- Star Alliance Lounges, London Heathrow
- Lufthansa City Airlines LHR-MUC
- Lufthansa MUC-LIN
- Lufthansa Senator Lounge K11, Munich
- Casa Brera, Milan
- Runway Lounge, Milan Linate
- ITA Airways LIN-LCY
This is the second weekend of my Lufthansa 100K miles challenge, done in one go! The remaining three airlines were Lufthansa, Lufthansa City Airlines, and ITA Airways. Starting the first leg from Heathrow meant another chance to do a tour of the Star Alliance lounges.
Similar to Oneworld in T3, Terminal 2 has as many as four Star Alliance lounges. If you have enough time, you can visit all of them. The Lufthansa lounge is the closest, right after security, with the Aer Lingus lounge next door.
If you are a Star Alliance Gold member, they provide a small slip of paper that can be scanned to enter the “room within a room” that is the Senator Lounge.
In reality, the decor and food are exactly the same, it is just a bit quieter. The food didn’t look very appealing to me.
The other three lounges are all located in the further satellite building, T2B, so many people stop by Lufthansa first. A notice at the door specifically mentions that during peak hours, passengers flying with those three other airlines may be refused entry.
Getting to T2B is manageable thanks to the moving walkways; I am a fast walker and got there in six minutes, though the return journey requires walking the whole way and is more tiring.
United Airlines:
Air Canada, best know for serving Moutai (expensive Chinese liquor):
Singapore Airlines:
I was definitely here for Singapore Airlines. I had seen on social media recently that they were serving Laksa, which had me really excited! Unfortunately, it was a different South Asian theme that day, though it was certainly better than what Lufthansa offers.
A cocktail paired with ice cream is pure bliss:
The bathrooms even have smart toilets:
Last time I visited, the Singapore lounge was packed, but this time it was rather quiet, likely because it was a Saturday with fewer business travellers.
Time to board. Lufthansa City is a relatively new subsidiary of Lufthansa, and as far as I understand it’s a way for Lufthansa to position more flights to Munich without interfering with the Union.
After arriving in Munich, immigration was smooth. I have a very good impression of both Frankfurt and Munich airports; despite their massive size, the design is logical. Lufthansa has many lounges here, and I naturally chose K11 as it was closest to the gate:
Not much else to say there. Off to the next flight, finally on Lufthansa mainline!
After landing, we were assigned a shuttle bus, but it dropped us right at baggage claim, so no time was wasted. From Linate to Milan city centre, you can take the M4 metro; it runs frequently and takes only ten minutes to reach the heart of the city. It is even more convenient than London City Airport, absolutely seamless!
For this one-night stopover in Milan, I chose Casa Brera, a Luxury Collection hotel under Marriott that opened in 2024. The hotel building used to be a bank, similar to the W and Waldorf Astoria I recently stayed at in Amsterdam.
I was upgraded to a Prestige room, which is slightly larger and comes with a balcony. However, the long, narrow layout is quite strange.
Breakfast is mainly a la carte without too many bells and whistles, and the buffet variety is average.
However, the service is very thoughtful; they carefully confirm my preferred temperature for water and milk. There is an outdoor heated pool on the rooftop, which is quite rare! But in this January weather, I decided to skip it.
After breakfast and a quick rest, it was time to head to the airport to go home. ITA Airways’ system has already undergone preliminary integration with Lufthansa, so the security fast track scanned through normally.
I visited the British Airways lounge last year, which was quite nice. This time I went to check out ITA’s own Runway Lounge, located upstairs near gates A17-A20. Access rules:
- ITA and Lufthansa high-tier members: Accessible when flying ITA or any of the nine Lufthansa Group airlines, plus one guest and children
- Star Alliance Gold: Accessible when flying the four Lufthansa Group airlines, plus one guest
The decor is truly “plain,” almost feeling like a temporary setup. Although Linate is a small airport, it is one of ITA’s main hubs, so this lounge feels a bit too haphazard.
The only small bit of creativity is this airplane fuselage shell; inside, there is a relatively quiet space. The food is simple, consisting only of pasta, cold cuts, and salads, though there are some cocktails available to order.
Starting the final leg of the journey.
ITA’s planes are very new, and the seats feel much more premium than other airlines.
Based on what others had shared online, I was a bit worried about the ITA mileage posting, but mine arrived on the third day. It might be related to the ticket number (normal ticket numbers should start with 055). The 100,000 miles were deposited immediately, the challenge is complete, and I wish everyone else good luck!
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