Trip Report: Holiday Cheer in the Lufthansa Frankfurt Senator Lounge
After a good rest at the Barceló Sants hotel and short trip to the airport, I checked in quickly at the Lufthansa/SWISS/Austrian counter, went through security, and had some time to browse the shops in the terminal. There were actually some pretty decent stores in Terminal 1, with a good selection of food gifts (though prices were a lot higher than the department store El Corte Inglés).
I was kind of hungry by now, so headed to the Pau Casals lounge, the shared lounge on the upper level. I had my usual toast with pate, toast with tomato and olive oil, and water, and this time supplemented it all with a single slice of chorizo. Daring!
Before long, it was time to board the Lufthansa A320 bound for Frankfurt.
Nice views passing over the Alps…
On board, there was a choice between sweet pastry (I think it looked like a pound cake?), and a cheese sandwich. I’ve got to hand it to Lufthansa. They often serve cheese sandwiches, but I’ve never had a repeat cheese sandwich; they must have a repertoire of thousands of cheese sandwich recipes! According tot he label, this was a “sunflower bread with mountain cheese.” I accompanied my sandwich with tomato juice and a water.
Our flight was actually delayed by about an hour, due to foggy conditions in Frankfurt. I wasn’t stressed at all, because my 5 hour 20 minute layover was simply shortened to more than 4 hours, haha. When we landed, Frankfurt looked a bit foggy still.
We disembarked pretty far down one of the “arms” of the A gates, but that meant that we were actually very close to one of the smaller passport control areas, where there was hardly any line! A very fast immigration process then led to a very long walk to the Senator Lounge, in what I call the armpit of the terminal. I don’t mean that in a derogatory way - it’s simply the way the terminal is shaped!
Inside, the Senator Lounge was decked out in holiday spirit!
Perhaps apropos of the holiday season, they seemed to have even more desserts than usual. There was a baked apple on offer, along with an “almond biscuit mousse with orange fillets and brittle,” and a “hazelnut custard with apple-cinnamon compote.”
Besides those, they also had a manned station with a lady scooping candied peanuts into paper cones. These were delicious - a candy shell softly gave way to a fragrant peanut.
At that station, the lady also dished out roasted chestnuts. I love the Christmas spirit here!
For savory items, I took the typical Frankfurter, a phyllo roll stuffed with spinach, and a cheese pretzel. The lounge always has pretzels, but I’d never seen cheese pretzels on offer before. They appear to be simply a square slice of cheese baked on top of a pretzel, and mine was as delicious as that combination sounds. The cheese becomes nice and crusty, especially in the open areas of the pretzel where it comes in contact with the baking pan.
I also had a beef and vegetable stew, for the vegetables.
The mousse was good - I like the texture of the mousses from Lufthansa (they serve them a lot both in the air and on the ground).
The hazelnut custard, on the other hand, was a bit strange. The custard was more gelatin-like, and pairing it with the apple compote was a strange flavor combination.
There are always jars of candy available in the Senator Lounge, but I had room just for a single cola bottle and to try this stick-like candy I hadn’t seen before. It turned out to basically be a sour, powdery sugar candy, kind of like a Smarties in stick form.
I always enjoy passing through the Senator Lounges in Frankfurt, and I always expect something Christmassy from Lufthansa. I remember flying them to India over Christmas one year, and having goose as a meal option. And they usually decorate their planes with Christmas wreathes too. Last year in the lounge, there was a red and green selection of gummy candy. The Senator Lounge certainly did not disappoint this year!
