Trip report: Frankfurt to Warsaw on Lufthansa intra-Europe Business Class

I was recently in Warsaw, and I had flown Lufthansa's new business class offering on their A340-300 service from MAA to FRA. I also experienced extremes in lounges, and I'm glad to say that next time I fly out of MAA International, I'll be quite happy to skip the lounge!

After spending some time in one of the Lufthansa Business Lounges in FRA, I headed towards my boarding gate, albeit a little early. This allowed me to do some planespotting. What was particularly great was the fact that my boarding gate was on a concourse right across from the A380 concourse - so it was a wonderful sight to see all those massive birds lined up, and even more filing in and out of the terminal.

The gate area for my flight was packed, so I went to find a seat at the adjacent gate, which was quite empty. 

Since I had a bit of time and was feeling a little drowsy from the lack of sleep on my way from MAA, I decided to pick up a beverage. There are complimentary vending machines in FRA, that dispense coffee, tea and hot chocolate...this may well have been around for some time now, but was a first for me...and suddenly, FRA is a very friendly airport!

Sipping on my hot chocolate, allowed me a dekko at the flight I was going to board in a few minutes. They were loading it initially, 

but I got a clear view soon enough.

So, I'd be flying an A-321-200 to WAW, and the closing of the loading door told me that we'd be boarding soon. I was flying business class, and so I was one of the first to board.

I had to remind myself that we were flying business class in Europe, where business class meant economy class with the middle seat blocked off.

We waited for quite some time before all passengers had boarded, but I spent my time looking out of the window and taking pictures.

I was in the first row in business class, so the seat trays were a little different from the ones in the other seats. I remember thinking how efficient this system was, and would Indian airlines introduce this? Incidentally, the leg-room was also quite decent, in spite of it being a first row seat.

In a little while, the lead purser came up and introduced himself to the 5 of us in business class. He also mentioned that the meal service wasn't exactly lunch (this was a 11.50 am flight for 90-odd minutes), but that we should expect some sort of snack. That worked quite OK for me, after breakfast in the lounge. In a little while, we took off - almost exactly at 11.50 am by my watch. Trust the Germans!

We were soon at cruise altitude, and we had great weather through the flight.

The meal service started pretty soon, and how could I miss out on my favourite tomato juice? But I was also flying business class, and so it was champagne time too - again!

Food service followed, and it was exactly as the purser had promised - more of a snack than lunch. There was no menu, no choices. The plate was sort of like a meat and cheese taster, with some bread, dessert and some pralines. In particular, the goat's cheese was excellent - and something I'd taken a great liking to, throughout this trip.

The rest of the flight was rather uneventful, and we begun our descent into Warsaw.

After overflying the fields for a while, the cityscapes started coming into view.

Soon, we touched down, and headed into the terminal.

It was a fairly long walk from our landing gate to the baggage carousel.

However, there was hardly any wait at all for our bags - I was one of the first to get to it from the plane, and my bag was already halfway down the carousel. After collecting my bag, I moved over to the arrivals area, where I had booked for a taxi to transfer me to the hotel. 

Next stop, the Intercontinental Warsaw!