Review: Lufthansa a la carte dining

Lufthansa Menu a la Carte

Lufthansa management has recently made some amendments regarding their business strategy: They would like to maximize their margin by offering additional benefits for your flight at an extra cost. That in itself is not a problem in my opinion. But they also recently announced that seat reservations in premium economy class will cost an additional fee before online check-in. That’s not an additional benefit but taking a benefit away and making people pay for it hence a lot of people in the comment section on our German site were rather disappointed by that. But the a la carte dining option is another story: Personally, I was pretty excited about Lufthansa’s announcement of introducing a la carte dining in economy and premium economy class at an additional cost. Lufthansa is adding a benefit here and you have the choice of either paying for that or not.

But did the a la carte dining convince? Read on to find out!

Lufthansa a la carte dining

For Lufthansa long-haul flights from Frankfurt or Munich you can now book this additional benefit. Some flights are excluded. These are mostly the medium-haul flights that come with a European business class. Read the general terms to find out which flights exactly. After you book your flight you can book this option through “manage my booking”.

Lufthansa A la carte dining Picture 1
A la carte dining with Lufthansa starts at €15

You have the choice between 7 different meals. Pricing starts at €15 and goes up to a maximum of €25.

Classic Cuisine – How was it?

I had decided for the Classic Cuisine option. After boarding but before departing a flight attendant approached me and confirmed that the food is available and everything is good to go.

One advantage is that you receive the food faster than everyone else, similar to when you order a special meal. You will also receive a unique menu card:

The food was definitely tasty and a level above economy class food (which also gets served in Lufthansa’s premium economy class). But did the food reach the quality level of business class food? I personally do not think so. The filet was not on point, not like in my SWISS business class flight a few weeks ago. The other side dishes were ok. But not extraordinary good. Nothing to rave about. No additional bread was served.

Also, the food portion was really small. I was definitely still hungry after this meal. A flight attendant tried to organize an additional economy class meal for me but unfortunately all meals were gone according to her.

Summary

Would I pay again for Lufthansa’s a la carte dining? Probably not. Neither the quality nor the portion size were very convincing to me. I just expected more at a price point of €25. I really like the idea of this additional benefit but it should be made sure that customers who are willing to pay for this are also happy in the end. This was not the case with me. Too bad!

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Comment (1)

  1. FlyingFrog says:

    … on top, each and every regular economy-tray does come with additional “cheese and crackers”, which is lacking on the “a la carte” menus. For me this is another reason to refrain from the “a la carte” option in the future.

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