by Lufthansa Flyer | Sep 12, 2017 | 747-8i, Featured, First Class, Lufthansa, Route Announcements |
Lufthansa updated their timetable to reflect the deployment of the 747-8i on 2 routes that have yet to see the ‘Queen of the Skies’.
For starters, LH will send the 747-8i ‘home’ when it is deployed on flights between Seattle and Frankfurt from November 6 to December 30, 2017 in anticipation of increased holiday traffic.
‘YS’ returning to Paine Field after a test flight
The more surprising debut of the 747-8i will be to Dubai, UAE. However, the appearance will be short-lived since the 747-8i will only fly from Frankfurt to Dubai between October 16 and October 30. This temporary assignment will allow pax on the route to experience First Class.
With the good news, comes a bit of bad….
Effective October 29, 2017, LH will no longer service Doha, Qatar as part of their Frankfurt – Kuwait City – Doha circuit. Service will continue between FRA and KWI, but will no longer continue onward to Doha. Can’t help to think if all the in-fighting between several mid-eastern countries and Qatar has anything to do with the demand on the route.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Sep 7, 2017 | Austrian, Brussels, Featured, Hurricane, Irma, Lufthansa, Swiss, Weather |
Lufthansa Group has announced that it expects to cancel flights to areas that are under threat of Hurricane Irma. The announcement was made yesterday and covers SWISS / Lufthansa / Austrian / Eurowings / Edelweiss / Brussels flights to Puerto Plata, Punta Cana, Orlando, Varadero, Havana, Miami, Tampa Bay, and Orlando.
To that end, LH has announced that passengers impacted by the hurricane and have travel dates between September 6 and September 11, 2017 can rebook their tickets free of charge, but certain conditions apply.
To qualify for fee-free rebooking you:
Have a ticket that was issued prior to September 6, 2017
Have a new date of travel that is on or before October 12, 2017
Cannot change your origin or destination, or class of travel. The only except to this is that you can change your departure airport from the USA.
If you are affected by these service announcements, you can rebook your ticket yourself under your reservation on Lufthansa.com (or the website of you LH group carrier), or call your travel agent.
For the latest info, please visit Lufthansa’s ‘Current Travel Info’ webpage.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Sep 6, 2017 | 767, 777, Amenity Kit, Austrian, Featured, Premium Economy |
Austrian has announced that their first 767 slated for the upgrade to a Premium Economy cabin is now in the shop and the update has begun. At the same time, Austrian has now opened Premium Economy booking for all of their long haul flights scheduled for March 6, 2018 and onward.
The seat is identical to the one found aboard Lufthansa long haul birds except that the seat colors match the Austrian cabin decor.
As with the current product found aboard LH, the Austrian Premium Economy experience will be nearly identical as far as seat pitch, baggage allowance, and dining is concerned:
- Increased seat ‘pitch’ as compare to Economy
- Foot rests
- Amenity Kit
- Fold old tables with dedicated arm-rests
- 12 inch IFE screen
- One standard and one USB power port
- Checked baggage allowance of 2 pieces at 23kg (50 lbs) each
- Enhanced dining options
- Welcome aboard drink
In all, 12 aircraft will be retrofitted between now and March 2018. Once the €15 million retrofit is complete, Austrian will offer a total of 252 Premium Economy seats on their long haul 767 and 777 aircraft.
I suspect during the next few months (until March 2018) while the upgrades are taking place, Economy Class passengers will be offered low-cost or free upgrades to Premium Economy seats. Miles & More Senators & HON Circle members may receive complimentary upgrades as well. This will be take place on a flight by flight basis while the fleet is being upgraded. At least this is what happened while LH was going through the process of upgrading their fleet.
