The LuxxLounge at Frankfurt sounds like it would be a luxury place for travelers to relax in a tranquil and elegant environment, maybe even offer guests some of the finer things in life; after all it’s the LUXX lounge. The lounge is the only Priority Pass lounge in T1 and serves airlines such as US Airways, Qatar, Condor, Airmalta and others. Unfortunately, it is everything but luxurious, and instead, entering the lounge is like entering time warp into a dark 1940s cigar lounge –without the antique furniture and vintage art work.
The lounge is located landside, providing easy access to travelers at FRA as not all the airport terminals are connected airside. Despite this, it also means that one must leave 30 minutes before boarding time to pass through security and immigration, which means no relaxing after what can be a stressful ordeal.
The lounge offers two different sides/areas, but when I visited the left side of the lounge, it was closed and all travelers were directed to the right side of the lounge. The first room offered is a cell phone free room with large plush chairs and mini end tables to rest your drinks or food on. There is a small hallway off the back of this room the lead to the toilets and showers and then the hallway opens up into a small kitchen.
quiet zone below, normal lounge above
In the kitchen, a decent but small alcohol selection is available for guests. The selection is nowhere near as vast as what can be found in a BA galleries lounge, but still sufficient. Beer, wines, spirits, and liquors are self-serve and for those who want something better, a champagne menu is available for purchase by the entire bottle. Inside the kitchen, light snacks are offered which includes the famous frankfurter (hot dog – YUCK!) bread, cheese, nuts, dried fruit, and cookies.
me taking a picture of the alcohol 🙂 and the hotdog warmer
Off the kitchen is another room that replicates the room in the front, but is not a cell phone free room. This room also has large plushy chairs and mini cocktail tables. In the back of this room, in the far corner, is a small computer work area for those who need desk or to use a computer.
I gained accessed to this lounge when flying on an economy class award ticket from Frankfurt to Budapest on Lufthansa and used my Priority Pass membership, which is free to enter with my American Express Platinum Card. The lounge may be dark, offer no runway views, and has clearly not been remodeled since the early 80s, but it beats sitting in a crowded airport terminal. It’s nowhere as nice as the Lufthansa’s lounges at FRA or even the SkyTeam lounge in T2, but it still at least offers free internet, snacks, and drinks. It’s an embarrassment of a lounge for an Airline like Qatar to use (as they have been named world’s best airline and are a 5 star Skytrax airline), but is more appropriate for low cost carriers like Airmalta and Condor to call home.
