addition (the USB was only activated after reaching 10,000ft).  Below the slot was a tray table and below that was a pocket for personal use.  To add to the chaos of boarding, carry-ons were not limited based on their number nor weight so many passengers had multiple carry-ons in various sizes and weights; this delayed the boarding even further.  Once the passengers were boarded and seated, the pilot came on and basically said he was in no rush - he said that the inbound flight was delayed and the turnaround time 'was ridiculous for a human to accomplish' so they were going to take their time and do things properly.  This meant a delayed pushback and delayed take-off.

Once the boarding doors closed, manual safety demonstrations took place.  The plane was operated by SAS Ireland and most of the crew had English (British) accents.  Once we reached cross 10,000ft the inflight service commenced.  SAS' inflight service depends on the class and type of ticket you purchased; regular economy passengers receive complimentary tea, coffee, and water but have to pay for everything else.  If you have paid for a higher service, then complimentary meals plus a drink is included in your fare.  Flight time was scheduled at 1h30min and the flight was entirely full so it took the cabin crew almost the entire flight time to serve all passengers.  Once the inflight service had finished, passengers were left to pass the time as they pleased.  The time to start the decent into Heathrow approached, and the cabin was prepared for landing.  We landed and then took a long taxi to the gate at Heathrow.

Overall, it was a very interesting experience at SAS.  The USB ports and the seat comfort plus seat pitch were good, but the chaotic boarding and not trying to rush and maintain on-time departure was a little disturbing.  Also, there was no wifi so no personal entertainment was available on the flight (even though SAS had been advertising this all throughout Copenhagen airport and the city).  I was interested in trying SAS short-haul first before testing if I could stand their long-haul service, and based on this experience I would try their long-haul service but they would not be my first choice.     

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.