At its Frankfurt Airport hub, Lufthansa operates about a dozen lounges for business and first class passengers and frequent flyer status holders. Without a doubt, the one that stands out the most among those is the airline’s First Class Terminal. A distant second is the Lufthansa Panorama Lounge which has a unique layout compared to most lounges.
I had a chance to spend some time in the Lufthansa Panorama Lounge prior to taking a flight to Vienna during my recent around-the-Northern-Hemisphere trip. Continue reading this review to learn more about the lounge and see what it’s like inside.
Location & Opening Hours
The Lufthansa Panorama Lounge is – together with a pair of Business Class Lounges and a Senator Lounge for frequent flyer status holders – one of the airline’s four lounges in Terminal 1’s Concourse A which is used for flights within the Schengen area. More specifically, the lounge can be found airside near gates A25/A26, on the same floor as the departure gates.
While in the past, the lounge was only open on weekdays, currently the Lufthansa Panorama Lounge is open every day from 6AM until 9:30PM. You can check the latest opening hours here.
Entry Requirements
Both business class passengers and Star Alliance Gold status holders departing on Lufthansa and other Star Alliance flights can access the lounge.
Currently, it is not possible to pay for access into the lounge by otherwise ineligible passengers.
Lounge Tour
In the introduction, I mentioned that this lounge stands out for its unique layout. The reason behind that is that the Lufthansa Panorama Lounge was opened in 2018 to expand Lufthansa’s lounge capacity at Frankfurt Airport by utilizing space previously used by an airport-operated lounge.
The previous lounge, rather than being one or two large rooms like most lounges are, had a number of smaller rooms instead. As such, walking around the lounge almost feels like walking around a hotel due to the hallways rather than being in an airport lounge.
Past the reception, there was a small entryway with a printer on one side and some luggage lockers on the other side. Past that was a customer service desk.
To the right side of the customer service desk was the lounge’s main area which was the part of the lounge that resembled a regular lounge the most.
The seating in this area consisted mainly of bar-height tables. Additionally, there were some dining tables and along the windows were a counter and some coffee tables each with a pair of chairs. The main seating area was also home to the lounge’s main buffet and drinks area (more about that in the next section).
Connected to the main seating area was a separate smaller room filled with dining tables.
Going back to the reception and turning left, there was another buffet area – this time mainly with drinks and some light bites to eat.
This area was quite small and lacked windows but at the time of my visit it was one of the quieter areas so I settled at one of the half a dozen or so tables there. There was also an entrance into a sleeping room which appears to have a few daybeds although I didn’t notice the sign on the closed door during my visit and so didn’t peak in.
Extending from this area was perhaps the most unique part of the lounge. There was a hallway leading to a number of smaller rooms.
Along the hallway were a couple of counters with whole fruits and newspapers. Mostly German reading materials – although there were some in English too – could be found in some other parts of the lounge as well.
Each of the smaller rooms was equipped slightly differently but generally included some combination of dining tables, coffee tables, sofas, and chairs.
The unique layout provided a quieter experience than a typical lounge would. There was also plenty of natural light in the rooms – and most of the lounge other than the hallways for that matter – thanks to large windows. These windows also provided, as the lounge’s name might suggest, some nice views of the apron.
In addition to the small rooms, toward the back of the hallway were also a couple of larger rooms – one with a drinks counter and another one with a lot of colorful seating.
Given that the rest of the lounge was much more low-key and “serious,” the room with the colorful seating almost looked like a completely different lounge.
Near the customer service desk were also the lounge’s restrooms. While I didn’t look for them, the lounge also appears to have four shower rooms.
One last thing worth noting is that compared to other lounges, there were very few power outlets in the Lufthansa Panorama Lounge.
Food and Drinks
As indicated earlier, most of the food and drinks in the lounge could be found in the buffet area of the main room. There was also a smaller buffet with light items in one of the smaller rooms and another drink area in a different room.
Additionally, there were some candies near the lounge’s entrance and some fruits in the hallway that led to the lounge’s smaller rooms.
Starting with drinks, there was a water dispenser. Bottled water – both still and sparkling – was available too.
Additionally, there were bottles of Coke, Coke Zero, Sprite, Fanta, and Fever Tree ginger ale and tonic water. Apple and orange juices were available too.
In terms of hot drinks, a variety of different coffee drinks and hot chocolate could be had from one of the coffee machines available in the Lufthansa Panorama Lounge.
As someone that doesn’t drink coffee, I also appreciated the great selection of Eilles tea bags and the availability of honey, fresh mint, etc.
Beer in the lounge included Beck’s and Franziskaner Weissbier on tap and the non-alcoholic versions of the two in bottles. There was also a selection of red, white, and sparkling wine.
Lastly, there were also twenty or so different bottles of liquor.
Moving over the bites to eat, there was a selection of bread. There were also pretzels – both regular and cheese. The regular pretzels are by far my favorite thing to eat in Lufthansa lounges and I couldn’t resist having two this time either.
Other cold items available from the main buffet included some salad and cheese.
In the smaller buffet area on the other side of the lounge were some more light bites to eat.
Under the theme of “Hessian tapas,” there were wraps, herbal green sauce with eggs, cream cheese with pretzels, and sausage salad with parsley. There was also a fruit salad.
All of the warm dishes were in the main dining area.
Those included two types of soup – beef broth and creamy tomato soup. Mains included chicken with mushroom sauce and couscous. There were also Belgian waffles with a variety of toppings.
Desserts included panna cotta available in the main dining area and “granny cake” available in a couple of different places throughout the lounge.
In addition to that, jars with both sweet and salty snacks – another signature feature of Lufthansa lounges together with pretzels – were available in a couple of different places around the lounge too.
Among others, the snacks included gummies, dried fruits, popcorn, and nuts.
Lufthansa Panorama Lounge Frankfurt Summary
The selection of food and drinks in the Lufthansa Panorama Lounge was decent. That said, it wasn’t too different from other Lufthansa Business Class and Senator Lounges in Frankfurt such as the one near Z-gates.
What made the Lufthansa Panorama Lounge different from the other Lufthansa lounges – and the vast majority of other airport lounges for that matter – was the layout. Rather than consisting of just one large room, there were multiple smaller rooms which provided for greater privacy and a more relaxed stay.
Because of this, on my next transit through Frankfurt, I will aim to visit this lounge rather than one of the nearby standard Lufthansa lounges when departing from one of the A-gates.
