IN TRANSIT: FRANKFURT -- I've seen my fair share of airlines' First Class lounges, the creme de la creme of lingering jet set glamour, and more often than not, I've been disappointed. This is largely due to my own ridiculously high expectations (I keep expecting Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and Orson Welles to come strolling through, as if life were like "The VIPs.") Of all the ones I've seen -- Singapore Airlines in Singapore, Emirates in Dubai, Swiss in Zurich, and United in Chicago -- only the Virgin Clubhouse at Heathrow had transcended the model of a comfortable, well-appointed waystation to a delirious destination in its own right. (Between the inhouse spa, the olive trees growing in the bistro, and a furious effort to channel the spirit of Eero Saarinen, it's tops.)

I've been looking for a challenger to Virgin's crown, and have found it in Lufthansa's First Class terminal at Frankfurt. Housed in an entirely separate building from the main terminals, the FC lounge outdoes Virgin in terms of pure service. Passengers don't check in, per se -- they simply hand their documents to a personal assistant who later collects them when it's time to finally board (thus removing that final bit of anxiety while hanging in the lounge). While they wait, passengers can sample one of 60 or so small batch whiskies, grab a cooked-to-order meal (my mouth watered at the sight of heaping platters of Scottish lox and Viennese pastries), or even take a bath in a full-size bathtub (rubber duckie included).

When it's time to leave, passport control is helpfully located downstairs, and either a Porsche Cayenne or Mercedes S-Class ferries them to their plane. The terminal has a fleet of 30 cars standing by, all of which were gratefully donated by the manufacturers. So, in case Sir Richard is listening, I'd like to know when I can expect a ride to Upper Class in an Aston Martin (or at least a Mini Cooper).

Read more of Greg Lindsay's travel blog, IN TRANSIT.