On my return from Turkey, I had to route through Frankfurt airport. Long-haul flights from Europe to Canada have significant demand when booking on miles and points, so I searched a few frequent flyer programs until I found an available seat on a flight that worked for me.
Discover Airlines, formerly Eurowings Discover, flew a direct route from Frankfurt to Calgary, and I was able to test their business class product, which though dated was quite comfortable across 10 hours of flight time.
Let’s take a look at my review of Discover Airlines’ business class product on the A330-200.
Booking Discover Airlines Business Class
| Business Class | Aircraft | Route | Flight Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discover Airlines 4Y 76 | A330-200 | Frankfurt to Calgary | 9 Hours 25 Minutes |
I booked this flight back in February of 2024 when the airline was still known as Eurowings and award availability was sparse, but it was good enough to find availability more than 8 months before my departure date.
The reason that I booked this flight was that I was searching on Air Canada Aeroplan and was having a hard time finding any flight availability from Istanbul to Edmonton on my preferred partner airlines, such as Turkish Airlines.
However, I was fortunate enough to come across Lufthansa redemption availability from Istanbul to Frankfurt, followed by this Discover flight from Frankfurt to Calgary, and then a short turboprop jaunt up to Edmonton from the city of Calgary.
The entire itinerary back to Edmonton cost me 83,300 Aeroplan points plus $124 in taxes and fees, which I felt was an excellent value given the distance band and the additional cost of getting back to a non-hub airport.
Air Canada Aeroplan is the best frequent flyer loyalty program for Canadians, and we discussed some of the best ways to earn and redeem in our Miles Ahead Air Canada Aeroplan episode. If you are interested in earning Aeroplan points to make a redemption like this one, consider adding one of the best Aeroplan credit cards to your wallet, like the TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite card.
The TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* card earns Aeroplan points and offers cardholders various benefits including a free first checked bag on Air Canada and a $100 NEXUS membership credit.
50,000 Aeroplan
$12,000
$1,050+
$139 (FYF)
Yes
Jan 6, 2025
Ground Experience
Unique for Discover Airlines is that, because they are a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lufthansa Group, all passengers booked into business class have complimentary lounge access to Lufthansa-branded lounges across Germany.
I availed myself of this privilege at Frankfurt Airport by visiting their Bistro Lounge right next to my departure gate, C13. This lounge is called Bistro because it’s meant for quick service, it has no shower rooms.
It was a typical lounge experience as there were comfy couches, a buffet of nondescript lounge food, and also a fully stocked self-serve bar.
I availed myself of several of the rarer choices on the bar because whilst it was 10 am in Germany, it was 5 pm somewhere else.
I enjoyed the Bistro Lounge even if it wasn’t as luxurious as some business class lounges are. When it was time for boarding, I made my way down to the gate and was again greeted with some Discover-specific branding, but Lufthansa livery all around.
The boarding experience was smooth and painless, and marked by Teutonic efficiency in shepherding all the passengers aboard. What was neither smooth nor painless was the approximately 50 minutes we then spent sitting on the tarmac waiting to be given the clearance to take off from Air Traffic Control.
Oh well, at least the business class cabin on the aging A330-200 was decently comfortable for the flight ahead.
Cabin Arrangement
As an older airframe, the business class cabin seat map on the Discover Airlines A330-200 comes in a semi-staggered 2–2-2 configuration. While this provides comfort and a decent footwell space, it doesn’t leave much in the way of privacy as you have to share your seat with someone else as a solo passenger.
In my case, I was seated by a complete stranger who made clear in no uncertain terms their disdain for my photography, so please forgive any incompleteness when it comes to pictures.
Seat
I chose seat 1A because of the slightly extra leg space and proximity to the galleys for quicker help from the flight attendants. I also prefer to have a window seat just for the view and the ability to control the flow of light when I take a nap.
The footwell was not enclosed, a major positive for those who are side-sleepers.
In retrospect, choosing seat 1A as a solo traveler may have not been the best idea as I had to clamber over my seatmate anytime I wanted to use the bathroom. On the upside, I did get quick service from the flight attendants and the first or second pick of the candies and crackers they handed out midway through travel.
There was also a side storage area that didn’t have a main power outlet but did have one for old USB-A cables and what appeared to be an ethernet cable port.
All business class seats do come with a pillow and blanket, which I immediately stowed on the footwell so as not to lose them for later.
Bed
All business class seats transform into lie-flat seats. Seat settings are controlled by a panel to the immediate right hand of the seat.
It also said you could set the cushion firmness though I never bothered with it. I couldn’t really take a photo of the bed flattened due to my seatmate’s disapproval, but it was comfortable enough for me to pass out for a couple of hours.
Amenity Kit
Discover Airlines’ amenity kit is, in a word, pathetic. The weird plasticky carrying case feels cheap, as do the contents within, even if they are branded in the airline’s iconic blue-on-blue color scheme.
I used the face mask and left everything else because it inspired little confidence. Discover is meant to be a more budget-friendly version of Lufthansa so I understand the impetus to not make this a super-luxe experience. However, this kit just felt cheap and a bit lazy.
Bathroom
The bathrooms on this particular A320-200 were spartan. There wasn’t a lot of space in either the fore or aft washroom, but it was nice to have the option of either as a business class passenger whenever one was occupied.
This will sound like a nitpick and it is but: the toiletries weren’t anything special. I know many airlines try to spruce up their premium cabins by having slightly nicer hand soap. As a more budget-friendly airline, Discover opted not to in its bathrooms. This isn’t surprising but does show the operations philosophy of the carrier.
Dining
I was actually rather impressed with the menu options provided by Discover.
There were a variety of excellent options on display, as well as an extensive suite of drinks and cocktails. Unfortunately, stockpiling of supplies and mixology skills were absent. The person sitting next to me ordered a Negroni, and only got 1.5 drinks as the singular premixed cocktail can that the flight attendants had received for the entire flight ran out.
The flight attendant likewise didn’t offer to try and mix something similar with the various other liquors in the rolling tray. This indicated more limited service options. Will a business class passenger have a much worse experience with no negronis? Probably not, but it’s the little things that set apart a luxury product from a premium one.
Lunch
For lunch, I ordered the cauliflower, duck breast, and cheesecake. Each course came out individually, with an option for your choice of bread at any time. I decided to stay with the German theme and ordered pumpernickel.
Every dish was absolutely delicious, from the curry mayo on the cauliflower to the succulent duck breast for my main course, and the cheesecake I devoured with great abandon.
In particular, this cheesecake was great. As for service, it was decent and came out relatively quickly with the flight attendants topping up my drink of still water regularly.
As far as I’m concerned Discover Airlines knocked it out of the park on dining.
Snacks & Light Supper
About 90 minutes after lunch was served, the flight attendants came around handing out light snacks like crackers and chocolates. I had a dark wafer chocolate that was lovely. There was also a light supper offered shortly before landing in Calgary.
I was fast asleep, however, and didn’t get to partake of the ravioli I had ordered. Now I’m not one to complain as I’m happy the flight attendants didn’t wake me up, but it would have been nice to be asked after I woke up if I wanted something else. Instead, I had to approach the serving staff for plain water.
Entertainment
Entertainment Console
The headset for the console was integrated into the side of the seat and was decent at noise cancellation.
The entertainment screen itself was a bit dated, but it had both touch screen capabilities and an older style remote, the latter of which worked much better for choosing shows and television. This could be pulled out and stored at will.
Entertainment choices themselves were limited but acceptable. I watched a movie before falling fast asleep. There were also ads for Discover-branded merchandise like flip flops playing before each feature.
WiFi
My flight did not have WiFi available, but it did have an “onboard cloud” that let me view the in-flight entertainment catalog and some promotional materials about Discover Airlines.
It was a bit of a shame there was no WiFi, but they have noted that they’re upgrading their fleet with the A330-300’s the first in line to receive capabilities in the last months of 2024 and the beginning of 2025.
Conclusion
Overall, I was happy to fly Discover Airlines from Frankfurt to Calgary. While the A320-200 is certainly an older aircraft, I found the seats to be very comfortable and the flying experience pleasant.
Service on the other hand was a bit hit-and-miss, I think that the flight attendants certainly meant well and wanted me to have a comfortable flight but just weren’t super focused on a superlative guest experience. Perhaps I was spoiled by having recently flown Turkish Airlines business class, which had ridiculously good service, but this seemed to miss the mark a little.
In the end, I would fly Discover Airlines again when my routing needs it, but it probably wouldn’t be my first choice if I were paying cash.
Kirin Tsang
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I flew this exact route the other day. The Lufthansa Bistro lounge was actually really nice, as it looked like our flight was the only one feeding guests, so there were fewer than 20 people in the entire lounge, which had great views and very decent alcohol choices, as you mentioned.
However, the flight was pretty much as awful as a J flight can be. For example, after a couple of hours, the seat started to feel like a wooden plank (and the recline on several other passengers’ seats didn’t work).
The duck breast was ambitious and might have tasted decent, if I’d been able to slice any piece of it off with the butter knife I had (I actually tried and ended up sploshing sauce around the tablecloth). TBH, it didn’t look too good, but it’d have been nice to know for sure.
On the other hand, the various veloutes on the side were delicious, as was the cheesecake.
Your experience is similar to mine (late October 2024 FRA to YYC). The food was great and I was also served a Pastel de Belem as a mid fight snack. The plasticky bag for the amenity kit is actually a dry bag useful for beach vacations. Since Discover is an airline meant for holiday markets, that makes sense. I would’ve like a mattress pad since I found the seat not suffiicently padded in bed mode. I also found the temperature to be too warm for my liking.