by Lufthansa Flyer | Apr 1, 2016 | Featured, Lufthansa, Voucher |
Lufthansa is offering passengers a voucher good for €20 off of any bookings for travel that originate in Germany. The vouchers are valid for bookings made to any Lufthansa destination as long as all flights are operated by Lufthansa.
The voucher can be redeemed between April 2 and July 1, 2016.
Travel must take place between April 2 and October 1, 2016.
The voucher is only good for bookings made directly through Lufthansa.com.
To claim your voucher, please follow this link where you can register to have the code sent to you. If prompted for a password, enter LHDSW.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Mar 31, 2016 | A350, Featured, Lufthansa |
Earlier today, Lufthansa touted the virtues and benefits of the A350 that we’ve heard all along. However they are finally beginning to hint at where the new birds will fly to once they begin to enter service in January 2017.
The new piece of news was the fact that the first routes that will see the A350 appear to be Boston and Delhi. Keep in mind that the A350s will be a 3-class aircraft, comprised of Business, Premium Economy, and Economy Cabins. First Class will not be offered on ANY A350.
Since we are still 9 months away from even the most optimistic predictions regarding entry into service, I expect there to be several more changes to LH’s initial plans.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Mar 26, 2016 | 60th Anniversary, 747-8i, Featured, History, Lufthansa, Yankee Tango |
A year ago today, one of Lufthansa’s most popular aircraft was officially delivered by Boeing and I was there to experience what is perhaps the highlight of my ‘Avgeek’ hobby.
On March 25, 2015 Boeing literally handed over the keys to Lufthansa’s 18th 747 and a small group of us took off from Paine Field in Everett, Washington and brought her home to Frankfurt. Since entering service she has been a huge favorite of passengers and avgeeks alike due to her unique paint scheme. To honor their 60th Anniversary, LH had ‘Yankee Tango’ painted in a livery that resembled what the 747 fleet looked like in the 1970s when LH began flying 747-100 and -200 variants. Later in the 1990s, the -400 model would begin to replace the previous version. In all, LH had at one time or another operated 4 747-100, 26 747-200, 31 747-400 (13 still in use), and now 19 747-8i model aircraft.
The delivery event had been overshadowed by the Germanwings crash they day before and it was even discussed that the delivery be postponed. Ultimately it was decided that the aircraft should go home as scheduled if for nothing else than to demonstrate some level of normalcy and to keep to the schedule that had been months in the planning.
Not exactly a routing that one sees often…..
Having a 747-8i to share with only a few people and having the ability to roam anywhere in the aircraft including hours spent with the pilots in the cockpit was certainly a one-off experience. In addition, since the Economy Class cabin was not installed since the seats were in Frankfurt, it gave the 748 a cavernous feeling. As a bonus, since we were flying a very northern route from Everett, I finally got to experience the Northern Lights as well. It was certainly a once in a lifetime event for me. Until of course LH starts to take delivery of their 777s…….
I share below the stories I posted that covered the delivery event in case you’d like to see what’s behind a Delivery Flight. I’ll also include links to my dedicated ‘Yankee Tango’ gallery on my Aero-Shots.com plane-spotting website that has ton of photos of the aircraft going through her very first test flights. Enjoy!
‘Yankee Tango’ Delivery Coverage:
by Lufthansa Flyer | Mar 24, 2016 | Brussels, Featured, LCC, Lufthansa, Passenger Experience |
Back in 2009 when Lufthansa completed the purchase of a 45% stake in Brussels Airlines, it also retained the option to purchase the remaining 55%. This option is set to expire in 2017, however the decision from Lufthansa is due in the next several weeks according to Lufthansa’s CFO, Simone Menne, who suggested this timeline during Lufthansa’s earnings conference last week. The major stipulation for the exercise of the option was that Brussels needed to demonstrate profitability on its own before LH would acquire the rest of the carrier. In 2015, Brussels finally did demonstrate a profitable year which has now put in motion the process for Lufthansa to potentially acquire the rest of ‘SN’.
What doe this mean for Brussels Airlines?? A lot……
Should LH acquire the balance of ‘SN’, it is widely speculated that Lufthansa would fold Brussels into its Eurowings ‘low cost carrier (LCC)’ and literally would jump to the number 3rd largest ‘LCC’ in Europe, behind only Ryanair and Easyjet which have been a perennial fly in the ointment for Lufthansa. It would also mean that Eurowings would grow exponentially overnight with routes throughout Europe, gain additional routes in North America and inherit a strong presence in Africa where Brussels has spent considerable effort growing its network.
Should this come to pass as I’ve described, I believe it would would have an accretive impact on Lufthansa Group. It’s no secret that Eurowings has had its share of growing pains recently due to small size of its long haul fleet. Adding SN’s existing fleet, staff, and timetable would go a long way in stabilizing Eurowings and make it an important hedge in Lufthansa’s portfolio as LH continues to battle the ‘LCCs’ in Europe. However, anytime consolidation is discussed, there is always the risk of overlap of staff and resources which could result in a re-sizing of SN so that it fits better into the Eurowings template.
The next 90 days could prove interesting…….
by Lufthansa Flyer | Mar 23, 2016 | Brussels, Featured, Industry News, Lufthansa, Passenger Experience, Travel |
Lufthansa Group has announced a waiver of fees and penalties associated with changing travel plans that include Brussels Airport. Due to the events of the last 24 hours, passengers who were scheduled to travel to or from Brussels on a Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian, Brussels, or Germanwings flight have the ability to request a full cancellation of their ticket or change the travel dates without incurring any fees.
This fee waiver applies to travel that was scheduled to take place between March 22 and March 28. One change or cancellation is allowed per booking. In order to process the change, simply look up your itinerary on the website of the airline you are flying and you will be given the option to make changes or cancel your booking. Otherwise, please contact your travel agent who issued your ticket.
Airport officials in Brussels have indicated that the airport will be closed through at least tomorrow, March 23. A decision as to when the airport will reopen will be announced sometime tomorrow.
