LUFTHANSA: New First Class Suites

The German airline has just announced its new ‘Alegris’ First Class seating product to be installed on Airbus A350s to be delivered in 2023. The suite is just one aspect of this new Allegris brand which covers new seats in business class and premium economy.

First Class Suite

This new suite updates the airline’s first-class product by making the seat nearly a metre wide converting it into a 2-metre bed, and adding the usual first-class features of direct aisle access, a door, wardrobe, and almost total enclosure and companion seat. The suite was originally destined for the Boeing 777-9, now long delayed, so it has been adapted for the A350. It looks like it will sit well with other competing airlines, but does not adopt the seat plus bed option that say Singapore Airlines has introduced, and Qantas intends to install on its ‘Sunrise Project’ A350s.

The fleet of 10 A350s will be based at Munich Airport.

New Business Class

Lufthansa has an extremely diverse set of business class seats having picked up ex-Philippine Airlines, and other airline’s planes, keeping their seating with small material and accessory adaptations. It runs an outdated 2-2-2 product along with a newish alternation 2-2-2 and 2-1-2 ‘throne’ seat options. Throne seats, otherwise attractive for the solo traveller, will only have 2-metre beds, rather than the longer 2.2-metre beds for non-throne seats.

Lufthansa will also be selling the first row of business as ‘business plus’ given its larger footprint including wardrobe, larger 27″ TV screen and sliding door, similar to the new offerings of Virgin Atlantic and Air New Zealand.

Future

Eventually, these products will be rolled out to all the international fleet, including on Boeing 787-9s and 777-9s when they finally arrive, as well as the initial 10 A350s. Lufthansa will also look to retrofit the seats to its existing fleet of Boeing 747-8s

2PAXfly Takeout

This is another timely reminder to wear your seatbelt when seated. Holding you close to your seat will protect you from the sort of injuries sustained on this flight, when unsecured passengers flew to the ceiling of the aircraft, and then came crashing down once the ‘drop’ ceased.

The hope will be that this is an anomaly – a ‘freak accident’ in casual parlance. If it is a systemic error either mechanical or electronic, then this is a larger concern for the airlines that fly Boeing Dreamliner 787 aircraft. Let’s hope it isn’t. If it is, it will pile on the woes to Boeing’s existing stack.

Currently, Lufthansa has a sub-optimal long-haul business class, and an outdated first class, so this Alegris initiative is a big improvement.

Lufthansa does not fly to Australia but is often an option to transfer to through hubs like Bangkok, Singapore and Hong Kong. With only an initial 10 A350s operating, it might be a while before you get the option of travelling on one of these newly kitted-out planes.