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We took a taxi to the airport at 5AM and made it there at around 5:30AM, with plenty of time to spare before our 6:50AM flight.
Terminal exterior
We quickly found the Lufthansa check-in area, where there was no queue in the business class line.
Terminal
Terminal
Our boarding passes were quickly issued all the way to Catania, so we headed towards security. It’s worth noting that while there is a priority security queue, Lufthansa is too cheap to pay the airport to use it, so as a business class passenger you have to use the standard queue. Fortunately it wasn’t too long, so that didn’t turn out to be an issue.
Duty free shops
Once airside we followed the signage towards the Platinum Lounge, which is the contract lounge that Lufthansa (and most carriers) use in Budapest. This lounge is also a member of Priority Pass, so a credit card with lounge access could get you in, if you wouldn’t otherwise have access.
Airside terminal
The lounge was located close to our departure gate, and once inside we were promptly admitted upon showing our boarding passes.
Platinum Lounge entrance
The lounge itself was pretty standard for a European contract lounge, with plenty of seating.
Lounge seating
Lounge seating
Lounge seating
The food spread was rather good for a contract lounge, with fruit, croissants, yogurt, meat and cheese, cereal, packaged chips, granola bars, etc.
Food spread
Food spread
Food spread
Food spread
There was also a self serve bar and fountain drink area on the other side of the lounge.
Fountain drinks
After about 20 minutes in the lounge we headed to our departure gate, A6. I was sad to see that we would be leaving from a remote stand, despite plenty of open gates.
Walking to our gate
Our Lufthansa plane in the distance
Our plane in the distance
The gate area was quite an experience. This might as well have been a Greyhound bus between Newark and Atlantic City, because I literally don’t think there was a single person on the plane (other than us) that wasn’t from New Jay-zee. From the accents, to the hair gel, to the unnecessarily large arms, to every second word spoken by them starting with an “f” or “s,” I was fully expecting to see Snooki passed out in some corner of the gate area.
Our departure gate
At around 6:30AM boarding was called and they packed us into the bus till there was no room left. Being packed into a bus full of New Jerseyers is a sensory experience, from the over-cologne-ing to cover up what may have happened the previous night, to the “how many more f*&^$% people are they going to try to fit in this f*&^$% bus before we board the f*&^$% plane.”
Our bus
The bus ride took only a couple of minutes, at which point we boarded through the forward door of the A321.
Our plane to Munich
Our plane to Munich
@OberBoberGrober,
Agree, it looks like the Málev lounge.
Second that New Jerseyan!
Dear Lucky,
When disparaging the speech patterns of your fellow countrymen, please be sure to get the demonym correct.
@ OberBoberGrober -- Yep, I do remember those cell phone charging stations with lockers!
Nothing worse than flying half way around the world only to run into that accent! Had a horrible experience in Venice sitting beside a family at at a nice restaurant having to listen to them loudly discussing the details of their periods! The "ugly American" typified!
There was a *A lounge the last time I was there(*more to the left at the corner), but was denied entry because of overcrowding, and was a given a Maalev lounge pass, which was a beautiful lounge. From the looks, it seems like this lounge is the former Maalev lounge (does it have a cell phone charging station with lockers? if I remember correctly)
Very different airport and lounge than when I flew Lufthansa out of Budapest two years ago.