Am I the Only one that Thinks Lufthansa is Going Downhill?

You are not. I don't fly them, but I follow a few av-geek blogs, and LH garners constant complaints and criticism.

Airlines have a very low bar nowadays. And, they cannot even reach that on any consistent basis.
I flew Lufthansa back from Vienna a few weeks ago. It was OK. But the bar is even lower in back of the plane.
We are all the the point where if one thing goes right on a flight, we are thankful.

Was just thinking the same. I read about how BA is going downhill too.

I think if you want a great plane experience you'll have to pay for it on the Middle Eastern airlines like Qatar and Emirates.

They took very good care of me when a flight attendant carrying drinks was tackled by a 5 year old in the aisle.

That was on my last Lufthansa flight (1972). I haven't needed any of the routes they fly since... good memories

If you watch YouTubers who do aviation reviews the general consensus among them all almost unanimously is that they have fallen off a cliff since Covid.

As have so many other “western” carriers unfortunately

We have flown on Lufthansa several times from SFO over the last 5 years when we flew economy, and it was better than many.
Last Spring, we flew Premium Economy, and it was not very good. Our seats were OK as we had the 2 across but the meals were bad and skimpy. And no in between meal snacks were offered on our approx. 11 hours flights. Service was Ok but very little.

The airport experience in Frankfort was bad. Deplaning on the tarmac and taking a packed shuttle bus, then long lines everywhere. Returning through Munich was a much easier airport experience, but the on-plane experience was the same. Too bad! We used to like them but unless we hear about major improvements we are out.

If my destination from SFO is Frankfurt, instead of Paris or London, then Lufthansa is one of the my 2 choices, the other is United. Between the two for that trip, I look at the other subjective factors, departure time, price.

In 2014 I flew Lufthansa, a particular flight that sticks out in my memory from SFO. It was the usual overnight non-stop flight of 11 hours in Economy but the take-off didn't take place until over one hour past the scheduled departure. Until then all was fine, normal, etc., ie., boarding was on time. This delayed departure of one hour was still a bit annoying, but no matter since FRA was my final destination anyway.

I avoid having to change planes, doing lay-overs on trans-Atlantic flights. Like everyone else I sat there, strapped in, thinking the departure would be more or less on schedule, but fell asleep for one hour. When I woke up, it was a rude awakening...we were still sitting there. weren't even airborne. I had wasted one hour sleep on the ground.

Still, as to be expected, we were one hour late getting into FRA. I don't what other passengers having to change planes did. As the plane was descending, I heard a passenger ask a flight attendant if any time had been made up, her answer was no. So, our landing was one hour late.

It's not even limited to LH, but all the LHGroup carriers: Eurowings, Belgium, and, to a lesser extent Austrian and Swiss.

This when the IAG carriers have been taking steps to improve both their soft and hard products. (In hopes of competing with Europe's high-mark, AF/KLM. But they've even got CDG and AMS weighing them down...)

LH is always a let-down. I flew them several times before and never liked them.
Frankfurt airport is a mad house and LH ground staff really don't know what they are doing.

However, I do like flying Swiss and transferring at Zurich. It's always pleasant. Austrian Airlines is also great for their business class because there is a chef on board, but its network is too small. I will try flying TAP next time to Portugal and see how it compares.

Sadly, this is the norm for all Western carriers now. My goddaughter flew Delta/KLM to Europe and it was a hellish flight(bad food, surly FAs) for her and then having to transfer in Amsterdam. My parents flew the airlines in 2019 and raved about them. Many of the airlines better employees never came back after the Covid furlough and it shows. But again, it's the people at the top who want workers to work for peanuts and have to deal with idiotic entitled people not to mention be on an enclosed airplane-maskless with hundreds of people.

When I first flew as a little girl my parents bought me the Barbie book with her being a FA and Ken being the pilot to explain what flying is like. I used to think FAs were glamorous and exciting, when now they are glorified janitors and waiters, not to mention criss managers.

I wonder whether the problems leading to poorer service and poorer airplane maintenance stem from a shortage of employees. A lot of illness now (Covid is still a factor, plus a bad flu season is underway), and possibly that's making it harder for the airlines to keep up with staffing. This could lead to problems with onboard equipment and entertainment systems, chaos when boarding, and sub-par service on board. Though I'm not sure why it would lead to horrible food or inadequate amenity kits.

But If it is related to worker shortages, maybe we can hope this is a temporary situation.

I would fly Lufthansa again from SFO basically if the price provided enough incentive to do so, otherwise I'll settle for United going to FRA. Usually, I find the service perfunctory, something to put up with for the next 11 hours once board.

We flew BA from Denver to LHR to Milan last May. The Denver leg flight was far less than full and the BA attendants in a jolly mood. It was a really good flight. We came back on American from Rome to Dallas to Denver. Those flights were full but all was on time and it was good, too. What wasn't good about the flights was that they were cancelled/changed/rebooked about four times in the months BEFORE we took our trip. That was before everybody started traveling and I'd bet the infrastructure hasn't been built back yet.