Review: Lufthansa – Montreal – Munich – A350 – Business Class

This flight is the story of a great contest of circumstances.

I had to meet friends in Barcelona from Montreal.

Having not taken tickets long in advance, and the rates being rather high in this summer, I had chosen to entrust my destiny to aeroplan miles!

Thus, 6 days before departure, economy tickets on United were released.

This flight suited me perfectly because it had the advantage:

• to introduce me to a new device (United’s B787-10)
• to get me through Newark

For anyone, United+Newark seems to rhyme with “problems.”

For me, travelling exceptionally alone (without Audrey and the children), and being #avgeek, it seemed fun especially as it would have allowed me to do new reviews on United’s economy class and its new device.

In addition, the rate paid was very attractive: 30,000 miles + $111 (United does not charge surcharge on Aeroplan).

But that was without the weather problems that the North American East Coast experienced that day.

After an hour and a half delay, my flight from Montreal to New York ended up leaving the door… to park an extra hour on the tarmac.

Then to get back to the door – actually we were disembarked by bus in torrential rain – simply being… cancelled.

Voyant arriver cette annulation (et donc l’impossibilité d’attraper ma correspondance à New York vers Barcelone), j’ai décidé d’utiliser l’heure sur le tarmac, armé d’Expertflyer, pour analyser mes options:

• du côté d’Air Canada
• du côté d’Aéroplan

Finalement, après une belle négociation, j’ai réussi – du côté d’Aéroplan – à me faire rebooker – sans frais (à l’exception du complément en milles – 55 000 milles au lieu de 30 000) sur ce vol de Lufthansa en classe affaires entre Montréal et Munich !

Les options proposées par Air Canada ne me convenaient car je serai arrivé trop tard sur Barcelone.

So I still had to get out of the cross-border zone, to go back to international security side and go to the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge….

… in time to attend the milesoquestions on the Facebook Group!

Travelling in business class gives you free access to the Air Canada’s Maple Leaf Lounge… where there is a shower.

Very enjoyable after all these changes and waiting hours that afternoon!

Arriving at the boarding gate, the colours of the sky are beautiful at the end of the “stormy” day in Montreal.

The Airbus A350 – a brand-new aircraft for Montreal-Trudeau – is unveiling in its best profile!

In front of him is one of the 3 daily flights to Paris Charles De Gaulle, a Boeing 777: we always appreciate the beautiful colours!

I board the first passengers and discover a new business class cabin.

Unlike the major industry trend of allowing ALL passengers to access the corridor directly (via a 1-2-1 configuration), Lufthansa has maintained a 2-2-2 configuration….

As a result, the passenger seated on the side of the windows must step over the passenger seated next to the corridor.

Not very practical, and rather incomprehensible for a company like Lufthansa on a brand-new plane.

The business cabin is separated by:

• a main cabin consisting of 6 rows of 6 seats (36 passengers)
• a secondary cabin consisting of 2 rows of 6 seats (or 12 passengers)

Here’s a view of the main cabin in flight:

To have less traffic and less noise, I advise you to favour a seat in the “mini-cabin”.

My first seat tonight will be 8G.

It is located in the back row of the business class, in the “mini-cabin”.

Here’s a view of the seats ahead, the 7D/G.

A partition separates the feet from each passenger.

You can see that there is a little more room at the feet for the seats in row 7.

The seat offers several positions and a massage function.

And here it is in a 180-degree reclining version.

Electrical sockets are located between the two seats.

Several storage spaces are available here and there.

My Away bag finds its place under the foot division.

However, you will notice that there is more space under my other seat, the 7D.

Ma valise Away entre quant à elle parfaitement dans le coffre à bagages.

For business class, Lufthansa offers a large pillow as well as a particularly nice blanket.

At each business class seat, a bottle of water and a travel kit await passengers.

Inside, the usual contents (toothbrush, hairbrush, socks, night mask).

An audio headset – with an active ambient noise reducer – is particularly effective.

As you can see from the popular milesopedia coaster, the screen size is very large, which is very nice.

This system is tactile (or accessible with the remote control) and is composed of a very large catalog of films and series.

In addition, it offers live cameras from outside the aircraft.

Short passage through the toilets before takeoff with a young parent reflex to locate the toilets with a change table… even when travelling alone!

Some care products are available.

During boarding, the flight attendants will regularly come to serve us cold drinks (orange juice / champagne…).

Enough to inaugurate the first use of coasters with the new logo!

Also during boarding, orders will be taken for dinner served tonight.

Here’s the menu:

About 45 minutes after take-off, the meal service begins.

I chose the option:

• Quinoa salad
• Rigatonis, alfredo sauce
• Cheese

And you end up with a sweet touch with maple syrup ice cream (Bilboquet).

After 4 good hours of sleep, we are close to arrival.

Breakfast will be served to those who are awake (you can choose to sleep a little more if you wish).

The #avgeek in me will spend the end of the flight contemplating the outside views offered on the screen of my seat.

Un très bon vol sur Lufthansa qui m’a permis d’arriver reposé en Europe.

Je n’aurais sans doute pas choisi de voyager initialement en classe affaires sur Lufthansa – trop de surcharges de transporteur à mon goût – mais les circonstances ont joué en ma faveur ici.

Toutefois, les passagers voyageant fréquemment pour leur travail en classe affaires entre l’Amérique du Nord et l’Europe ont accès à de meilleurs produits que celui-ci, comme sur Air France et sa nouvelle classe affaires offerte sur certains appareils.

Et ceux utilisant des points & milles devront préférer de voyager avec Swiss via Zurich ou Turkish Airlines via Istanbul, offrant toutes deux des produits équivalents… sans la moindre surcharge de transporteur !

À défaut, la classe affaires d’Air Canada est un cran au-dessus, à mon avis, de ce qu’offre ici Lufthansa.

Here are 3 cards that make it easy to get Aeroplan miles: