lhrpete

I agree with the sentiments about LH cleanliness. You would have no idea of the age of an LH plane from either the inside or the outside as they are maintained in pristine condition and an original A320 - some of theirs are now about 30 years old and the NEO delivered last week will be indiscernible from a point of view of presentation. When they pay such attention to cleanliness I'm confident the don't cut on things like engineering and they make sure their engine flaps are closed before take off!

NYLON Boy

ahmetdouas

Seriously, both of the A321's I flew were from 1993! Old school, but spotless inside and very new! At that age you are comparing to BA's oldest 767 and 747's. I have no problem with the 767 or old planes in general, but BA if you keep it in the fleet, please at least refresh the interiors!

'They will be leaving the fleet soon' is really no excuse, it's not like those A321's of LH will be around much longer as they reach their cycle limits and will have to retire sooner or later despite appearing 'new' on the inside.
In fact on the A321 of Lufthansa, I seriously doubt anyone except me who went on airfleets.net to check the age were even aware of how old it was, save for the lack of LED's in the cabin interior lighting and the old school no seatbelt and no smoking and light switches.

LondonElite

I have a weird habit of checking the manufacturing date of an airframe as I board (on the top of the door at 1L).

simons1

Well the cultural approaches are somewhat different. German culture would be to outsource and manage the supplier. British culture would be to outsource, leave the supplier to it, and then blame the supplier when something goes wrong. Insert LH and BA in the appropriate places and you get the jist.

To be fair there is probably an element of "too much to do", I doubt I would be highly motivated when some of the agencies don't even pay the London living wage.

There are some opportunities to do deep cleaning when planes are downroute, there are 3 or 4 aircraft a day parked up in South Africa for several hours. Plenty of time there to do a thorough clean if the aircraft were rotated.

Mackle

BAEC silver seems easier to obtain than LH FTL if you are primarily flying SH around Europe. I'd have to start doing things like using Swiss and flying with 1 stop instead of direct if I wanted to make FTL status as all my status miles from last year have now bitten the dust.

On saying this, as FRA is now my hub after moving to Germany, I am always weighing up whether I would be better off making the switch to LH for my FRA-LON runs, and look in to the German Payback scheme, and expanding on it something like a Miles and More credit card or Amex Payback card (both offer a point per 2€, and PayBack points have a 1:1 exchange to Miles and More. And booking flights on LH.com can net PayBack points as well if done via PayBack site referral).

Mackle

Every LH flight that I have been on has had an absolutely spotless plane and very immaculately turned out professional staff.

Most BA flights have been okay, but I have had some where the plane looked a bit dog-eared (737 and 767 especially), the staff looked like they had rushed putting their uniform on, but they always tended to seem more warm and friendly. Maybe this would feel a bit more homely, if they were to offer PAX a cup of tea rather than BOB I've also had the Club Europe curtain divider fall on my head which on a BA flight is part of the charm I guess .


Both Lufthansa and BA 319/320/321 seem prone to having a noisy drone from their engines, maybe that's more a 320-family thing in general.

LondonElite

I don't know anything about the whole PayBack stuff because that seems like too much effort, but from a pure flying experience, there is no doubt in my mind that LH has the better product overall. From FRA you admittedly have a fairly full T1 security in the mornings and late afternoons, even in the Gold Track lanes, but it moves fast. The T1 non-Schengen lounges are ideal, with a Business lounge directly above the gates where the LHR flights usually depart from (and SEN is quite nice but further away). T2 at FRA is a bit more challenging. Security is after Schengen control, so you never really know when to leave the so-so JAL lounge (especially if the is some wacky flight to one of the -stans whose pax seem to have queuing issues. And it's almost always a bus. This thread has already discussed the on-board facilities...arrival into T2 at LHR is also more pleasant than T5, unless you need to hike over to the HEX.

Going the other way, T5 has a lot going for it with the priority security to GF, if you qualify. GF itself is fine, as are the other lounges I guess. Boarding is still a bit of a scrum, whereas at T2 there is a real enforcement of priority boarding that people seem to stick to. The SEN lounge at T2 can get full in the evenings, but I find the food of higher quality than GF, and the toilets cleaner!

Hmmm, those 737s were pretty tatty, but they've been gone for years now!

Mackle

I don't know how much effort PayBack is as not signed up to it (as I shop at Rewe and DM, and the occasional visit to Alnatura, signing up to it should be a no-brainer really!) but it seems really popular. There are all sorts of branded PayBack cards that presumably give bonuses when you use them in certain shops, and even the Amex Payback card can come in DM and Galleria Kaufhof branded variants that give 1 point per Euro when used in that store. Much more variety than UK Nectar points! Given how limited the rewards card market is in Germany, I think that if someone uses Lufthansa then a combination of Payback (with or without the Amex) and the Lufthansa MasterCard is actually not too bad.

I hate flying from FRA T2. I was so close to missing my last flight after getting stuck at the security that is right by the boarding gate for 45 minutes. And the JAL lounge isn't great, nor is the SkyTeam one that I can get in to with PP. Never used the SEN lounge in T1, only the the LH business lounge, but to be honest I find it a much better place to be than the two T2 lounges. I'd love to try the AF T2 lounge, but I think that all the while my destination is non-Schengen I can't get to where it is. And having to get that monorail train from T1 to T2... argh!

I don't mind flying from LHR T5 (I love the "Welcome to our home" BA banner when you first walk in by Cafe Nero) unless I have to take that bloody train to B or C. I have never been in to GF, as have only flown BA cattle and CE, so have to make do with the Club Galleries although they are still much better than the FRA T2 ones. My next LHR-FRA flight is on Sunday morning and I'm intending to find somewhere in T5 to watch the F1 before my flight at 11am; I have not tried the Aspire or Plaza Premium lounges, and I gather the Plaza Premium is quite quiet plus has a full cooked breakfast rather than the BA Galleries breakfast rolls, so might give that a go. LHR T2 certainly does give you a good variety of lounges; once I've attained BA silver for this year (only two trips away) I might have to do an LH flight just to do a lounge crawl in LHR T2 as have only used the LH lounge in the corner (which like yourself I prefer over the BA club galleries) and not tried the other *A ones :P


Oh the tatty 737s were a while ago! Flying to Madrid on code shares with Iberia. Usually a brand new Iberia A320 on the way out, and a Heath Robinson BA 737 on the way back.

LondonElite

At the risk of derailing this thread...what I meant was too much effort was the link between PayBack (which I have) and M&M. But I'm sure I can figure that out.

The AF lounge at T2 is nothing to make an effort for!

Mackle

Don't most threads on FT end up de-railed? :P

So FRA T2 really is worth avoiding then! Whereas I would happily fly from any of the LHR terminals.

HMPS

Bolding mine.
Feeling good because a competitor has equally prolific "enhancements" may be a wrong yardstick. Forward thinking companies would rather see how to improve over the competition.
Why lay the blame at the cleaner's feet ? Often these are the lowest earning employees without much formal education, skills or even have language difficulties. Is it not the fault of the immediate supervisor up the lines reaching into the Executive Suites who should have laid down the standards and followed thru by inspecting the end product ?
LH also gets high marks for punctuality.

ahmetdouas

I actually like that status is harder to achieve. It means fewer people in priority lines, so if you fly business you don't need to queue to get in the plane!

PUCCI GALORE

jbfield

I found chewing gum (used) on the side of my seat once, but that was Flybe...I'm fairly sure it was the first rotation of the day, so no excuses for a lack of time to clean!