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#1 Five years at Eurowings, Düsseldorf, and I get asked constantly whether Eurowings is 'the same as Lufthansa' or 'the cheap version', so here is how it actually sits, from inside the group but outside the mainline.
What Eurowings is
The Lufthansa Group's point to point and leisure carrier. Mostly short and medium haul out of Düsseldorf, Cologne, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Berlin, Munich and a few more. A320 family. Full cabins, a mix of business travellers and holidaymakers, sector pay structure. Not Lufthansa. Not Ryanair either. Somewhere in between in price, service and pay.
The Lufthansa comparison
Lufthansa mainline: higher basic, a collective agreement negotiated by a strong union, long haul and short haul, a long seniority ladder, Frankfurt and Munich hubs, and a slower hiring rhythm with more selective assessments. Eurowings: lower basic, a different collective agreement, mostly short haul, more bases, faster hiring, and a roster that gets you home most nights.
In money terms, after five years, I earn less than a Lufthansa colleague with the same years. In lifestyle terms, I sleep in my own bed in Düsseldorf almost every night and she is in a hotel in Chicago three times a month. Neither of us wants the other's job, which is the honest answer to 'which is better'.
Why I did not move across
I applied to Lufthansa in year three, got through the assessment, and turned down the offer. The reasons: I would have started at the bottom of a much longer seniority list, I would have moved to Frankfurt, and the long haul pattern did not suit the life I had built. For a 23 year old with no ties, Lufthansa is the obvious choice. For a 30 year old with a partner and a flat, Eurowings was the better job. It is not a consolation prize.
The German specifics for foreign applicants
German is required at Eurowings, B2 minimum and realistically better, because the passengers are mostly German and the operation runs in German. Lufthansa has the same requirement with a few exceptions for language routes. The medical is the German AME cabin crew medical, straightforward. The training is around six weeks. Contracts are proper German employment contracts with the protections that implies, which is one of the real advantages over the agency models elsewhere in Europe.
The roster
Monthly, requests possible, mostly two and four sector days, a night stop a week or so, standby blocks. Summer is heavy. The union agreement limits duty hours in ways that crew at some other carriers would envy.
What I would tell an applicant
If you want long haul and the big name and you are young and mobile, apply to Lufthansa and be patient. If you want to fly for a living and also have a life in a German city, apply to Eurowings and do not let anyone tell you it is second best. Both are Lufthansa Group. Both are real airlines. The difference is what you want your Tuesday to look like.
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#2 Lufthansa Frankfurt, and Karl's description of us is fair, including the 'hotel in Chicago three times a month' part, which is me this month. I am 27 and I love it. At 35 I might want his Tuesday.
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#3 Lufthansa Munich, and I want to add: the seniority list point is the real one. A Eurowings crew member moving to Lufthansa at year three starts behind the 22 year old who joined Lufthansa yesterday. That is brutal and it is correct and it is why the move rarely happens.
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#4 Hamburg, Condor and Eurowings applications in, and this is the first post that made the Eurowings option sound like a real choice rather than the fallback. Thank you.
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#5 @jasmin2001 Hamburg base is a good one. Say hello if you get it.
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#6 Condor here, the third German option nobody in this thread has mentioned, and I would say: Lufthansa for the name and the ladder, Eurowings for the life, Condor for the long haul leisure with a smaller company feel. Three real answers to three different questions.
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#7 Austrian Airlines, Vienna, also Lufthansa Group, and the group thing confuses applicants constantly. Same owner, different airlines, different contracts, different everything on the ground. Apply to the airline, not the group.
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#8 easyJet Berlin, and I will say it: for a German base, easyJet is the fourth option, sector pay in euros with a UK style structure, and it is a legitimate one for people who want fast hiring and are not fussed about the German employment contract protections. We exist too.
