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Flight review – Eurowings Discover Business Class, Punta Cana – Frankfurt

Following a delightful trip to the Dominican Republic and the USA it was time to return briefly to Europe.

This was done using Eurowings Discover’s long-haul business class, purchased as the return half of a round trip from Paris, which included a superb outbound flight on Air Canada.

My flight was scheduled from Punta Cana at 19:10, landing at 09:30 in Frankfurt. I found this to be more or less an optimal timing for an eastbound overnighter, as it allowed me a couple of hours after take-off to enjoy dinner and a few drinks before settling down for a decent few hours of sleep.

My evening started at the VIP Lounge Terminal A, which is a basic, catch-all contract lounge used by a number of airlines as well as Priority Pass. Although the lounge was nothing special, it was a perfectly decent place to wait and enjoy a couple of pre-flight beers.

Once on board, I took my seat in the centre pair of the 2-2-2 configured business class cabin. In this configuration, I always prefer the centre pair of seats, as it offers direct aisle access to both passengers and avoids the annoying “climbover factor”. As it happened, I was pleasantly surprised not to have a seat neighbour, which proved advantageous later.

Nuts and aperitifs were served shortly after take-off. I opted for a glass of the New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, which was served nicely chilled.

Dinner followed soon after with a choice of courses and a reasonable wine and cocktail list.

I chose the serrano ham to start, which was decently presented and fresh, served with another glass of the Sauvignon Blanc.

The beef tenderloin was my choice for the main, accompanied by the Argentinian Malbec. Beef is often not a good choice on flights, as it is nearly always overcooked. Whilst this was no exception, it was still tender and tasty.

I rounded off the meal with the cheese platter and some more of the Malbec.

After a few cognacs, I reclined the seat into flatbed mode and settled down to sleep.

Although it felt rather narrow, the bed was comfortable enough to sleep reasonably. The one thing I noticed was the foot space was rather small and angled toward the neighbouring seat.

As the seat next to me was unoccupied, I was easily able to slide one of my size 12s over to the other side of the divider, but the configuration could have been awkward if both seats had been occupied.

I managed around 4 hours of decent sleep and awoke around an hour and a half before landing, ready for breakfast.

Breakfast was a Spanish tortilla, served with bread, cheese and fruit, along with orange juice and coffee.

We landed a little ahead of schedule in Frankfurt, with more than enough time to catch my connecting flight to Paris, which will be the subject of my next review.

This Eurowings Discover flight exceeded my expectations. While the hard product is decidedly mid-table in business class terms, the service was friendly and attentive. I had a comfortable flight with a decent meal and a good few hours of sleep. I arrived in Frankfurt ready for the day ahead. For a little over £1,000 ($1,300) for a transatlantic round trip, I couldn’t ask for more than that.

Flight review – United Domestic First Class and Regional Business Class

Late last year, I took three flights in United’s Regional Business Class and Domestic First Class.

I flew the following routes:

Punta Cana (PUJ) – Chicago (ORD)

Phoenix (PHX) – Washington Dulles (IAD)

Washington Dulles – Punta Cana (PUJ)

I have consolidated these into one article, as the products are essentially identical.

The on-board hard product was reasonably consistent across the three flights, the standard US Domestic First 2-2 configuration on narrow-body jets.

Unfortunately one of the seats was so badly worn, the I could feel parts of the fittings through the seat cushion. As the flight was full, the only option was to use a blanket as additional padding.

Fortunately for me, I was asked to move after take-off to accommodate a couple with a pet, erroneously seated in a bulkhead row. Obviously I readily acquiesced to this!

After this flight, I received a credit to my United MileagePlus account of 2,500 miles, labelled “Inflight Compensation Miles”.

This was not discussed on board, and I am not sure whether this was for the worn seat or being asked to move.

Either way, I considered it a fair and reasonable gesture.

Seat pitch was a uniform 38″, providing decent legroom.

I sampled a variety of the on-board catering, including both the omelette and shakshuka breakfast options, as well as a lasagne lunch dish.

Whilst the presentation of the lasagne left a little to be desired, it certainly tasted a lot better than it looked.

All of the dishes were tasty and filling and the on-board service was much more proactive than that on Air Canada Rouge’s Business Class product, of which I was rather critical in my recent review.

Overall, I was happy with the product and service, which was quite consistent across all three flights.

The upgrades from the standard economy product worked out at around $150 or £120 for each of the 4-5 hour sectors, which considering that baggage fees were included, I considered pretty good value and would be more than happy to pay again on a future flight.

Flight review – Air Canada Rouge Business Class, Montreal – Punta Cana

Following on from my transatlantic flight and my layover in Montreal it was time for the last leg of my journey to the Dominican Republic, a flight on Air Canada Rouge to Punta Cana.

This flight had originally been booked in Economy Class, but I was able to place an online bid for an upgrade.

My bid of 225USD (£179) was rejected, but during the online check-in process, I was offered a price for a cleared upgrade of 241EUR (£206).

I tried to pay for this online but two credit cards were rejected by the Air Canada website. The payment was eventually processed at the check-in desk at CDG.

On the day of the flight itself, check in and bag drop at Montreal was a breeze and I was through and into the lounge in minutes.

The lounge was pleasant and quiet, with a small selection of food and drinks. As I had already eaten a decent breakfast at the Holiday Inn I contented myself with a couple of beers.

The priority boarding was smooth and I was installed in seat 1F very quickly.

I am normally an aisle seat man, but with the amount of room in the bulkhead seat, the window seat was no hardship.

Although this was obviously nowhere near the comfort level I experienced on my flight from Paris I found it perfectly acceptable for 4 hour flight down to Punta Cana.

Around an hour after take-off a drinks service was offered and I chose a Canadian beer.

Lunch service followed shortly afterwards. I chose the chicken tagine main, which was served with the salad and dessert on the main tray.

After the meal service was finished, the cabin crew retired to the galley and were more or less not seen again for the rest of the flight, although I did manage to get a drink after going up to the galley myself.

Overall I have to say that I was not particularly impressed with Air Canada Rouge’s Business Class product.

Compared with Air Canada’s long-haul Signature Business Class the difference is night and day.

Seating was identical to US domestic First Class and the conspicuously absent service fell below even that benchmark.

Some time ago I wrote an article on whether business class was worth paying for. My

While this was a pleasant enough way to spend a few hours, I’m not convinced it was worth £50 per hour.

In all honesty, were I to fly this route again I would select an aisle seat down the back and keep my credit card in my wallet.