by Lufthansa Flyer | Oct 19, 2015 | Austrian, Featured, On Board Experience, Passenger Experience |
AUSTRIAN has announced that it has begun work to update and upgrade their current Business Class cabin on their Airbus A319, A320, and A321 aircraft. In all, 29 aircraft will feature the new look.
Over the course of the next 2 years, the Business Class cabins for these aircraft will be upgraded with improved seat cushions as well as increased legroom. Currently, the Business Class cabin seat pitch is 30 inches, just at it is for Economy but this will increase to 32 inches. This marks the first time that a narrow body business class cabin will actually have a different seat pitch than the rest of the aircraft’s seats.
Traditionally, short and medium haul Business Class cabins for Austrian (as well as for the Lufthansa Group & most major European airlines) meant that you had the same type of seat as an economy passenger, but the middle seat would be left open giving passengers a bit more room. A curtain hanging from the luggage bins would act as the divider between Business and Economy class seats. For Austrian, this now goes away and in essence they are creating a dedicated Business Class cabin for their narrow body aircraft. However, the middle seat will continue to be left open.
All this new space was found by decreasing the size of storage and galley areas on the aircraft.
At the same time, Austrian also has announced that it will reduce the seat pitch on their A319 and A320 aircraft from 30 inches to 29 inches. According to OS, this brings them in line with European standards but at the same time will also allow Austrian to install an additional row in Economy Class.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Oct 16, 2015 | Business Class, Featured, First Class, Swiss |
SWISS has launched a rare Premium Fare sale for travel in First or Business Class to most of SWISS’ destinations worldwide.
Travel must originate in Zurich, however for only $4000 you can fly LX’s outstanding First Class product from Zurich to Montreal for $4000, $3700 to Muscat or Dubai or to Sao Paulo for $6300!
Business Class fares begin at $2000 for travel between Zurich and Beijing or Bangkok and go up towards $3000 for travel to Johannesburg.
As I mentioned, the fare sale seems to cover the entire SWISS network and great prices exist for each destination. With a little bit of planning, its not to difficult to position yourself in Zurich to take advantage of the deals.
The details (applies to both First and Business Class fares):
The fare sale will last for only 48 hours. It ends at midnight (local ZRH time) on October 18.
The fares are valid for travel worldwide (except to North America) between November 1, 2015 and June 19, 2016.
Valid travel dates to North America run between November 1, 2015 and and March 11, 2016.
In addition, there is no advanced booking period for non-North American destinations. For travel to North America there is a 30-day advance purchase requirement. Also for North America a 5 day minimum stay is required. Non-North American destinations require only a Saturday or Sunday night stay.
Its been quite a week for fare sales. This particular one comes on the heels of LUFTHANSA’s $2000 Business Class deal between the USA and London. All of a sudden we’re given a ton of options to enjoy some of the best seats in the air!
by Lufthansa Flyer | Oct 16, 2015 | Business Class, Fare Sale, Featured |
In a direct response to British Airways’ fare sale, LUFTHANSA has launched a great Business Class fare from US Gateways To London for only $2000. Depending on exact travel dates, it may be a few dollars higher or lower, but perhaps the LOWEST that you’ll ever see an LH Business Class fare ex-USA.
Availability for the fare is wide open well into next year (into mid-May!) and covers all of LH’s North American gateways. In other words, you can fly to London from Newark for $2020 or from LAX to London for $2020. This is not a bad Premium Cabin Mileage Run candidate (books to P fare class)!
I don’t know for how long these fares will be loaded into the system, so I suggest acting sooner than later. I suspect once BA pulls their fares, LH will pull theirs.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Oct 9, 2015 | Austrian, Business Class, Featured, On Board Experience, Passenger Experience |
Last week, Austrian’s CCO Andreas Otto was in New York to visit colleagues at Austrian’s offices and provided his insights on the airline and what the future will bring to OS.
As part of his comments, he suggested that a new Business Class cabin is on the way for Austrian’s long haul aircraft. His plans called for the retrofit to be completed by 2020 and would include any 767, 777s and A350s that could or would be in the fleet at that time. Maybe I missed something along the way, but I did not think OS was getting any A350s.
Regardless, I look forward to what the new Business Class concept will be from OS. It feels like only yesterday that the current Business Class cabins were introduced.
Stay tuned. I’m certain theres a lot more coming on this topic.
On another topic, he also mentioned SFO and LAX may be next on OS’ radar….but nothing definite at this point.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Oct 6, 2015 | Austrian, Featured, Miles & More |
After being away for over a week on an African Safari trip, I come back to a bit of a backlog of deals and opportunities that have come from the LH Group.
Perhaps the most exciting one is news of the availability of Mileage Bargain deals for Business Class award redemption on Austrian through Miles & More.
Typically, Miles & More offers great deals each month that allow for Business Class award bookings for nearly 50% less miles than the normal schedule. This translates into booking a Biz Class seat for only 55,000 miles instead of 105,000 miles.
But this deal is a bit different from the others….
For the rest of the year, Miles & More members can redeem their miles on Austrian for Business Class travel between the USA and a variety of Austrian destinations for only 55,000 miles. The deal seems to be available in both directions: Ex-USA and Ex-Austria and is available for travel between mid-October and end of December. Inventory is fairly good and widely available throughout the next 3 months.
You won’t find this deal on the Meilenschnappchen website.
Just log into your Miles & More account and search for travel between US and Austrian destinations and you’ll see the 55k deal come up in the search results.
H/T: FlyerTalk’s Oliver2002
