Showering at MUC Airport

After flying 8 hours on a redeye flight, my parents and I arrived in Munich Airport less than well-rested. I mean, how can any normal New Yorker fall asleep for the night at 7PM New York time? So when we got off the plane, we looked for the closest Lufthansa Senator Lounge.

Now, to confuse people, Lufthansa has multiple airport lounges. The premier First Class Lounge is obviously for only First Class passengers flying on Lufthansa that day. There, you get served a complimentary gourmet meal as if you were in a restaurant with waiters and fine linen napkins.

Then you have the comparable Senator Lounge and Business Lounge.

The Business Lounge is obviously for passengers flying Business class on Lufthansa or any other Star Alliance partner. The Senator Lounge is for Star Alliance Gold Status members (regardless of their ticket's cabin type). However, those business class passengers cannot access the Senator Lounge unless they are also Star Alliance Gold Status members. So by simple logic, the Senator Lounge should be more exclusive - hence better, right?

Well, I can't speak for which Lufthansa lounge is actually better (if they're different at all), because my entire immediate family had Star Alliance Gold statuses. So we went into the Munich Senator Lounge downstairs by the G Gates where our next flight to Rome was scheduled to take off from.

By the time we got off the plane, went through European Union Immigration, and entered the lounge, it was about 7:45AM local time. Our next flight was scheduled to depart at 9:30AM with boarding starting at 8:55AM. That meant we had about an hour to relax.

Unfortunately, my parents were on antibiotics for a bug they caught, so they weren't allowed to drink any alcohol. Of course, it was also 8AM, so they probably shouldn't have been drinking anyway. So they did what they always do, ate free lounge food.

At the Senator Lounge, they had some scrambled eggs, but no hot meats. Just cold cuts, soft cheeses and some pastries. My father took some eggs and a pretzel while my mother skipped eating for now.

With enough time to spare, my father decided he was going to take advantage of the open shower rooms in the lounge and signed up. This would be his second time showering at an airport with his first being in Bankok's Thai Airways lounge early last year.

Within a few minutes, the next available shower stall was clean and ready for him. Unlike the shower stalls at the gym, this Lounge shower room was quite nice - like a modern style hotel bathroom.

The attendant had given him a large bath towel, a new package of toiletries including a shaving kit and a toothbrush kit. The shower stall had a shampoo/body wash in one dispenser for his soap needs. Everything was running pretty smoothly. Even the shower pressure was quite nice, though the shampoo dispenser handle kept falling off when my father pressed it. Nevertheless, his quick 10 minute shower left him refreshed after a long 8 hours on a flight.

Now, if only he were smart enough to bring a clean set of clothes in his carry-on bags to change into...

Before we knew it, it was closer to 8:45 and our next flight would start boarding soon, so we left the lounge and started to make our way towards Gate G10 to catch our next flight to Rome, Italy.