Lufthansa Senator Lounge Review at Washington Dulles Airport

To celebrate our tenth anniversary with a bang, Bertaut surprised me with first class tickets on Lufthansa flying from Washington Dulles to Budapest (with a connection in Frankfurt) to kick off our 3 week adventure in Eastern Europe. Way to go Bertaut! He certainly outdid himself this year (and once again booked with points, but more to come on that soon). So many posts will be coming about this incredible trip, but here’s where it all started. Our first class tickets allowed us entry to the Lufthansa Senator Lounge at the Washington Dulles airport where we got our vacation off to a great start.

The Senator Lounge is for First Class and Star Alliance Gold passengers, but there is an area partitioned off and reserved for first class customers. It seems kind of unnecessary to me to have a separate section for first class, but at least we got a table close to the buffet and bar. We were escorted to this area and then checked out the food and drink selection, my favorite part about lounges! 🙂 The Senator Lounge has a buffet with a salad bar, meat and cheese slices, fresh fruit, hot entrees like fish, steak, steamed vegetables and roasted potatoes, hot soup and bread, and snacks like chips, pretzels, trail mix, and gummy bears. My sweet tooth appreciated the chocolate chip cookies and lemon bars.

We also checked out the bar, a must-visit for any international flight to get into the relaxation mode.  The bar was well stocked with a nice selection of beer, wine, liquor, and champagne. Local laws prohibit self-service at the bar, so there is a bartender who is happy to pour you a glass of whatever you would like or mix up a cocktail. There is also a coffee machine on the buffet which makes all sorts of fancy coffees like lattes and espresso. We are not coffee drinkers and opted for a glass of champagne to kick off our anniversary celebration! Cheers!

We checked out the bathrooms which were modern looking and very clean. We were surprised that they did not offer showers which would have been a dissapointment if we had been in between flights and had wanted to freshen up. Luckily we were at the start of our journey and were smelling fresh and ready to go. 😉

The Senator Lounge has views of the tarmac and a door that leads to the boarding area. When it was time to board, the flight crew came and escorted us from the lounge to the plane, which was a nice personal touch.

The Lufthansa Senator Lounge in Washington Dulles airport offers quality food and drinks and friendly service. The bartender was joking around with us and really pulled one over on me when he told me that I would have to pay a few hundred dollars to take photographs of the lounge. He had me going for awhile before he let on that he was just joking, and he had a huge smile on his face while he was doing his job, which he obviously enjoys. His playful personality made the lounge more memorable for us as we headed out on this momentous vacation. We also had a server come to our table a few times asking if we needed anything. We were not given the first class menu, so were unaware that there were menu items available only for first class passengers beyond what was offered at the buffet. We would not have known about the champagne unless we saw the couple next to us drinking it, since it was not listed on the drink menu at the bar. To be completely honest, after experiencing the Etihad Premium Lounge in Abu Dhabi when traveling Business Class and the Emirates Lounge in JFK and Dubai when traveling Emirates First Class on the Airbus A380 and the Boeing 777, this lounge was not as impressive. It doesn’t have the extra bells and whistles like free massages, showers, or beds but it certainly is a nice place to relax, have a drink and a bite to eat before a flight. If this had been our first first class lounge experience, we would have surely been blown away, but perhaps Emirates and Etihad have spoiled us for life. If you liked this post, please consider subscribing to our RSS feed and email newsletter for tips to travel like a millionaire for less.