Lufthansa has finally launched its new Allegris cabin product in three of four classes – with the notable absence of the ostentatious new first-class suites.
Still, this comes as a relief for Lufthansa, having been stuck for many years in an uncomfortable position of having made many great promises predominantly to premium customers, but delivering on none so far on board.
Not many big network carriers fly such an outdated long-haul business-class product as Lufthansa currently does in over a hundred aircraft. The pairs of full-flat seats, lacking almost any privacy, were introduced in 2012.
Usually, the typical cycle of a long-haul premium product in the industry is seven years, while Lufthansa’s new offering will only complete the rollout over the entire fleet of 117 jets by the end of 2027 – 15 years after premiering their last upgrade.
This is not just due to COVID-19 and current supply chain disruptions. Lufthansa is always one of the last among big players to elevate its premium offering to levels that have already become industry standard for years.
British Airways pioneered full-flat seats in long-haul Business Class in 1999 – Lufthansa followed in 2012, with the first generation still flying. “Lufthansa always wants to bring out something new, their own, different design, and then they can’t decide and it drags on forever”, a former Lufthansa executive tells Airlineratings, after painfully experiencing this process first-hand before.
“It’s always a clash between the logic of flight operation and the lofty ideas of the designers and creatives.” Back in 2017, Lufthansa first released renderings of a new throne seat in Business Class, the new Allegris product was supposed to premier in 2020 on board the brand new Boeing 777-9, of which Lufthansa is a launch customer. “It’s a joke that this is now the last aircraft where our customers will experience Allegris,” says a product manager. The first 777-9 will only arrive in summer 2026, hopes Lufthansa, if no further delays occur, which is unlikely.
For the peak of the northern summer travel season, Lufthansa will introduce five newly delivered A350s with Allegris to its fleet by the end of July, all stationed in Munich. And all still lacking one crucial product element: The lavish new First Class, coming in two single suites and one double suite. The huge suites, the double one occupying a whopping 3.7 square meters of real estate, initially proved to be too heavy, their 1.88 meter high walls running them into further certification troubles, with supply chain shortages adding to the extra delay.
On the first A350s with Allegris, Lufthansa deals with this shortfall quite cheekily. Due to crew safety reasons, one row of non-revenue Economy Class seats, not to be occupied, has temporarily been installed in the big front First Class compartment. On both bulkhead walls front and back, decals evoke the impression of an online file being slowly downloaded, announcing “Lufthansa Allegris First Class – Loading…”. From October to year-end, three additional A350s will join the fleet coming straight from the factory in Toulouse with the new First Class finally on board.
The actual biggest news about the new cabin, however, is the unprecedented level of differentiation in Business Class. As an industry first, Lufthansa offers five different kinds of seats plus three sub-types, and each can be reserved in advance paying individually set surcharges to the fare. Just how exactly Lufthansa aims to teach its customers this sophisticated level of added complexity remains a mystery, as is currently still the pricing, apparently even internally.
“It’s very optimistic to assume yield management can deal with level of complexity,” says the former Lufthansa executive. Top tiers of frequent fliers will be able to reserve some seat categories without extra payment, while every Business passenger can grab whatever seat is still available at no surcharge once online check-in opens the day before the flight. “You can always gamble,” comments a product manager. In terms of price levels, one hint is Swiss, part of the Lufthansa group, which started charging about €275 for elderly throne seats on its A340-300 fleet recently. Even for its most lavish Business Suites, Lufthansa’s surcharge will be below €1000, hints a product manager asked by airlineratings.
Following recent trends, Allegris almost introduces a separate sub-class in the first row of Business with its Business Suites. Guests here not only get a lot of privacy and space, but they are also the only ones given a special menu of drinks and snacks for in-between main meals, as well as pyjamas on night flights and a soft mattress seat cover on every flight. Other Business guests only get this on sectors of over ten and a half hours block time, making Los Angeles, San Francisco and Mexico City the only North Atlantic destinations where this offering is available to all Business passengers, “due to costs for logistics dealing with mattress covers,” admits a product manager.
The bad news is that entry-level Business seats on the aisle away from the window and some aisle seats in the middle offer less foot space than the current product. While the beds now extend to a full two meters on every seat (about three cm more than currently), the foot well itself is a tiny tunnel on these seats, preventing much movement, especially for passengers with larger feet. At least even these seats get a glimpse of daylight through one window fairly far away – if it’s not seats 6C and 6H, which don’t even have this single window. What is internally called the “Dirk Nowitzki seat” after the super-tall German-born US basketball star is the extra-long bed seat, where passengers can stretch out over 2.20 meters.
For the first time Lufthansa offers direct aisle access from every premium seat with Allegris, and a premier is the heating and cooling system built into every premium seat. A new hard product is also offered in Premium Economy Class (above) with fixed seat shells and an increased pitch of 99cm, in the armrest the seats offer wireless charging for phones, which most other airlines only do in premium classes. While it will still take a long time before the majority of Lufthansa customers can experience Allegris for themselves, it’s finally a big step forward in product innovation, which is long overdue at the German carrier. Until the end of 2024 with eight new cabins flying, Allegris will be available on some flights from Munich to Vancouver, Toronto, Chicago, San Francisco and Shanghai.
New Economy Class Seating
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