General details
Opened: 5th July 2011
Opening Times: 5am to 9.30pm (pre-COVID)
Capacity: 300
Showers: Yes
Spa: Yes
Bar: Yes
Wi-Fi: Yes
Multi-standard Power Sockets: No
USB Charging Sockets: Yes
Wireless Charging: No
Dress Code: None
Lounge access
Lufthansa has three lounge tiers; Business Lounges, Senator Lounges and First Class Lounges.
Senator lounges like this one are only available to a select group of passengers, as follows:
- Miles & More Senator members*
- Miles & More HON Circle members*
- Star Alliance Gold passengers^
- Lufthansa / Swiss First Class passengers
- Star Alliance First Class passengers
* Travelling on a Lufthansa, Star Alliance or LH codeshare partner flight on the same day
^ Travelling on a Lufthansa or Star Alliance flight on the same day
Those departing in Business Class on a Lufthansa or Star Alliance flight are not eligible to use the Senator lounge – but instead can use the Business lounge.
Lufthansa’s lounge access policy is a little unusual, with a Star Alliance Gold member flying Economy Class eligible to use the Senator lounges, while a Business Class passenger with no status is relegated to the Business lounge, one level down.
For most airlines, like SIA, the opposite would be true!
Lounge Access
COVID-19
At the time of writing, you’ll also require proof of vaccination, or a negative COVID-19 test within the last 24 hours, or proof of recovery from COVID-19, to access this lounge.
Buy your way in
During this period of lower travel demand, Lufthansa is also selling access to its Senator Lounge for any passenger, regardless of loyalty programme status level or flight details. You simply need to have a valid boarding pass for the same day with any airline.
Access to this lounge is available for EUR 39 (around S$62). You can book Lufthansa lounge access at this dedicated site.
Location
Frankfurt Airport Terminal 1 is split into departure gate zones for Schengen and non-Schengen destinations, and as such Lufthansa operates four Senator lounges at the airport:
- Senator Lounge A (Schengen)
- Senator Lounge B (non-Schengen B gate departures)
- Senator Lounge C (non-Schengen C gate departures)
- Senator Lounge Z (non-Schengen Z gate departures)
Senator Lounge C is temporarily closed at the time of writing.
You can actually visit any of the lounges you like (assuming you are lounge-eligible), regardless of your destination or departure gate, but do note that when you pass from a Schengen to a non-Schengen part of the airport you’ll undergo an immigration and security check.
If you pass from a non-Schengen to a Schengen part of the airport, another security check is needed.
That makes it a bit of a hassle to do a ‘lounge safari’ at Frankfurt, so like most people we visited the lounge closest to our departure gate, which in our case was the Senator Lounge B, near gate B43.
While the Senator Lounge B is the smaller of the two non-Schengen options currently operating, it does boast a tended bar and a Senator Spa, neither of which you’ll find in the Senator Lounge Z.
Getting to the lounge is easy, because Lufthansa has bright orange signs directing passengers to its lounge facilities.
Opening hours
Th Lufthansa Senator B lounge at Frankfurt is usually open from 5am to 9.30pm each day, however during our visit the morning opening was set at 7am due to the limited flight schedule.
At the time of writing the morning opening hours have been extended to 6am and this may be changed further, so do check the Lufthansa Lounges page for the latest information.
Our visit
We visited the lounge prior to a Singapore Airlines flight from Frankfurt to Singapore in First Class, departing at 10pm.
That’s effectively the final flight of the day from the B section, though there are also around five Lufthansa flights departing in the 9.50-9.55pm window, including a long-haul service to Sao Paolo, so the lounge does remain quite busy right through to closing time.
First impressions
When you arrive at the lounge entrance on the departure concourse level near gate B43, there are two podiums where staff will check your entry eligibility and vaccination (or COVID test) status.
For those vaccinated in Singapore like us, showing fully vaccinated status via the TraceTogether app was sufficient.
After that it’s a short escalator ride up to the main lounge entrance, where no further entry checks were made.
Once inside there’s a service desk to the left, which doubles up as a reception during quieter hours, at which times you’ll find the podiums downstairs may be unattended.
Flight information screens are available in the lounge. Do note that no boarding calls are made, which is a blessing with Lufthansa flights departing every five minutes at certain times of day, including this evening period prior to the SQ325 departure.
COVID-19
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, mask wearing in the lounge was mandatory, though many people removed their mask once seated, which was in common with the regional restrictions for dining in Frankfurt and the surrounding region at the time, so it’s quite understandable.
Because we had Singapore mobile phone numbers, we didn’t have access to Germany’s Luca app during our stay and therefore were not able to check in to the lounge via QR code.
The reception staff therefore gave us a registration form each to fill out for contact tracing.
We completed these at our leisure once settled, since you can drop it off with the desk on departure.
Note that the Luca app does now support registration for those with international mobile numbers, so this process should not be necessary for most visitors anymore.
Storage lockers
There are 24 storage lockers you can use in this lounge if you’re travelling with bulky hand luggage or you need somewhere to store your duty free shopping, or other valuable items.
These are located on the left side as you enter the lounge, and about half of them were in use during our visit.
Seating options
We headed straight to the back of the lounge where the main seating area is located, with plenty of natural light from the windows running down one side.
It was moderately busy when we arrived at around 7.30pm, though there were still plenty of seats available and we managed to secure a pair by the window.
For those who like a view of the airport activity, these seats provide a great option for some plane watching.
The low leather armchairs are a Lufthansa lounge staple. They provide good back support if you’re working on a laptop, for example, and there’s a decent sized table between each pair for food, drinks and other small belongings.
Even when the lounge is full and you’re sharing one of these ‘quartets’ of seats with other passengers, there’s good distancing between them to ensure you don’t feel too ‘hemmed in’.
At the far end of the seating area there’s a TV lounge, probably best suited to those wanting to watch a live sporting event. While we were there, the 24-hour news was showing.
At the far end of the seating section near the TV area (and also at the opposite end nearer the bar) there are pairs of reclined loungers behind half-height privacy screens for a more relaxed experience, with a larger table for your belongings.