Review: Lufthansa Senator Lounge Frankfurt Airport

The Long Way to New York: Trip Planning
Singapore Airlines SilverKris Lounge, Singapore
Singapore Airlines A330 Business Class SIN-BKK
Thai Airways First Class Lounge & Spa, BKK
Thai Airways B747 First Class BKK-HND
Getting from HND to NRT
ANA First Class Lounge, NRT
ANA B77W First Class NRT-ORD
United Club ORD
United B767 Economy ORD-EWR
Visiting the US Open
Sheraton New York Times Square
Hilton New York Midtown
Wingtips Lounge JFK & Delta to DC
Exploring Washington DC
Element New York Times Square West
Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse, JFK
Singapore Airlines A380 Suites JFK-FRA
Lufthansa Senator Lounge FRA
Singapore Airlines A380 Suites FRA-SIN

There was a ground crew member waiting at the jetway to escort all the Suites class passengers to the Lufthansa Senator Lounge, about 100m away from the gate. It was a nice touch, but I didn’t really see the point given that (1) it’s impossible to get lost and (2) it’s exactly the same lounge that all *G passengers use, so it’s not like it’s exclusive or something.

Lufthansa has some confusing lounge access rules. The Senator lounge serves Star Alliance First Class and Star Gold members. The Lufthansa Business Lounge is for Star Alliance business class passengers. So you could have a strange situation where Star Gold members flying in Economy join the First Class passengers in the “better” lounge, while Business Class passengers with no status go to the “worse” lounge.

That would be a concern if one lounge were actually better than the other. It’s a moot point really, because the Senator lounge and the Business lounge are almost exactly the same in facilities (and this, in my opinion, is where First Class passengers get a bit shafted. Even the legendarily stingy SQ gives Star Alliance First Class passengers access to the proper First Class lounge in Singapore (albeit not The Private Room). You’re not losing out by going to one over the other.

The lounge entrance is on the first floor but after your boarding pass is checked you go up an escalator to the second floor.

Near the entrance there’s a business centre with printing and phone charging facilities.

There’s also locker storage. It’s a useful feature that I wish they’d add in the Silver Kris lounge in Singapore.

And before anyone says “but there are too many people transiting in Singapore”, consider Turkish Airlines and their gargantuan baggage storage area at their hub in IST. It can be done.

The lounge has an on-premise spa, but treatments are not complimentary, nor are they cheap.

Here’s the spa menu- a 60 minute treatment would set you back 120 euros. I don’t think I saw anyone in the lounge taking this up (for what it’s worth, if you recall my First Class Terminal report in Frankfurt this is the same company that provides spa services for all Lufthansa facilities. I didn’t see a treatment room in the FCT so I assume they cart you over here if you want a treatment)

The first order of business was to freshen up, so I asked for a shower cubicle. I sound like a broken record here, but dammit, I’m going to make noise until this gets fixed- why can’t SQ have individual shower cubicles in its flagship lounges. Hopefully when the Singapore lounges are redone in the new “Home” theme this will be fixed, but I’m not holding my breath.

Lufthansa’s shower rooms are quite spartan but get the job done. I suppose that’s a summary for Germany as a whole.

Amenities are on-request only, unfortunately. I much preferred the layout in the ANA lounge where everything you could possibly need (shaver, toothbrush, toothpaste, comb) was already waiting for you. Here I had to explain in broken German to the shower attendant that I needed a toothbrush. By which I mean I mimed every action.

The shower has nifty button controls, but the toiletries are pump dispenser material. Water pressure and temperature was great.

There is plenty of seating in the lounge and even though this was a peak period, it was still easy to find space

I ended up locating near the bar, which was already serving drinks in full flow despite the early hour.

I knew more great food awaited on the FRA-SIN leg so I didn’t want to fill up, but went over to take photos of the spread anyway.

The food was definitely breakfast oriented but there were still some interesting choices. I mean, if you want passion fruit cake at 9 in the morning who am I to stop you.

I don’t think anything particularly jumped out at me, not least the buffet. Staring at the gloopy mess in front of me, I suddenly understood why the Germans invaded France.

Oh well.

The drinks selection was much better, fortunately. There was a sunken chiller of still and sparkling water plus bottled beer.

But why would you want bottled beer when you can pour yourself a draft beer?

Fountain drinks were also served. I see more and more lounges moving towards using a fountain as opposed to individual cans to minimize wastage and discourage people from taking stuff out of the lounge.

Several white and red wines were available, including a sparking Riesling

The buffet may have disappointed but there were fun touches as well, like a kids corner.

I helped myself to some commemorative gummies.

I suppose the overall catering was disappointing because Lufthansa is capable of amazing things when it comes to Frankfurt.

A reader told me that I should check out the Air Canada Maple Leaf lounge in Frankfurt because it was much superior, but I totally forgot about it in my jetlagged state. Do have a read of that trip report I linked to if you’re interested because it does look slightly better.

It was time to start the last leg of the journey back to Singapore, and see the Suites cabin in a different light. Morning light, as it were.