After my excellent Lufthansa flight from Toronto, I had a few hours in Munich before continuing to Frankfurt and beyond. I planned spend the layover in the Lufthansa First Class Lounge Munich, which I could use as a passenger arriving on Lufthansa in First Class with an onward flight.
Lufthansa First Class Lounge Munich Entry
Opon arrival, an agent met me in the jetway, and escorted me through security, and given directions to the lounge. I have visited here before, but it had been several years. This lounge is similar in design to the First Class Lounges (and Terminal in Frankfurt, but is pretty small. Food is excellent, but not as outstanding as the Frankfurt lounges with DO&CO catering.
Lufthansa First Class Lounge Munich
After a short night of sleep, and it being the wee hours at home, I was a little groggy. I took a seat, and received a warm greeting by a lounge attendant. My attempts to respond to her in German were brief, mostly since my skills in that language are extremely limited even if my brain wasn’t fogged with jetlag. She happily addressed me in English and I ordered some juice. I got online to catch up with the world while I was flying. The flight from Toronto had wifi available, but since this was a leisure trip, and I didn’t have any pressing need to be online, I opted to just enjoy the service unplugged.
Showers
I also wanted to freshen up after the overnight flight, so I headed to the shower rooms. 
Design wise, these rooms are identical to the First Class Lounges in Frankfurt, white marble walls, and black/grey floors. There is a bench and some hooks for hanging clothes, etc.
The showers are great, with a handheld sprayer and a rainfall showerhead and have lots of pressure. Once feeling cleaner and somewhat more awake, I returned to the lounge and had a more complete breakfast.
Although it wasn’t very busy for the relatively short time I was there, I have heard of it getting pretty crowded. This is an excellent lounge, and I intentionally planned a longer layover here so enjoy it rather than to fly to Frankfurt right away.
Of course I got a duck…at least now I have a daughter to collect these for. Yeah, that’s it.
No car ride to next flight
Once it was time to board I returned to the reception area, got my passport stamped, and then headed towards the gate. Somewhere along the way in the terminal I saw this billboard which entertained me. Such a natural pose by the footballers of Bayern Munich.
“Gut. Besser. Paulaner”
Lufthansa Business Class to Frankfurt
There are almost hourly flights between Munich and Frankfurt. Even so, my flight in an A321 was nearly full. I sat in Business Class, which was a bit of a shock sitting on a Recaro ‘park bench’ seat after my last flight. he flight itself was a typical short Lufthansa flight. Service was efficient, and the meal pretty impressive for only about 40 minutes in the air.
Not removing the plastic from the salad is a faux pas but there wasn’t much time
Transiting Frankfurt
I didn’t have my Thai Airways boarding pass, but based on past experience, I knew they rarely make first class passengers walk through terminals. I was curious how this would play out. Once in Frankfurt, we landed at a dreaded bus gate. Unlike a bus gate in Zurich, there isn’t any special designation for Business Class passengers under normal circumstances. Once packed onto the bus, we headed to somewhere in the maze of Frankfurt Airport.
Once off the bus, I saw a Thai Airways representative with my name on a sign. She said we had a bit of a walk, and she wasn’t kidding. There are tunnels, hallways, elevators and more. I was fine with the walk before sitting on another plane or 12+ hours, but another Thai First Class passenger with us was a bit older than me, and it was clear she was not happy about it.
I feel like I’ve seen lots of Frankfurt airport, but this tunnel was new to me.
We headed for the Lufthansa Senator lounge near gate B43 to wait for the flight to Bangkok which was only a few minutes from the departure gate. Unfortunately, since I didn’t have a boarding pass, I couldn’t get in to the lounge. The gate wasn’t open yet, so I couldn’t get a boarding card there or at the transfer desk. I spent about an hour waiting for the gate to open, but I finally got my boarding pass, and headed back to the lounge to get the requisite pretzel (but no frankfurter this time). There wasn’t much time in the lounge long before the Thai Airways representative returned to escort us to the gate. I won’t review this lounge here, but be sure to see James’ excellent review of this Lufthansa Senator lounge.
Next Stop, Bangkok
In all, it wasn’t the smoothest transit experience. Frankfurt is a huge airport, and transit can often be a challenge. There wasn’t a buggy to move passengers as I’m more used to as a Thai First passenger (even in Hong Kong), and even having an escort to guide me, it was not ideal due to long walks. Having a boarding pass ahead of time would have made it a little more leisurely, but despite my efforts, it couldn’t be printed earlier in my journey.
Thai Airways A380 arrives in Frankfurt
Next up was my flight in Thai Airways Royal First Class onward to Bangkok. I have flown in Thai First before, but never on their A380, and needless to say I was quite excited.
Other posts in this series:
- Air Canada to Toronto and The Maple Leaf Lounge
- First Class all to myself: Lufthansa Inaugural Toronto to Munich
- Munich Lufthansa First Class lounge then transiting Frankfurt
- Thai Airways Royal First Class on the Airbus A380 Frankfurt to Bangkok
- Thai Airways Royal Silk Business Class Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur
- My time in Kuala Lumpur and at the Le Meridien
- Malaysia Airlines economy from Kuala Lumpur to Siem Reap
- The Le Meridien Angkor, my home base in Siem Reap
- A Picture Tour of the Angkor Wat Temples Around Siem Reap
- Best Western Amaranth for a short layover in Bangkok
- Thai Airways Royal First Class Lounge and Spa
- Thai Airways Royal First Class Bangkok to Hong Kong
- Cathay Pacific Business Class Lounges in Hong Kong
- Cathay Pacific Business Class Hong Kong to Seoul
- Hyatt Regency Incheon Airport
- Asiana Airlines First Class Lounge in Seoul
- The only passenger in Asiana Airlines First Class Seoul to Frankfurt
- The best lounge in the world? Back at the Lufthansa First Class Terminal
- Lufthansa First Class with a seat and a bed Frankfurt to Toronto
