Review: Lufthansa Business Class on A330-300 Frankfurt to Jeddah

Lufthansa Business Class Review on A330-300 Frankfurt to Jeddah

In my Lufthansa business class review on the A330-330, I will be focusing on the hard product (things you can touch) and the soft product (service). The A330-300 is used for medium-range flights, and I recently rode this plane from Frankfurt FRA in Germany to Jeddah JED in Saudi Arabia. It’s a 5.5-hour flight. Due to arriving late on a connection, I didn’t get to visit the Lufthansa business lounge beforehand (This is also why they didn’t put my bag on the plane). Let’s get to the flight.

Booking Process

As I mentioned in my review of Swiss Air Lines business class, I used Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer program to book this flight. The cash price on the ticket (including the Lufthansa leg plus the prior leg on Swiss) was $6,900. At 77,500 miles + $94 in taxes and fees, I got 8.9 cents per point of value in my booking. I also needed a $44 positioning flight to start the itinerary, which became a whole mess.

This specific leg of the trip was the main reason I wanted Singapore’s friendly change/cancelation policy. I had booked a ticket to Beirut, Lebanon originally. With the major protests going on there, I knew there was a possibility of changing the itinerary. When it came time, I paid $50 and changed Beirut to Jeddah as my destination.

Lufthansa Business Class – A330-300

Boarding was mostly completed after I tore through the airport like a bat out of hell, due to a delayed connecting flight. I was the last business class passenger to board, and the cabin was less than half full. There is no first class and no upper deck on this plane. There are 2 business class sections, separated by a galley and lavatories.

I was in 2A, a window seat. The front cabin had only 5 rows, 30 seats. The cabin features a 2-2-2 layout, and I’ve definitely read numerous complaints about this layout. In the middle section, the seats point in toward each other, and people complain about a lack of privacy in general in this cabin. With a lot of empty seats on this particular flight, no one shared with a stranger. I had the seat next to me to hold my laptop, pillow, and blanket while not using them.

I will also add that the front lavatory, near the cockpit, is next to the crew rest area. Because of this, there’s constantly a “crew only” sign on the curtain preceding the lavatory. It looks like you aren’t allowed to go here, and passengers were confused about whether the toilet was off-limits.

Lufthansa Business Class Review: Hard Product

The seat was comfortable. While not exceptional in any way, it was comfortable. The foot space was excellent, and I never felt cramped at all. There’s a reading light over your shoulder that swings out and is adjustable. I didn’t even notice it until we were leaving the plane.

There’s also a large foot rest area when laying flat in your seat. Since there’s no cover over this area, and it’s wide, your feet don’t feel trapped.

There are easy-to-use seat controls to adjust the position, and I liked adjusting the firmness/softness of the seat to my preference.

Storage can be improved

Storage is minimal. If I hadn’t had an empty seat next to me, I don’t know where laptop storage comes into play. By my left armrest (next to the window), there was a small compartment with the airline headphones. My right armrest opened up for the tray table and entertainment system remote control.

On the back of the seat in front of me, below the entertainment screen, there’s a pouch for magazines and the safety card. It was too thin and too narrow for a laptop. Below this, there’s a small space holding a bottle of water and the amenity kit. While a laptop can sit here and stick out half way, I was told to remove it and close the bin for take off.

The armrests between the 2 seats have a USB charger and universal socket for charging your devices.

Personal Entertainment System

The personal entertainment system had a good variety of movies, games, and TV. It also had audio books to listen to. The remote control has a touchpad to roll under your finger to move the pointer and choose what you want on the screen. It took me a while to master this and use it efficiently.

The screens were a decent size, but newer planes have similar sizes in premium economy, so I found it pretty standard — not great. It gave me the impression this might be an older plane.

Lavatories, Toiletries & Amenity Kit

The business class lavatories were stocked well with mouth wash, wet wipes, toothbrushes & toothpaste. There were even individually-wrapped combs. While the products on offer weren’t abundant, they had anything you would need, including lotion that smelled quite good.

The amenity kit had a nice touch that I hadn’t seen before: cloth covers for the headphones. If you use the airline’s headphones, others have used them before you. I usually don’t use them, but this brings up a great point: those probably don’t get cleaned too often. Here’s something to put over them. It also had your standard socks, toothbrush/toothpaste, lotion, ear plugs & eye mask. My sister-in-law loves when I travel business class, because she is the happy recipient of these kits.

While not overly impressive, the hard product did have good length (pitch) for laying down and a wide range of entertainment offerings. It lacked storage space for a laptop, would be cramped if seated next to a stranger, and the lavatory layout situation wasn’t optimal for customer experience. “Average” would be a good word for the hard product.

Lufthansa Business Class Review: Soft Product

Imagine visiting your favorite aunt when you were a teenager. Not grandma, not parents. They can offer too much if they haven’t seen you in a while. Imagine your favorite aunt who offers you food but also knows to leave you alone when you’re working on your laptop or watching a movie. That’s how I’d describe the fantastic service I had from the flight attendant. She’s right there when you want her but disappears when you don’t want her around, and she somehow knew exactly when those times were without me telling her.

One flight attendant greeted me, said goodbye, and did everything between. This provided a seamless experience throughout the flight. Maybe it was a benefit of having a mostly-empty cabin, but I also attribute this to not having multiple staff members assisting me–something Swiss could learn from. She knew what I’d had and not had for the meal. She knew which item I’d chosen from the bread basket in the first pass and asked if I wanted the same in the 2nd pass. Yes, bread basket. Hot breads of all types. The pumpkin seed wheat roll was fantastic.

Meal Offerings

I received a menu like everyone else, but the flight attendant knew I’d requested a special meal. She told me I was still welcome to choose anything from the menu, a la carte, if I wanted to customize my meal at any time. The menu was in English, German & Arabic. There was also an extensive drinks section.

The menu offerings were varied with a few different regions of the world represented. Lufthansa also offered the express meal service. If you want more time to sleep or work, they have a pre-prepared meal set that you can get quickly to get it over with.

Meal Service

I received a Middle Eastern mezze starter, roll & salad to begin with. This picture is before the bread basket, and that pumpkin seed wheat roll didn’t last long enough for a picture. I don’t know what to call them, but Germany is known for those packages of…spreads. They smell like cat food, are quite salty, but are delicious as all get out. I was happy to see one of those on my tray (orange container).

My hot plate: I have no idea what it was, but it was amazing! There was a corn mash with lots of seasonings and vegetables. Eating this on a cold day would make you feel great. There was also a ratatouille of sorts with veggies and jackfruit. The tomato sauce in this was spicy, which surprised me. I lived in Germany for 2 years while in the army and have never known Germans to make spicy food. Maybe it was special just for me. I love spicy food.

The food service and the service from my flight attendant were both excellent. For me, the soft product is definitely a 9/10. Lots of smiles, not bugging me when I wanted to be left alone for a movie or getting work done, but right there in a moment’s notice when she thought I was looking for her. Plus, a genuine, heartfelt “thanks for flying with us, enjoy your holiday” goodbye from her.

It wasn’t the best hard product in the world, but the service puts it in “would fly again” status.

Final Thoughts on Lufthansa Business Class on the A330-300

I understand why people might not like this offering. This is for medium-haul flights, but it could be tough getting to the aisle from the window seat if a stranger is asleep next to you. The flight is long enough that the person might lie down flat, so would I jump over this person to go to the toilet? Lack of direct aisle access is an issue for window seats here. The way the 2 seats in the center section point inward toward each other is a bit strange, also. The seat itself isn’t impressive but isn’t bad. The service I had was fantastic, though. I’m writing a message to Lufthansa to mention this employee and how great she was. Final takeaway from my Lufthansa business class review is “I would fly it again, but I would hope the flight is also not completely full.”