Last summer, Lufthansa (LH) launched 3x weekly service between Frankfurt, Germany (FRA) and St. Louis, Missouri (STL), the city’s first nonstop to continental Europe in over two decades. This route adds to Lufthansa’s strong command of mid-market U.S. airports such as Detroit (DTW), Austin (AUS), and San Diego (SAN).

Unsurprisingly, this route was bolstered by generous incentives, both by the St. Louis County Port Authority, as well as local businesses, which take multiple forms: cash incentives, waived landing fees, and rumored guaranteed ticket purchases. With these incentives in mind, it begins to become more obvious why this is a strong strategic approach. For St. Louis-based travelers, this link across the Atlantic could represent hours of travel time saved, fewer layovers, and less risk of lost baggage.

Take for instance, STL-Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (SJJ), a relatively common path for St. Louis’ large Bosnian population.

Here’s the lowest-priced routing on a sampled Saturday, according to Google Flights:

• St. Louis (STL) to Newark, NJ (EWR) on United
• New York, NY (JFK) to Zurich, Switzerland (ZRH) on Swiss
• Zurich (ZRH) to Sarajevo (SJJ) on Swiss
• Duration: 20h38m (including a change of airport in NYC)
• $1,013 in economy as of writing

The following day, Sunday,

• St. Louis (STL) to Frankfurt (FRA) on Lufthansa
• Frankfurt (FRA) to Sarajevo (SJJ) on Lufthansa
• Duration: 14h50m
• $728 in economy as of writing

This new route represents $285 in cost savings, nearly 6 hours in time savings, and reduced risk of missed connections, baggage, etc. Lufthansa seems to agree, at least according to their VP of sales for the Americas, Frank Naeve, “Based on the booking numbers, this flight is already a success.”

I was lucky enough to take this flight (LH448) last October, from FRA to STL. I purchased an economy ticket by transferring 40,000 Capital One Venture X miles to AirCanada Aeroplan (plus $197.80 CAD, approx. $145 USD).

Upgrade Bidding

While I had booked an economy ticket, I was looking forward to using Lufthansa’s Upgrade Request feature to bid for a premium economy seat for the roughly 10 hour ride across the Atlantic. I had heard good things about travelers snatching upgrades at far below retail, so I had my hopes set pretty high.

I submitted my bid of $170.00, which was just above the minimum threshold (Around $135, I believe), but categorized as “poor” by the slider on the website.

About two days before my flight, I received an email informing me that my bid had not been accepted:

Strangely, I got the same email again the night before departure. I guess they just really wanted me to know that I wasn’t getting upgraded.

I arrived to FRA earlier than needed as I wanted to try my luck purchasing an upgrade from the ticket counter. I was informed an upgrade would be ~$450. Hmph, I’ll pass.

The Flight

My flight today would be on this roughly 10 year old Airbus A330-300:

I headed to my seat, 26K, at the front of the economy cabin. Once boarding was complete, I noticed about half of the premium economy cabin remained empty. Why would they let the seats go empty instead of accepting an upgrade bid? Surely my $170 was more than any incremental cost of a meal/amenity kit/etc. And, wouldn’t they reflect any sort of marginal cost in their minimum bid anyway? I doubt that half of the ticketed/confirmed passengers no-showed…

We taxied and took off right on time. Unfortunately, things did not go uphill from here. First, the cabin was filthy. I was astonished to see that this aircraft was only 10 years old — its battered, grimy interior felt like it could be twice that age.

My setback entertainment screen was great – when it worked (around 50% of the flight) – and I enjoyed the tail cam, especially during takeoff and landing.

Lunch soon followed: a single option of mushroom ravioli and a choice of alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages.

I do appreciate the desert and salad bowls – made of a thicker plastic that almost feels like china – and the real metal cutlery with Lufthansa branding.

The remainder of the flight was rather uneventful. The service was just OK – certainly nothing special, and far short of what I typically expect on long haul international.

Before landing we were served some sort of sandwich… squash with swiss cheese on rye bread? It was dry and flavorless, and doesn’t even deserve a photo.

Now I want to know: was this some sort of catering issue? A single vegetarian meal option and a truly inedible sandwich cannot be the norm. This was not a short flight, at over 10 hours gate-to-gate, and I was left hungry for most of the journey.

Recap

Lufthansa is the first European carrier to enter the St. Louis market in over 20 years – saving passengers time and money, and allowing them to visit farther-flung places with greater ease. Unfortunately, the hard and soft product are severely lacking on this route, from cleanliness to catering, meaning I certainly would not pay a premium to experience it again.

Justin Reiling Editor-In-Chief