Review: Lufthansa Business Class (A340)

Lufthansa’s premium cabins are largely outdated, but that doesn’t mean they are a bad way to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The design is so different from the new trend of personal pods that it can be a nice change. Needless to say, whether this is your first flight in business class or your hundredth, Lufthansa Business Class is still a solid redemption via Air Canada Aeroplan.

Let’s take a look at my review of Lufthansa Business Class on the A340 and I’ll share why it’s a great option and why you shouldn’t dismiss it when making your next award flight booking.

Booking Lufthansa Business Class

It was quite an adventure to book Lufthansa Business Class, but it was one of the most direct routings I’ve ever redeemed on points. If you’re a beginner to miles and points, sometimes booking a positioning flight (and taking advantage of one of the best practices in booking award flights) on a separate itinerary can be the best option to get in place to efficiently cross an ocean.

This booking started as an Air Canada Aeroplan flight redemption on a Montreal to Milan flight on Air Canada Signature Class, but when schedules changed four months later, I looked for availability from my new home airport, Seattle-Tacoma. Lucky for me, there was space on Lufthansa Business Class from Seattle (SEA) to Milan Linate (LIN) with a connection in Frankfurt (FRA).

I had to pay an extra 8,000 Aeroplan points and a $100 change fee per person to make this happen, but this was more economical and less stressful than booking a same-day positioning flight from Seattle to Montreal. My total cost to book this business class ticket was 70,000 Aeroplan points and $200 in taxes and fees per person.

Cabin Arrangement

On 95% of their aircraft, Lufthansa’s business class is arranged in a 2-2-2 configuration. On the A340-300, there are five rows of business class for a total of 30 seats. 

Unfortunately, there is no first class cabin which also means there is no chance to book Lufthansa First Class on these planes if that is of interest.

The 2-2-2 layout means you need to be picky in choosing a seat as not all business class seats are equal. If you are a solo traveler, one of the middle seats is most likely the best option to have direct aisle access so you don’t have to step over anyone or be stepped over. 

Choosing the best seat for a couple traveling together is less important since you will know the person beside you, lessening any potential awkward interactions such as stepping over a seat in lie-flat mode when getting up to use the washroom.

Seat

For what it’s worth, the seats in Lufthansa Business Class on the A340 were better than I expected when considering it is one of the older business class cabins I’ve flown. They looked particularly appealing as we were welcomed on board.

My significant other and I chose seats 2K and 2H for this journey. While the product is old, this is one of the few configurations where a couple can sit close to one another but still enjoy a window seat. 

Speaking of, one of my favorite parts of this configuration is that we had four windows in close proximity! It’s a wide-open cabin, contrary to the new privacy pods taking premium cabins by storm.

If you’re a solo traveler, there’s no avoiding your neighbor. At least in other two-seat configurations such as Gulf Air business class, you have some kind of privacy screen. That is not the case here.

We did like that the seats faced towards the window. While we were aware our fellow business class passengers were around us, we had to make an effort to see what other people were up to. It felt more private than I thought it was going to be. 

Inspecting the seat further, we find a reading light pointing to the middle armrest and an open footrest.

There was also a glasses hook available at each seat. This was a super unique feature and super German. No surprise, it did its job well!

The tray table extends from the middle armrest and is sturdy even after years of service. The middle armrest was a surprising highlight. In my Etihad Airways 787 Business Class review, I griped that the seats had a practically unusable middle armrest.

After moving the duvet and pillow out of the seat, I found that there was no great place to store it. You can see in the picture of the tray table that things get stuffed into the open footwell; storage felt lacking in this business class seat. Even my laptop looks so out of place in the literature pocket! At least the shoe compartment is practical.

The literature pocket holds the safety card and an inflight shopping magazine, both were a little worse for wear on my flight.

Under the literature pocket is some extra storage that’s relatively small and holds your water bottle and amenity kit.

As for electronics, two universal plugs are found at the base of the middle armrest. Headphones were wrapped up and disorderly placed in a compartment next to my knees in the middle armrest.

The seat controls were placed just above the headphones and were showing their age, but all the buttons worked. The seat is similar to Etihad Airways A350 Business Class pods in the sense that it operates on an airbag base. This was a highlight for me as I love that customization, and this seat has excellent “Zero-G” capabilities!

My last comment on the seat is the ambiance in the Lufthansa business class cabin. While the seats were nice enough, it felt like Lufthansa mailed in the rest of the cabin design. The front of the cabin was labeled in tiny lettering and logo and looked like an afterthought compared to their beautiful First Class display.

Bed

One benefit of Lufthansa’s older business class cabin is that the bed is wider than most modern business class products. If you need even more room, you can lower the outside armrest.

The bedding provided was cozy. I think the colors of the seat become more inviting once the seat is moved into the lie-flat position.

The larger footwells did make a difference, as there was tons of room. Particularly for a side sleeper, my knees never hit the seat. We had a bit of turbulence on this flight, so it was necessary to leave the seatbelt buckled over the blanket. The seatbelt was perfectly comfortable in that position, even for a side sleeper, unlike some other carriers.

While we were comfortable as a couple, I can’t recommend this bed for a solo traveler simply because you will have to step over the person beside you. My wife and I had to step over each other when we wanted to get up, which I think I would be pretty mortified to do with a total stranger!

Amenity Kit

In traditional Lufthansa fashion, the amenity kit is provided by Porsche Design with the contents inside being L’Occitane branded.

The amenities are pretty bare-bones and notably lack an eye mask, but you can pick one up in the lavatory if needed.

Dining

The dining on this Lufthansa flight was subpar compared to our flight on Swiss International Airlines business class (a similar product and also owned by the Lufthansa group). The lack of quality may have been because we departed Seattle rather than Montreal, where our Swiss flight last year originated. 

I was curious to try Lufthansa catering departing Europe to see if it was better, but a last-minute change shifted our return journey to flying on Delta One Business Class instead.

The dining service was started in a classy fashion with a white tablecloth that had Lufthansa branding.

The menu for our afternoon departure is below.

Warm nuts were served shortly after take-off, and our champagne welcome drink was topped off by the flight attendants.

It took about 90 minutes for food to be served, by that point, the sun had already slipped below the horizon. I started with the scallop appetizer, but the beef carpaccio was the better appetizer.

Lackluster seafood continued to be a trend, moving to the main courses as the seafood pasta didn’t have much flavor. The chicken was a better dish, but not something I would look forward to if we decide to fly Lufthansa Business Class again.

Dessert was not the chocolate cake listed on the menu but a raisin cheesecake instead. I would’ve liked to give the chocolate cake a go, this cheesecake was fine but wasn’t wonderful.

Midway through the flight, some snacks were placed in the galley.

For breakfast, we enjoyed eggs with beans. It sounded (and looked) less appetizing than it tasted. This may have been my favorite dish on the whole flight, and it was significantly better than the infamous parsley omelette served on Air Canada’s domestic business class.

Entertainment

Entertainment Console

The age of the seat showed with the entertainment screen and its definition. It wasn’t quite as poor as JetBlue Mint Business Class, but it didn’t stand up to the competition that also crosses the Atlantic, such as Air France Business Class.

To be fair, it was unique in its ability to shift and tilt the screen on the seatback.

The headphones were good quality and did a good enough job of noise cancellation. They had some subtle Lufthansa branding on the headband. The controller was easy enough to use and had a gamepad on the back.

There was a large selection of movies and TV available, as well as a standard selection of games.

WiFi

In-flight WiFi was available at 10 Euros for messaging only, 20 Euros for 2 hours of full WiFi access, or 30 Euros for WiFi access for the entire flight. I opted for a 2-hour plan and found the connection speeds dreadfully slow. I could open a Google Document and copy and paste it into Word, but editing it in Google Docs was unbearable. 

Perhaps I had bad timing with crossing over a weak connection point, but it didn’t leave a good impression. I definitely would avoid paying for in-flight WiFi again if this is the level of connectivity provided.

Conclusion

Lufthansa Business Class needs an update, which is not a shocking statement. I would take Air Canada’s Signature Business Class before jumping on Lufthansa’s old configuration again if the option presented itself. That said, they are quite reliable for the convenience of their routing and ease of redeeming points. 

Ultimately, Lufthansa Business Class is still better than sitting in coach or waiting at the gate for a last-minute eUpgrade request to clear when looking at options for long-haul flights. I am looking forward to experiencing an updated cabin with Lufthansa, but until then, let us hope they remain generous with award availability when plans go astray!