by Lufthansa Flyer | Oct 12, 2017 | Business Class, Featured, First Class, Miles & More, Voucher |
I normally don’t speculate on rumors but one caught my attention today thanks to FlyerTalk’s ‘NewbieRunner’, who pointed out a thread written by a ‘HON Circle’ member suggesting that Lufthansa may be set to relax their upgrade rules as far as moving to First Class is concerned.
Back in 2012, Lufthansa stopped the practice of allowing Miles & More members to use their E-Vouchers to upgrade from discount ‘Z’ Business Class fares to First Class seats on long haul flights. Passengers could only upgrade to first if they had booked full fare business class tickets. This was also the time that Lufthansa unveiled ‘P’ fares, that were ‘deep discount’ business class fares. They too were ineligible for upgrades.
Interestingly enough, SWISS, the only other LH Group airline that offers long haul First Class seats has always allowed discounted Business Class fares to be upgradeable to First.
Now it appears that the policy may be revised to once again allow discount Lufthansa Business Class fares to be eligible for upgrades to First. According the aforementioned thread, it may be that a Lufthansa staffer inadvertently told this ‘HON’ that this change is coming.
The timing of this ‘leak’ may be reasonable since Miles & More is set to announce wide ranging changes to the terms of the program, including a likely shift to a revenue based model as far as earning status is concerned. This widely expected shift would simply be in line with what the rest of the industry has already done, or is in the process of transitioning to.
If this comes to pass it will be a very positive development. My only concern is what will be taken away or changed that will make this positive development seem trivial. Lately, most program changes have taken away more than they have given as far as benefits are concerned.
Expect an announcement from Miles & More in the coming weeks regarding program changes for 2018.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Sep 15, 2017 | Business Class, Featured, First Class, Lounges, Lufthansa, Munich, Oktoberfest, On Board Experience, Passenger Experience, Trachtencrew |
As has become an annual tradition, Lufthansa has announced the details around their 2017 Trachten Crews as they begin to celebrate Oktoberfest. For those of you unfamiliar with the Trachten Crew, it is a select group of flight attendants who celebrate the annual German harvest by wearing traditional Bavarian Drindls and Lederhosen aboard select flights during Oktoberfest.
This year, the team will be on the following long haul flights:
September 15: Munich – Seoul aboard flight LH718
September 25: Munich – New York JFK aboard flight LH410
October 1: Munich – San Francisco aboard LH458.
Members of the Trachten Crew show off their Drindls. Photo Courtesy of Lufthansa
In addition to these long haul flights, passengers will be able to spot other Trachten Crew on European flights to Dresden, Bastia, Amsterdam, Prague, Timisoara, Munster, Warsaw, Belgrade, and Brussels.
Lufthansa employees in Munich’s Terminal 2 will also be in the Oktoberfest spirit as well, and you’ll be able to see their Drindls and Lederhosen on display between now and October 1.
Aside from the new ‘Uniforms’ that will be on display, passengers aboard Lufthansa flights from Munich will be treated to special Oktoberfest menus that celebrate the holiday as well.
Passengers visiting Lufthansa Business Class and First Class Lounges in Munich will also have some special Bavarian surprises waiting for them too. There will even be special amenity kits for Biz and First Class passengers flying from Munich.
Oktoberfest First Class Amenity Kit…..Photo Courtesy of Lufthansa.
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.
