Review: Lufthansa’s Senator Lounge H24, Munich Airport

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• HAM76 says:

  29 Nov29 November 07:20

  G24 and G28 are Schengen lounges. G28 has a Senator lounge downstairs and a much larger Business lounge upstairs. The bar staff in the SEN lounges can mix a cocktail for you which you can’t in the business lounge. They also have a wider variety of Gins and Whiskys. The small stand has been around for some time now. It offers exactly one kind of usually fresh made food depending on the season or big events (like Oktoberfest). It’s only operated part of the day, though.

  I do appreciate that you didn’t include Rob’s standard comment about how uninspiring he finds LH’s furniture and design compared with BA lounges. 😉

• A says:

  29 Nov29 November 07:20

  I was there a few weeks back. There’s a surprisingly large selection of gins behind the bar if that’s your thing! The service from behind the bar could not have been less friendly though. I ordered an espresso and it came with a lot of huffing and puffing (and that’s not from the coffee machine!)

  • Andrew says:

    29 Nov29 November 11:49

    You don’t fly Lufthansa for the service though. Nor the antique seats. Or the SkyTrax ratings. Or the frequent flyer programme. Or the innovation.

    It’s like flying an airline where everything is retro except the livery.

    • HAM76 says:

      29 Nov29 November 23:53

      That is nonsense… I‘m an OWE and SEN. Both airlines have different strengths, but it‘s not like one is far better in every aspect. Yes, LH has a wider variety of gins and a worse selection of beers. Go figure.

• His Holyness says:

  29 Nov29 November 07:48

  A few mistakes and brushed over many things that people care about. G are all Schengen, not non-Schengen lounges. The SEN Cafe is not “grab & go” and is longstanding, not a concept. Nothing is to go. It’s a super lounge featuring all Italian products, barista coffees. You’re getting mixed up with Delights To Go, which was a vending machine concept.

  You skip over the coffee situation by mentioning its a staffed bar. Four of the SEN lounges at MUC have barista coffee, BA have this only in Concorde. Barista coffee is considered premium.
  Galleries has curry (not necesarily with meat), pies, and fish cakes. There’s much more protein on offer in the LH lounges. So give me “German food” vs British food if that’s what BA serves? BA have given up on differentiating GF and GC.
  The selection of spirits in the lounges with a staffed bar, G24, L and H is significantly greater than Galleries First, especially gin, around 15 including the incredible Boar Gin and FeverTree tonic. In L, you can get a Mojito with Santa Teresa 1796. BA only have whatever Diageo is offering.
  SEN unfortunately does not have the £20-odd champagne that BA have in Galleries.
  The lounges are CLEAN and modern, including the toilets and showers.
  L features comfortable sleeping rooms, nicer than the Cabana ever were.
  LH lounges have newspapers. They came back after Covid.
  In terms of food hygiene, cold food is properly chilled, not left out like in GF on a table.

  There’s no free-pour in the Concorde because I assume that’s considered premium, the same applies to the SEN lounges. It’s not to limit consumption, that’s for sure!

  My observation is I suspect LH are paying more per pax than BA are these days. In just the SEN Cafe, I find myself dipping the great bread in the incredible olive oils on offer.

  MUC is a delight. A total contrast to FRA. I just wish more flights to the UK went via MUC because it also means just one security in each direction, vs three in total when flying via LHR. Increased to four when you need to go from UK domestic to T3 thanks to HAL. It’s so easy and quick to pop up to H or L, or K if time allows even if you don’t have a EU Passport.

  Let’s not even get into comparing MUC F lounges to the Concorde Room.

  • daveinitalia says:

    29 Nov29 November 08:37

    “MUC is a delight. A total contrast to FRA. I just wish more flights to the UK went via MUC because it also means just one security in each direction, vs three in total when flying via LHR. Increased to four when you need to go from UK domestic to T3 thanks to HAL.”

    Where do you get three and four from? Unfortunately you need to go through security when arriving from any airport outside the UK, that’s a UK government restriction. However, doesn’t that make it two security checks (one at departure airport and the other at the connecting airport, LHR in this case).

    • His Holyness says:

      29 Nov29 November 08:50

      Connecting, a direct comparison. If you fly MAN-LHR-BER thats one, then you do BER-LHR that’s two, then LHR-MAN that’s three. If you do a T3 route you have an extra before the LHR-BUD meaning four even though you’re clean because there’s no clean route from T5 domestic to T3 departures.

      However, flying BUD-MUC-MAN would be one each direction, just two, versus four on T3 routes. Unless you want to game it and collect the 261, it’s much more stressful and unpleasant to fly BA via LHR.

      • JDB says:

        29 Nov29 November 09:03

        The additional security if transiting from T5 UK domestic to T3 is not, as suggested in your earlier post “thanks to HAL” but a decision of the UK government as implemented by the Airline Operators Committee who run the buses. It would actually be quite difficult to ensure the small number of transferring pax were ‘clean’ even if they did decide to operate ‘clean’ and ‘dirty’ buses which would in itself be hard to justify.

        • His Holyness says:

          29 Nov29 November 09:09

          Happy to be corrected. The UK is the way it is. Thankfully competition gives us options.

        • Owen Rudge says:

          29 Nov29 November 11:00

          Presumably that may still be LHR-specific, or maybe things have changed in recent years? I flew ABZ-MAN T3, then transferred by bus to T2, a few years ago and didn’t have to reclear security at MAN T2 (though did have to wait half an hour for a bus to turn up). I also don’t recall having to reclear security last time I did ABZ-LHR T5, then transfer bus to T4, but again that was a few years ago now.

        • JDB says:

          29 Nov29 November 11:25

          It is to a large extent airport specific, but in the UK, the principle is the same. Every departing passenger must have been screened by UK security. If you arrive at T5 on a domestic flight you can transfer into the T5 departure area because you are ‘clean’ but if you transfer to another terminal you can mix with passengers arriving from an international destination so you need to be re-screened. The airlines opt not to run a special bus service to avoid this which actually seems quite sensible.

          If you arrive at T5 on an international flight connecting to any other flight in T5 or another terminal, you must be re-screened.

          It’s possible in the MAN example you cite that all the pax are ‘clean’ but the LHR example sounds unlikely.

          Some international airports get round this by having gate security (effectively to re-screen transfer pax) as well as central security but that’s quite costly and inefficient. It’s also against UK policy to have mixed UK screened and UK unscreened passengers in the departure area.

    • Novice says:

      29 Nov29 November 11:34

      I’ve been to a lot of countries where there hardly was any security checks eg. In Kenya and Tanzania also actually Argentina didn’t open my luggage case just put it through machine once. Not telling me to take shoes, hat, jackets off. In fact, I don’t think I have ever been annoyed at security anywhere other than AMS and UK.

      Everywhere else just don’t hassle you but I haven’t been USA maybe they are bad too.

      I don’t mind security it’s just annoying when they apparently have latest machines and still insist on hassling people.

      And all the countries that don’t seem to care don’t have latest tech.

      I actually complained to MAN about my experience once and just got a generic response of we are sorry for your experience.

      • Novice says:

        29 Nov29 November 11:45

        Also I need to ask, how do you ensure your domestic flight from MAN- LHR is t5?

        Because I would rather go through security once. My LHR-HKG return flight is booked but I am thinking maybe I shouldn’t risk trains and just fly out from MAN.

  • Andrew says:

    29 Nov29 November 15:30

    Thanks @HisHoliness – extremely informative!

    • His Holyness says:

      29 Nov29 November 22:37

      I forgot that I noticed the Concorde Room doesn’t have a barista machine anymore… it’s just a typical push button. So another point to LH’s five SEN that have it. In FRA, A13 and B have it. Again, isn’t this supposed to be fancy?

• HAM76 says:

  29 Nov29 November 08:38

  HONs have indeed access. You can also access the FCL (not FCT) with an Amex Centurion card.

• His Holyness says:

  29 Nov29 November 08:55

  I don’t see the equivalence. HON is much more difficult to obtain than GGL which can be had for a few grand by flying cheap flights with partners like AA and doing a mere 4 BA flights in Y.
  There are zero HON miles on anything but Miles and More integrated (LH Group plus LO, LG and OU) and only in C and F.

• Bill says:

  29 Nov29 November 10:15

  I am happy to stand corrected, but contrary to the Amex website, not all Senator lounges at Munich are accessible with Amex when flying in biz, including the Senator Cafe. At least that’s my recent experience, where I was turned away twice from the cafe and the better of the two lounges in the Schengen area. Also, contrary to His Holyness, having been OWE, then Star Gold for the past few years, I’m going back to OW. Lufty’s short haul offering in biz is very poor compared to BA and AF. Everyone knows the OW alliance is the best of the lot 🙂 and having put my cash into Star and SkyTeam, everyone is right 🙂

  • His Holyness says:

    29 Nov29 November 10:31

    I agree but this is about lounges. SH C on BA is better than LH where the meals are crap. OS is good though, hot meals even on FRA-VIE. I fly only SH Y, and the lounges (except ZRH) and experiences is very good, for example seat blocking was at LH Group at least a decade before BA and being in Y Exit I board with HON, before C pax.

• ChrisBCN says:

  29 Nov29 November 10:27

  I love how the signage was made by the easyJet signwriting department

• TooPoorToBeHere says:

  29 Nov29 November 11:20

  Yep got to say I agree the food seems better than BA T5 non-CCR options. I’ve walked out of BA to Plaza Premium/Aspire before now because the only BA food options were bread or carb slurry.

  • LittleNick says:

    29 Nov29 November 19:30

    Was the Plaza/Aspire any better though foodwise? Don’t they do the same curry? Are there any other items they have are tasty or any other protein options? I find it surprising the GF doesn’t do cold cuts?

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