Flight details
- Airline: Luxair
- Class: Business & Economy
- Aircraft: Bombardier Dash 8
- Route: Berlin (BER) to Paris (CDG) via Luxembourg (LUX)
- Flight time: 1 Hour 20 minutes & 45 minutes
Today’s trip started in Berlin and we are reviewing Luxembourg’s flag carrier, which is airline 199 for me. However, I would also experience a nasty encounter with the lounge staff and although initially apologizing to me, they suddenly came and threatened to sue and ban me.
More about that later, but first let’s check in for the first flight on this journey.
Check-in and Security at Berlin
You’d think the Germans are super efficient but I think Berlin airport actually testament where Germans really are not organized. It took like 35 years to build this airport and it’s been delayed 15 years.
Security also took forever, not because it was busy, there was nobody, but they were so slow checking everyone.
A bit of background on today’s airline, LuxAir is the flag carrier of a small country called Luxembourg with a decent Network around Europe.
LuxAir has over 21 planes in its fleet and also offers daily flights to and from Berlin. In the first leg I was booked in Business Class and the second leg in Economy so I can give you a comprehensive review of both classes.
I headed to the gate and got on board the Dash 8 which was operating this fight.
Onboard Luxair’s Dash 8
Welcome onboard the Dash 8 of Luxair which is the backbone on their fleet. They are currently operating 11 Dash 8s and 9 737s.
I was handed the menu, the crew seemed all right. There was two crew members, one for the Business Class section.
Interestingly, Luxair’s Business Class is only three seats, which is not like a dedicated seat but the seat next to you is blocked.
Regardless, I found it very cozy, especially the leg room, so I was looking forward to what else they had to offer on this 80-minute flight from Berlin to Luxembourg.
In-Flight Meal on Luxair
Around 20 minutes into the flight, I was served breakfast. there was no real choice you can either have what was available or nothing. Considering the short flight time it looked like a decent meal.
The breakfast experience on Luxair was very good, very solid overall.
Denied Lounge Access in Luxembourg
We then landed in Luxembourg after a decent flight but things would take a dramatic turn and the airline was about to show how they treat paying customers so stay tuned for a lot of incoming drama
When I disembarked a plane the crew said I hope we get a good review. To be fair, the first flight was actually pretty decent.
I then had around 7 hours before I continue to Paris in economy class. I did however purchase lounge access which was a dedicated Luxair lounge. As I went to check it out, the first hurdle was actually finding it since the airport signs weren’t very helpful.
The signs to the lounge lead me directly to passport control so I do really wonder when people come up with a plan for a million dollar airport why they can’t just put up signs that actually make sense.
Annoyingly the airport map also didn’t show me where the lounge was so I ended up asking someone who finally directed me to it.
But when I reached the lounge, I experienced probably the rudest and worst customer service I have ever seen in 7 years of doing airline reviews. The lounge supervisor was so rude and was laughing at me as if she was getting a kick out of not letting me into the lounge.
I purchased access on the website for the entirety of my transit, but she said “the website is wrong, I’m the supervisor so I overturn their decision”
She asked me to leave and wouldn’t give me her name while hiding her badge as well. Apart from the scam the airline is selling, their staff made it worse by being a really awful person.
The worst thing was that the supervisor was constantly grinning, you could see she had such a pleasure in doing this.
In the end I got no lounge access and ended up chilling on a bench in front of the airport, luckily the weather was lovely.
If you want to see the full incident you can watch the video on my YouTube channel.
Continuing the Luxair Experience to Paris
Instead of wasting all my time in front of the airport, one of my patrons came to the rescue and we went for a coffee and a little drive before returning for part two of this review.
In the meantime I got a response from Luxair as well who acknowledged that their terms of use don’t indicate that there is a time limit and they said I am more than welcome to go back to the lounge and use it.
However, I replied and I said due to the hostile behavior of their staff or supervisor, I am not comfortable to go back there and asked them to refund me. After about 3 weeks they did actually end up refunding me.
However, I want to say that the first flight was actually really nice, crew was lovely and then we have another flight to Paris.
Onboard the flight to Paris this time in Economy Class, you get a little goodie bag with some crackers and a bottle of water.
Considering that this is a 45 minute flight, that’s actually not too bad, however the flight was delayed by an hour, which I noticed was a common theme on the departure boards at Luxembourg Airport.
Literally every flight seemed to be delayed and the transit experience was not great either, probably because the airport is running beyond capacity.
There was no seating, really busy and it was just not nice overall and that’s excluding the lounge experience we just had.
Luxair’s Threat After a Poor Experience
A couple of days after I landed in Paris, I got an email from the airline with a warning letter saying if I post my YouTube video, they will go after me and also ban me from flying with them in the future.
That was quite contradictory to their tone on social media where they apologized for the incident and the miscommunication, so we saw an 180° turn.
I did my research online on X or Trip Advisor and many people have been complaining about the same issue regarding the lounge so it seems to be a common thing with them.
I do not recommend Luxair. That’s my verdict flying with them in summary.
That’s it from me, if you’re interested in the gear I use on my travels having taken over 600+ flights, check out My Gear page.
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Wherever you’re off to, have a safe trip!
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About the Author
Josh Cahill is an award-winning Aviation YouTuber who is reportedly one of the most-watched flight reviewers on the internet. He organised Afghanistan’s first all-female flight together with Kam Air in February 2021 on a flight from Herat to Kabul for which he received the Aviation Achievement Award. His favourite hobby? Flying exotic airlines nobody has ever heard of.
