by Lufthansa Flyer | Feb 20, 2015 | Featured, First Class, History, Lufthansa |
For those of you who have been fortunate to experience Lufthansa’s First Class service on long haul flights, you’ll no doubt recall either having a red Rose waiting for you at your seat or being handed to you by your flight attendant.
Most passengers will see it as a colorful touch to an impeccable travel experience but not stop to think whether this is a tradition or simply part of the decor of the First Class cabin.
So now that I’ve piqued your curiosity, here is the background on this tradition.
Early in Lufthansa’s post-WWII days of the mid to late 1950s, Lufthansa began operating aircraft such as the Lockheed ‘Super Constellation’ and various Convairs to destinations around the world. At the same time, Lufthansa also introduced a new cabin experience called ‘Senator Service’, the precursor to today’s fantastic onboard experience.
However, the true First Class experience would really ‘take off’ when Lufthansa entered the jet age with the introduction of Boeing’s 707 to passengers on March 17, 1960.
With the 707, Lufthansa raised the bar (quite literally) for Senator Service. The larger aircraft afforded Lufthansa to carry 24 First Class passengers who would be cared for by a Hostess, a Cook, and a Cabin Chef. In addition, passengers were able to make use of a dedicated lounge that came complete with Beer served from wooden kegs. This also marked for the first time in Lufthansa’s history that foreign flight attendants were being introduced due to Lufthansa’s expansion into the global airline marketplace.
What First Class looked like aboard a Boeing 707 —- Courtesy of Lufthansa
And finally, to put the proverbial cherry on top of the experience, the implementation of the enhanced Senator Service aboard the 707 in the 1960s would also usher in the tradition of the Baccara Red Rose that awaits each Lufthansa First Class passenger. Now you know!
by Lufthansa Flyer | Feb 20, 2015 | Fare Sale, Featured, Lufthansa |
Throughout the year, Lufthansa will occasionally run a fare sale where they allocate a million tickets at discounted prices for travel within Germany and Europe.
In the latest version, the deal runs this through weekend (between now and 22 February) and is valid for travel between April and September.
From what I see fares are about €10-€40 lower than usual so it makes for a compelling fare sale. Keep in mind that the sale expires midnight CET on 22 February or when 1 million tickets have been issued from this promo.
The terms of the fare sale are as follows:
Departures need to take place between 1 April and 30 June, 2015.
Returns need to take place between 2 April and 30 September, 2015.
Minimum Stay Requirements: 1 night for German destinations. For all other destinations it is one of the following: 3 nights OR a Friday Night OR a Saturday night stay.
Maximum Stay: 3 Months.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Feb 18, 2015 | Featured, Fleet Update, Lufthansa, Plane Spotting |
As the adage goes, all good things must come to an end. In the case of Lufthansa, this means that the last 747-8i has been completed and will join the fleet in a few weeks.
‘D-ABYU’ exited the paint shop on February 16 at Paine Field and will take to the skies in the next few days for her B-1, B-2 and C-1 Flights. These flights will serve to test and certify the aircraft before it is handed over to Lufthansa sometime in March or April, depending on results of the tests.
Here are a few shots that have been kindly shared by spotters at Paine Field yesterday (I had left Seattle one day too soon!):
D-ABYU shortly after being towed out of the Paint Hangar…….Photo courtesy of Woody’s Aero Images
D-ABYU is the 19th Lufthansa 747-8i and marks the end of 3 years of 747-8i deliveries to the airline. The 747-8i made her passenger debut with Lufthansa on June 1, 2012 to rave reviews and has been nothing but a favorite of both Lufthansa and their passengers ever since.
For those of you keeping score at home, here is the timeline of Lufthansa’s 747-8i fleet:
| Aircraft Registration | Nickname | Delivered To Lufthansa |
| D-ABYA | Brandenburg | April 25, 2012 |
| D-ABYC | Sachsen | June 30, 2012 |
D-ABYD
| Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | August 24, 2012 |
| D-ABYF | Sachsen-Anhalt | October 23, 2012 |
| D-ABYG | Baden-Württemberg | March 12, 2013 |
| D-ABYH | Thüringen | March 27, 2013 |
| D-ABYI | Potsdam (Fanhansa Livery) | May 29, 2013 |
| D-ABYJ | Hannover | June 25, 2013 |
| D-ABYK | Rheinland-Pfalz | August 13, 2013 |
| D-ABYL | Hessen | February 6, 2014 |
| D-ABYM | Bayern | February 28, 2014 |
| D-ABYN | Niedersachsen | March 31, 2014 |
| D-ABYP | Nordrhein-Westfalen (1500th 747) | June 25, 2014 |
| D-ABYQ | Schleswig-Holstein | August 29, 2014 |
| D-ABYR | Bremen | January 26, 2015 |
| D-ABYS | | February 2015 (TBD) |
| D-ABYT | Retro-Livery | March 2015 (TBD) |
| D-ABYU | | March / April 2015 (TBD) |
For enthusiasts, this also marks the beginning of the end of the 4-engine airliner. Over the next 15-20 years, the final 747s and A380s will be phased out leaving us only with 2-engine aircraft to get excited about.
If you’d like to see my 747-8i Gallery where I’ve caught every LH 747-8i except for the elusive D-ABYK, please click here to be taken to Aero-Shots.com, my personal plane spotting archive.
Now there is one minor caveat to all of this……When I was in Seattle last week, I spoke to a few people with Boeing who are familiar with the 747-8i program and brought up the fact that there is another Lufthansa 747-8i that was never finished. D-ABYE (Line/Airframe #1435 in Boeing-Speak) was used by Boeing for certain testing in 2012/13 and at the time of its manufacture, it was turned down by Lufthansa as a deliverable aircraft.
However, during the past weeks, the aircraft that would have been D-ABYE has been seen being put back into the Factory for finishing work. There seems to be 2 strong rumors circling ‘YE’, one is that in fact Lufthansa may actually wind up taking delivery of ‘YE’ while the other rumor suggests that it will be turned into a Boeing Business Jet and sold to a private individual or Sovereign State. This mystery should resolve itself in the not-too-distant future……
by Lufthansa Flyer | Feb 16, 2015 | Featured, Lufthansa, Route Announcements |
Lufthansa will be removing the A380 from their Frankfurt – Houston route for 2 weeks but fret not, it will be replaced by a 747-8i during that time. Could IAH possibly see?:
Preparing for taxi test
The exact dates of the swap is scheduled to take place from March 29 to April 8 according to Lufthansa.com’s booking engine. I’ll provide an additional update should this schedule change.
The swap is taking place because of the Premium Economy & New Business Class retrofit schedule for the A380.
by Lufthansa Flyer | Feb 16, 2015 | Featured, Fleet Update, Lufthansa, Photography, Plane Spotting |
After having a few hours during my flights home yesterday I finally had a chance to screen through all of my 532 photos of D-ABYT. During this process I found a few more photos that I think you’ll enjoy.
If you haven’t seen my previous posts showing D-ABYT’s first taxi test and test flight, you can get caught up here:
Part 1: Taxi Test and Inaugural Flight
Part 2: D-ABYT Returns From Inaugural Flight
Entering the runway for taxi test.
Applying brakes during taxi test
Full stop – the brakes work!
Into the clouds….
Gear retract
Away for a B1 test flight….
