Review: Lufthansa Senator lounge at Washington Dulles

While flying YVR-IAD-ORD last week (long story) I had a pretty lengthy layover at Dulles airport since my flight onward to Chicago was delayed due to mechanical issues. I had flown through Dulles a few times in the past, but never had a chance to fully explore it, especially the A and B concourses which are newer and host the international (non-United) carriers serving the airport.

I immediately texted Rocky and asked him if I was eligible to access the Lufthansa Senator lounge at IAD. My logic was, as a Star Alliance Gold, I am permitted to enter certain Star carrier lounges as long as I am traveling internationally, which I was in-transit from Canada. A stretch, but I thought it would be worth a try.

So, I took the shuttle to Terminal B where I found the Lufthansa Senator and Business Lounge. Lufthansa offers two daily nonstop services from Washington to Frankfurt and one daily flight to Munich, and, like most North Atlantic flights to Munich, the IAD-MUC flight is a late-night departure at 10 PM, so the lounge would be open until 9:45, which was perfect.

Sure enough, I was eligible to access the lounge once I showed my boarding passes to the lounge agent, and entered. Score.

The lounge is pretty much divided into three sections: a food and beverage station, a work-friendly environment, and a sit/relax area. The work station is relatively small, but it looked quiet and private. From what I recall, passengers needed to reserve the workspaces in advance, even though they were out in the open. There are several magazine racks with a plethora of international publications and periodicals, including one published by Lufthansa geared towards Women, which I thought was pretty cool. However, there was not a single Lufthansa Magazin to be found! What is up with that!?

The sit/relax area wasn’t too crowded, and featured electrical outlets at more or less every seat, a major factor of importance. The furniture was comfy, although the seats were pretty low, and the tables adjacent to them were pretty high. This made it slightly awkward for eating and drinking, and since there was a large arm-rest in the way, it was more practical to keep my plate on my lap rather than rested on the side table.

The F&B stations were definitely a HUGE step above what is offered in the United Clubs, as there were hot and cold full-service menu items available for lounge guests. I was very impressed by the selections which, while slightly random, were very healthy and eclectic. There were tons of vegetarian and ethnic options for lounge visitors, as well as a fairly robust salad bar and veggie station.

Although the salads were pre-prepared, Greek-style, guests can add their own dressing. I particularly enjoyed the outside-box thinking with the roasted sweet potatoes and summer squash dish. Guests were also entitled to smaller finger-food items like small sandwiches, fruits, cheeses (loved the brie!) and crackers, as well as a plethora of delectable looking dessert items for the taking, and a few candy dishes as well.

I made myself a plate containing an amalgam of different items, and enjoyed a delicious cup of roasted corn soup as well, which truly hit the spot. Full marks, Lufthansa!

The bar situation looked interesting – it appeared that due to local liquor laws, guests were not allowed to serve themselves drinks, and a lounge attendant had to do the favors. I was liquored out from the wedding, so I chose to forgo this option regardless. I can’t recall which beer offering was on tap, though. My guess would be Warsteiner, but it could have also easily just as well been bud light. I’m fairly certain, though, that there was German beer on offer. It would be a tragedy for Lufthansa to NOT offer native bier in one of their global lounges!

Overall, the ambience of the lounge was nice, but I was more impressed by the vibe of the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge in Vancouver, which I had gotten to enjoy earlier that day. This one had a very “library” feel to it, but nevertheless seems like a relaxing place to work, eat, socialize, etc. before or after a flight across the pond. I did not have a chance to check out the restroom/shower facilities, but a previous post by Brad reviews these amenities in greater detail.

I did notice that customers are allowed to board the aircraft directly from the lounge, as there is a separate jetway that extends into the main entrance foyer, which I thought was pretty cool!

Scoring:

Staff: 9/10

Ambience: 7/10

Catering: 8/10

Amenities: 8/10

Noise levels: 8/10

Crowdedness: 9/10

Ease of access: 9/10

OVERALL: 8.3/10

Great marks to Lufthansa for this lounge. I’m sure in the near future, it will get a more modernized face-lift to propel it into the 21st century, but for now, it does the job tremendously and I highly recommend it if you are traveling transborder on Lufthansa, Austrian, All Nippon, Avianca, Brussels Airways, Copa, Ethiopian, Turkish, or United (int’l) out of Dulles.

That rounds up my Star Alliance lounge count to six: I have so far visited the following airline clubs in the Star system, and you can click on the links to access prior posts which discuss those lounge experiences.

United