Lufthansa amenity kit

Quote from Lufthansa web site:
Amenity kits – our toilet bags containing a full range of care accessories for your journey – are given on all long-haul flights in First Class, Business Class and Premium Economy Class.

There days in economy class you are lucky to have a seat with padding. There is no pillow, blanket, or anything else.

Short answer- no, they do not. That said. it's still right up there with BA for my first choices of flights to Europe from Denver. I particularly like the flight non stop from here to Munich; usually a good connection from there to wherever I want to go. And the Munich airport is one heck of a lot easier to maneuver than Frankfurt.

We flew Lufthansa Vancouver to Frankfurt and Munich to Vancouver last June in regular economy. No amenity kits, but they did provide pillows and blankets.

I've always had a pillow and a blanket on my transatlantic flights, but none have been on Lufthansa. I definitely haven't seen an amenity kit.

I suggest you start to lower your expectations.

The last time I flew to Europe on economy was on Lufthansa (SEA-FRA). I had heard good things about Lufthansa, so was somewhat looking forward to it. It turned out to one of the worst flight I have ever experienced.

When I boarded the plane, there were already two kids screaming incessantly, seated right behind my row. They kept screaming all the way, without a pause, and were still screaming when I de-planed 10 hours later in FRA. Can't blame the airline for that, but it was a bad omen.

Before I even sat down, I eyeballed the seat, and it looked impossibly cramped. I slid down into the seat and thought I might start crying like those two kids seated in the row behind me: the seat was narrower than any I could remember, legroom was minimal (I'm not a particularly large guy). Worst of all, the seat sides had hard plastic parts that stuck right into my shoulders, hips and thighs. I was getting sore quickly, and they hadn't even closed the door yet. Yikes. Things went downhill from there.

Shortly after takeoff, while still climbing, and before they had turned off the fasten seatbelts sign, my wife (seated next to me) starting looking a little green. She's pretty susceptible to motion sickness (I'm not), so I had a feeling where things were headed. Before we had leveled off at cruising altitude, she was already vomiting into a bag. She filler her own air sickness bag, handed the full one to me. I sealed it as best I could, and handed her my (unused) barf bag (I don't need them, mine's always available for her as a backup). Flight attendants were now in the aisles doing drink service. I asked for two cups of sparkling water and if they had any more air sickness bags. FAs just shook their heads. The person in the aisle seat next to us, looking concerned, offered his barf bag, which I gratefully accepted. FAs continued down the aisle, my poor wife continued to wretch into bag #2, filling it. I sealed that up, and got up to go dispose of the two full ones. I asked another FA if she could provide any more air sickness bags, she said no. Really? She told me to ask other passengers if they could spare theirs, and turned her back to me. Incredulous, I walked back to my seat. My wife was just finishing filling up bag #3, still looking very green - mind you, this was about 20 minutes into a 10-hour flight. I took that bag and went to dispose it. I asked again about air sickness bags. The reply was a firm "No." I walked back to my seat and sat down. Wife had calmed down a bit, was slumped in her seat, still occasionally retching, now into one of the empty plastic drink cups we had been given. She reclined her seat a bit, and seemed to fall asleep, leaving me holding two plastic cups half-filled with vomit. Flight attendant came up the aisle, I tried to flag her down, asked if she could help me dispose of the cups. She shook her head, said "maybe use the seat-back pocket" and walked back to the galley. Ugh. I got up, carefully stepped past the guy sitting next to my wife in the aisle seat, and carried my disgusting cups to the toilet, where I dumped them. Exchanged dirty looks with the FAs now sitting in the galley, and went back to my seat. My wife was out cold. The two screaming kids were still screaming. I nudged my wife and asked her if she was OK. She mumbled that she would be OK and she just needed to sleep. OK. I settled in for the long flight to Frankfurt.

She can sleep in almost any conditions, and that came in handy. Unlike her, I never got a moment of rest, between the cramped seat and the two screaming kids. She woke up a few hours later, looking better and asking if there was anything to eat (always a good sign). The kids continued screaming, the seat continued gouging my shoulders and thighs, the FAs continued shooting me the evil eye, all the way to Frankfurt. We were glad to get off that plane.

That day I vowed I'd always fly business class after that.

And that's why I carry Ziploc bags in my tote bag -- good for SO many things during travel.

David, thanks for sharing your unfortunate flight with such humor. I laughed out loud at how you told the story and felt your frustration with the flight attendants, screaming children and the confinement in your seat.

Economy class is nothing more than taking a city bus to your destination. Sure, they might have food and drinks, which most city buses don't, but it is a commodity these days. The glamorous days of travel are gone. If you want amenities, you need to bring your own.

More comfort & freedom of movement on the M57 crosstown. :-)

I look at any flight now as just one night's bad sleep.
Sometimes very bad.
I'm concerned that the flight attendants were not concerned about the amount of vomiting your wife was doing.
That's enough to be quite dehydrated, especially inside a plane for hours.
She should have been given the chance to see a doctor, if there was one on board.

Thanks. I'll plan to have my toothbrush handy in my carry-on instead of packing it.

in economy class you are lucky to have a seat with padding.

Great line. I will have to say, though, I don't really care about amenity kits, food on planes, etc., just getting there safely and on-time. And one thing I haven't had complaints about are flight attendants. Not that I usually ask for anything, but they almost always are polite, and helpful if you need help.

I’m of the opinion that Lufthansa enjoys an undeserved good reputation. The food that we’ve been served on the flights that originate in Germany is disgusting. One example that pops to mind is a mess of sausage and sauerkraut, with no other choices, that we were offered. It might have been “soul food” to Germans, but an alternative should have been available.

On another flight, the seat in front of me must have been broken. When the occupant reclined it, he was practically in my lap. On that same flight, some passengers proceeded to get very drunk. They were very loud all through the night. When I asked the attendant to quiet them down, she just shrugged her shoulders.
Unfortunately, we wind up on Lufthansa flights fairly often, since they are code-sharers with United; and SFO is a United hub.
By contrast, when we flew Korean, we were given amenity bags with not only toothbrushes and paste, but slippers, as well. At each meal we were offered western food or Korean food; and the Korean food was actually quite tasty.

Unfortunately, we wind up on Lufthansa flights fairly often, since
they are code-sharers with United; and SFO is a United hub.

I would be delighted to find myself on a Lufthansa flight to Germany (that's the only place they fly direct from the US) rather than on United. Five years ago I took Robin, who had never flown to Europe, to Germany using my United miles. Try as I did, I could only get Lufthansa over but had to settle for United home. Robin immediately noted and commented on the inferior quality of the service on the United flight home vs the earlier Lufthansa flight.

I'm sorry that you had some unfortunate experiences on Lufthansa, but yours don't match up with mine. I've had 13 trans-Atlantic Lufthansa flights since 2000, and my experiences have always been excellent. But anecdotal reviews don't say very much. SkyTrax (www.airlinequality.com) has cataloged reviews for hundreds of travelers, most verified. Based on over 1300 reviews, Lufthansa has a 7 rating out of 10. Other airlines flying to Germany are Delta, Air Canada, and Condor, with 5/10 ratings as well as American and United with 3/10 ratings. And, yes, Korean has an 8/10 rating, but then they don't fly to Europe from the US, so that's irrelevant.

Agreed, Lee. I will choose Lufthansa whenever I can and in particular the nonstop RT flight from Denver to Munich, connecting to my onward flights there. The Munich airport is so much easier to manage than Frankfurt and since I am a terribly nervous flier, "easier" is always best for me! I mostly travel economy class and have never been offered an amenity kit on Lufthansa. They used to be waiting at our seats when we traveled on British Air but that has not been the case the last couple of times I used them.

Teresa, I have flown Lufthansa across the pond in the recent past, not sure just how long ago. I do remember what I guess you would call a complimentary amenity kit, which to me seemed mostly to be some pretty low quality and useless stuff. I guess if you don't have your own socks or eye cover or toothbrush, you might find some item useful, but I always have my own, which are better.

In almost 30 flights across the pond since 1987 (22 since 2000), I have only once been offered an "amenity kit". That was on a Condor charter flight in 1988. I think it included a toothbrush; I know it included soft slippers (I still have them). Since 2000, I've flown NWA and USAir, neither of which still exists, Delta, United, and Lufthansa - no amenity kit on any of them.

We have flown the Lufthansa Denver-Munich flight many times and find it more comfortable than United. I really prefer a nonstop to Europe rather than having to go to the east coast and change planes!