Lufthansa Overview

The German flag carrier use Frankfurt and Munich as their main hubs. Lufthansa itself is actually the second largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried (after Ryanair). And the largest based solely on revenue. They also own a huge number or smaller airlines. With Swiss, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings, Austrian, and a few more all forming part of the Lufthansa Group. Lastly, they’re a founding member of the Star Alliance, which I covered in this article here if you want to read more.

Lufthansa’s main hub, Frankfurt, where I’m flying today serves about 70 million passengers a year. They currently have two terminals, with a third terminal under construction. And the airport is massive, as I later found out. Luckily both of my flights were from Terminal 1, but there was still a good 15-20 minutes of walking to get from gate to gate.

Ticket & Flight Details

Lufthansa is definitely on of the more expensive airlines in Europe. Especially as they pretty much have a stranglehold on the German market. This flight was no exception, with the one-way fare from Billund to London via Frankfurt costing DKK 1,044 / £120 for basic economy plus seat selection. I then used 3,000 spare Lufthansa miles to get that total down to just under £100. For comparison Ryanair often do direct flights between Billund and London for £20 and even British Airways can be had for under £40.

So basically this was a waste of money, I just wanted to try out Lufthansa and Frankfurt Airport as I’ve never experienced either. But moral of the story, Lufthansa are never likely to be the cheapest option when flying within Europe.

Once you’ve paid for your ticket they’ll also try to upsell a business class upgrade to you. I was offered the upgrade for DKK 745 / £85, and that’s just for this leg of the journey. Almost as much as the original economy ticket. But if you do want to fly Business I definitely don’t recommend upgrading! Instead just buy a Business class ticket from the start. It usually ends up being cheaper that way.

Finally onto today’s flight, it was scheduled to take 1h 25m and ended up being 1h 4m. We departed on time and arrived a few minutes early. A very smooth and uneventful flight. If there’s one compliment I can give to Lufthansa it’s that they do seem more efficient than other European Airlines. British Airways and easyJet for example seem to be delayed more often than not. But no such bad luck here.

Billund Airport

Despite being a small town of 7,000 people, Billund has the 2nd largest airport in Denmark. Now that says more about the lack of airports in Denmark rather than the size of Billund. But it is still a respectable airport serving about 3.5 million passengers a year. It is also very modern and spacious and has an adequate selection of shops and restaurants. Overall the airport does a good job at being a small-medium sized regional airport. Check-in, Security, boarding etc were all very efficient and easy.

Billund is also the home of Lego, it was founded here and they still have their global HQ, factory and a Legoland here. And Billund Airport has embraced the Lego theme. They have a Lego shop here (unusual for a small airport like this) and several life-size lego statues throughout the airport. Which I thought was a nice touch.

I was here for a few hours waiting for my flight so headed to the King Amlet Lounge (you can see my full review here). I wasn’t expecting much and was pleasantly surprised. It’s a large, spacious and modern lounge with really good seating, an average selection of food & drink, and even showers. Plus it has great views of the runway. Best of all, it’s free to enter if you have Priority Pass, so I was able to enter for free.

Below are a few more pictures of the lounge and the little lunch I had. Prices start at DKK 175 / £20 for 1 hour so it’s relatively affordable. Definitely worth a visit if you find yourself in Billund Airport.

The Plane & Seat

Our plane today was a 26 year old Airbus A319-100 registered D-AILM. Despite being one of the oldest airliners I’ve flown on, the cabin felt very new so obviously it had been recently refurbished. And like most other European airlines, seats are identical throughout. They do sell a Business Class product but the seat is identical to Economy. The only difference is they block off the middle seat and give you a meal. So generally I would say it’s definitely not worth paying for Business Class in Europe.

Lufthansa fit 138 seats in a 3-3 configuration into this aircraft. That gives a seat pitch of 31″ and width of 18″. Slightly above average compared to other airlines in Europe. British Airways and easyJet both have a pitch of 29″ in their A319s. In comparison, the Lufthansa seat has surprisingly good legroom. That legroom is increased by the slimline seats which help maximise the space available. The downside of that though is the seats literally feel like wooden benches. In the picture below you can see the setback has virtually no padding. And the seat bed isn’t much better.

So really it’s a tradeoff, would you prefer a more comfortable seat or more legroom? As a shorter person I know I prefer a comfier seat. But perhaps tall people appreciate the extra legroom.

The seat is otherwise very basic. There’s a tiny mesh pocket with no stretch so you can barely fit a phone or water bottle in there. An average tray table and an inflight menu. Also, the final picture below shows the seat back in more detail. You can literally see the creases in the leather where the metal parts of the seat structure appear. That really shows how this seat has zero padding.

Inflight Service

This was just a short 1 hour flight so obviously there were no meals. Like most other full service airlines though Lufthansa do provide a bottle of water and a small chocolate though. It would be nice to have a choice of drink (like you would get on SAS or BA). But it’s better than nothing, and the chocolate was tasty. Of course you can order off the inflight menu if you want something more substantial, but I just had what was given.

Besides the tasty chocolate, probably my favourite thing about Lufthansa is their inflight WiFi. You get 30 minutes for free, after which it’s not too expensive. Plus throughout the flight you’re able to access ‘Lufthansa FlyNet’ which is super handy.

Final Thoughts

Overall I found Lufthansa’s short haul economy to be exceedingly average. The service was very efficient so not complaints there. And despite the plane being over 26 years old it felt quite modern. But the seat literally feels like a wooden bench with a solid wooden back. I hate that airlines fit such uncomfortable seats just to squeeze a few more rows in. Even Ryanair and Wizzair have comfier seats than this.

Then you get to the price, and it’s quite expensive. £100 for a one-way flight from Billund to London City via Frankfurt. So flying Lufthansa in Europe you basically get a below standard seat, expensive price and (hopefully) reliable service. To sum up my Lufthansa Economy Review, it’s extremely average. My final score is below:

More from me…

Please feel free to check out other related posts I’ve written:

• Malaysia Airlines Economy A350-900 – Great food on a 13 hour flight
• No1 Lounge at London Gatwick South – Surprisingly good
• Singapore Airlines Economy from London to Singapore – As Good as People Say?

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