One of Europe's Better Airlines. Review on Lufthansa

Reading all these negative reviews about Lufthansa has really surprised me. I have flown with Lufthansa from Chicago to New Delhi, and I really have nothing but praise for them. One of the things that I like the most about them is that they have more flights to India then any other European carrier, 20 flights a week total, with destinations at New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai, which makes them a very convenient airline to use.

Because Lufthansa is a partner of United Airlines, their flights depart from the United Airlines terminal at Chicago, which literally has about 50-75 counters available for checkin. This makes checking-in a much easier process than it is on other airlines. Generally, one only has to stand in line about 15-20 minutes prior to checkin. Every flight that I have ever taken with them had departed on time, and has arrived a few minutes before the expected arrival time. Upon boarding, I have noticed that the flight attendants are not the nicest people, but they do get the job done. They have never been rude to me, but I make it a point not to be rude to flight attendants in general. I have seen many passengers on Lufthansa flights yell and even swear at the flight attendants for one reason or another. It's almost as if these people expect to receive First/Business class style service, while only paying for an economy class ticket. What these people fail to realise is that there are over 300 economy class passengers that need to be served, and that they are not the only people on board. If they want that kind of personalized service, THEY SHOULD PAY FOR BUSINESS CLASS!!! If you are nice to the flight attendants, they will be nice to you (In most cases - this rule fails miserably on Kuwait Airways).

Lufthansa generally uses B747's on their intercontinental flights, and while I'm not a big fan of B747's (they are too big, and I feel cramped in them), I didnt really mind on Lufthansa. The planes were relatively new, but they lacked personal TV screens (something one would expect on airline this expensive). The seats were clean, and were about as spacious as an average economy class seat. Entertainment was pretty good (they actually had decent movies on the main screen), but I prefer having my own TV screen so I can pick what I'm watching. Meal service was average, but still not up to par with Air France. I had ordered Asian Vegetarian Meals, and I thought that they were a little bit better than OK.

Flying to India on Lufthansa means stopping at Frankfurt Main Airport, which is not a pleasant place to make a connection. The airport is HUGE, and is also kind of shabby. It's not easy to get from one gate to another, and I strongly prefer Amsterdam, Paris and Zurich's airports over Frankfurt. I have also noticed that flights to India depart from some god-forsaken corner of the airport that barely anyone knows how to find, and I really dont appreciate that. Also, the German airport staff are really not that helpful, but you really can't blame that on Lufthansa.

Flights between Frankfurt and India are generally not as good as the USA-Frankfurt flights. The planes seem a little older, and the flight attendants smile a little less. But again, its on these segments that I see passengers treating the flight attendants the worst. It's rather shameless how savagely some of this people yell at these flight attendants. Also, I think the bathrooms are cleaned less frequently on these flights...

Anyways, I really do think Lufthansa is one of the top three airlines flying into India, after Air France and (the now bankrupt) Swissair, and they are superior to other airlines like KLM, British Airways, and Kuwait (in my opinion). I will definately consider flying with them, however, their tickets are generally more expensive than those of other European airlines, (about $75-$150 more), and that is somewhat annoying.