Our last flight of our around the world trip involved classic Lufthansa German Airlines. Lufthansa is among the best carriers in the Star Alliance network and it was a pleasure and privilege to be flying them home. We were able to strategically route our flight back to Canada on their new Business Class configuration that offered their new lie flat seat. In addition to a great new cabin, we had terrific food and a taste among the best cheese airlines have to offer in the air.

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Review: Lufthansa Business Class A330-3, Munich – Vancouver

“Lufthansa remains one of the best ways to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Lufthansa Business Class offers a contemporary cabin, outstanding food and beverage and the best cheese plate in premium cabin industry“

When we booked our return ticket home, there happened to be reward availability on both the Frankfurt – Vancouver flight and the Munich – Vancouver flight. Despite Munich being a much nicer airport to transit, we were almost guaranteed the refurbished new business class on the Munich flight as all Airbus 330’s departing Munich had been updated and refurbished with the new Lufthansa Business Class cabin. I was keen to try the new product and it was well worth the extra research and effort to fly the better product.

Connecting off our Lufthansa Business Class Warsaw – Munich flight, we crossed the Munich Airport “H” concourse and walked over to gate H18. We had another surprise again. We entered the gate area and had to walk down 4 flights of stairs down to ground level to the bus. Today’s aircraft was parked at a gate position over by the “under construction” new MUC terminal. 

We had double stair boarding, with the majority of the passengers headed to the rear of the aircraft. 

Lufthansa International 
Business Class
MUC-YVR (Munich International Airport – Vancouver International Airport)
LH476 – Business Class (I)
3:30 PM – 5:10 PM
April 28, 2014
Booked: Airbus 330-300
Flown: Airbus 330-300

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On board Lufthansa Business Class:

Once on board we were treated to the beautiful new Lufthansa Business Class. It’s set up in a 2-2-2 configuration. There are advantages and disadvantages to the 2 – 2 – 2 seating. These seats are great for travelling with someone, but might be a bit more awkward if you are travelling on your own for business or business.

The outer seats both are angled towards their respective left and right windows, where as the center seats are angled inwards toward each other. This means that the outer seats are slightly offset on the Airbus 330 and you are not shoulder to shoulder with your seat mate near the windows.

In terms of the updated look of the cabin, the new colors are contemporary and pleasing and I really liked the modernized look of the cabin compared to the old royal blue with yellow accents configurations in the old Lufthansa Business Class and old Lufthansa First Class configurations.

The Lufthansa Lie Flat Seat:

The seat themselves feature a fully lie flat seat, which is a major improvement from the old angle flat blue slide seat that used to feature across Lufthansa’s fleet network.

The seat itself is super comfortable and was the best business class seat experienced so far on the trip. Reclining was comfortable as the bottom cushion elevates with ideal positioning to have a conversation with your travel mate. No privacy screens between the seats so if you were traveling alone with a stranger next to you, this might not be the ideal configuration. The side seats are slightly offset so that the outside seat is seated a seat cushion distance ahead of the inside seat. 

The seat compartments also feature an individual video screen for entertainment, the flight map or movie watching.

It was a super light load today to Vancouver. Only 12 of 36 seats were occupied in the main business class cabin. We moved from 11H + 11K to 12H + 12K after the doors were closed as we discovered row 11 was missing a window. 

A Pre-Departure Beverage:

A pre-departure service of water, orange juice or champagne was offered. 

The Amenity Kit: Unbranded with Nivea Products

An amenity kit and a bottle of water located inside the center storage container. The amenity kit was beach like in a black and white motive with a draw string. “MrsWT73 announced: “This is drug store” and lost interest quickly. Indeed, no Bogner lip balms like on Thai. Instead some simple Nivea products, lip balm socks and the usual earplugs and eye shades. 

Once we were on our way, we taxied out to the runway. On the runway itself, a problem with a valve resulted in an aborted take off with the plane turning around at the first available taxi way as they sorted out the problems. We circled around to the hold line again and resumed take off with out any issues. 

The In Flight Entertainment Service:

Onboard, I explored the new Advanced video on demand. It’s now controlled using a thumb device, which is much easier than the previous generation pointer. 

The Meal Service: Lunch

Now airborne, elegant LH business class menus were presented. Lufthansa always goes for more information than less on the menus and I think they are able to achieve this in a classy, refined manner. 

A pre dinner drink was offered. Tonight, I opted for my last class of champagne of this round the world trip: Duval LeRoy Champagne.

Lufthansa’s catering continued to shine over almost anyone else on this particular trip. The food was flavorful and tasty. Moreover, at the end of the meal, I actually felt full.  

Today’s meal started with an appetizer of Fried Breast of Spring Chicken with Lentil Salad and Truffle Vinaigrette paired with Wolf’s Blass Adelaide Hills Chardonnay Gold Label 2012 Australia. 

The main continued with Onion Veal Roast with carrots, French Beans and Spatezle, paired with Anura Merlot – Cabernet Sauvingon “Limited Release” Paarl 2001 South Africa. I never turn down an opportunity to enjoy Spatezle in Germany (or on Lufthansa for that matter) so I enjoyed all of it.

Being Lufthansa, there was an excellent cheese course to conclude the meal. I enjoyed Ashed Goat Cheese, Bavaria Blu and Tete de Moine presented with Fig Mustard. The Tete de Moine was to die for – nice presentation and always beautiful to eat. I also enjoyed it with the other dessert options of pave of chocolate with jellied raspberries in a true form of gluttony.

After dinner it was time to relax. In the case of our flight, having an empty cabin adds to the flight. We left our carry on bags above row 11 and had a more peaceful environment without people around our seats. It also makes the cabin substantially quieter. 

This aircraft was also equipped with a Wifi HotSpot. Pricing was aimed at business as 10.95€ for 2 hours seemed a bit steep to me. There was no discount or freebies for those in business class either. I didn’t happen to see many people using the service. 

I passed the rest of the flight by watching “The Wolf of Wall Street”. Interestingly enough there was no censorship on LH entertainment systems. Thankfully, no kids around!! 

At end of the movie, wanted to sleep. I tried to recline my seat but the electronic seat functions quit- with the seat frozen in a recline relax position. The lead cabin attendant attempted to electronically reset the seat twice but was unsuccessful. We ended up having to move to another seat while he manually pushed and cranked the seats back into upright position. The seat movement was inoperative for the rest of the flight so I slept in another location. We eventually returned to the seats for landing. 

In terms of sleep, the seats themselves are indeed fully flat. I found them – especially the aisle ones to be a bit exposed and unprotected without any shell or other frame around them. I also found the seats a bit narrow. Being a side sleeper, it was a little hard to curl up. Otherwise it was much better than the angle flats we had earlier in the trip and likely a lot better than the old Lufthansa Business seats that form the blue slide. 

The Second Service: A Light Dinner Snack

About 75 minutes prior to landing, we had a second service of dinner. It consisted of a light meal plated all at once. The meal consisted of soup: Vegetable Popurri in a Tomato Basil Stock, and Mixed Salad with Red Radish, Marinated Crayfish accompanied with Passion Fruit Dressing. To close, a bundt cake with made with banana, coffee and macadamia nuts.

There were new espresso makers on board with the refreshed cabin but for some reason they were unable to make a cappuccino or a latte. I guess they didn’t install the milk steamers to go along with them. I stuck with a coffee.

As we wound down our flight, I enjoyed the last of the flight map.

We had a beautiful descent today into Vancouver with the mountains. It was a terrific contrast from our desert the descent into Oman earlier in the trip.

We were off the plane and into Vancouver International Airport in no time. We parked at Gate D55 in the International Terminal.

All in all, LH new Business is a very comfortable way to travel. The in flight service was professional but completed as a group. The service itself was mostly forgettable in such large volumes.

The Bottom Line: Our Experience on Lufthansa Long Haul Business Class

Lufthansa’s new business class is head and shoulders above it’s old business class. The product has been well updated with terrific food and beverage. The cheese plate that is typically the best in the world amongst Business Class and even some First Class offerings. Lufthansa Business Class. is now, in the new configuration, easily the best choice for business class to Europe from the Americas.

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