by Lufthansa Flyer | Jan 10, 2016 | Cargo, Cargo Human Care, Featured, Lufthansa |
A few weeks ago I wrote about the great work being done by Cargo Human Care (CHC), an organization made up primarily of Lufthansa Cargo colleagues who dedicate their time and effort to help those in need.
CHC’s efforts focus primarily on Mothers’ Mercy Home, an Orphanage and Medical Clinic in Kenya where over the years they have helped the organization care for and raise hundreds of Kenyan children. CHC does this by flying supplies, doctors, nurses, dentists and others aboard LH Cargo aircraft so that the aid can be delivered personally.
Over the Christmas season, Mother’s Mercy took time to celebrate the holiday by treating their children to a festive celebration that included a large group dinner and the gifting of presents to the kids. This was made possible largely in part by the CHC volunteers and those who support their cause by providing donations of time and funds to help the organization.
My contacts at CHC provided me with photos from the celebration and asked me to share them with you so that you can see what your efforts are bringing to these deserving children.
Young children were given gifts that included Pajamas and Backpacks, while older children (Aged 13-18) were given packages filled with hats, belts, handbags, and books.
From the looks of the photos it looks like a great time was had by all!
by Lufthansa Flyer | Jan 5, 2016 | Fare Sale, Featured, Frankfurt, Lufthansa, Munich, On Board Experience, Passenger Experience |
Lufthansa announced that it has begun to roll out a new program that allows passengers to upgrade almost any fare class offered by Lufthansa on certain long haul flights. The upgrades are at a fixed price and are subject to availability and capacity control.
What this means is that passengers can pay a fixed price and move up from Economy to Premium Economy or Business, Premium Economy to Business, and Business to First Class.
What is nice about the program is that you will earn miles based on the fare class you upgrade to. HOWEVER, rules regarding refunds, rebooking, baggage, etc. are based on your original fare class, NOT the upgraded class.
For now, this program is limited to the following routes:
- Munich-Los Angeles
- Munich-Seoul
- Frankfurt-Toronto
- Frankfurt-Shanghai
- Frankfurt-New Delhi
If this pilot program goes well, Lufthansa will expand the program to cover their entire long haul timetable.
If you are traveling on any of these routes, you’ll see the upgrade icon when you pull up your reservation on Lufthansa.com. You’ll be given a choice of upgrading with miles, cash, or a combination of the 2. Please note that you can only upgrade your ticket up to 4 hours prior to the scheduled departure. Inside of 4 hours, you will not be able to upgrade.
As mentioned earlier, this program is available for most fare classes however there are a handful of exceptions. Here is the breakdown of which fare classes are eligible to be upgraded:
Economy to Premium Economy (N Fare): All Economy fares are eligible except for X fares.
Economy to Business Class (Z Fare): All Economy fares are eligible except for K, L, T, X.
From Premium Economy to Business (Z Fare): All Premium Economy fares except for R.
From Business Class to First Class (A Fare): All Business Class fares except for I (Award Fare).
Here is the breakdown of costs depending on the route and fare classes involved for the upgrade (prices below are 1-way):
The Fine Print:
As with any program such as this, there are rules and restrictions that will govern your ability to upgrade. Upgrades are eligible under the following conditions:
The booking must be confirmed and ticketed.
Applies only to Lufthansa operated flights and Lufthansa flight numbers. In other words, codeshare ticketing is not eligible for upgrades.
You can not upgrade on a flight for which you are already checked in.
There are a few other minor rules that you can find here.
H/T to FlyerTalk’s Oliver2002 for putting the news in my inbox this morning…..
by Lufthansa Flyer | Dec 30, 2015 | Featured, Fleet Update, Lufthansa |
In a mild surprise, Airbus announced that it has postponed the delivery of the first A320neo (New Engine Option) for a few weeks in order to smooth out a few issues with the Pratt and Whitney engines being used on the aircraft. Airbus is calling the reason for the delay ‘technical complexities’ while Pratt and Whitney refers to the delay as ‘documentation issues’. I do know that one point of contention was the start-up time for each engine. According to LH sources, the engines have an unusually long start-up time of 2.5 to 3.5 minutes. This is believed to be part of the reason for the delivery delay.
Airbus has not provided any specific target date for delivery.
Initially, Qatar was to receive the first A320 but opted out of the delivery due to engine concerns. That opened the door for LH to become the first operator of the A320 but apparently they too are not satisfied with the issues surrounding the engines thus the delay.
Lufthansa had planned to unveil the A320 on its Frankfurt – Hamburg route on January 6 . These plans have now obviously been canceled and no new launch date has been established.
