Review: Lufthansa Business Class 747 Upper Deck Denver to Frankfurt

Flight Details:
Denver International Airport (DIA) to Frankfurt (FRA) on a Lufthansa 747-400 in Business Class on the upper deck. Flight time, 9.5 hours.

Booking Details:
For our vacation in Slovenia, I booked us a one-stop itinerary from Denver to Frankfurt on Lufthansa (Business), and then on to Ljubljana on Adria Airways (Economy). I booked the two-flight itinerary through United’s web portal using 60,000 United MileagePlus points plus the $5.60 9/11 security fee. This ticket was booked before United discontinued their award booking chart on November 15th, so I was able to book a Denver to Frankfurt Business Class award flight in Business Class for 60,000 MileagePlus points (+$5.60) and then call United and have them change the flight to the Lufthansa option for no extra charge. This was a great way to utilize United’s lower native award booking prices while enjoying the superior the products of their Star Alliance partners (United flies the 787-8 from Denver to Lufthansa, which features the old 2-2-2 product. When they complete their makeover of these premium cabins with the new Polaris seats, they will actually have a superior hard product to Lufthansa).

Now that United has thrown out their fixed award chart for dynamic pricing, these Star Alliance partner award rates are the most use of United MileagePlus miles. This is illustrated in the above screenshot of the United.com booking portal.

After getting to the airport and through the expedited TSA Pre security line early, I convinced my wife that we should head to the United Club Lounge in Terminal B for some preflight working, eating and imbibing. Since non-United international flights depart from Terminal A at DIA and there is no dedicated Lufthansa lounge, the completely meh two United Club Lounges (East & West) are your only option.

This pair of United lounges are decent places to get out of the hustle and bustle of the main terminal, but arguably don’t merit trekking out from Terminal A. If you happen to be in Terminal B and meet the requirements for entry (owner of a United Club Lounge membership or have a same-day ticket on an international first or business class flight on a Star Alliance airline). The specifics of lounge entry can get complicated and will be covered in a future post.

After going through the sleek entryway in Terminal B, you’ll be taken up a long escalator and end up in a thoroughly decent lounge.

Despite the overall bland experience, the United Club lounges offer some great plane spotting. We were able to watch our beautiful 747 roll into the gate.

We headed to the gate right before the scheduled boarding time. Boarding was slightly behind schedule, but Lufthansa uses two gates featuring four doors to load the 747, so the process moves incredibly fast. Premium Economy and Economy passengers are able to board on one side while Business boards on another.

Since there is no first-class cabin on Lufthansa’s 747-4, the designated First Class boarding lane is used specifically for Hon Circle Members (Lufthansa’s Uber-Elite Status). Our flight appeared to feature only one, who got an incredibly luxurious solo boarding experience.

We boarded just after the single Hon Circle member with the rest of the Business Class Cabin, Lufthansa elites, and Star Alliance Gold members. While any lay-flat Business Class seat is a fantastic way to cross the Atlantic, not all Lufthansa 747-4 seats are created equal. Rows 10-14 feature a 2-3-2 configuration, which means you could be stuck in a middle seat in a premium cabin. Furthermore, seats G & E in these rows share a footwell.

The premium seats on the 747-4 are rows 1-4 in the nose of the plane, and 81-86 on the upper deck (if flying alone, seat 4D is the only seat on the plane that lacks any seat partners).

For this flight, we chose to fly on the upper deck in seats 86 H&K. With the Queen of the Skies being slowly phased out, I take every chance I can to sit up top.

Personally, I feel row 86 features the best seats on the upper deck due to the lack of seats in the an adjacent row. This allows for the feeling of maximum privacy on an open and dense configuration.

Shortly after boarding, we were greeted by a stern yet polite flight attendant that offered us a pre-departure beverage. Champagne is only available after takeoff, but the sparking wine on offer was delightful.

Lufthansa offers an amenity kit with travel basics like eye-masks, socks, and moisturizers at every seat and provides Bose noise-canceling headphones. The Bridge Firenze amenity kit itself was fairly high quality and makes a great take-home item, but nothing beats the Reisenthel tote bags Lufthansa previously offered.

With the flight taking off at close to 6pm and landing around 11am central European time, it is important to adhere to the principals of “The Flip” and adjust to the timezone of the destination as soon as possible.

If you do want to stay up watching movies and TV shows and deal with the consequences later, the IFE system, while certainly not having the depth offered by US-based airlines, has enough quality movies and TV shows to keep you entertained during your flight.

Dinner service on this flight takes roughly 2.5 hours from takeoff to desert, which gives you around 6.5-7 hours to sleep. Quality dining on planes is incredibly difficult to achieve, and while Lufthansa offers a decent menu, you could be better off eating at the airport pre-flight and maximizing your sleep.

The wine list is quite good, and my travel Achilles heel is the desire to try everything on the menu.

I went to sleep right after dinner, but woke up a few hours later and struggled to get back to sleep due to the cabin being extremely hot. Lufthansa tends to keep cabins warm and they don’t offer individual air nozzles in Business Class on the 747-4. Not able to get into a deep sleep, I went in and out for the final few hours of the flight.

Another minor issue is that Lufthansa’s seats can feel a little uncomfortable after a few hours of laying on your side, especially compared to United’s older layout.

Before landing, the flight attendants came by with a small breakfast and coffee.

I watched the airshow on the IFE system and enjoyed the view of the beautiful German countryside as we approached Frankfurt.

After landing we deplaned in the Z terminal, so we headed straight for the Pretzel bar and then the Lufthansa Senator lounge for a quick shower and rest before our flight to Ljubljana, Slovenia.

In summation, Lufthansa offers a solid option for lay-flat long-haul flights. While their product is by no means cutting edge and they are one of the only major airlines to offer middle seats in business class, they have good award availability through United’s website, partly due to the high density of their seating layout. While the hard product may lag, their soft product is good, and the quality of service and food is certainly above average. Most importantly, for 60,000 MileagePlus miles and a nominal co-pay, Lufthansa business class represents by far the best value for a Denver to Europe voyage.

If you are interested in flying Lufthansa business class on your next work trip or vacation, reach out and we’ll work on getting you to the front of the plane for less.