Review: Lufthansa Schengen business class lounge A13, Frankfurt Airport

Introduction

Travelling in Lufthansa business class on a German domestic flight or a short hop within Europe's Schengen Area from Frankfurt Airport?

You'll have access to "Lufthansa Business Lounge A13" before your flight from Frankfurt, with the expected staples of buffet dining, espresso coffee and fast WiFi to get your journey started – here's what's inside.

Location & Impressions

As its name indicates, you'll find this lounge near Gate A13 after clearing security screening, veering left at the terminal's central entryway (funnily, in the direction of gates A26-42) and looking immediately to your right.

Although there's a service desk inside for things like flight changes (below), to help control access to the space, you'll need to present your boarding pass for scanning at a kiosk outside in the terminal concourse to get a magic green light for entry – so if you don't have the right credentials for access, you won't get through the door!

Divided into a variety of zones, the lounge features some refreshing touches like indoor greenery...

... and with external windows along the back wall, you can take in views towards the departure gates, or simply some natural light.

This lounge is open from 5am until 10pm daily.

Access

With no fewer than 14 lounges at Frankfurt Airport – plus a completely separate terminal for first class passengers – this particular Business Lounge serves travellers taking domestic flights within Germany, and jetting to destinations across the 25 other Schengen Area countries which share an open border such as France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland.

The Business Lounge primarily caters to the following guests taking these flights:

• Lufthansa business class passengers who don't also hold Star Alliance Gold status.
• Business class passengers of other Star Alliance airlines, including Adria, Aegean, Austrian Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, SAS, SWISS and TAP Air Portugal, who aren't also Star Alliance Gold frequent flyers.
• Miles & More Frequent Traveller (Star Alliance Silver) members travelling with the airlines above, or on an eligible codeshare flight. Other Star Alliance Silver cardholders, such as KrisFlyer Silver guests, do not receive this benefit.
• United Club and Air Canada Maple Leaf Club Worldwide members prior to Star Alliance flights.

Although Star Alliance Gold frequent flyers also have access to this lounge when travelling in any class of service with any Star Alliance airline, access to the higher-tier Lufthansa Senator Lounge is extended instead.

Passengers connecting to or from a Lufthansa or SWISS flight in first class – even if their connecting flight is in business class or economy – can instead visit the Lufthansa First Class Lounge in the same terminal: as can top-tier HON Circle cardholders travelling with a Star Alliance airline.

Travelling to a destination further afield such as New York or Hong Kong, or even to one close by that's outside the Schengen Area such as London? You'll use one of Lufthansa many other lounges throughout the airport instead.

Dining

With a midday flight to Rome to take Lufthansa's new Airbus A320neo for a spin, I stopped by around 9am when breakfast was in full swing.

At the hot counters, a full English Breakfast with bread, scrambled eggs, crispy bacon and hash browns...

... along with chives, roasted onions, diced capsicums and condiments:

Further along: fruits and yoghurts...

... meats, cheeses and more bakery items...

... and in bowls on the nearby tables, a broader fruit selection:

Machine-made espresso coffee is available, even though this particular machine was out of service (making it quiet enough to photograph)...

... and whether your journey begins early in the morning or later in the day, the self-serve bar is open at all hours. Being 9am with a full day of work ahead, I stuck with the coffee.

Closer to one of the seating areas is a separate snack counter with a variety of treats...

... and as was a staple of every Lufthansa Group lounge I visited on this trip, there's an ice cream freezer, too:

Work

When there's serious work to be done, you'll find a row of workspaces in a separate room for peace and quiet, found near the lounge's main entrance...

... while for more casual tasks, the dining tables or even one of the sofas should suffice:

AC power outlets throughout the lounge cater for both European and UK-style chargers, but if you can't find one (or forgot to pack your travel adaptor), you can charge your smartphone in a lockable cabinet during your stay:

WiFi is available with tests showing average download speeds of 18Mbps and average uploads of 51Mbps: more than ample for both light and data-heavy tasks.

Relax

During the morning rush, the lounge was quite full and difficult to photograph, although much of the space is given over to seats like these – we're sure you get the idea...

... and in the far left corner, you'll also find day beds to relax if you're planning a longer stay, such as when connecting from a longer Lufthansa international flight to a shorter European hop.

Showers are available here too, and given how many flights depart from Frankfurt, boarding calls aren't made, as you can instead monitor your journey via information screens, or for Lufthansa passengers, by downloading the Lufthansa mobile app and enabling push notifications to receive updates.

Overall, being Lufthansa's lowest-tier lounge catering for passengers taking the shortest flights without high-grade frequent flyer status, you could say this is the German equivalent of an Australian domestic Qantas Club: and in that respect, the lounge is more than acceptable for the passengers it's designed to serve.

However, because this is the first lounge people walk past in this terminal and it has the widest access list of any Lufthansa lounge here, it's often the busiest: so definitely make use of the separate working nook if peace and quiet is what you're after.

Chris Chamberlin travelled to Frankfurt as a guest of Star Alliance and Lufthansa.

Chris C.

Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.