Eurowings is to Lufthansa what Transavia is to the Air France KLM group. It’s basically the low-cost branch of the Lufthansa group that operates services out of those airports that are not Lufthansa hubs. Back when the new Berlin airport was still under construction, Lufthansa had intended to set up a base here. However, by the time the airport eventually opened, several years late, Lufthansa had scrapped those plans and instead, Eurowings set up a base here, if not for the simple reason of making sure the likes of Easyjet, Ryanair, and WizzAir don’t start to feel too comfortable.

Getting to Berlin Airport

My hotel is located right next to the entrance of the U-Bahn station for Berlin Zoologischer Garten. As the line S3 S-Bahn is currently closed on weekends for maintenance, my quickest option is to take an U2 underground train from Zoologischer Garten to Potsdamer Platz. There I alight, go up to street level and cross the square towards the underground railway station of the Deutsche Bahn. I then catch an airport express train out to Berlin Brandenburg Airport, formerly known as Berlin Schönefeld. Door to door the journey takes me about 45 minutes – keeping in mind that it’s Sunday morning and there is hardly any commuter traffic. A one-way second class ticket costs EUR5.-.

Eurowings Check-In

Eurowings operates out of Terminal 1, like most other airlines here. The airline has its own, dedicated check-in area on block 3 of the departures concourse. However, as I’ve already checked in online, I head straight for the security checkpoint. The airport is very busy. Fortunately, there are plenty of open lanes at security, so that I’m through fairly quickly, despite the crowds.

Berlin Airport is a strange place. The central plaza as you exit the duty free area is quite nice and rather grand. However, the corridors leading away from it are all rather tight and seem a bit inadequate for the amount of passengers passing through the facility.

Lufthansa Senator Lounge Berlin

The Lufthansa lounge is located at the far end of the B concourse. It’s actually not that easy to find, as signage at the airport could be better. It’s also a bit unfortunate that the flight to Zürich will be leaving from gate A 33 at the opposite end of the terminal, fifteen minutes away on foot at a leisurely pace.

The lounge is located above the public airside area. There is one entrance for the Business Class and Senator lounges. Inside, though, the two are segregated, with the Senator lounge off to the right of the reception area.

The SEN lounge is surprisingly empty. It’s very quiet and there’s plenty of places to sit. I grab a plate of delectable German Kartoffelsalat and then park myself by the window from where I can watch the aircraft arriving and departing on the northern runway.

Eurowings Boarding

Boarding should start at 12h10 for our 12h40 departure from gate A 33. It really is quite a schlepp from the Lufthansa lounges to the A gates. I just manage to take a few photos of my chariot to Zürich this afternoon, and then it’s already time to step aboard with boarding group 1.

Eurowings Cabin & Seat

I’ve booked a so-called smart fare, which allows me to take one piece of carry-on luggage to put under the seat, in addition to a further piece that can be place in the overhead bins. In addition to that, I’ve booked the window seat on the extra legroom row 5. I’ve also blocked the middle seat at an extra charge. And indeed, the legroom on row 5 really is quite remarkable and very generous. I like the idea of being able to block the middle seat, though I’m not fully sure how that works out financially for the airline, as the blocked seat costs less than the price of my ticket.

We have a bit of a delay leaving Berlin due to capacity restrictions at Zürich airport. Eventually, our delay is only about 25 minutes, and with a flight time of only seventy minutes, we’re still expecting an on time arrival.

Eurowings Service & Crew

My only interactions are with two of the cabin crew on this flight. I wouldn’t go so far and say that they were charming, but they were okay, I guess, but after the horror stories I’d read online about the Eurowings crews, I’ll take it as a win that this lot seemed quite civilised.

Eurowings Buy on Board

The buy on board service starts on row 5, as this is the first Economy Class room after the Biz Class cabin. I order a late macchiato and a Belgian chocolate cookie for EUR6.50, which I think is not a bad price for what I got. It is quite remarkable, though, just how exchangeable the onboard experience is if there is limited or no interaction with the crew.

Arrival in Zürich

We start our descent into Zürich just northwest of Lake Constance. Approaches at Zürich airport are from the north onto runway 14 this afternoon. We have a relatively short taxi, and then we’re already parked at our stand on the A pier with a delay of 15 minutes. At 14h23 I disembark the aircraft, and by 14h39 I’m already sitting on the train taking me to Zürich Hauptbahnhof, where I transfer to another train going to Basel.

Conclusion

I suppose the advantage of having a bad reputation is that it keeps passengers from having wrong or exaggerated expectations. Either that, or Eurowings really isn’t quite as bad when things go according to plan. I don’t expect to start recommending to people that they fly Eurowings, but I think I would actually consider travelling with them again if they have a suitable schedule.