Lufthansa A-380 Premium Economy: JFK-FRA

Back in March I had the opportunity to fly Lufthansa’s Premium Economy product from New York-JFK to Frankfurt. The flight was only a segment of my friend and I’s trip to Dublin, but I had never been on an A380 and was beyond excited to do so. The flight was purchased as a round trip for $615 JFK-DUB; Lufthansa on the outbound with a layover in Frankfurt and Swiss on the return with a layover in Zurich. However, I wanted to focus on my A380 experience.

New York (JFK) - Frankfurt (FRA)

LH 401, A380-800

16:55-5:25+1 – 7 hours 40 minutes

Seat 55K (Premium Economy)

I booked the cheapest Economy fare from New York to Dublin, but used Lufthansa’s online upgrade bidding service a week before the trip to get us into Premium Economy for the JFK-FRA leg. I bid $200 for each upgrade and we received the upgrade 48 hours before departure.

Even as “official” Lufthansa Premium Economy passengers there is no special check-in line at JFK. This was no problem as we were several hours early and experienced very little wait. Security was a breeze and with how much time we had until we boarded, we exercised our “privilege” of being able to purchase access to Lufthansa’s Senator Lounge for $35. Not a terrible price, and with the amount of time we spent in the lounge it was well worth it. There was plenty of space and we certainly got our money’s worth in food and drinks.

Boarding was slightly delayed, but no more than 20 minutes after the scheduled time we were in our seats at 55 H and K (a window and isle next to one another in a 2-4-2 cabin) arranged with a simple amenity kit and a bottle of water. A flight attendant approached us to offer us juice and any other assistance we may have needed. Once we were settled, it didn’t take long for me to notice that I probably overpaid for the upgrade, considering the cabin was only half full.

I’ve seen mixed opinions on Lufthansa’s Premium Economy hard product, but I personally am a fan especially considering it’s usually quite affordable. Its pitch is noted similar to many U.S. domestic first class products at 38 inches, which was great for the 6 hour and 20 minute flight. The width, however, was slightly slim when compared to a U.S. domestic first class product (still better than any economy), but with plenty of cushion I found the seat to be plenty comfortable. Worth mentioning, I would blame the departure time on the spotty naps I got rather than the quality of the seat.

Although irrelevant to some people, the overall size of the cabin helped to avoid any feeling of claustrophobia. This was mainly due to the fact that this lower, front portion used to be a business class cabin so there was a solid gap between the window seat and the actual window large enough for me to crawl through rather than crawling over the aisle seat. Of course, no one was sitting behind us.

An Economy/Business-Hybrid-with-emphasis-on-economy meal was good and fulfilling. And of course, the Lufthansa crew and service met the high Lufthansa standard.

Considering the overall price paid for the entire trip, I believe the overall price for Lufthansa’s Premium Economy to be well worth it, no matter how much less I could have potentially paid. The overall comfort of Lufthansa’s A380 premium economy was good, and the high-quality service only added to my first A380 experience.