by Lufthansa Flyer | Aug 2, 2015 | Business Class, Featured, Lufthansa, Passenger Experience |
Lufthansa has announced that it will take their ‘Business Class Signature Service’ from pilot program to standard product across most of their long-haul footprint.
For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, passengers who travel in Business Class will now experience a restaurant-like experience and have a dedicated flight attendant that will look after them. A flight attendant will be responsible for a group of 8-12 passengers instead of floating around the entire cabin. Lufthansa hopes that this focus will provide passengers a more personalized experience during their flight.
Most passengers can expect a different experience with ‘Business Class Signature Service’
The new program will roll out in 3 segments.
Beginning on August 1, passengers flying aboard A380 aircraft to New York (JFK), Miami, Houston, Delhi, Johannesburg, Beijing, Seoul, San Francisco, Shanghai and Los Angeles will see the ‘Signature Service’.
On October 1, ‘Signature Service’ will begin on 747-400 and 747-8i aircraft.
On October 25, the A340 fleet will see the new program. It appears that the A330 is not part of the rollout, perhaps due to the fact that it is a smaller aircraft.
Lufthansa has conducted 130 trial flights and has trained over 4,500 flight attendants in advance of this rollout.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Aug 1, 2015 | Business Class, Featured, Fleet Update, Lufthansa, Passenger Experience |
Each month LUFTHANSA updates the status of their Business Class retrofit progress across the long haul fleet. This month’s update confirms that 100 long-haul aircraft now feature the new Business Class cabin.
Since the July report, this is an increase of 5 additional aircraft now outfitted with the new Business Class cabin. It also means that there are ONLY 7 more left so if things remain on track the retrofit should be completed by September
Here is the breakdown by Aircraft type and then by specific aircraft registration:
The aircraft registration codes that are highlighted in green represent the newly retrofitted aircraft added to the report for this month.
Airbus A330: D-AIKP, D-AIKQ, D-AIKR, D-AIKS (These 4 planes were line-fit meaning that they were delivered by Airbus with the seats installed). D-AIKA, D-AIKB, D-AIKC, D-AIKD, D-AIKE, D-AIKF, D-AIKG, D-AIKH, D-AIKI, D-AIKJ, D-AIKK, D-AIKL, D-AIKM, D-AIKN, D-AIKO have all been retrofit by Lufthansa Technik.
Airbus A340-300: D-AIGM, D-AIGS, D-AIGO, D-AIGV, D-AIGT, D-AIGN, D-AIFE, D-AIGZ, D-AIFC, D-AIGX, D-AIGU, D-AIGL, D-AIFA, D-AIFD, D-AIFF, D-AIGW, D-AIGY (All Retrofit).
Airbus A340-600: D-AIHB, D-AIHC, D-AIHD, D-AIHE, D-AIHF, D-AIHH, D-AIHI, D-AIHK, D-AIHL, D-AIHM, D-AIHN, D-AIHQ, D-AIHR, D-AIHS, D-AIHU, D-AIHV, D-AIHW, D-AIHX, D-AIHY, D-AIHZ (All Retrofit).
Airbus A380: D-AIMB, D-AIMC, D-AIMD, D-AIME, D-AIMF, D-AIMG, D-AIMH, D-AIMI, D-AIMJ, D-AIMK, D-AIML, D-AIMM, D-AIMN. MK, ML, MM, and MN were line fit while all other A380s were retrofitted.
Boeing 747-8i: All have the new Business Class.
Boeing 747-400: D-ABTK, D-ABTL, D-ABVO, D-ABVP, D-ABVR, D-ABVT, D-ABVU, D-ABVW, D-ABVX, D-ABVY, D-ABVZ (Retrofit).
Another way to look at the progress is to see which aircraft still need to be retrofitted. Here is the list as of July 31, 2015:
A340-600: D-AI: HA, HO, HP, HT
A340-300: D-AIGP (Will be flying as a ‘Jump’ Configuration)
747-400: D-AB: VM, VS
If you have upcoming Business Class travel on Lufthansa, you can use this tool to determine if your flight will have an aircraft equipped with the new Business Class.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Jul 30, 2015 | Deals, Fare Sale, Featured, First Class, Lufthansa |
Lufthansa has quietly launched a fantastic First Class fare sale. Before you get too excited there are a few provisions that you have to abide by.
First, the sale is a 2 for 1 deal, so you have to buy 2 tickets in order to take advantage of the pricing.
Next, your travel must originate from an Austrian airport, including but not limited to Vienna, Graz, Innsbruck, Salzburg, etc. and connect through either Munich or Frankfurt. You’ll also need to return to Austria.
The destinations are limited to Asia (including India), Africa and South America. From doing a quick fare search, I was not able to find any deals to North America. Also, not every date or routing has this fare available. It is a bit of hit-n-miss and a bit of luck.
However, you can find fantastic deals like Graz to Hong Kong for only €2390 per person. That’s less than a typical Business Class seat and you also get to enjoy things like Caviar, Rimowa Amenity Kits and visits to the First Class Lounges and First Class Terminal!
Other fare examples include Rio for €3500, Beijing / Shanghai for €2999, Johannesburg for €3500 and Dubai for €2499.
The rules of the fares are as follows:
The fares are available for booking until August 13 (or when sold out).
Travel must take place between August 13, 2015 and March 31, 2016.
Tickets must be purchased 14 days prior to departure.
Your connecting flight from Austria to Germany will be in Business Class.
The Fares appear to booking to ‘A’ so you’ll earn 3x/miles.
NOT REFUNDABLE.
NOT CHANGEABLE.
Hopefully your travel plans are flexible enough so that you can take advantage of this great offer!
Please note, if you are having trouble finding the fares online, you may need to call the reservation center since this is considered a companion fare and may not be properly loaded into their online reservation systems.
You can also contact SkyTravelAgent.com for assistance in booking this fare. I’ve used them successfully in building mileage runs and taking advantage of fare sales and recommend them highly!
A big H/T to FlyerTalk’s Oliver2002!
