Review: Lufthansa Business Class lounge at London Heathrow Terminal 2

This is our review of the Lufthansa Business Class lounge at Heathrow Terminal 2.

I managed to pop my head into the Lufthansa Lounge at London Heathrow recently on my way to Dubai with SWISS. As SWISS is part of the Lufthansa Group I had access via my business class ticket.

This was my first time in the Lufthansa lounge and I was interested to see how it compared to the other lounges at Heathrow, and especially the British Airways lounges.

Location

The Lufthansa lounge is very easy to find. After passing through a very quiet terminal (only a handful of security lanes were open, most of which were trialling the new 3D scanners where liquids and laptops can remain inside bags) the lounge is just on the right – no need to head downstairs to the main concourse.

In normal times, anyone travelling on a Star Alliance business class ticket could also choose from the United, Singapore Airlines and Air Canada lounges. Whilst the Singapore Airlines lounge is now open again, you need to show a negative PCR test to enter. These three lounges are in the 2B satellite which requires a 15 minute walk in each direction, and if you are flying Lufthansa or SWISS your flight is almost certain to depart from the main building.

A big entrance proudly announces you have arrived:

Inside the Lufthansa Lounge at Heathrow T2

Inside is a reception desk where you are asked to scan your boarding pass.

You pass through a corridor that bisects the rest of the lounge from a sort of business area with a printer. This part of the lounge seemed unused when I was there:

I wanted to get something printed and, to my amazement, I was actually able to print my documents quickly and easily. Given how unreliable these things can be I was suitably impressed!

On the other side is a lovely built-in magazine rack that is currently looking a bit sad due to the lack of any reading material. If you read Rob’s Eurostar lounge reviews last week, it is odd that Eurostar has decided that newspapers and magazines pose zero risk to health but the airlines are not yet convinced.

Exiting this little hallway you then enter the lounge proper. It is a decent size, although not massive. There is a range of seating, including bar stools:

…. as well as more casual armchairs:

I did have a quick look in the toilets. I only mention this because they had the most cloying scent of jasmine!

Apart from the business area the lounge was fairly busy – although not full – before my 8:40am flight.

Food and drink in the Lufthansa lounge

The Lufthansa lounge used to be catered by DO&CO – the same company that now does BA’s in-flight catering on longhaul – but I don’t believe it still is.

As this was still early breakfast was on offer. It is a self-serve buffet. The hot options were a little odd, mainly because it was an bizarre combination of full English items. You only had sausages, egg and a sort of potato hash:

It would have been nice to have some baked beans to lubricate it all – and bacon, and tomatoes, and mushrooms of course ….

There was also a small selection of pastries and some very pale looking bread which is unlikely to be up to the exacting standards of any German guests:

A few different cereals and yoghurts make up the remainder of the food offering. There are no cold cuts or cheese – again, not particularly German.

In terms of drinks, the alcohol was already out including wines and beers. Budweiser and Becks are on tap – it seems a shame not to showcase higher quality German beers here.

There didn’t seem to be any champagne or sparkling wine, or any other spirits.

The soft drinks fountain had been deactivated and wrapped in cling-film but you could still get cans of Coke, Fanta and Sprite, as well as some infused water:

Finally, hot drinks were available from a machine:

The Senator Lounge

In addition to the main lounge there is a further Senator lounge tucked away behind two double doors. Unfortunately, this is still closed, as you can see:

How to access the Lufthansa lounge

Access to the main Lufthansa lounge at Heathrow is free if you are travelling on a business class ticket with a Star Alliance airline that day.

You can also access the main business class lounge if you have ‘Frequent Traveller’ (Star Alliance Silver) status with Miles&More, irrespective of your travel class. This only applies to the Miles&More program – you won’t get access if you have Star Alliance Silver with another airline.

Senator lounge access is granted to Star Alliance Gold members, including Senator and Hon Circle members of Miles&More. You can also get access if you are connecting to a First Class Star Alliance flight in Germany or Switzerland.

If you don’t have Miles&More status or aren’t flying business class then you can also access the lounges with an American Express Platinum card:

• The Business lounge is open to anyone flying economy on Lufthansa, SWISS or Austrian
• The Senator lounge is open to anyone flying in business on Lufthansa, SWISS or Austrian

No guests are allowed if you are entering with an Amex Platinum card.

If none of those options work for you then you can also pay £30 to enter the lounge.

Note that, if you do hold Amex Platinum, you are also able to access the – more pleasant – Plaza Premium lounge in Heathrow Terminal 2 (review) on the lower level.

Conclusion

I was, if I am honest, slightly disappointed by the Lufthansa lounge offering at Heathrow. Whilst I like Lufthansa’s very Germanic style combination with the wooden panelling and brown leather seating I found the food and drink offering to be a bit half-hearted.

In the end, I popped down to the Plaza Premium lounge (review here) on the main floor of the concourse and ate my breakfast there. Whilst it doesn’t have any natural light they do, at least, stock baked beans.

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How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, here are the three options to get FREE airport lounge access via a credit or charge card:

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with two free Priority Pass cards, one for you and one for a supplementary cardholder. Each card admits two so a family of four gets in free. You get access to all 1,300 lounges in the Priority Pass network – search it here. 

You also get access to Plaza Premium, Delta and Eurostar lounges.  Our American Express Platinum review is here. You can apply here.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for the first year. It comes with a Priority Pass card loaded with two free visits to any Priority Pass lounge – see the list here. 

Additional lounge visits are charged at £20.  You get two more free visits for every year you keep the card.  

There is no annual fee for Amex Gold in Year 1 and you get a 20,000 points sign-up bonus.  Full details are in our American Express Preferred Rewards Gold review here.

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard gets you get a free LoungeKey card, allowing you access to the LoungeKey network.  Guests are charged at £20 although it may be cheaper to pay £60 for a supplementary credit card for your partner.

The card has a fee of £195 and there are strict financial requirements to become a HSBC Premier customer.  Full details are in my HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard review.

PS. You can find all of HfP’s UK airport lounge reviews – and we’ve been to most of them – indexed here.