by Lufthansa Flyer | Feb 17, 2014 | Airlines |
If you’re like me, you are probably getting tired of the aggressive winter that most of us in the USA are dealing with. I haven’t seen my lawn at home since November and not sure that I’ll ever see it again at this rate!
However there is a light beginning to appear at the end of the proverbial tunnel…..
To remind us that Spring is out there some where, Lufthansa is running an early spring Business Class fare sale for travel from the USA to Europe during April.
Fares range between $2500 to $3300 depending on which US gateway you depart from. For this fare sale, the best deal that I’ve found is between Chicago and Madrid for only $2529. Otherwise fares from East Coast gateways start at $2800 and West Coast gateways start at $3700.
When booking be mindful of 2 things. First, the operating carrier for the transatlantic segment can vary among Lufthansa, SWISS and United. Considering that these tickets will book as a deep discount Business ‘P’ fare the amount of miles you earn will vary based on the operating carrier and your Frequent Flyer Program. Depending on your ‘FF’ program you will earn either 100% or 150% ‘Elite Qualifying Miles’ which can make a big difference when you consider the 8,000-12,000 miles involved in traveling round-trip between Europe and the USA.
Second, the gateway you choose will go along way in determining the kind of aircraft that you will fly on. As far as Lufthansa’s fleet is concerned, my preference and recommendation would be to fly on the 747-8i. It is Lufthansa newest type of aircraft and the cabins are consistent throughout all of the 747-8i in the fleet. This simply means you will experience Lufthansa’s fantastic new Business Class seat no matter which 747-8i you are on. You can find the 747-8i flying from Washington DC, Chicago and Los Angeles to Frankfurt. Another recommendation would be to fly the A380 which you can find flying to Frankfurt from Miami, Houston or San Francisco. However the A380s are only now beginning to have the new business class installed so you would still experience Lufthansa’s previous version of Business Class if you fly in April.
As with any fare sale there are terms & conditions and they are as follows:
Tickets must be purchased by April 13, 2014
You must depart between April 13 and April 25, 2014
You must return between April 19 and May 1, 2014
Tickets must be purchased 28 days ahead of departure.
If you have any questions about the sale or need help building an itinerary, please let me know by leaving a comment.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Feb 14, 2014 | Airlines |
Over the past several days there have been several announcements from member airlines. Among the most active is UNITED who announced major reductions as they ‘de-hub’ Cleveland. Additionally, THAI announced several minor service reductions mostly for destinations in Asia. Otherwise, mostly minor announcements from a handful of airlines.
ADRIA:
LODZ-MUNICH effective March 30 will begin 6x/week service.
AEGEAN:
CHANIA-KIEV effective April 28 will begin 1x/week service.
AIR CHINA:
DALIAN-OSAKA KANSAI effective March 1 will begin 3x/week service.
ASIANA:
BUSAN-OSAKA KANSAI effective February 21 is canceled.
AVIANCA:
BOGOTA-LONDON(LHR) effective July 3 will begin 4x/week service.
COPA:
BOGOTA-PUNTA CANA effective April 2 will begin 4x/week service.
PANAMA CITY-GEORGETOWN effective July 11 will begin 2x/week service.
ETHIOPIAN:
ADDIS ABABA – LOME-RIO de JANEIRO – SAO-PAOLO – LOME effective May 26 will be changed to ADDIS ABABA – LOME- SAO PAOLO
ADDIS ABABA – LONDON(LHR) effective July 8 will increase from 6x/week to 7x/week.
ADDIS ABABA – NAIROBI effective June 1 will increase from 2x/day to 4x/day.
EVA:
TAIPEI – HO CHI MINH effective March 30 will increase from 10x/week to 13x/week.
TAIPEI – HO CHI MINH effective July 1 will increase from 13x/week to 14x/week.
SAS:
COPENHAGEN – NEWARK effective March 30 will increase from 11x/week to 12x/week.
SINGAPORE:
SINGAPORE – BEIJING effective between March 31 and April 23 will be reduced from 28x/week to 24x/week.
SINGAPORE – DELHI effective April 29 is reduced from 21x/week to 19x/week.
SINGAPORE – MUMBAI effective between April 1 and April 15 is reduced from 21x/week to 19x/week.
THAI:
BANGKOK – BANGALORE effective February 4 is reduced from 7x/week to 6x/week.
BANGKOK – BRISBANE effective May 5 is reduced from 1x/day to 5x/WEEK.
BANGKOK – BRUSSELS effective April 29 is reduced from 4x/week to 3x/week.
BANGKOK – CHANGSHA effective February 11 is reduced from 5x/week to 5x/week.
BANGKOK – CHENNAI effective February 5 is reduced from 7x/week to 6x/week.
BANGKOK – DENPASAR effective Mary 30 will increase from 5x/week to 1x/day.
BANGKOK – DHAKA effective February 4 is reduced from 7x/week to 5x/week.
BANGKOK – HONG KONG effective February 11 is reduced from 5x/day to 3x/day.
BANGKOK – MUMBAI effective February 18 is reduced from 7x/week to 6x/week.
BANGKOK – NAGOYA effective February 19 is reduced from 12x/week to 7x/week.
BANGKOK – OSAKA effective April 21 is reduced from 17x/week to 14x/week.
BANGKOK – SINGAPORE effective February 11 is reduced from 32x/week to 23x/week.
BANGKOK – SYDNEY effective March 30 is reduced from 12x/week to 11x/week.
BANGKOK – TOKYO (HND) effective March 30 will increase from 1x/day to 2x/day.
TURKISH:
ISTANBUL – CATANIA effective May 23 will begin 3x/week service.
ISTANBUL – LISBON effective March 30 will increase from 7x/week to 10x/week.
ISTANBUL – VARNA effective May 21 will begin 4x/week service.
ISTANBUL – MUENSTER effective July 18 will begin 4x/week service.
ISTANBUL (SABIHA) – SARAJEVO effective May 2 will begin 3x/week service.
UNITED:
CHICAGO – BANGOR effective June 5 will begin 1x/day service.
CHICAGO – CODY effective June 22 will begin 1x/week service.
CHICAGO – ERIE effective June 5 will begin 2x/day service.
CHICAGO – FLINT effective June 5 will begin 3x/day service.
CHICAGO – ST. CLOUD effective May 6 will begin 2x/day service.
DENVER – SUN VALLEY effective July 2 will begin 1x/day service (seasonal to Sept 22).
SAN FRANCISCO – SUN VALLEY effective July 2 will begin 1x/day service (seasonal to Sept 22).
THE FOLLOWING DESTINATIONS ARE CANCELED FROM THEIR CLEVELAND HUB:
March 31:
Oklahoma City
April 1:
Burlington
Hartford
Madison
Manchester NH
Montreal
Philadelphia
Providence
Raleigh
MAY 6:
Charlotte
Louisville
Minneapolis
Nashville
MAY 22:
Phoenix
JUNE 2:
New Orleans
JUNE 5:
Austin
Buffalo
Columbus OH
Dayton
Erie
Flint
Grand Rapids
Greenville
Harrisburg
Indianapolis
Kansas City
Pittsburgh
Richmond
Rochester NY
Syracuse
Toronto
Previous Star Alliance Route Announcements
Courtesy: www.Airlineroute.net
by Lufthansa Flyer | Feb 13, 2014 | Airlines |
Lufthansa announced today that effective March 1, it is expanding its electronic device use policy to now include gate to gate use of ‘Smart Devices’ on its entire Airbus fleet. Currently the ‘gate to gate’ policy only applies to Boeing 747-8i aircraft.
With this expansion, passengers can now use tablets, cell phones and other small electronic devices for the entire duration of a flight operated by an Airbus aircraft as long as the device is placed in “Airplane Mode”. Keep in mind that this still does not allow for inflight phone or video calls to be made from these devices.
Lufthansa hopes to receive permission from the German Federal Aviation Authority in the near future that will cover ‘gate to gate’ device use on the remaining aircraft types in the LH Fleet.
This announcement comes on the heels of last week’s news regarding the ability for passengers to connect their “Smart Devices” to Lufthansa’s FlyNet system in order to access the internet, email and text messages.
