Earlier this week, Lufthansa announced that it will reduce the amount of destinations that will see Lufthansa’s First Class product. The primary targets for this reduction will be cities that typically do not see a high demand for First Class seats. As of now, Lufthansa offers First Class seating on approximately 90% of it’s long haul fleet (Boeing 747, Airbus A330,A340, A380). This ratio will be reduced to approximately 75% after the adjustments take place. This will fall into alignment with what most other carriers offer as far as first class seating capacity is concerned.
Looking at it in terms of actual aircraft, Lufthansa currently has 100 long-haul aircraft of which 94 have a First Class cabin. With Lufthansa’s plan that will dip to approximately 75 aircraft, ultimately not such a dramatic change. For those of us addicted to LH’s First Class services who may be affected by this, remember that you are probably a short flight away to connect to a city that will continue to see the First Class seats.
I won’t speculate on which cities may be “at-risk” for losing LH’s First Class Service since no official plan has been laid out, so I would caution anyone from reaching too many conclusions too soon!
Ultimately this should not come as a surprise since this had already been communicated to employees by Lufthansa’s Supervisory Board last year. It also makes for a great business decision because of the amount of revenue that is lost when First Class seats go empty on any given flight.
Considering that Lufthansa offers the most Business Class seats of any airline, which also experiences typically higher load factors than First Class, it makes sense to increase the amount of Business Class and also Economy Class seats as well in an attempt to drive revenues. If you recall Lufthansa announced last year that it will be introducing new Premium Economy seat which will further add to their revenue numbers.
Chances are that the current fleet will not have too many First Class seats removed, rather it will be new aircraft coming from future orders that will be configured without a First Class cabin. Lufthansa has a handful of 2-Class longhaul aircraft in the fleet so it will be nothing new that will send shockwaves when someone boards a 2-Class aircraft in the future.
Lufthansa announced an economy fare sale today that provides some of the lowest fares that you will see to some of their destinations. For example, Washington to Istanbul is only $489. Recently Istanbul has been a fare “battle ground” among several airlines making it a great time to visit this wonderful city. My wife and I spent several days there last summer and had an absolutely wonderful time. Fares to Istanbul from most East Coast cities range from $489 to $550. From the west coast, most fares to Istanbul range in the mid $800’s. Be mindful that these fares will only earn you %50 percent of the miles you travel, so going to IST solely as a mileage run is not good “mile-running economics”. However, it is a great fare if you want to go see a great city!
Moscow is also attractively priced with fares staring from only $529 from the east coast and $960 from the west coast but again be careful regarding the miles that you will earn with these fares.
Terms and Conditions apply and are as follows:
Tickets must be purchased by March 12, 2013.
You must depart between February 21 and March 31, 2013.
You must return between February 24 and April 20, 2013.
Tickets must be purchased 7 days prior to travel.
Fares are valid for travel on Air Canada, Austrian, Brussels, Swiss, United or Lufthansa.
A Saturday night stay is required.
THE BUSINESS CLASS SALE:
At the same time, Lufthansa is also running a very decent Business Class fare sale. The best pricing for fares is found for travel departing from New York, with most fares ranging between $2700 and $2900. These fares are generally the lowest that you’ll see for Business Class on Lufthansa. Fares from other US gateways start in the low $3000’s and work their way up from there. For this fare sale, New York offers the best prices (Even beating Boston in this case). The business class fares are valid on Air Canada, Austrian, Brussels Airlines, Lufthansa, Swiss or United. If you want my unsolicited advice, you’ll absolutely want to make sure that you are flying Austrian, Brussels, Lufthansa or Swiss. They’ll provide you with the best hospitality and product.
Terms and Conditions apply and are as follows:
Tickets must be purchased by March 6, 2013
You must depart between March 24 and April 5, 2013
You must return between March 31 and April 10, 2013
Tickets must be purchased 28 days prior to travel.
Earlier today in Germany, Lufthansa announced that it has extended its commitment to FC Bayern München. For those of you not familiar with FC Bayern, it is one of the world’s most elite Football (Soccer for us Americans) Clubs and is a perennial powerhouse in the German Bundesliga.
The agreement extends the 9-year old relationship by 5 years (through 2018) and will have Lufthansa continue to be the team’s Platinum Partner and charter air travel provider when the team travels to its matches throughout Germany and Europe.
In a ceremony on the field with FC Bayern officials, Lufthansa’s CEO Carsten Spohr is holding the 747-8i. Photo courtesy of Lufthansa.
One of Lufthansa’s best commercials and a great example of their partnership (at least in my opinion) is one that features the FC Bayern team deplaning after arriving in Munich, where an eager young fan awaits to get an autograph from his favorite “Captain”. It’s worth a watch:
This year, Lufthansa Cargo will be responsible for thousands of smiling faces when it brings 1000 tons of Roses to destinations throughout Europe.
Over the next few days leading up to Valentine’s on 14 February the roses will begin arriving to Frankfurt from Kenya, Ecuador and Colombia. Upon arrival in Germany the flowers will be dispatched to florists throughout Europe. The demand for the Roses is so great that Lufthansa Cargo added additional flights to accommodate the demand.
If your Valentine happens to be in Europe and Roses are on your to-do list, there’s a very good chance that the flowers you give her were aboard a Lufthansa Cargo aircraft this week.
Lufthansa is currently offering discount travel vouchers that can be redeemed on Lufthansa operated flights worldwide. Normally these voucher offers tend to be limited to Europe, but in this case the vouchers are available from most countries that Lufthansa serves.
The value of the vouchers vary slightly between countries and are denominated in local currencies. For example, someone in Europe requesting a voucher will get one for €20, someone booking travel from the USA will receive $40 and someone in Hong Kong will receive a voucher valued at HKD$450.
The voucher applies to the base or tariff fare and does not affect the taxes and fees for the ticket. The voucher can be redeemed for travel until 10 March. Travel must be completed by 10 June.
Please note that when you look at the terms and conditions, it may appear that the code is good until October, but Lufthansa uses the European format for dates: DD/MM/YYYY.
To request a voucher please use this link. Once providing Lufthansa with your name and email address, a voucher code will be immediately emailed to you and you can apply that code when booking travel on Lufthansa.com.
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