- Introduction: Four Seasons Yacht Via Turkmenistan & Saudi Arabia
- Review: Lufthansa Allegris Business Class Boeing 787 (AUS-FRA)
- Review: Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Frankfurt Airport (FRA)
- Review: Priority Lounge Frankfurt Airport Terminal 3 (FRA)
- Review: Turkmenistan Airlines Business Class Boeing 777 (FRA-ASB)
- Review: Business Lounge Ashgabat Airport, Turkmenistan (ASB)
- Review: Turkmenistan Airlines Business Class Boeing 737 (ASB-DEL)
- Review: Encalm Xenia Lounge Delhi Airport (DEL)
- Review: Air India Maharaja Business Lounge Delhi Airport (DEL)
- Review: Air India Maharaja First Lounge Delhi Airport (DEL)
- Review: Air India First Class Boeing 777 (DEL-FRA)
During my Four Seasons Yacht via Turkmenistan and Saudi Arabia adventure, I flew Lufthansa’s Boeing 787 Allegris business class from Austin (AUS) to Frankfurt (FRA). I had an extended layover in Frankfurt before my Turkmenistan Airlines flight to Ashgabat (ASB), so I decided to spend some time in the Lufthansa Welcome Lounge, which is Lufthansa’s arrivals lounge at its hub airport.
While nothing overly shiny or exciting, I find the Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Frankfurt to be a pleasant facility. The lounge is quite large, with modern design, excellent showers, and a tasty breakfast selection. Best of all, it tends to not be crowded, in contrast to Lufthansa’s other lounges.
This is among my favorite arrivals lounges in Europe, as it compares quite favorably to the ones operated by Aer Lingus, British Airways, and Virgin Atlantic (though I think I slightly prefer the one operated by SWISS, particularly for the proper bedrooms).
In this post:
Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Frankfurt location
The Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Frankfurt is located landside in Terminal 1, after you clear immigration and collect your checked bags. Once in the arrivals hall, follow the signage toward the Arrivals Area B. There’s also plenty of signage for the lounge throughout the terminal.
The Lufthansa Welcome Lounge is hard to miss, as it has a bright yellow exterior.
Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Frankfurt hours
Currently the Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Frankfurt is open daily from 5:15AM until 12:30PM. The lounge opens around the same time as the first long haul arrival at the airport, and it remains open until early afternoon.
It’s normal for arrivals lounges to close at that point, since the intent is that these are designed so you have somewhere to freshen up before a meeting, or to hang out before you can check into your hotel. Though quite honestly, it seems like the most common use for the lounge is those who have a bit of time to kill before a train connection.
Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Frankfurt entry requirements
The Lufthansa Welcome Lounge is open to the following passengers:
- Lufthansa first class passengers
- Lufthansa business class passengers arriving on intercontinental flights (with flight numbers LH401-799), as well as Discover Airlines business class and United Polaris business class passengers arriving on long haul flights
- Lufthansa Miles & More HON Circle members arriving on Lufthansa, SWISS, or Austrian, even if they’re not long haul flights
- Lufthansa Miles & More Senator and Traveller members arriving on Lufthansa intercontinental flights (with flight numbers LH401-799)
- United Global Services members arriving on United
Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Frankfurt seating & layout
The Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Frankfurt spans two floors, and covers an area of around 13,000 square feet, so it’s quite a large arrivals lounge. Right by reception are some lockers, should you want to store your bags during your stay in the lounge.
As mentioned above, the lounge has two levels, with the main level (where you enter) having most of the seating and dining, while the lower level has most of the showers. The furniture in the lounge should feel pretty familiar for any frequent Lufthansa flyer, as it matches what you’ll find in other Lufthansa lounges (at least before the Allegris lounge upgrades).
Inside the entrance to the lounge and to the right is an area with rows of leather chairs facing one another, as well as a couple of TVs.
Next to that (inside the entrance and to the left) is the bistro area, consisting of around a dozen tables that each seat two to four people, as well as some communal high-top tables.
Behind the bistro area is the business center, which has some communal and semi-private workstations. There are also PCs and printers available, for those who need them.
It’s easy to miss, but back near the business center you’ll also find a rest area, with four semi-reclined seats. It’s nice to have somewhere to rest, though don’t expect much in the way of privacy, and there’s no bedding.
There’s also a small smoking room opposite that.
The lounge feels pretty fresh and wasn’t ever close to capacity during my extended stay, so that’s quite nice. There’s also fast and free Wi-Fi available throughout the lounge.
There are two just two downsides to the lounge. First of all, there are no windows and there’s no natural light, which is fair enough, given the location of the lounge. Second of all, every few minutes there’s a really loud noise and vibration in the lounge, as if there’s a train going right over your head. I’m not sure what exactly that is, but it’s noticeable.
Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Frankfurt food & drinks
The Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Frankfurt has an extensive selection of food and drinks, which rivals what you’ll find in most of Lufthansa’s airside lounges.
Food options included all kinds of sweets, cakes, bread, and pastries, cold cuts and cheese, several jars with yogurt and parfaits, fresh fruit, and a few hot options, including quiche, scrambled eggs, hardboiled eggs, and sausage.
In terms of drinks, the lounge had an espresso machine, water, juice, soft drinks, beer, and wine.
Given that I was in Germany, I couldn’t help but indulging in one of the tasty pretzels. Mmmm…
Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Frankfurt bathrooms & showers
The Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Frankfurt has 28 shower suites, most of which are on the lower level, and can be accessed either by stairs or an elevator.
There’s a reception area on the lower level, and even some seating in case you need to wait, but I can’t imagine the showers are frequently at capacity.
The shower suites in this lounge are honestly very nice and spacious, each with a sink, toilet, and a huge walk-in shower.
Toiletries were from L’Occitane, and I found the water pressure and airflow in the shower suite to be quite good.
In addition to the showers on the lower level, the upper level of the lounge also has bathrooms, as well as a couple of shower suites (though I don’t think they’re generally used).
The men’s room has three sinks, three urinals, and three stalls.
Bottom line
The Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Frankfurt is an excellent arrivals lounge. It’s spacious, with comfortable seating, a good selection of food and drinks, and nicely appointed shower suites. If you’re arriving on a long haul Lufthansa flight in Frankfurt and are terminating there, I’d absolutely recommend checking out this lounge. It can be an especially good place to spend some time before a train connection.
What do you make of the Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Frankfurt?
Not crowded, nice showers and a good food/drink spread - perfect Arrivals Lounge for me.
I wish Lufthansa could get their act together because having flown more luxurious airlines like Turkish, Qatar, and Emirates, at the end of the day at one point in time they had a very compelling product: Get you where you want to go, in relative comfort, with a seamless ground experience that makes it easy to do work should you need to.
Nice to see beer and wine offered. A lot of Arrivals lounges have no alcohol. Personally I like a pick-me-up after a long flight.
Far more eligible guests than you’ve written.
Senator and Frequent Traveller arriving on a Lufthansa long-haul flight (LH 401 - LH 799), Lufthansa operated flights with a flight duration of over 3.5 hours, Austrian / SWISS operated long-haul flights via Geneva, Vienna or Zurich.
Kindly do the needful.
I appreciate lufthansa offering this. Yes, I have always found this lounge to be uninspiring, but of course that’s sort of the point. Its design is specifically set to fulfill a need that some passengers have, but not make you want to stay there longer than necessary. One can only stay in a windowless room for so long before feeling compelled to leave.
I enjoy taking a refreshing shower there and supplementing the airplane breakfast if I have time before the train.
@Ben, have the removed the paid access for LH premium economy red-eye arrivals? Several years ago I had a few business trips to FRA area where I paid to use this lounge before going to work.
Have they changed entry requirements? i last used it like 1.5 years ago, but have definitely used it arriving on a united polaris flight, also used the swiss welcome lounge in Zurich after a polaris flight (1k/*G).
Restrictions in this are odd. You'd think that Polaris should get access given the joint venture too.
Even a LH customer may be booking UA metal on the LH website.
Air China and United Airlines business class passengers also have access to LH Welcome lounge upon arrival. It's stated in the LH access rules and I have accessed it flying UA J.
Unfortunately, the closing time is early and the staff is not flexible in extending it if needed. I only visited the lounge during a major service disruption due to a snow storm and was rebooked on a train. The later was delayed too, however the staff kicked out the lounge guests promptly at 12.30.
The intent for arrival lounges are to service customers before typical hotel check in times. Most if not all of them in Europe close early in the afternoon.
The intent for arrival lounges are to service customers before typical hotel check in times. Most if not all of them in Europe close early in the afternoon.
There’s something oddly unsettling about how normal this all looks. A windowless space underground, with rows of private rooms and people quietly coming and going, somehow feels less like an airport lounge the longer you look at it. I can’t quite put my finger on why.
Wow, 28 showers. the Welcome lounge should’ve switched with the Senator A lounge as those are always occupied
Hi Ben, in fact the Lounge can also be accessed when arriving with SN from BRU, provided one had a longhaul flight to BRU before. I did this twice and had no issues entering the Welcome Lounge. I believe the same counts when one arrives on a LX, OS and AZ flight with a longhaul flight to ZRH, GVA, VIE, MXP, or FCO before.
Polaris customers are also allowed access.
Agreed, this is a very peaceful lounge and I like it for that. As a Senator I do not have access on shorthaul flights (unlike HON), so in those cases I can use the Senator lounge for arrivals access if needed.
Ben, you may want to update the access rules section, as HON & First class passengers can access the lounge no matter the type of flight they arrived on (i.e. no need of intercontinental arrival at FRA).
In addition, Iberia does not offer a welcome arrivals lounge at MAD since many years ago.
@ Alex -- Updated the post to make that clear, thanks!
@Ben, Discover business class passengers also have access to this lounge. Source: me. I was there 2 months ago. Very peaceful lounge. Food was much better than expected. Lovely pastries. I don't drink alcohol but saw more than enough of it for a morning lounge, lol.
@ hbilbao -- Great to know, thanks! Updated the post to reflect that. Happy to hear you had a good experience as well.
I find it to be doubly useful for 4Y flights, at least the one from YYC arrives in pier C, meaning I have to leave the secure area and walk by this lounge connecting to pier A regardless - can’t beat the lack of wait for showers in the morning!
Your point about waiting for showers is an important one. I often go landside at LHR T3 after my flights from the US to grab a shower at the AA arrivals lounge (closes at 2 pm) rather than have to wait for a shower within the BA First lounge. Also allows me to have a quality breakfast (inline with my body clock) rather than some of the super weird lunch slop on offer from BA.