Lufthansa

We've just flown Lufthansa for the first time, from Johannesburg to Frankfurt, and soon transferring to Rome. So I thought I'd update my previous review of business class airline experiences.

Lufthansa's business class seats are better than United's (not hard!) but inferior to most of their competitors. They are the angled flat design that were the cutting edge a decade ago but which the leading airlines are ditching for true flat seats.

Qantas still have the angled seats (although they're gone for a true flat bed in their new A380's) but the Lufthansa one's aren't even as good as those - they're narrower and less private.

The movie system was fine - 10 inch screen with video on demand - but the food was average, and I think they have the lowest ratio of toilets to business class seats I've ever seen on a long haul flight.

But in true German style the flights all left and arrived right on time!

Our original itinerary had us making a 45 minute connection in Rome on the return trip. I'm glad I asked my travel agent to change that since just getting between terminals took a good 25 minutes - it's quite a distance, it's very poorly signposted and you have to go through immigration; since Frankfurt to Rome is inside the EU's Shengen area it's effectively a domestic flight.

And last but not least, I'm writing this in the Lufthansa business class lounge which is quite nice, but I can't post it until later. What is it about American and European airlines not being able to offer free wi-fi in their lounges?