jacob_m

I decided I would take a short breakaway out of London and found on the Lufthansa webpage they offered tickets to Munich for acceptable Ł90 return booked in T-class, it was also possible to return the same day as I just wanted it as a day trip.
I made the reservation online and later called and asked them to add my SK FF-card to the reservation as it is only possible to add a LH M&M number online.

An early Saturday morning I got up and prepared to leave for Heathrow.
The streets of London were totally deserted this time of the day but there were clear evidences of what had been going on during the night, beer cans for example…
I boarded a somewhat empty Piccadilly line train which only had a few passengers onboard, obviously also heading for Heathrow to fly somewhere this morning.

I arrived very early at Heathrow, almost two hours before scheduled departure time.
I twas going to be my first visit to the Lufthansa lounge at Heathrow which was the reasons for my early arrival.
I went straight to terminal 2 and the First class/Star gold check-in counter where there was no line this morning and a friendly check-in agent greeted me.
I know some people here have various opinions about GlobeGround, the LH handling agent at LHR but I really have not had a bad experience with them so far.
The agent was very friendly, addressed me by my name and “sir”, and greeted me with a cheery good morning and asked where I was flying to this morning.
I actually had a bag to check-in even though I was only going to be away for the day. I was planning to do some shopping in Munich, especially a few bottles of wine and Whiskey as prices can be as much as 50% lower in Germany compared to the UK, so it would be rather unpractical (and heavy) to carry it all on the plane and after all I do have a free allowance of 40 kg.

Lufthansa Senator lounge at Heathrow

After a quick security check I headed for the lounge which was located on the top floor of terminal 2.
The lounge attendant did not seem particularly interested in arriving guests, there was no greeting when I came and no simple “welcome” after she saw I was eligible for lounge access, on the other hand she spent about two seconds looking at my BP, not that it matters though.
The lounge was, as I had previously read, an incredibly small room. On a Saturday morning it wasn’t too crowded but I can imagine what it must look like on a Monday morning or Friday afternoon. I found an empty table just by the window with a limited view of the apron.
Food was what I guess can be described as a full continental breakfast. There was yoghurt, bread, butter, cheese, jam, marmalade and fresh fruit, also a machine making coffee and tea and several fruit juices.
As I didn’t have much for breakfast at home and as I know the food you get onboard is somewhat limited I decided to have a full decent breakfast in the lounge, and it was all pretty OK. There were also a few bottles of wine available, some spirits and what I guess could have been a bottle of champagne as well, although I didn’t care at 8 am.
There were also some newspapers, some German and the normal British ones.
Generally the lounge seemed a bit tired and in need of an enlargement.
I also visited the toilets which were pretty dodgy actually, it was hard to believe those toilets belonged to a First class airport lounge.


London/Heathrow – Munich
09.30-12-15
LH 4751
Boeing 737-300
Seat 5A

The aircraft departed from gate 11 at the other end of the airport, although terminal 2 isn’t really that large.
The piers at terminal 2 are divided into an arrivals corridor and a departures corridor with a glass wall in between, we had to wait a few minutes before entering the gate area because there was a plane arriving at the same time and people were disembarking, and they cannot mix departing and arriving passengers.
The same thing often happens at terminal 3, the terminal I mostly use at LHR and it is really stupid actually, would be better if they made some other arrangements.
Boarding started only 10 minutes before departure time and at check-in I asked for a window seat in the front of the cabin (my standard preference) and got 5A onboard, second row of economy.
Once onboard they noticed a passenger was missing and (of course) he had checked baggage.
They never actually found the passenger so they had to offload his baggage which took quite some time. We eventually took of 10.10, about 40 minutes late.
The flight was pretty uneventful. A small cheese sandwich was served and one drink round.
What was served was pretty OK I guess, I generally appreciate the service and extras more now as a lot of airlines are abolishing free food and drinks nowadays (SAS is to follow in the end of October 2004).
Despite the late departure we almost landed on time at a grey and rainy Franz Josef Strauss airport and taxied to the gate.
After a quick passport check I went downstairs to the baggage hall to reclaim my bag, the priority tag didn’t do much difference this time, my bag was somewhere in the middle.

Munich
The new terminal at MUC is really nice. The railway station is actually is a different building but right between there is a huge roof made of glass so making it look like an atrium, very appreciated as it was raining.
I went downstairs to the S-Bahn platform to buy a ticket from a machine. The machine showed it should be possible to get instructions on the display in English but I never figured out how, so I tried to make use of my fairly basic German instead.
I wanted to buy a day travel card but there was no information saying which of the three “Tageskarten” that included the airport. I again got to use my rather limited German skills (German is my fourth language) and asked a man who explained which card I should buy.
A day ticket including the airport is 9 euro and that is also valid for underground and buses, a single ticket to the city centre is 8 euro, and I was returning later the same day so it was a good deal.
It took 40 minutes to the city centre and I left my bag in a baggage locker at the main railway station, Munchen Hauptbahnhof.
Munich is a very nice city, quite a few old buildings and a limited but fairly large city centre area where all the shops and sights are located and most streets only for pedestrians.
It was my first real visit to the city, previously I had only changed plane at the airport and changed train at the railway station with only about 90 minutes between the trains.
When the shops started to close I returned to the station to get my bag, it turned out to be a good idea to bring an extra bag as my purchases were pretty heavy.
Then the train back to the airport.

The new Star Alliance terminal at MUC
In 2003 the new terminal at MUC was completed and it is one of the first (if not the first) terminal dedicated to just one alliance.
As I have a Star Gold card I could use all the first class facilities and I must say these are absolutely top-notch, the travel experience at the airport was really 100%.
When entering the terminal building at the arrivals level there were large signs saying C and F passengers should go to the right.
After turning right there was a large area dedicated to just First-class passengers (and Star Gold) with nice carpets and nice looking check-in desks, I think I even saw some flowers around.
Business class passengers are directed upstairs and there is no reason really why other passengers should pass these desks as there were clear signs that economy passengers should turn left when entering the terminal, so it felt very exclusive.
There are some staff in yellow uniforms greeting you when you arrive and one man directly approached me when I arrived.
He asked me if I had a first class ticket, I told him I had not but that I did have a gold card instead.
He looked at me a bit suspiciously, I suppose I really do not look like a typical gold card-holder mostly because I am pretty young. But I am quite used to it nowadays and don’t really care as long as I get what I have paid for/am entitled to.
He followed me to an empty check-in counter.
The check-in woman was friendly and gave me 6F onboard, again second row of economy.
Afterwards I went upstairs to the departure level and found right at the very end of the terminal another dedicated First class area, it was almost entirely surrounded by walls and right next to it, just five meters away, was the security check point also that one dedicated to first class and Star Gold. This is really a nice touch of Lufthansa, I will try that one next time.
The security check was quick, they did have fast track for C/F/*G but there were no lines at all for any of the check points.

Lufthansa Senator lounge, non-Schengen area
The new Lufthansa Senator lounge was very good in my opinion, one of the nicest I have visited (although I have only been to about 10+ so far).
The food selection was really good and when I visited the lounge around 6 pm there was hot food available. They had some meat and some kind of German sausage which looked like a piece ham, it was served with potato salad and coleslaw, bread also was available. It all tasted very good and I even went back to have some more. I had a glass of red wine to drink which was average.
For dessert they had apple cake and chocolate cake, I had a piece of both with my coffee and they were delicious, they had several types of cookies as well.
I ended my lounge visit with a German beer, they had two types on draught, the one I tried was called Frankfurter something if I remember correctly.
I was apparently no expert in using those draughts myself, my beer looked miserable, but a friendly female lounge attendant came to my assistance and showed me “the technique”.
Overall a very pleasant lounge, I would not hesitate to come back again.
Nice armchairs and natural light right into the lounge, although you could still see it was a Lufthansa lounge.

Munich – London/Heathrow
19.25-20.25
LH 4764
Airbus A320
Seat 6F

The boarding was from gate H07, right at the end of the terminal. At the gate there was some extra security as we were going to dangerous United Kingdom.
There was a second security check right before entering the gate area but this time we even had to take off our shoes, and there was a manual visitation of each passenger, same procedure as for US-flights.
It did feel a bit unnecessary maybe but I am not really the right person to decide what is appropriate. Everything went very efficiently and it did not affect the travel experience or the actual flight in any way, there was even a fast track for C/*G.
After having given the BP to the gate agent two men checked our passports and then we went downstairs to…a waiting bus, I don’t understand why as there were several gates available at the terminal building.
However everything went smoothly and despite both extra security and the bus to the remote stand we pushed back on time.
In-flight service was the same old Lufthansa cheese sandwich and a drink round, I asked for a beer and got a Beck’s.
We arrived pretty much on time at Heathrow but even though there was no usual Lambourne holding (I wonder how many hours I have spent over that place in the northeastern outskirts of London) we got a runway 09 approach (arrival from the west) which always takes a bit of extra time.
And then again, guess what…another bus met us. A lot of gates seemed empty at terminal 2 and still we were directed to a remote stand.
The bus ride went fast and when entering the baggage hall the first bags were already on the belt, well done! The priority tag worked this time as one of them was mine.
Then the usual Piccadilly line journey through the western suburbs of London back home for a good night’s sleep.

Thanks for reading my not so short report (I like detailed reports myself).
Comments are always welcome.

Fliar

Thanks for the report ^

Pity that only LH lets *G use the First Class lounges (although I really can't see much difference between C and F lounges with LH).

Kiwi Flyer

Thanks for a nice very detailed report jacob_m ^^