Flying with Lufthansa – How it Went During COVID

We flew several international routes with Lufthansa during the COVID-19 pandemic. What was it like onboard? Find out here.

In June we took two international Lufthansa flights in order to get from California to Finland. Since my family is in Finland, and we haven’t been able to visit them nearly in two years now, we figured that it was time to do our very first pandemic flight.

It was a long journey since we first flew from San Francisco to Frankfurt, and from there to Helsinki. But now that we are fully vaccinated we felt more comfortable traveling and seeing my elderly parents. We were so excited to finally be able to go there.

But planning this trip didn’t come without a stress. Our very first flight with Scandinavian Airlines got cancelled a week before our departure. So we ended up booking Lufthansa instead. And even those flights got re-scheduled twice. But finally we got to sit in the plane and off we went.

So if you are wondering what it’s like to be flying at this stage of the pandemic, or to be flying with Lufthansa during covid pandemic, here is our experience:

Our first attempt

Originally, I booked us the same Scandinavian Airlines flights via Copenhagen that we had taken to Finland before. Looking back, it might have sounded a little too perfect to be true.

When traveling long-haul with kids, flight times suddenly matter a lot more. We usually prefer evening departures and kids can then sleep through part of the long flight and wake up refreshed for the next leg. It also makes life easier when you don’t have to be at the airport t dawn with sleepy little ones in tow.

Scandinavian Airlines offered what looked like the ideal schedule, and the best prices. I double-checked everything carefully, even confirming from the airport’s on own website that this route had indeed been operating.

Unfortunately, less than two weeks before departure, our connecting flight from Copenhagen to Helsinki was canceled, and they weren’t able to offer anything to replace it. To their credit, the service from Scandinavian Airlines was friendly throughout, and the refund was back on our credit card within a couple of weeks.

FLYING LUFTHANSA DURING PANDEMIC

After Scandinavian Airlines cancelled our flight we decided to book Lufthansa instead. Based on other peoples’ experiences, they seemed to be most reliable with their flights and had been flying to San Francisco during the whole pandemic.

About two weeks before our vacation, there was still plenty of options to choose from with Lufthansa. All though, they did change our return flights couple of times but it was nothing major. It became a habit to us to check our emails first thing in the morning. We were always scared of seeing the airline sending us emails since it usually ment something had changed again.

It had been a while since we flew with Lufthansa, and I only really remembered that their customer service had always been great. This time however, our experience at the airport started with the rudest gate agent I have ever met.

Since we had not been able to do the online check in before hand, which according to their webpage was mandatory, we were told to arrive to the airport 4 hours prior to our flight!! Yes, it sounded a little extreme to us too, but we didn’t want to miss our flight! The check in at the airport was not even open yet, and the agent at the desk wouldn’t even listen to our concern.

However, we later found out from other travellers, that no one had been able to check in online. Oh well, at least we were the first ones on the line when the check in finally opened!

Before the check in they checked that everyone had negative covid test results. Right before our trip the rules changed so that Lufthansa would accept covid vaccine certificates too. However, they seemed to be much more interested in the test results than the vaccine cards.

Since we were traveling with kids who needed a test anyway, we decided to test the whole family. I also didn’t want to risk anything since I hadn’t heard from anyone who traveled with the vaccine card yet. This way, we also didn’t have to get tested in Finland upon the arrival. The rule there was that everyone arriving who had not been tested before the flight had to get tested at the airport.

Lufthansa is advertising contactless check in on their website but at least we didn’t see any of that. Passports were checked at the check in like usual and boarding passes were on paper like they used to. Also in Frankfurt we had to give the boarding passes to an agent who scanned them at the gate and handed them back to us. So I’m not quite sure where this contactless check in is used.

Boarding to the plane in San Francisco was a total chaos. There were no social distancing what so ever. The same gate agent from the check in ran over to scream at people, and it was far from the customer service we are used to getting from Lufthansa. After all, they are the ones who had organised this so poorly.

I understand that many airlines are short in staff and the times are stressful for everyone, but screaming is not helping. It made me quite sad that things are taking a toll on travel industry and we are likely to get more low quality service on flights in the future. Luckily, since we were traveling with kids, we were able to board quickly and got away from that chaos.

The flight itself was quite pleasant and there was not much difference on flights before the pandemic. I was thinking that they might have a little “pandemic bag” with sanitizer and masks waiting for us, but there wasn’t. Pillows and blankest were on the seats like before, and ear puds were handed out like always.

They did check that everyone was wearing masks during the flight and fabric masks were not allowed. In the beginning of the flight they handed us some sanitizer wipes. Other than that, most everything was like normal and the flight was nearly full. It seemed though, that they did try to leave an empty seat between strangers when possible. That was nice.

In over all it felt almost like nothing had changed on the flight. The only noticeable difference to flights before covid was that there was no service in between the meals. They did hand our some water bottles and ice cream but after that, there was no sales at the cabin until the next meal. There also was no warm wipes that they used to hand out before meals. Now it was just a wipe on a tray and those few that they gave us after boarding. So we ended up using a lot of the hand sanitizer we brought.

During the meal they served beverages and alcohol as normal, but there was no coffee after the meal like there used to be. I though that was odd. However, on our flight back to the U.S. they did have it. And I definitely need my coffee on a flight with kids!

Also getting out of the plane had changed a bit. We were told to await on our seats until our row was called. This was a little a bit of a hassle since getting kids ready to go takes time, and now we had to jump up when we were called, get our things and go quickly. We used to often wait until most people were gone before exiting the plane.

Funny enough, even with kids we still did better than those few who got up and started gathering their bags as soon as the plane stopped. Flight attendants had to yell at them and we all had to wait for them to return to their seats. Some people just don’t know how to wait!

Our layover in Frankfurt was about three hours so we had plenty of time to eat and have some coffee. Before boarding to our second flight they asked everyone to stop by at the gate to show their travel documents. That ment the passport of course, but also the covid tests and permission to enter Finland. Luckily, we had everything we needed and were able to board.

Our flights back also went well at the end of the summer. We were on a same route via Germany to California, and since we had an early flight, we slept most of our long flight. On this flight the regulations were still in place. We ended up using the BinaxNOW home covid tests which were great with kids, and are approved for the flights. I highly recommend them!

✈️✈️✈️

I must say, that organising this trip has been the most stressful experience of any trips I have ever made. Partially because I was so anxious to go, but also everything seemed to be changing faster than I could keep up.

Usually, when we are traveling we are planning fun things to do and things to see, but this time we just wanted to get to Finland to see my family. So the fun part of planning was completely missing. It was difficult to find reliable flights and to find the information of requirements for each airline and country. I definitely miss the good old times when we just booked the tickets and hopped on board!

I think our most comfortable flight ever has been our flight to Japan with All Nippon Airways, and this experience was so far from that. All though, it was because of the circumstances, not because of Lufthansa.

We were so happy to spend a summer in Finland and my home town, Kokkola again. It felt amazing to be there! Summer went by so quick and we are already waiting for the next one. Hopefully, without COVID restrictions in the future.

What is your experience of flying during pandemic?

Disclaimer! This was our experience at Lufthansa and each flight might be different. Rules and regulations change fast now, so please check everything from the official channels before flying.

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