FLIGHT REVIEW (pt 1): Starting the Journey to Sydney – Air India First Class via Frankfurt and London

Today’s article is from TLFL regular contributor Jason. You can follow Jason on Instagram @planejayds

This is the first instalment of a multi-part journey to Sydney, beginning in Europe and taking in Lufthansa Business Class and Air India First Class, with a particular focus on the ground experience at Frankfurt and London Heathrow T2.

Booking

I used Avianca Lifemiles to book this flight and to avoid the ludicrous UK departure taxes, I started my journey in Frankfurt.  In total, I redeemed 60,000 Lifemiles and £164 for the journey, which included Frankfurt to London on Lufthansa (Business Class) and London to Mumbai (First Class).

Despite my ticket being issued by Avianca, for travel on two additional carriers, I was able to fully manage my booking (including seat selection) across the Avianca, Lufthansa and Air India apps, which is impressive.  I do wish Oneworld and, to a greater extend Skyteam would take some tips from Star Alliance on this, as often you have to contact the operating carrier by phone or other means for seat selection and such (for example, using KLM miles to redeem flights on Garuda).

I won’t go into too much detail about the short Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to London, as it was your typical ‘eurobusiness’ experience.  I am generally not a fan of LH lounges as I find them a bit cold and clinical, but I did visit the Senator lounge at FRA B gates and the overall experience was great, mainly on account of how quiet it was. 

The flight was delayed around half an hour arriving in London (UK Air Traffic Control restriction, not a Lufthansa issue), the crew were friendly, and a tasty cold meal was served.

Despite arriving at London Heathrow Terminal 2 as a transit passenger, I thought in the interests of this review, I should give the ‘full experience’, so I exited the terminal and went back up to departures to check in.

Air India check-in was in zone B and had separate counters for First, Business, Premium Economy and Economy.  Despite checking in flights bound for both Delhi and Mumbai, the entire area seemed relatively calm and organised. 

The First Class counter was dealing with some passengers from the business class line and once one of the ground staff noticed I was flying First, he immediately escorted me to the first counter that became available, which was a Premium Economy one.  I am glad I had printed out a copy of my approved e-Visa for India, as the check-in agent asked to see the hard copy (which was given quite a lot of scrutiny).  I was surprised by this, as being a whole online visa process, I assumed it would be like Australia or the US where it just links in electronically with the passport presented.

Boarding pass in hand, I made my way to security, maybe a bit too hastily.  One of the friendly ground team ran to catch up with me and asked whether I would like a buggy to the lounge (I declined, need to get my steps in – a lot of eating to be done!).  The friendly guy walked me as far as the entrance to Fast Track and wished me a pleasant flight.  T2 has the latest generation security scanners, so nothing had to come out of my bag, and I was through to departures pretty quickly.

I am not too familiar with Heathrow Terminal 2 – AKA The Queen’s Terminal – as I normally fly OneWorld carriers, so I know my way around T5 and T3 backwards.  I guess it’s easiest to describe T2 as a smaller version of T5.  The main building hosts all ‘A gates’ which typically serve narrow-body aircraft to predominantly European destinations.  This building also has many of the high end shops and places to eat.  Like T5, most of the long haul flights depart from ‘B gates’, which is a separate concourse.  Unlike T5, however, the T2 budget did not extend to an automated people mover and instead is connected to A gates by moving walkways.  It is a good distance; if you have ever done the walk from A to B gates at T5 it is a little further than that.

Lounge

Heathrow T2 is to Star Alliance top-tier frequent flyers what T3 is to Oneworld’s – lounge hopping paradise.  Heathrow tries to keep alliance partners together in a single terminal where possible, with T3 being OneWorld land, T4 SkyTeam nation and T2 home to Star carriers at the airport. 

Lounge options are aplenty: Singapore Airlines has a First and Business Class lounge, Lufthansa has a Business Class and Senator lounge and Air Canada and United also have their own lounges.  Of course, passengers on any Star Carrier can access any Star operated lounge.  The only oddball airline operated lounge in the terminal is Aer Lingus’ facility.

I made my way to B gates, which is both where my flight would depart from and where the Singapore Airlines lounge is located (the Lufthansa lounge is the only Star lounge in A gates), presented my boarding pass and was invited to turn left into the First Class Lounge.  Many airlines tend to be trending away from ostentatious or minimalist luxury and instead going for a residential luxe vibe, which was the feel immediately on entering. 

The first thing that hit me was the natural light and the views – indeed, an A350 bound for Delhi was right below me.  The second was just how tranquil and quiet it was, with probably at best nine or ten people in there, which dropped to just two of us once the Singapore Airlines flight was called for boarding.

The lounge is not large but has plenty of space to accommodate its visitors, given the very strict lounge admittance requirements – First Class passengers on SQ as well as First Class passengers on ANA and Air India, the only other two Star airlines operating a First cabin from the terminal.  Given that SQ only has six suites per aircraft and both Air India and ANA have eight, the lounge would never really get busy.  On entering, there is a kind of ‘living room’ to the left and the dining area straight ahead. 

Most of the dining is offered a la carte; however, there is also a small buffet with some hot and cold items. 

Beyond the dining area is the main part of the lounge, which has various seating arrangements from high back chairs to sofas to the familiar semi-private booths seen in most SQ lounges.  There was also a little enclave that looked like a mini living room that would be great for a family with children, as well as a couple more private spaces tucked away for solo travellers. 

Bathrooms are right at the end (complete with heated toilet seats and Toto washlets) and showers are also available.

I took a seat in the dining section by the window and one of the very friendly staff members immediately came over and presented me with the menu and a refreshing towel, as well as asking if I would like something to drink.  Although breakfast was still being served, being an Asian airline, I was very happy to see some of my favourites from that part of the world on the breakfast menu, such as Nasi Lemak, laksa and fried carrot cake (which actually contains no carrot and is delicious).  I ordered the nasi lemak and a coffee and helped myself to a fruit plate from the buffet and watched all the plane activity going on right in front of me. 

The table was beautifully laid, and the food was pretty good too.  Service was attentive without being intrusive and one of the lovely staff members who hailed from India initiated a chat with me about my travels, having spotted my Air India boarding pass.

I could have quite happily sat there until my flight was ready for boarding, but conscious of the fact that most of the next 24 or so hours would be sent sat on my behind, sleeping or eating, I thought I would get the body moving.  I quickly checked out both the Air Canada and United lounges, and they are both decent venues however, there was not a free seat in the UA lounge, as it was extremely busy.  The Air Canada lounge was also relatively busy, however, not crowded and would be my go to if I did not have access to the Singapore First lounge.  The AC lounge is a smart space with natural light, good views, decent food options (including freshly made paninis), as well as the only lounge that I noticed that offered barista made coffee.

My boarding pass was showing boarding commencing an hour before departure at 11:30, so I made my way to the gate, eager to get on the aircraft as early as possible to snap a few pix.

Stay tuned for part 2, which will cover the flight on Air India from Heathrow to Mumbai in First Class.