General Information — Airline / Airport
Since travel is one of my favourite hobbies, after my last flight it was clear that it was time to head somewhere a bit further afield again. Options were limited by COVID restrictions — not only did entry have to be reasonably straightforward, but I also didn’t want to face quarantine on return. Dubai ticked both boxes: guaranteed sunshine with only minimal restrictions. Entry to Dubai required nothing more than a PCR test — no arrival quarantine, and daily life was largely unrestricted.
Booking
I booked through the Lufthansa website. Thanks to a current Miles & More promotion, I went with the Zurich–Frankfurt–Dubai routing in Lufthansa Premium Economy. The value for money felt reasonable to me. After booking, I was able to upgrade the return leg to Business Class for CHF 199. Since it was a night flight and I had to be at work the next morning, that made good sense. For the outbound, I upgraded to Business Class using 20,000 miles — the motivation there was the high booking class E, which earns 150% status miles.
Check-In and Security
I had the required PCR test done at Checkport. Unfortunately the experience wasn’t great: neither the promised result turnaround time was met, nor was anyone reachable on the paid hotline after 6 pm. Given the proximity, I went to the airport in person to follow up — only to find that an entire batch of results had simply been overlooked. The document check began at the check-in counter, where all required paperwork was reviewed. The lounges in Zurich and Frankfurt were little more than waiting rooms; I only stopped in to get some work done in peace. After security, there was a document check at the gate of the kind you’d previously only associate with US or Cuba flights. Unfortunately, there was no clear separation between Business/Star Gold and Economy queues, resulting in multiple lines where social distancing couldn’t be maintained.
Boarding
Boarding was called, but the delays at the document check meant the priority sequence couldn’t be maintained. Seat 2A was easy to find. Unfortunately, unlike on Swiss or Ethiopian Airlines flights, there was no welcome drink. Senator recognition was skipped entirely as well.
Cabin and Seat
Lufthansa uses the classic 2-2-2 configuration across its long-haul fleet. Storage space is admittedly limited. The seat itself was clean with no remnants from the previous flight visible. The customary bottle of still water was in its usual spot.
Entertainment
As usual, I mostly used the moving map for flight information. The rest of the channel selection was what you’d expect, but nothing tempted me away from my offline content on my personal device.
Dining
The catering was Lufthansa standard — food on flights departing Frankfurt is generally of good quality, and this was no exception. For the starter I chose the corn-fed chicken carpaccio. The main course was veal fillet with fresh asparagus. I was disappointed to find that no lemon slices had been loaded for the mineral water. The entire meal was served at once on a single tray, which I personally find a shame. On a Swiss flight two months earlier it was the usual course-by-course service — but this probably falls under the famous category of “multiple customer requests.”
For anyone who’d like to see the current menu, here are the photos:
Service
The service throughout the entire flight was listless and perfunctory — something I hadn’t experienced with Lufthansa before. On every other flight I’ve taken with them, the crew gave the impression they were genuinely happy to be back in the air.
Amenity Kit
The amenity kit now comes in a leather case, which is covered in a separate review.
Verdict
Since Swiss doesn’t yet offer Premium Economy, I opted for the Lufthansa flight. Unfortunately, this trip came with a few experiences that, while not dramatic, did take the shine off things — from the unreported COVID test result to the lounges, right through to an uninspired crew. All things considered, it was still wonderful to be travelling and back in the air again.
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