Terminal 2, Frankfurt Airport, Germany

Neil Scrivener reviews the JAL Lounge in the Terminal 2 of Frankfurt’s Airport.

Introduction

This is my review of the JAL Lounge at Frankfurt’s Terminal 2.

Quite interestingly, the lounge itself is split into two parts – a First Class ‘room’ and the main Business Class lounge.

The lounge shares access with Korean Airlines, Qatar Airlines as well as JAL – and technically British Airways (and any other OneWorld airline leaving Frankfurt’s Terminal 2). All of these airlines depart Frankfurt at similar times – so its gets pretty busy.

Visited

June 2024 at 17:00

Opening Hours

The lounge is open daily from 06:00 to 20:00.

Entry Conditions

The Business Class lounge (also known as the Sakura Lounge) is open to OneWorld Sapphire and OneWorld Emerald members, or passengers traveling in First or Business Class.

The First Class lounge is open to OneWorld Emerald members, or passengers traveling in First Class.

How to Get There

This lounge is located on Level 3, opposite Gate D5.

As the map below shows, once through Immigration, take the Escalators (or Elevator) to Level 3, and make a left to D-Gates.

Once you’re opposite Gate D5, you can’t miss the entrance.

Similar to Singapore‘s Changi Airport, the Lounges are located after Passport Control, but before Security. This means that you will need to allow some time after leaving the lounge to go through security. It’s fairly quick, but still (in my view) annoying to have to do.

Layout (Business/Sakura Lounge)

This is a fairly large open space. It is very similar in style to the JAL Lounge in Honolulu, with mainly high-table and dining seating.

Personally, I think this is a much better layout that many other lounges, which prioritise more causal and sofa based seating.

There is also sort of a working area, which is in a ‘quiet area’ – but you wouldn’t want to be doing calls here – and in fact JAL have signs up prohibiting calls.

Food and Drink (Business/Sakura Lounge)

Drinks

Most of the drinks in the lounge are self-service. The lounge has a reasonable fridge, soft drinks and beer. One thing the Germans are doing (which I think is really good) is providing alcohol free beer in their lounges – this is really appreciated, especially if you’re driving the other end. Around the food station is self-service coffee machines, along with self-service wines and spirits.

Food

Close to the drinks fridge, there was some jars of sweets and nuts, but otherwise everything is ordered from the food counter.

Probably, this is the best food you’re going to find in an airline lounge in Frankfurt. It was Japanese inspired – offering noodles, curries, etc. There was also some German inspired cheeses, sausages, and sandwiches.

Layout (First Lounge)

The First Lounge (compared to the Business/Sakura Lounge) was very quiet. It’s a small lounge and features similar spaces to the Sakura/Business Lounge.

There are less places to work and dine – and generally, but generally First Lounge comes across a little more ‘luxury’.

Food and Drink (First Lounge)

Drinks

All of the drinks in the lounge are self-service, and substantially the same as the ones on offer in the Business/Sakura Lounge.

Food

Like the Business/Sakura Lounge, the food is ordered from the food counter. The food is an identical menu as the Business/Sakura lounge – and made freshly in front of you. Again, it’s certainly the best food you’ll find in an airline lounge in Frankfurt!

Wifi

I found the Wifi in the lounge to be very fast and reliable, which was very good!

Showers

On my visit it was something like 30 degrees in Germany, and having walked from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2 (long story!) I was hoping for a shower.

Seemingly, so was everyone else, and I was placed 15th in a queue. In the end, I managed to grab a shower in the Priority Lounge.

So there are showers, but at the time of my visit, with flights leaving to Seoul, Tokyo and Doha – plus any other OneWorld flights; the showers get pretty busy!

There are seemingly no separate showers for First and Business Class.

Conclusion

JAL can always be relied upon to provide very good lounges.

There were many similarities and a ‘red thread’ between the JAL Lounge in Frankfurt and those in Honolulu and even Tokyo – so it’s great to see. The shower situation was a little annoying, and food/drinks could be improved, but that’s perhaps me comparing the Tokyo lounge – rather than other outstation lounges!

Probably, I would say, this is the best lounge in Frankfurt’s Terminal 2.