| Lufthansa | Paris (CDG) → Frankfurt (FRA) | A321neo | Economy Class | 21/12/2023 | Current review |
| Lufthansa CityLine | Frankfurt (FRA) → London (LCY) | E190 | Business Class | 21/12/2023 | |
| Lufthansa | London (LHR) → Frankfurt (FRA) | A321neo | Business Class | 26/12/2023 | |
| Lufthansa | Frankfurt (FRA) → Paris (CDG) | A319-100 | Business Class | 26/12/2023 | Short review - 4/5 |
| Lufthansa | Paris (CDG) → Frankfurt (FRA) | A321neo | Economy Class | 21/12/2023 | Current review |
| Lufthansa CityLine | Frankfurt (FRA) → London (LCY) | E190 | Business Class | 21/12/2023 | |
| Lufthansa | London (LHR) → Frankfurt (FRA) | A321neo | Business Class | 26/12/2023 | |
| Lufthansa | Frankfurt (FRA) → Paris (CDG) | A319-100 | Business Class | 26/12/2023 | Short review - 4/5 |
Hello everyone and welcome to this new Flight review. After more than 4 months without taking a plane, it's time to take the skies for a short Christmas trip to London. This trip will be operated by Lufthansa via Frankfurt.
The first leg of this trip, between Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Frankfurt, will be in Economy Class aboard a Lufthansa Airbus A321neo.
I find myself on this Thursday morning at the RER station at Roissypole in Charles-de-Gaulle. I have just arrived from Paris on the RER B. The journey from the city center takes about 40 minutes.
Since my flight leaves from Terminal 1, I take the CDGVal to get to T1 from Roissypole.
Here I am at Terminal 1.
Heading to the departure level.
Arriving at hall 4, where Lufthansa check-in is located. Traveling in Business Class on the second leg, I use the priority lane. I hardly wait at all.
Once my baggage is checked in, I head towards the departure gate.
An issue at passport control (I don't have more details) caused a complete interruption of immigration checks at Terminal 1, resulting in very long queues throughout the terminal.
Fortunately for me, my first flight operates within the Schengen area so no immigration to go through.
After the boarding pass check, I take the iconic moving walkway of T1 leading to the upper level.
Then the tunnel leading to gates 60-68, mainly used by Lufthansa Group carriers.
On the other side, security checkpoint. No one at this hour. Security is done in a snap.
A glimpse of the scheduled flights. Almost all Lufthansa Group carriers are present.
A SWISS A320neo being pushed back.
An Austrian A320 finishing its boarding.
A Brussels Airlines A320 in the middle of boarding.
A quick walk through the various amenities of the boarding hall, not very numerous.
A small duty-free shop.
A Relay store.
A Brioche Dorée café.
Also, a visit to the restrooms. They're clean.
My plane arrives from Frankfurt. It's D-AIEF "Forchheim", an Airbus A321-271NX received by the German carrier at the end of 2020. The first masked A321neo by the way!
It arrives at the gate, and deboarding begins shortly after.
Despite the few flights, very few seats are available. The terminal quickly becomes crowded. It's not very pleasant.
A pre-boarding then begins for my flight. I'm part of boarding group 3. I'm already queuing before the boarding begins.
Boarding starts with a slight delay. It begins with a somewhat special convoy escorted by police officers. I won't know more about it. Then passengers with reduced mobility are invited to board, along with passengers traveling with infants, Business Class passengers, and passengers with status. Then follows passengers in group 3, of which I'm a part.
We are welcomed on board by the Purser.
I then proceed to my seat, 06A.
This plane, like all Lufthansa Airbus A321neos, features the new short/medium-haul cabin of the airline, a cabin I have already presented to you several times.
This cabin is recognizable notably thanks to its slightly more modern style with various shades of gray. It is the seat chosen to equip all new short/medium-haul aircraft of the Lufthansa Group, available in the finishes of each airline in the group.
The legroom is very decent.
Indeed, a small tip: as the Business Class varies in size, the first 11 rows of the A321neo from Lufthansa can be assigned either to Business Class or Economy Class. Thus, opting for a seat in one of these rows, even in Economy Class, ensures a certain comfort with very decent legroom, much better than the standard Economy Class legroom.
The seat has a tray table.
It's not the first time I say this, but in my opinion, it's way too small. For example, with my 14-inch laptop, it protrudes halfway over the tablet... Not very practical.
The seat pocket contains a safety card, a sickness bag, and the Buy on board “Onboard Delights” menu.
The seat reclines with the control located on the armrest.
Each seat has USB-A and C ports. This is one of the major novelties of this cabin, the previous one having no USB ports.
Each seat also has a coat hanger.
Seat 6A offers a nice engine view of the A321neo's PW1133G. The only downside: the weather is not good this morning :(
On the left, a Lufthansa Airbus A319 which will later fly to Munich.
Boarding is completed. The plane is half empty.
Safety demonstrations are presented, and we push back shortly after.
We taxi to holding point Q4 on runway 27L.
On the way, we pass by an Air Senegal A330neo, departing for Dakar.
After the departure of a Singapore Airlines 777, we line up.
At 11:45, with half an hour delay, we take off.
The climb is quite turbulent.
We emerge from the clouds and find ourselves encapsulated between two layers of clouds, throughout the entire cruise.
In the background, an easyJet A320 also emerges from the clouds.
As the climb continues, I'd like to briefly present the entertainment on board this flight. These are fairly limited.
No IFE screen, nor portal with entertaining content.
Moreover, like most A320neo/A321neo with dense configurations, this plane does not have Wi-Fi on board.
However, Lufthansa offers a good selection of magazines and newspapers to download before the flight. I covered this service in detail in one of my last Flight reviews with Lufthansa, in case you're interested.
The service then begins. It's extremely light in Economy Class. It consists of a mini bottle of water and chocolate.
Some competitors (without naming them) offer a choice of beverages on this type of flight. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, Lufthansa has preferred to exchange its previous offer for a buy-on-board offer. It's a pity to strive to approach a low-cost model, at prices anything but low-cost…
For some time now, Lufthansa has been offering with its Onboard Delights offer (buy-on-board offer) sustainable reusable cups. So, I decide to get a coffee, for €3, with the idea of having one of these cups. Unfortunately, they serve the coffee in a Business Class porcelain cup. At least the coffee is good.
I wanted to have a pretzel with it. Unfortunately, they had run out.
The descent into Frankfurt begins shortly after, with still cloudy weather.
We descend into a sea of clouds.
Despite the poor visibility, we can still appreciate the nice view that this approach offers of the entire terminal. My favorite approach in Frankfurt!
At 12:40, with a 5-minute delay and 55 minutes of flight, we land at Frankfurt Airport.
We vacate the runway and taxi to the terminal.
We pass by a beautiful Lufthansa Boeing 747-8
A Condor 757
And many Lufthansa Airbus aircraft
Initially planned to park at gate A in Terminal 1, unfortunately, we learned that we will instead have a remote gate. It's inconvenient given the weather…
An A330 still in Eurowings Discover livery.
An A340-300 from HiFly: a less common aircraft nowadays.
After nearly 15 minutes of taxiing, we come to a stop near Terminal 2, at stand V177.
After a few minutes of waiting on board, while the buses arrive, deboarding begins.
An opportunity to take some pictures of the plane, despite the bad weather.
Once aboard the bus, we head towards the A gates arrivals, more precisely the ASO (Ankunft-Schengen-Ost / Arrival-Schengen-East) bus station.
We get off the bus, go upstairs, and find ourselves in the Schengen transit area A.
Having quite some time to kill before my next flight, I decide to go out to the public area. So, I head towards the baggage claim.
Luckily, my luggage is checked through to London. Otherwise, it would have been a 20-minute wait for luggage from Paris…
I finally exit and find myself at the arrivals level.
I take the stairs to the departure level for my next flight.
And so ends my first Flight review of this trip to London, aboard a Lufthansa Airbus A321neo in Economy Class between Paris and Frankfurt.
Regarding Lufthansa, the flight was decent and basic, nothing more. The cabin is nice, the legroom is good, and the presence of USB ports is a good point. As for the service, the crews were kind although we didn't see them very often. Indeed, the catering offer is now so limited in Economy Class. A mini water bottle and chocolate… it's very limited when you see what the competition offers. The buy-on-board offer is decent but it's a pity that we have to pay for coffee on board Lufthansa. In terms of entertainment, no Wi-Fi was offered on board but an interesting selection of newspapers and magazines.
Regarding Paris airport, it was very smooth, with no waiting either at check-in or at security checks. Fortunately, I didn't have to go through immigration because otherwise, I feel like I would still be there, as I write this review ^^. The Terminal 1 satellite has a few services, although limited, but everything remains very clean. However, the space is too small with too few seats available. Given that it's already packed at off-peak times, I'll let you imagine the hell at peak times...
Regarding Frankfurt, unlucky for the remote gate. However, Terminal 1 is practical, smooth, and clean. I'll tell you more in my next review.
I hope you enjoyed this Flight review. In the next episode, I'll take you to London-City Airport aboard a Lufthansa CityLine Embraer 190 in Business Class!
Thanks for reading and see you soon ;)
