When it came time to depart Dubai International Airport, we had the opportunity to call in on a Lufthansa Senator Lounge. Lufthansa typically offers a quality lounge product and it’s especially terrific when you get the opportunity to visit at one of their quieter outstations. This lounge met that quiet description with a comfortable place to relax and get some breakfast nibbles prior to our flight.

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Review: Lufthansa Senator Lounge, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

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Checking into Turkish Airlines Business Class:

It was a gross 3:30 AM wake up for our next leg the very next morning. I actually felt somewhat rested having had a clear 8 hours of deep sleep at the Four Points Sheraton Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. MrsWT73 pre-ordered a general taxi through the front desk, which was down in the lobby as promised at 4:30 AM. A quick ride and 33 AED later and we were at the airport. 

I’m sad to report that the whole Turkish experience for us this leg was a disaster. It was by far the worst “long haul” business flight in a long time. 

These were first world problems that I describe here. People can take the position that it’s travel on a free ticket and that you only have a legitimate complaint if you’re on a paid fare ticket. I prefer to view it as it’s a ticket that’s been paid for with miles or cash. It’s no easy feat to get Aeroplan 165,000 miles or any other high amount of frequent miles for a redemption. Either way, I take the opinion that if you’re being advertised priority services, you should get priority services.  

We located the Turkish check in desk, which was a slow boiling melt down in the making. For whatever reason, there were only 4 Dubai ground agents checking in a whole Airbus 330 designed to carry 288 passengers. In union contract rules, all were refusing to start work by sitting stationary at their podiums until exactly two hours before flight departure time. This led to a huge snaking line of more than 100 economy passengers already waiting. We found the business line but waited about 10-12 minutes to get checked in as only one agent was handling business passengers and the other business agent was serving the economy line despite being posted otherwise on the monitors. 

Our experience with Turkish had another development when a flight delay was explained matter of fact when we made it to the podium. This would add another hour and twenty minutes to our wait time in Dubai. 

Of course, flying with Turkish meant the usual seat assignment issues. As some may know, the seat map for Turkish doesn’t open until 100 days before the flight. Even if you shave a ticket, you are not normally able to get your favoured seat. I was unable to assign seats online thanks to Turkish Airlines glitchy website. I called the Turkish Reservations office to get seats assigned together. I then dealt with a gruff agent who indicated that it was all sorted. Of course, on check in the seats were not together. I asked to have them re-assigned together. Thankfully, this was completed at the counter without issues and there were seats still available together.

We were provided an invitation to the Dubai Business Lounge located next to Gate C8. Since we had extra time, we initially opted for the Lufthansa Senator Lounge.

Accessing the Lufthansa Senator Lounge:

Lufthansa typically operates a tiered lounge structure, with different lounges for it’s business class travellers called “Business Lounge” and higher class business lounges for it’s high value customers (including Star Alliance Gold level members), called “Senator Lounge”. Lufthansa also operates First Class Lounges at select German airport locations, in addition to separating off portions of other Lufthansa Lounges for First Class Travels.

This version of the Lufthansa Senator Lounge was located in Dubai Terminal One between Gate 123 and Gate 125.

This version of the Lufthansa Lounge was a Senator Lounge. As a result, it is accessible for Lufthansa First Class travels or Lufthansa Miles and More Senator level members for those that fly in excess of 100,000 status miles in a calendar year (or higher HON Circle Levels), or Star Alliance Gold Members. Lufthansa Business Class travellers are typically granted access to the Marhaba Lounge immediately across the hall.

Today’s access was granted at the Senator Lounge courtesy of MrsWT73’s Star Gold Card from the Air Canada Aeroplan program.

Being that The Lufthansa Senator Lounge is only required to operate for Lufthansa flights, it had some odd evening hours being only open between 6 PM through the night to 9 AM.

Inside the Lufthansa Senator Lounge:

The Lufhansa Lounge was of course pleasant. It was the smallest Lufthansa Senator Lounge that I’ve ever been in with seating for only sixty eight travellers. I can see why when it’s over capacity here that they restrict access as they did on our last trip through DXB.

The Lufthansa Senator Lounge was completely empty except for us for a whole hour. As with most Lufthansa Lounges, it offered a consistent, quiet and professional place to relax prior to a flight.

The lounge offered attached bathrooms. You can probably tell by now how sick I was by the number of times I’ve mentioned this of late. Despite this, it is a very convenient feature of any lounge.

Food and Beverage:

A small selection of food was also available. It was nothing fancy, but standard quality Lufthansa fare. The morning snacks included hot breakfast items, sandwiches and fresh fruit.

My Thoughts on the Lufthansa Senator Lounge:

The Lufthansa Senator Lounge represented Lufthansa’s continued quality product in airline lounges.

This version of the Lufthansa Senator Lounge went small and intimate with only 68 seats. In doing so, they have kept the space remarkably intimate and relaxing. While their German Lounge locations are typically busy and crowded, their out stations are usually quiet and tranquil. This lounge continued that experience with a peaceful and relaxing visit.

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