We flew Eurowings to discover from Tampa to Frankfurt. I was curious to check out Eurowings Discover, which is a new long haul leisure airline. The Eurowings Discover experience was disappointing. Eurowings Discover has major operational reliability issues, and on top of that, the crews aren't trained to provide premium service. The crews were friendly and enthusiastic, but there were many basic service problems, which I can only attribute to a lack of training. Let's get right into the review. Most Star Alliance points can't be redeemed for travel on the airline because Eurowings Discover isn't a full Star Alliance member. On top of that, Eurowings has partnerships with Air Canada Aeroplan. Aeroplan has many airline partners. I was able to book the following in business class for 70,000 Aeroplan points and a fee of $72.58 per person. There is a departure time of 8:20PM and arrival time of 10:30AM on March 25th. The flight from Frankfurt to Venice is departing at 12:50PM.
BEN SAYS:
Eurowings Discover's business class is very similar to Lufthansa's business class. Unfortunately the airline lacks operational reliability, experienced crews, and Wi-Fi, which can greatly impact the experience.
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How I booked our Eurowings Discover business class tickets
Aeroplan points are easy to get, as the program partners with American Express Membership Reward, Capital One, and Chase Ultimate rewards. There is a new Aeroplan Credit Card in the United States which is pretty lucrative.
We arrived at the airport at around 6PM for our flight. The Eurowings Discover check-in experience was chaotic. Both Eurowings Discover and Edelweiss shared a check-in area at the same time.
The check-in agents were dealing with a lot of angry passengers after the Eurowings Discover flight was canceled. We were checked in quickly because the business class line was short.
I asked the agent to add our known traveler numbers to our reservations since I couldn't do it online. Even though Eurowings Discover is a TSA PreCheck participating airline, they weren't able to do it. Why not?
Eurowings Discover doesn't offer lounge access in the terminal, so I can't go, but the only lounge in the terminal is the American Admirals Club.
We headed to Concourse F, which is where American departs from, with boarding passes in hand. We had to savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay savesay There was a priority lane, but it wasn't open. Security took 30 minutes.
Cafe by Mise en Place is the Priority Pass restaurant at the Eurowings Discover terminal.
The layout of the restaurant and the food and drink selection are better than what you'll find in most US airline lounges. There were martinis, greek salad, and brussels sprout.
At gate F87, boarding was scheduled to start at 7:40PM. The sun was setting and it was beautiful. I liked the cockpit of Eurowings Discover.
The boarding started on time, with those needing extra time being invited to board first, followed by business class.
After boarding through the second set of doors, we were met by a young and friendly crew and taken to the business class cabin. The cabin looked similar to what you would find in business class.
The plane we were flying is an 18-year-old A330-300 that was transferred to Eurowings Discover. I had flown this exact aircraft before, when it was used by Lufthansa.
The A330 business class has 30 seats spread across five rows. It is nice that a leisure airline has the same business class as a full service airline. I still wouldn't call these seats great, because they have an incredibly disappointing business class.
The center seats are slightly to the left of each other.
The window seats are facing the fuselage. To save space, the ottomans for the seats are to the side of the seats in front.
We were assigned seats 5J and 5K, the window and aisle seats on the right side of the last row.
The seat controls were easy to use and located on the center console, which is where you can rest your arm or hand.
The controller was in the center armrest. I don't think the little black button in the center is that great of a system.
There is a small storage compartment near the ottoman, but it is not big enough to be practical.
The tray table could be folded over in half.
There were two AC power outlets in front of the center armrest.
There were no individual air nozzles on the overhead consoles. The plane didn't feel very clean or fresh, and the overhead consoles had a lot of dirt marks and scratches on them.
In terms of hard product, you think you're on Lufthansa. The Eurowings Discover logo is on the headrest cover instead of the Lufthansa logo.
Not all Eurowings Discover jets feature this business class product. SWISS business class is similar to what you'll find in the Discover A330s used to fly for Eurowings.
I was looking forward to trying that seat on the flight the previous day, but it was canceled.
The Eurowings Discover business class was very similar to the Lufthansa business class. The pillows and blankets that were waiting at each seat were pretty decent.
There was a bottle of water in the storage compartment.
Business class passengers were offered an amenity kit after they settled in. The logo was the only thing different from the standard one. The kit had socks, eyeshades, earplugs, a dental kit, a mint, and two creams from Lccitane.
Each passenger was given a menu for the flight.
Pre-departure beverages were more complex. The crew served champagne, orange juice, and water inefficiently. It took the crew nearly 30 minutes to serve these to passengers.
The flight attendant was surprised that we hadn't been offered anything after we asked if we could have some drinks.
At 8:10PM, it was announced that boarding was complete, and a few moments later the main cabin door closed. The four other seats in row five were empty. There is a method to my seat selection preferences.
The captain informed us of our flight time around this time.
I could see the A3400-300 a few gates over as we began our pushback.
The manual safety demonstration was performed. Eurowings Discover didn't have a safety video in their budget because it was launched during the Pandemic.
We were cleared to take off on runway 1L by 8:30PM. It was my first time taking a long haul flight out of the airport, and it was kind of weird because I have taken hundreds of flights out of the airport over the years.
I browsed the disappointing entertainment selection as we climbed out. The entertainment system of Eurowings is similar to that of Lufthansa.
The screen is quite low quality and the selection was limited. There were 77 TV shows and 66 movies, but very few of them were mainstream or new. The budget IFE selection was paid for by the airline.
I was watching the map for the entire flight.
Eurowings can Discover, but it seems to get that right. The map shows a plane based on the four engines, but it is not a plane the airline flies. Huh?
I guess this wasn't one of the Eurowings planes that have wi-fi. There was a portal that you could use to view the buy on board menu and read electronic journals.
When the plane was flown by Lufthansa, it had wi-fi. I am not sure if it has been turned on as a cost saving measure or not.
I will write about service at the beginning of the review, because unfortunately this is what defined the flight.
The crew was very friendly. They were excited to be working as cabin crew. They had no idea what they were doing. I want to make it clear that this is not the fault of the crew, but of management and the people doing training.
This is the reason Eurowings Discover exists, as it is an attempt by Lufthansa to lower labor costs, as these crews have all been hired under cheaper contracts. I think part of the cost cutting is not giving as much training. This was similar to flying with British Airways when they first started.
What was the problem?
The ability to get rest was what made this flight feel like a Great British Air flight.
Those were the two biggest gripes. Business class is all about being able to arrive well rested, and the speed of service on an overnight flight is a big part of that.
You can find the menu below on this flight, where dinner was served after takeoff and breakfast before landing.
The flight has a drink list.
Service was slow to start after takeoff.
The towels were distributed around 45 minutes after takeoff.
Drinks were served about an hour after takeoff. I ordered a South African wine and a sparkling water. Some cashews were served.
It took another 30 minutes for the starter to be served. There were three choices. It was pretty good, I chose the yellow beet carpaccio with smoked salmon and french cocktail sauce. There was a side salad with cherry tomatoes, sesame ginger dressing, and Feta cheese. I chose a pretzel roll and was offered a selection of bread.
The vegetarian starter was a salad with cranberries and caramelized goat cheese.
It is interesting to note that the cutlery was branded by the airline. Eurowings Discover has its own branding, while many of the service items are from Lufthansa.
It took another 20 minutes until the main courses were served. My main course was the cajun style sautéed shrimp with cream sauce. The shrimp were pretty decent, but the rice was way too heavy. The presentation wasn't great, but it's standard for these airplane casserole-style dishes.
Ford had a pan fried chicken breast. Ford said his dish was revolting and that the chicken was pink.
There was supposed to be a cheese plate with manchego and gorgonzola cheese with grapes and crackers. We shared a cheese plate because they ran out of dessert.
It was a mediocre meal. There was a lot of confusion with the service. The two flight attendants in business class swapped dishes between aisles because one cart wouldn't have something.
The way they did it was entertaining. The guy working our aisle would ask the flight attendant working the other aisle if she had a chicken dish, and she would do the chicken dance with his arms. It's a good thing.
By the time the meal was done, we were in Germany. We tried to rest. Business class seats were familiar to us. If you travel with someone, you can be close to them, but they lack privacy. The issue is not having to squeeze your feet into a small footwell.
I was woken up by the flight attendant an hour after I fell asleep, as I had taken my mask off in my sleep. Oops. I have taken a few flights since the start of the Pandemic, but never had that happen.
Having to wear a mask doesn't help me fall back asleep when the cabin is warm, and I am not a great airplane sleeper. The cabin started to get brighter about an hour later, and I really struggled to sleep. I decided to get up and do some work on my laptop.
The Eurowings Discover A330 had three lavatories, two in the galley behind the cabin and one in front of the cabin. The lavatories were basic.
The lavatories had no water for the last three hours of the flight, so anyone who wanted to wash their hands had to use bottled water. Sheesh.
The breakfast service started very early. Warm towels were distributed, along with the choice of orange juice or water.
After the crew extended the tray table and put a tablecloth on it, nothing happened for 45 minutes.
Breakfast was served 90 minutes before landing. The meal consisted of greek yogurt with muesli, fresh pineapple, orange, strawberries, and grapes, smoked ham and cream cheese, and scrambled eggs with chive, tomato, and mushrooms. I couldn't help but take one of the packets of Nutella since I find them to be so cute.
Eurowings Discover serves coffee in large cups so you get a decent amount.
Milk and sugar were presented in a cute way.
The captain told us that we would be landing in 45-50 minutes. It was a beautiful spring morning in Germany, with sunny skies and warm temperatures.
We started our descent about 30 minutes before landing and had a great view of the approach, but it was hard to get good pictures of it.
The approach took a bit longer than expected, and we ended up touching down in Frankfurt at 10:25AM.
We had a taxi that took us to our gate. I have always had a strong emotional connection to the airports, so whenever I taxi at the airport, my eyes are on the window.
The plane only recently returned to service after being grounded during the Pandemic, but it was nice to see it again.
The Boeing 747-8 is gorgeous.
There were also a couple of Eurowings Discover A330s.
We arrived at the gate at 10:35AM. We had great views of the plane as we disembarked.
We headed to the Senator Lounge prior to our flight to Venice.
The Eurowings Discover flight left a bit to be desired. The Eurowings Discover experience is similar to the business class experience at Lufthansa. If a leisure airline has the same business class as a global full service airline, it's not bad.
Everything else is the problem. We were delayed by a day, the plane wasn't in great shape, the wi-fi wasn't turned on, and Eurowings isn't operationally reliable.
It might be decent if Eurowings Discover could fix these issues. It is more difficult to fix these kinds of issues on small leisure airlines because crews are paid less and don't have much experience.
What do you think of the Eurowings Discover experience?
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