Review: Eurowings Discover Business Class A330 (TPA-FRA)

Honestly sounds a lot like Lufthansa, slow meal service included. Our 10:15 pm from Toronto years ago finished meal service at 1 am. The only difference I see is that the crew on euro wings were friendly instead of cold

Of course it's subjective, but I vastly prefer this seat over most of the "more private" options. I'll take sitting next to a stranger over cramming my size 12s into a size 8 shoe box.

Yes, to me it read like a typical Lufthansa flight too, specifically the very early start of breakfast service.

Your pain makes for a more entertaining review, so thank you for that! Good to learn that Eurowings business is best avoided unless it's an incredible deal.
I always find it surprising that rubbish business class often is the same price as the excellent ones. In many things in life mediocre and poor products are cheaper.

Thanks for the review. For me, the problems with operational reliability would rule out Eurowings already. The rest looked very similar to classic Lufthansa to me, which is fine.

Thank you for that review.
Those are the same operational its predecessor Eurowings long haul had. Euro Disco was supposed to have less of these as it was streamlined more into the main LH brand as with Edelwise and LX.

After reading this review i absolutely have no plans to fly them. It's not that their prices are cheaper than other airlines so i'd only fly them if i had no other options.

I’m surprised you actually had a terminal arrival. My previous flights into Frankfurt from Tampa (Lufthansa), Philadelphia, Washington all has runway exits and then a bus. Very disappointing. Anyone know why this and sometimes Munich does this?

Sounds like it might be better to fly this airline to the US than to Germany.

Thanks for taking one for the team.

It’s a leisure-focused airline serving a leisure destination so while yes it does seem they missed the mark on the basics, having the finer points of premium seduce like branded cutlery seems a wildly optimistic expectation. Eurowings Discover exists to shuttle Germans to/from sunny holiday destinations with lower overhead costs than mainline LH, that’s it. That they even have a full lay-flat J cabin is likely out of convenience - otherwise I’d expect a more prem econ-like setup a la Air Caraïbes / French Bee.

Has Lufthansa discontinued mainline flights to TPA? I know they used to operate Cityline A330s and A340s to Tampa since 2016, and may have even operated mainline A330s when they first started service.

This was your first long haul flight out of TPA? I may be wrong, but I thought I read somewhere that you used to fly Condor from TPA to Frankfurt as a kid.

Also, you haven't taken the BA flight to London from Tampa. TPA was my home airport to as a kid and I loved seeing the BA 777 at the gate whenever you would drive into the airport. That flight is still on my bucket list 🙂

@ WB -- You are very, very observant, well done! You're totally right, as a kid I frequently flew out of Tampa on Condor. I updated the post to reflect that. Thanks for catching it! Haven't done the BA flight out of Tampa, though. Always love looking at the plane while driving into the airport, though, given that it's parked right by the road.

@ JB -- Indeed, over the years TPA has had mainline and Cityline, but now Lufthansa exclusively operates Eurowings Discover from Frankfurt to Tampa. And frankly that's probably fitting, given that it's a very leisure crowd.

I think you're looking at this airline from the wrong perspective. It's a low cost venture flying to leisure destinations.

Presumably the J pax are German holidaymakers finishing up a week of golf or suntanning. They don't need to arrive rested and refreshed to make an important business meeting on arrival. I doubt they care if there's no wifi or if the meal service is slow - they're on holidays, not trying to close a big deal.

If you compare this to say, Norwegian premium or La Compaigne it looks excellent - fully flat seats and proper J catering (champagne and the breakfast looks excellent).

I think there is absolutely a market for this and the experience is about what I expected it to be though maybe it should be rebranded as 'Discover Premium'.

@ tipsyinmadras -- To be clear, the lack of consistent branding didn't in any way bother me, I was just pointing it out because I found it interesting (same as the four engine plane on the map). My issues with the experience were the more important points, like reliability, service quality, etc.

And you're right, it's nice that Eurowings Discover at least has a "real" business class, and not just premium economy. Then again, it's priced accordingly. Prices haven't really dropped compared to when Lufthansa operated the route.

indeed - i agree that sometimes the 'rubbish' business class is same price as the more excellent classes - one the reasons I enjpy following this insightful travel blog is Ben's candid honesty to help me plan my own flights
>> on this flight the catering is not pleasant and service seems slow / drawn-out

It feels like LH continues to fail up. A lot of bloggers like to talk about the Halo Effect surrounding EK, but why do they leave out LH? LH has a bottom-tier J product, Y is fairly standard and no frills, but they have an admittedly great F product. Beyond the F product, they're otherwise another contender in the "race to the bottom" in nearly every other facet. Yet, I feel like I can't escape this notion from bloggers that somehow LH is this magical flying beast that's just so great. It's been about two years since I was on an LH TATL then intra-Europe flight and it was okay. Just okay - if you don't consider 2x2x2 business seats. Not aggressively bad, but definitely not better than anything you'd get on the US3 - especially considering their intra-Europe biz product. Why don't we finally call a spade a spade?

@ Jason -- Frankfurt is notorious for remote stands, so it really is luck of the draw. I assume gate assignments are scheduled based on a variety of factors, though I've never really been able to make much sense of it. When flying into FRA I expect a remote stand, and then I'm pleasantly surprised when I get a gate.

@ John T -- I hear you, and largely agree. But I think it's important to point out the biggest difference between Eurowings Discover and Norwegian or La Compagnie, and that's pricing.

Eurowings Discover business class isn't cheap. The lowest roundtrip business class fare from Tampa to Frankfurt is around $4,400, and it goes way up from there. This route used to be operated by Lufthansa mainline, and I haven't noticed that pricing has been lowered in any way.

So I agree with you that there could be a market for Lufthansa having a Norwegian-style airline, especially with the kinds of leisure travelers taking this flight, but it needs to be priced accordingly. Instead Eurowings Discover has Lufthansa pricing with even less service.

@ DCA Will Always Be "National" -- That's a fair point. And I can tell you that as much as I'd love to believe that Lufthansa is a great global airline (I am a bit biased, since I have an emotional connection to the airline), it's not. Lufthansa (mainline) is operationally reliable and has a great first class product, but otherwise the airline is subpar compared to peers.

Worst of all, Lufthansa is losing ground to competitors. Airlines like Air France, KLM, and even British Airways, are improving considerably. Meanwhile at Lufthansa, all we have is the promise of a new business class product some day. And we all know it will be many years before it's available on a widespread basis.

How do you keep track of which plane you've flown?

@ Nate nate -- I don't track registration codes as closely as others, but for whatever reason the code sounded familiar when I saw it. I then went back through pictures from my travels, and saw I had taken a picture of this plane prior to a SEA-FRA flight.

As others have said, business class on LH Group airlines is low value at high price. Starting with the reliability, the poor hard product, the slow service on night flights, etc. It is a race to the bottom.

I'm not sure I can take you seriously, @Lucky, after now reading to reviews wherein you share that you've eaten Brussel sprouts before a long flight!!!! 😉

I was going to say the same.

For many years my wife and I looked forward to flying on LH. We had some great experiences with them. It's sad to see how LH has lost its way.

Ben, are you aware of my.flightradar24 where you can keep track of all the flights you have flown?

The actual food catered looks pretty decent considering it's a 'low cost' carrier and all - on par with an average biz class service offering pre COVID

I guess being a leisure route the 'arrive rested' / maximize sleep part seems to be less of a management focus

You knew what to expect!.

You certainly took a bullet for us, switching from a Singapore A380 suite to Eurowings just so you could write a review!
Your experience is much in line with I have experienced with them on 3 trips to Namibia. Mostly underwhelming (but given that I'm usually on United, there were several areas where Eurowings was superior). Our first three flights all ended up different configurations (including the staggered Swiss layout), though the last 3 all had the 5x6 layout.
I thought their drinks were pretty good (I really like their non-alcoholic passion fruit punch at boarding), as well as the appetizers. Main course much less so. And interested to see that your breakfast was slightly different - on all 5 flights we had smoked salmon with horseradish. I don't know if it's the route or the season.
Finally, my husband and I found the center seats to be more comfortable for sleeping than the pair along the window.
And final "finally" - they were much more lax with masks on my flights. Some passengers never had their mask on at all. So I am surprised they woke you.

I agree with the sentiment of most comments.

First, thanks for the review!

Second, I wouldn't expect much more. Yes, I get that the price is in line with most normal business class but as you said they were almost full so seems that they are pricing right. Considering that even LH's Y product is nothing to write home about, I wouldn't expect anything good from a subsidiary.

I now also live in the area and I would not even consider Eurowings or Edelweiss. Too bad we have very limited choice here. TPA is an hour drive for me anyway as I'm near SRQ so sounds like the best option for people in this area is either drive to MCO or MIA or connect domestically.

@ Alex -- I'm not sure I'd have the same conclusion regarding "they were almost full so seems that they are pricing right." Keep in mind the flight the day before was canceled, so two planes worth of passengers were booked on this flight. My aunt took this flight a couple of weeks earlier, and said there were 80 people on the plane.

I'm not reading into current load factors too much one way or another given the weird times we live in, but I don't necessarily conclude Eurowings Discover is doing well...

@ echino -- I am, but since I didn't get started when I was young, I feel like there's no point in starting now.

@ Ralph4878 -- Lol, am I the only one who doesn't have brussels sprouts issues?

Re the branding & service: Eurowing Discover (not related to Eurowings, which is also part of the LH group and flies the "non-premium" routes in Europe) is a low-cost way for LH Group to gobble up market share and profit on leisure routes, hence the not so well trained staff, the mixed branding, and the ageing fleet.

I should note that EWD is not the first time LH has tried to enter the leisure travel sector, with Condor, Cityline and others preceeding EWD, including EW Europe. In most cases LH is either folding them back into the LH brand or dissolving them. German holidaymakers are used to a lot worse than EWD is offering, since Condor and Tuifly offer vastly inferior long-haul products on leisure routes plus lack the ability to earn or use miles&more miles for those so inclined (although Condor does sometimes allow this). Plus, as others have observed, they are on holiday so won't mind a long service or little sleep aboard.

I think I might know why the flight map shows an A340. Eurowings used to have them in their long-haul fleet around 2019. They were operated but Brussels, but with a Eurowings livery. Which would also match the one on your screen with no mention of “Discover” as that brand wasn’t born yet back then.
Still no idea why this would be shown on an A330 flight but that’s probably at least the reason why the 3D model exists.

Still better food than on any American carrier. Rating this 2.5 and the recent domestic "first" shocker 4/5 just does not make any sense. Closing your own window blinds is still possible too, as well as asking for a drink...

The Lufthansa group is a joke though, especially with their supposedly 'five star rating', based on the vaporware that is their new 777X business seat. I would avoid them as the plague, since you just get ripped on every flight you take...

Thanks for an interesting review and I honestly have no interest stepping onboard Eurowings Discover anytime soon. The catering looked nice and even better than Lufthansa, especially the hot breakfast option now. For some reasons, LH has downgraded its catering on its transatlantic business class with a combined starter/entree course, and a reduced pre-arrival meal offering. I am surprised to see a hot breakfast offered. The seats are unimpressive and given its price tag, I will stick with other European airlines.

Condor, which Eurowings wants to imitate, is so much better with catering and service. No wonder LH wants to stop letting DE to use its domestic connection flights. Condor with its new A330s will feature better food and service and I will stick with DE for the near future. Eurowings Discover needs to step up or else it will just be another failed leisure airline experiment.

Thanks for flying 4Y so we won't have to. But I am sure that those Aeroplan can be better spent elsewhere. I hope flying AC will be on your to-do list soon especially AC's Signature Suites are now reopened.

Signature Suites are only open to Endre and other paying customers . They are not open if you travel on an award ticket. (?)

Actually Ben I also think that you are biased but in a different way. I often have the feeling that you like criticizing Lufthansa or that you are harder on them than on other carriers.
But yes, Lufthansa is not as good as it used to be or as we remember it. But often I think it is not as bad as described here.

(Well, the review is about Eurowings Discover but the comments section is all mixed)

Thanks for this review, I think that asfor Lufthansa we will avoid the "litle sister".
Wich amused me a lot is the french dressing wich is more a mix between Greece and Sweeden than french....dont talk about the spanish proposal with cranberries

@Lucky perhaps! Though I must say that in both recent reviews, they did look delicious!

Every flight I have taken, and that includes Southwest, has had Crazy, Rich Asians on the IFE. Good to know it is not only me.

Honestly I feel like your tone in recent articles (this, senators lounge, United from Kona) have really felt exceedingly entitled and is unlike your previous tones and coming off exceedingly entitled (very the points guy, whom I've stopped reading).

I am all for being critical when it is necessary, but it is now coming off entitled. This is why I stopped reading TPG and I hope to not stop reading OMAAT.

Is something going on that has made you feel so bitter? It is crazy you made it through covid and kept your normal attitude and now that travel is becoming easier you have had this negative to e shift.

@ Kevin B -- I appreciate the feedback and certainly don't want to come across that way. Nothing has changed, I've just had a couple of not-great experiences.

First of all, regarding United from Kona, I'm not sure what I was bitter about? I rated the flight highly, and said it was a good experience overall. A week before that I reviewed my trip on Turkish and SAS, and had good ratings across the board.

In the case of Eurowings Discover, do you really want me to rate a product highly when the airline is charging the same prices as Lufthansa mainline while delivering a lot less? The airline has no operational reliability. In the month leading up to my flight, 27% of the flights on the route were canceled. In the six flights since I took this trip, three flights on the route were delayed by around two hours. I think I'd be doing readers a disservice by being overly positive about something like that.

But I hear you, and will consider your feedback going forward. My next flight is in Singapore Suites, so I trust that will be a more positive experience. 😉

I have never been bothered by FAs on flights to Europe due to not wearing a mask (basically I take it off after take off and do not put it back on till landing). On LH, AF & BA

Hi Ben,
I've noticed you tend to always select seats in the last row of Business, could I ask why?
Many thanks!
James

Lufty used to use the AA lounge in Tampa when it operated the flight. They must have cut that cost. Does Edelweiss use the AA lounge or none?

I don't know what happened to The International Club lounge which BA used to use (it was terrible). BA moved to the AA lounge and The International Club closed. Eurowings and Edelweiss could combine and go back into the Club but I guess they don't want the cost.

Thank you for being honest — I was looking at this route/carrier for a summer trip. Frankly, your taste has always been different than mine but I didn’t note a tone in this post.

This reminds me to buy them next time I go grocery shopping. I used to pan fry them with spices (after steaming them first). I completely forgot about it until this Brussely subject came up. Yay!

From the review you even stated that this is a low cost airline, with that being send there should be no complaints. How much cheaper was this ticket vs one on LH? Seat looks nice, cabin and plane looked nice and clean, food and drinks look nice.... what's the problem?

Does anyone know if the bulkhead seats in biz allow you to move/swivel the ice screen like it does in all of the non bulkhead rows? I’ve noticed in pictures that the bulkhead screens are flush mounted next to each other and look much different than the screens in the other rows.

Not reliable at all. I hope this flight will be switched to a lufthansa flight as soon as possible otherwise shutted down better no service than not reliable one

To me, none of this sounds too bad. I'm considering booking YYC-FRA-BJV (bodrum) on Eurowings and LH and plan to go ahead. I'm booking for my family of 4, so sorta need to take what i can get. But the flight hits most of the things I prioritize: 1. Flight from as close to West coast to europe as i can get (i hate flying to east coast for a europe flight); 2. Evening flight so family sleeps; 3. Lie-flat seats. Slow meals aren't great, but i can deal. I had the same issue on JAL 2 years ago w/ all lights turned on for bfast 2+ hours from landing. 2-2-2 seating actually works great with kids and i prefer it to 1-2-1.

The whole Airline is massively problematic.

Staffing is "young,cheap and inexperienced" all along.
Their chief pilot? Came from Germanwings afaik(a closed short haul subsidiary of Lufthansa), had zero experience on the A330 and zero experience on long haul.

....and even talked about that happily on German TV.

While Lufthansa and Eurowings often is without alternatives in Europe I will definitely avoid Discover

The sight of the 777 right there on the corner always makes me smile. I've taken this flight multiple times and its always a breeze. Pre-Covid I was able to snag steerage tickets for under 400 rt. *sigh*

Hi Ben,
Quick question here. I just booked FRA-CUN and CUN-MUC on LH in Premium Economy.
Once ticketed I saw that the flights are operated by Eurowings Discover (LH codrshare).
Can I expect to collect my miles as a member of United MileagePlus??
Thanks,
David

Never ate them as a child. As a result I'm very fond of them. Now I'll steam them with oyster sauce. Sensational!

I certainly hope Eurowings gets their act together soon. We fly Eurowings from SLC to Frankfurt in about a month - looking forward to a great flight and restful experience .
Thanks so much for your review!

Our flight was changed from Lufthansa airlines to this. We paid the business class price and this looks much less than this with a much smaller plane. We booked and are flying out of Air Canada and the return was supposed to be Lufthansa. I will see if we can move to a later flight with a real business class. So disapointing. I appreciate the review. The seat guru shows this class as premium economy. At one time did they change this to business from premium economy,
I wonder?

Please continue to provide honest reviews and do not sugarcoat them. After reading this, my flight was switched to this airline and we paid a premium price and not for this. I'll be contacting the airlines. Thank you for being honest

I’m here because I was wondering what on earth Ew Discover is. Air Canada is offering west coast to Frankfurt or London J for 69K, so I may well see if they’ve improved any since your flight.

Two weeks ago, I booked flights for my wife and myself from MUC to SFO and Orlando to Frankfurt (the latter with EY Discover, no other LH choice). I didn't receive a booking confirmation (as usual), so after 10 days I called LH senator service and they found out that although I still had my booking number the whole booking had disappeared. So we had to redo the procedure, and I received the booking confirmation shortly after. But surprise, without seats that had been confirmed during that phone booking already. So I called again, and while they booked the seats for my wife, the seats for me didn't exist anymore. They peromised to fix it. Later that day, I received the booking confirmation, but my seats weren't still there. At the same time, the total cost have been deduced from our bank account. But surprise, they were 300 Euro higher than originally agreed. So I called again and found out that they have also invoiced the seats (preferred ones, first rows in economy), surprise because as a lifetime senator these seats should be free. But I had to learn that EY Discover even charges senators for these seats. I couldn't find any such information on the Internet, nor on the LH nor EY side, so it came to me as another surprise. All in all, there are still website/system errors on the LH/EY side (I found a few more when I tried to enter our US immigration data) that even LH senator booking agents didn't know about. I hope I won't experience more surprises, especially during my travels in two months. . . . .

worst ever experience MCO-FRA y Discover Eurowings , nothing is good about this flight , terrible food , uncomfortable seats , business class layout seats , lounges etc ... not good at all and not even close to Lufthansa level , I miss LUFTHANSA a lot ! not gonna fly with Discover Eurowings again !

How do you find out the plane ID in particular flight 4y 65, so i know how old the aircraft is?

Looks as we will be taking this flight to our cycling holiday in Croatia this October. Hopefully the crew have mastered serving meals in good time otherwise I will forgo the meal to ensure some sleep. Not sure if you have flown Virgin Atlantic from Tampa or Atlanta. Terrible cramped seating with a bed like a park bench! We will not touch this airline and in fact changed our flights to the tune of $2K to avoid VA via Delta. Now fly United to avoid VA!

Now. Two years later. I would like to know how the experience for the customer is now. The Airline received its own brand, erasing the "Eurowings" and moved closer to Lufthansa brand. It is, obviously, still a way to make routes with a high percentage of private travelers more profitable. And, finally, the airline should be receiving its own business class as of '27. That being said, it still has a long way to go.