by Lufthansa Flyer | Mar 11, 2015 | Featured, Lufthansa, Premium Economy |
Lufthansa today has sent their first Premium Economy equipped A380 into circulation when it departed Frankfurt and flew towards Houston.
For the next 2-3 weeks, Houston will see a fair amount of D-AIMF/Zurich (the specific A380 with the new PE seats). Beginning on April 9th, a Premium Economy equipped A380 will become a permanent fixture in Houston.
The A380 Premium Economy / Economy seating chart
As plans stand now, Lufthansa will introduce its second A380 with Premium Economy on flights between FRA and LAX at the end of March and ALL A380s will have Premium Economy installed by April 22. Each A380 will be equipped with 52 Premium Economy seats on the main deck.
To see how Premium Economy will look across the rest of the fleet, please look here for more info…
by Lufthansa Flyer | Mar 8, 2015 | Austrian, Featured, Miles & More |
Late last week, Austrian unveiled a new ticketing concept for travel within Austria and Europe. The program is set to roll out in the Fall of 2015 and will substantially expand on their current structure. According to Austrian it is designed to attract a wide ‘audience’ of passenger.
The biggest enhancement with this new program is the addition of the ‘LIGHT’ fare option. This is designed to be a lower cost category than OS’ popular ‘red-ticket’ fare which has until now been the lowest fare ‘bucket’.
Ultimately, the new structure will be comprised of 4 categories: LIGHT, CLASSIC, FLEX, and BUSINESS:
LIGHT will offer the lowest fare but with fees for checked baggage and seat assignment. It will not be eligible for BUSINESS Class upgrades
CLASSIC will include seat assignment and a checked bag, but will charge a fee for lounge access and is upgradeable through the bid process.
FLEX will everything that CLASSIC offers with the addition of fee-free rebooking and will also allow you to purchase enhanced DO&CO catered meals.
BUSINESS will include the DO&CO dining, free rebooking and all the other features of FLEX.
All 4 structures will allow for the earning of miles towards ‘Miles & More’ balances.
As far as other Star Alliance frequent flyer programs are concerned, expect to earn little to no miles for LIGHT or CLASSIC. FLEX and BUSINESS should book into fare classes that earn at least 50-100% mileage credit. Please check with your FF programs as each program may have different policies for earning miles.
The well designed chart below from Austrian provides a nice side-by-side comparison of these new classes:
by Lufthansa Flyer | Mar 7, 2015 | Austrian, Featured, Route Announcements, Star Alliance |
AEGEAN:
Athens – Alexandria effective March 29 will BEGIN 3x/week service.
Athens – Sharm el Sheikh effective March 30 will BEGIN 2x/week service.
AIR CANADA:
Toronto – Atlantic City effective May 22 will BEGIN 4x/week service.
AIR CHINA:
Dalian – Sapporo effective April 18 will BEGIN 2x/week service.
ASIANA:
Seoul (ICN) – Chengdu effective June 7 will increase from 6x/week to 7x/week.
AUSTRIAN:
Vienna – Mahon (MAH) effective June 20 will BEGIN 1x/week service.
Vienna – Miami effective October 16 will BEGIN 5x/week service (More Info / Route Specifics)
AVIANCA:
Bogota – London (LHR) effective July 1 will increase from 4x/week to 1x/DAY.
COPA:
Panama City – Villahermosa effective August 3 will BEGIN 4x/week service.
Panama City – Puebla effective August 4 will BEGIN 4x/week service.
EGYPTAIR:
Cairo – Manchester effective July 2 will BEGIN 3x/week service.
Cairo – Manchester effective July 21 will increase from 3x/week to 5/xweek.
ETHIOPIAN:
Addis Ababa – Seychelles effective May 1 will be reduced from 3x/week to 2x/week.
THAI:
Bangkok – Delhi effective March 29 will increase from 14x/week to 16x/week.
TURKISH:
Istanbul (IST) – Dammam effective June 22 will increase from 7x/week to 10x/week.
Istanbul (SAW) – Dammam effective July 13 will BEGIN 1x/day service.
Istanbul (IST) – Kherson effective March 30 will increase from 4x/week to 7x/week.
Istanbul (IST)- Mashad effective March 15 will increase from 5x/week to 7x/week.
Istanbul (IST) – Bamako (via Ouagadougou) effective May 26 will BEGIN 2x/week service.
Previous Star Alliance Announcements
