- Introduction: A Ski Trip In The French Alps
- Review: Lufthansa Lounge Boston Airport (BOS)
- Review: Lufthansa First Class Lounge Boston Airport (BOS)
- Review: Lufthansa First Class Airbus A340-600 (BOS-MUC)
- Review: Lufthansa First Class Lounge Munich Airport (MUC)
- Review: Air Dolomiti Business Class Embraer E195 (MUC-GVA)
- Review: The Woodward Hotel Geneva, Oetker Collection
- Review: Airelles Val d’Isère, France (Perfect!)
- Review: Four Seasons Megeve, France
To kick off our ski trip in the French Alps, we flew Lufthansa first class from Boston to Munich. In the last installment I reviewed the Lufthansa Lounge Boston. In this post I wanted to take a look at the most exclusive part of this lounge, which is the section for first class passengers.
There’s such a difference between first and business class in the air, so it’s also really nice when airlines differentiate the ground product for first class passengers, as it doesn’t happen all too often, especially at outstations. As far as I know, the Lufthansa Lounge Boston is one of only a couple of outstation lounges that Lufthansa has with a separate first class section (the only other one I know of is in New York, at JFK Airport).
In this post:
Lufthansa First Class Lounge Boston access requirements
The Lufthansa First Class Lounge Boston is open exclusively to first class passengers on Lufthansa and SWISS, as well as HON Circle members traveling on Lufthansa or SWISS. Since Lufthansa and SWISS both have first class cabins with eight seats, there generally won’t be more than 16 first class passengers per day. On top of that, you have HON Circle members, and any potential guests in a lower cabin.
Note that this section of the lounge is located within the main part of the lounge. When you enter the Lufthansa Lounge Boston and are checked in, an employee will escort you to the first class section, if you’re eligible.
Lufthansa First Class Lounge Boston layout & seating
The Lufthansa First Class Lounge Boston is an intimate space, with seating for 18 people (and if there were actually 18 people in this space, it would feel very tight).
The lounge includes four dining tables, with two seats each.
Then the lounge has three chairs with ottomans.
There are two additional seating areas, with the one on one side featuring five seats, and the one on the other side featuring three seats.
The lounge has excellent apron and runway views, so if you’re an avgeek, you’ll certainly enjoy that (though hopefully you have nicer weather than we had).
This is a lovely space. The only thing to note is that at least during our visit, it was frankly awkwardly quiet in here. There’s no background music and you could quite literally hear a pin drop, so you’ll probably feel uncomfortable if you have to make a phone call, or something.
Lufthansa First Class Lounge Boston food & drinks
While you of course have access to the standard Lufthansa Lounge Boston buffet, those in the first class section also have access to a more premium wine list, as well as a la carte dining.
Upon our arrival in the lounge, we each ordered a glass of champagne, which was Nicolas Feuillatte Brut. That’s not exactly the most exciting champagne for first class, but is still perfectly nice.
Since we had several hours at the lounge and had eaten very little that day (we arrived same day from Miami), we decided to have a meal in the lounge.
To start, I ordered the creamy baked potato soup with crème fraîche, while Ford ordered the winter greens with chives, walnuts, red onions, goat cheese, and a red pepper vinaigrette.
For our main courses, I had the roasted broccoli manicotti, which was a stuffed manicotti pasta with parmesan, lemon roasted broccolini, pine nuts, and pesto oil, while Ford had the braised beef and polenta, with slow cooked beef shoulder, rosemary polenta cake, baby carrots, and garlic spinach.
I’d say the food was pretty good, but not amazing. I can’t imagine that there’s actually a proper full kitchen connected to the lounge, so my guess is that most of this food is just reheated, as you’d find on a plane. I’d say the food was a bit better than you’d typically find onboard a flight, while not quite top restaurant quality.
Ultimately this is a significant improvement over what you’ll find in the business class portion of the lounge, though, and it’s especially useful for those looking to maximize sleep on the short overnight flight.
Lufthansa First Class Lounge Boston service
The first class section of the lounge has a dedicated server. During our visit we were being served by Maria (originally from Brazil), who was so incredibly friendly (and chatty). She’s obviously someone who takes pride in her job, and treats each person as if they’re a guest in her home. She’s such a good vibe, so you’re in for a treat if she’s taking care of you.
Lufthansa First Class Lounge Boston boarding
One other awesome feature of the Lufthansa Lounge Boston is that you can board the plane directly from the lounge, assuming you’re departing from gate E10. Around 30 minutes before departure, all the first class passengers were fetched by this hilarious lady who escorted everyone to the plane.
I think she could most accurately be described as a bossy babushka, but in the best and most charming way possible. This lounge is full of characters.
I wish more airlines had ground experiences like this
While international first class is typically great, there are two main areas where I find airlines most consistently fall short when it comes to differentiation:
- Often there’s not a separate ground experience for first class passengers, in stark contrast to the onboard experience
- Boarding is generally a pain point of the travel experience, as you could go to the gate as a first class passenger, only to end up finding boarding delayed, or having to navigate around hundreds of people
These are of course both very minor things, but the point is that airlines invest a lot of money in their first class products.
The Lufthansa ground experience in Boston solves both of those problems. Not only is it nice to have a dedicated first class section, but it’s also nice to be able to board directly from the lounge, and to even then be escorted to the plane.
One thing that always surprises me is Emirates’ first class ground experience at outstations. Emirates operates more outstation lounges than any other global airline, as the company obviously wants to control the passenger experience as much as possible. Emirates also has first class more consistently than any other airline in the world.
Yet for whatever reason, Emirates does nothing to differentiate the first class ground experience at outstations for first class passengers vs. business class passengers.
Bottom line
Lufthansa has a nicely differentiated ground experience for first class passengers at Boston Airport. The airline has a separate first class lounge with a la carte dining and attentive service, and also lets you board directly from the lounge. While it’s hardly among the best first class lounges in the world, it’s a really nice effort, and significantly better than most of Lufthansa’s other outstation lounges.
What do you make of the Lufthansa First Class Lounge Boston?
this is not a First Class lounge. It cannot be compared to any First Class lounge in Zurich
or Geneva. Very disappointing. People walking in and out (there’s no door) and people sitting down only to be told that they can not be in the first class lounge. Disappointing
"so you’ll probably feel uncomfortable if you have to make a phone call, or something."
Everybody making a phone call in a First Class Lounge should feel uncomfortable. This is a major disturbance to other guests.
Unfortunately nobody feels uncomfortable about this or uses the provided work units at Frankfurt or Munich. Everybody takes it as their right to bother others by forcing them to listen to their conversations. It's called a lack of manners.
Ben, is there a reason you refer to airports by the wrong name? There's no such thing as 'Boston Airport'. It's Logan. Likewise, there's no such thing as 'Seattle Airport.' It's SeaTac.
I'm just curious if there's a practical reason you're mis-naming airports that overrides the misleading confusion caused by calling a thing what it isn't.
Do you really think that anyone is confused by @Lucky referring to the Boston Logan Airport as the Boston Airport or the Seattle Tacoma airport as Seattle? Sure, locals call one SeaTac and the other Logan, but neither city has another major airport. Nor is there another major city with the name of either of those cities. It's not like he's referring to Dulles as the Washington airport, which would be confusing since that could...
Do you really think that anyone is confused by @Lucky referring to the Boston Logan Airport as the Boston Airport or the Seattle Tacoma airport as Seattle? Sure, locals call one SeaTac and the other Logan, but neither city has another major airport. Nor is there another major city with the name of either of those cities. It's not like he's referring to Dulles as the Washington airport, which would be confusing since that could refer to DCA, IAD or BWI. But I also bet that I could call DCA National airport, which I still do, even though the name was changed decades ago and you'd be the only person who was confused. It seems like you're just looking to stir the pot.
This is for SEO purposes to make it easier for folks searching for info like this about lounges, etc. When most people google this they will type Boston Lounge vs Boston Logan Lounge. Same with Seattle, etc. Ben will typically make a more clear delineation if it’s a city with multiple airports like NYC. Hope that helps.
One other thing, does this area have it's own bathroom?
No, the bathroom is in the business lounge
LH at Dulles has a separate first class section … but it’s separated by flimsy ropes and all of the amenities are in the Senator lounge.
I was going to mention this but the space has an ala cart menu. Last time my wonderful server was way frequent with Champagne. BTW is you have time and Priority Pass try some nice champagne at the Air France lounge. Can also get steps in walking among the Lounges on offer. Skip the Turkey lounge
"with seating for 18 people"
Isn't it 19 people? 5 + 8 + 3 +3 = 19. Not a huge difference, but still...
With regards to differentiating things for different people, Lufthansa passengers can also board the plane from the lounge at Dulles too, no?
Air France does at least escort it's First Class passengers past security and boarding lines at outstation airports, so there is that.
Last time I flew F out of Dulles on AF one agent handed the other agent a "new" boarding pass for me. Only it wasn't mine and I was escorted to the wrong F seat, mixing up the cabin and resulting in one of the upgraders getting first choice of meal and didn't have a main course that I could eat. I was the only paid passenger in F (they had two op ups due...
Last time I flew F out of Dulles on AF one agent handed the other agent a "new" boarding pass for me. Only it wasn't mine and I was escorted to the wrong F seat, mixing up the cabin and resulting in one of the upgraders getting first choice of meal and didn't have a main course that I could eat. I was the only paid passenger in F (they had two op ups due to oversold J) and when they figured out the mess they'd made I thought the purser was going to have a heart attack.
So, yeah, they do escort you, but with them no longer scanning your boarding pass, I'd recommend looking at it and not leaving it to the staff to get it right.
Are you the same guy who posts as Endre? The one who likes to keep reminding us in every post you make that you're a paid passenger, and not flying because of points and what not?
Also, your case sounds like an outlier and not a regular occurrence.
Great to have this review! I’ve flown LH F out of JFK and loved the F area there (and out of ORD, where LH has no special ground services for F) but had no idea they also had an F lounge at BOS. I believe that at EWR and IAD they have a roped-off area in their lounges for F passengers but I’m not sure if there is anything beyond that, like escort to the gate, which I also experienced at JFK.
LH has no lounge at ORD.
At IAD First are escorted to jetway with dedicated walkway from lounge
But LH used to drive First Class across the tarmac to immigration. Not now. Sad ;-)
Just curious, did you pay tips for this meal given that it's in the US.
When I'm in such a situation, I will tip based on the service. It is an expression of appreciation to the workers.
@Leo you don't pay tips on Lounges
we just flew this same itinerary, and we gave her a tip, I don't normally tip in Lounges, but she was amazing, and made our rather long stay in the lounge (we had a 4 hour layover which we spent entirely in this lounge) extremely pleasurable
Do you get access arriving on First Class connecting to a domestic flight?
Great review, didn’t realize LH had a First Class lounge in the US. For the Senator lounge, is it possible to access the LH lounge if your Star Gold flying on a domestic United ticket? Can you get from the secure side if you go in at United’s terminal?
I do believe you can board gate E11 directly from the LH lounge at BOS as well. The gate is next to the entrance to the toilets.
LH lost its way. As Europes largest carrier.. it cares about $$$ first.. passengers last. And that soup looks like it was poured from a can,
A few years ago, when Lufthansa unveiled its rather boring livery, it also made references to the rebrand being tied to a focus on being seen as a premium carrier. The ground experience, wildly inconsistent premium cabins, and the overall service on LH couldn't be further from a truly "premium" experience. It's all fine, but nothing extraordinary.
Ben/Tiff: I tried to be subtle about it, but YinDaoYan means "vXgina infection" in Mandarin. The avatar could look like a graphic of that.
It's borderline racist to keep this poster and, decision of all decisions, bring them back after a ban.
Enough!
@ Loretta Jackson -- Thanks for the heads up. He was never unbanned, so I'm not sure how he's posting again, even using the same email address. I now also banned him in a different way, so it shouldn't be an issue anymore. Sorry about that.
Aw, Ben, thank you. Now I feel kinda bad for double commenting it, please feel free to remove :-)
Thanks for a great review btw.
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