September 2025. After Oscar came to London in June 2024 and I joined him there for a day, I’m now going to his hometown of Denver in Colorado. My second trip to the United States in 2025, after visiting my uncle and aunt in Wilmington, North Carolina. No, Denver is is not on foreign tourists’ mind when travelling to the US. But that doesn’t bother me. Quite the contrary. 

Originally I booked my Lufthansa flights from Brussels to Denver in economy. Then I decided to bid for an upgrade to business class for the long legs. Also: a regular ‘pay for your upgrade’ wasn’t available at that point. 

My layover in Munich, in Bavaria, in Germany, was  just one hour, and if I missed the transatlantic flight, well, business class travellers are treated better, obviously. 

But then came an email saying there was a plane swap. I would now fly on an Airbus A380. More space, so it was now possible to just pay for an upgrade. I did. For both transatlantic flights and the short flight from Munich to Brussels, ensuring me lounge access. Because on the return journey, I had four hours to kill. 

I’m not reviewing the short hop from Brussels Airport to Munich. It was an Airbus A320, in economy. We received a bottle of water. That’s it. 

Lufthansa flight LH480,
Munich Airport (Flughafen München Franz Josef Strauß) to Denver International Airport,
Airbus A380-841, A388 (D-AIMB)
Saturday 6 September 2025,
Scheduled: 11:15 CET to 13:45 MST,
Reality: 12:14 CET to 14:02 MST.

I boarded in Group 2, Group 1 being first class. I only spotted one first class passenger. 

My seat, 12A, is located on the upper deck. I was the second person of Group 2 in the jetway, but funnily, the person in front of me was my neighbour, the man in seat 12C. 

This Airbus A380 was delivered to Lufthansa in 2010 and is yet to be fitted with the new Allegris business class seat. So, in this review is about the previous seat. It doesn’t have a name. 

The seat

The looks good, at first sight. I’m happy sitting at the window, because it gives me a large storage box my neighbour hasn’t. Legroom is great. The seat control panel is a bit complicated, and you have to insist to lie flat. Don’t forget to lower the armrest (on the left with A-seats), otherwise it will feel cramped. 

I found only one USB-A power outlet and no other charge options. It’s slowest USB charging outlet I ever had. So start charging well before landing. Much sooner than you would usually do.

I had to push and pull hard to retrieve my table, which is not the most solid feeling I ever had. But the size is fine. 

The major drawback of this seat is there’s no privacy partition, so you’re stuck with a neighbour. He was nice enough though. But this (lack of) feature does show the age of the product. 

But apart from that and the terribly slow USB port, I found this seat comfortable and even better than the SAS business class seat I travelled on earlier this year. 

In-flight entertainment (IFE)

The screen is far away and can be controlled by touch or via remote control. The headphones are ‘hidden’ in a storage box and already connected. How many times is this cleaned? 

The IFE has a large catalogue. You can browse by genre or alphabetically. I didn’t really use the IFE. I put on the live tracking. Since a few years, I very often have headaches when flying. So I barely drink alcohol and I don’t feel like watching anything.

Food and service

The menu handed out promises two meals: at the start and at the end of the flight. In between, a snack zone is laid out in the galley. 

But first: pre-flight drinks. I chose the Avionic, Lufthansa’s signature cocktail. 

A classic reinterpreted – and a moment of pleasure for the start of your trip: our signature drink, Avionic. Get in the right mood for your journey and enjoy it as your welcome drink in Business Class in the future. This new Lufthansa aperitif was developed by the Ziegler Distillery in partnership with celebrity bartender and “host of the year,” Sven Riebel.

Avionic reveals notes of juicy peach and fresh citrus, wild meadow herbs and a pleasant bitter note. “Combined with tonic, the perfect long-haul companion,” according to Sven Riebel. The Ziegler Distillery and Lufthansa can look back on 40 years of cooperation, always focusing on making every journey into something special. Two traditional companies dedicated to hospitality and with a love of adventure. The result? An honorable successor to the distinctive Lufthansa cocktail of the 1950s – the Avionic. This Lufthansa signature drink will be served with a selection of high-quality nuts. Enjoy, relax, arrive – are you ready for your personal Lufthansa welcome moment?

Is it nice? It reminded me of a dark beer, which I didn’t expect. Will I order it again. Maybe, maybe not. 

Either way, it came with cashew nuts. 

After take-off, the crew came serve drinks. I ordered apple juice and water. No more alcohol for me on this flight! The drinks came with some olives and Italian cheese. 

You can see the menu on the photos. It was themed after Oktoberfest. We received a Wiesn gingerbread heart. 

I went for the trout, the chicken and asked for both the cheese and the apple strudel. It all tasted really nice and it was presented really nicely. Except the chicken. Somehow the presentation failed there. 

The meal was rounded of with some chocolates.

Mid-flight snacks and end-of-flight meal

During the flight, the crew came regularly with drinks, such as juices or water. I drank a lot of water. Mid-flight, they came with snacks. I had meatball with mustard, a slice of cake. 

Very proactive and nice. 

For the end-of-flight meal, I chose the sausage salad. It took a long while for us to be served, but the attendant apologized a few times for it. Again, it was a delicious. 

So?

It may be an old product, but I enjoyed this flight. Lufthansa has a ‘mid’ reputation, but I had a great time. Good seat, yummy food and friendly staff. It ticks the boxes. Sorry for the nay-sayers. 

The return flight

Lufthansa flight LH481,
Denver International Airport to Munich Airport (Flughafen München Franz Josef Strauß),
Airbus A380-841, A388 (D-AIMM)
Thursday 11 September 2025,
Scheduled: 16:15 MST to 10:00 CET on Friday 12 September 2025,
Reality: 17:02 MST to 10:04 CE on Friday 12 September 2025.

Again an A380, so the same seat. I sat now in 15A and I had two sideboxes instead of one for myself. Maybe noteworthy was the divider in front of me. This meant I was first in a new ‘cabin’ and served by a different flight attendant than the one tending to the row up to 14. 

The food was not Oktoberfest themed, but just autumn. I went for the salmon as a starter and the seabass as main. Of course I couldn’t resist the chocolate brownie. 

For breakfast, I chose the warm option: baked egg and cheese Menorca cake. I googled Menorca cake but what I find online is not what I got. Ah well.

I slept well on this second flight. I drank no alcohol, I took a painkiller beforehand so no headache!

Epilogue: the future

Lufthansa is going to keep using the A380 for now and has taken at least six of them out of retirement. They will retrofit Allegris, it seems.