Lufthansa is in the process of rolling out its new Allegris business class. The first several jets with these new interiors are now flying, and they’re even pretty consistently available on select routes.
Lufthansa has heavily marketed how its new Allegris business class product is all about choice, and that the airline offers at least five different business class seating options. The catch is that a majority of these seats are actually buy-up options, so they’ll cost you extra if you just book a standard business class ticket.
In this post I wanted to go over the details of how Lufthansa plans to charge for its Allegris business class seat assignments in the future. But first, I wanted to cover Lufthansa’s current approach to assigning seats in Allegris business class.
In this post:
How Lufthansa will charge for business class seats
I had the chance to take one of the first Lufthansa Airbus A350 Allegris business class flights. As I wrote about, the product generally exceeded my expectations, though I couldn’t help but notice the massive difference in quality between the various seats in the configuration.
We know that Lufthansa’s strategy with the new Allegris business class is to charge extra for assigning many types of seats. So far, the airline hasn’t yet started charging for assigning specific seats. The current plan is to only start charging for seats as of late March 2025, coinciding with the end of the winter schedule. This is intended so that Lufthansa can beef up its fleet a bit, just to be able to operate reliably.
For the time being (through late March 2025), all business class passengers can assign any Allegris business class seat at no cost, with the exception of the front row suites, which are reserved for HON Circle and Senator members. Keep in mind that Lufthansa sometimes only displays Allegris seat maps around six weeks before departure.
Even ahead of beginning to charge for seats, Lufthansa has revealed which seats will cost extra, and which passengers can assign each type of seat for free. I’ll provide the breakdown of how many of the 38 seats are included in each category, based on the A350-900 cabin.
Here’s what we can expect, going from the least premium seats to the most premium seats:
- The classic seats (12 of 38 seats), which are the standard seats closest to the aisle, can be assigned in advance by all passengers
- The privacy seats (10 of 38 seats), which are the “true” window seats that offer extra privacy, are free for Miles & More HON Circle and Senator members and their companions, as well as passengers booked on “Business Flex” fares
- The extra space seats (four of 38 seats), which are the middle “throne” seats that offer a lot of space, are free for Miles & More HON Circle and Senator members and their companions
- The extra long bed seats (four of 38 seats), which are select middle seats with extra long beds behind the extra space seats, are free for Miles & More HON Circle members and their companions
- The first row suites (eight of 38 seats), which are the super spacious seats with doors in the first row of each cabin, are available at an extra cost for all passengers
What remains to be seen is how much extra the above seats will cost, when assigning in advance. The cost is expected to be based on the length of the flight and exact seat, so we’ll likely learn those details in several months, once the airline actually starts charging for seats. As of now we simply know which seats will cost extra, and the rough hierarchy, but not the actual numbers.
Lufthansa will open seats 30 hours in advance
What happens if passengers don’t pay to assign seats in advance? Lufthansa’s webpage about Allegris business class suggests that passengers will be able to assign any open seats once online check-in opens, generally 30 hours before departure:
Whether it’s a window or aisle seat, a seat with more legroom or the Business Class Suite, Lufthansa is offering your customers the option of selecting their desired seat in advance. With Lufthansa Allegris, the usual booking and handling process for advanced seat reservation (ASR) remains unchanged. As soon as check-in for the flight begins (generally 30 hours before departure), passengers in all travel classes can of course still select one of the remaining seats.
If that’s in fact true, and all seats (including the first row suites) can be assigned 30 hours out, that should make for a great experience for some passengers, and also creates a very strong incentive to check-in the second that you can.
My take on Lufthansa’s Allegris pricing approach
As you can see above, the average business class passenger can assign fewer than one-third of Lufthansa’s Allegris business class seats at no extra cost. Miles & More elite members can assign more seats at no extra cost, but the front row business class suites are only available for purchase, and aren’t given to anyone for free.
With that in mind, a few thoughts:
- It’s disappointing to think that even having the privilege of looking out the window comes at an extra cost in Allegris business class
- Those who don’t want to pay extra for assigning seats in Allegris business class are going to find themselves typically not being able to assign a seat in advance, and/or may also have issues assigning seats next to a travel companion
- I guess we can’t be too judgmental of the concept of charging for business class seat assignments, given that this is something that British Airways has done for years, and which Air France-KLM have adapted as well
- Lufthansa’s first row suites in Allegris business class are truly phenomenal, and I’m curious to see what pricing is like, because it might just be the best business class hard product across the Atlantic (and certainly competes favorably with many of the “business class plus” products)
Bottom line
Lufthansa intends to start charging for Allegris business class seat assignments as of late March 2025. In the meantime, passengers can assign any seats in advance, with the exception of the front row suites.
Once Lufthansa does start charging for seat assignments, we at least know which seats will cost extra, and which seats elite members will be able to assign at no extra cost. Interestingly, even Lufthansa’s top tier HON Circle members won’t be able to assign the front row suites on a complimentary basis. Now the big question is just what pricing will be like…
What do you make of Lufthansa’s approach to Allegris business class pricing?
Just booked and sadly as a UA 1K on UA codeshare can not select the blocked off suites even when all are available.
My December flight was just changed to Allegris. My wife and I were assigned seats next to each other in row 10. That was 5 days ago. Today, I got an email saying I have been moved to row 4, my wife stays the same. The seat they moved me to is the exact same seat class I was assigned to in row 10. Customer service is not allowed to assign seats. I was told I will have to select at check in. Oh boy
I can’t imagine sitting, let alone paying extra to, directly behind the toilets or (for all intents and purposes) looking directly into the toilets, like those four front row seats in the back section.
As always, very quick to throw BA under the bus and use it to make Lufthansa look good, but that doesn’t change the fact that Lufthansa not only charges for seat selection in Business, but the pool of those who can benefit for free is extremely limited (BA honours free seat selection to OW elites). OW Sapphire can allocate all minus Emergency Exit rows and OW Emerald, any seat at the time of booking. Lufthansa...
As always, very quick to throw BA under the bus and use it to make Lufthansa look good, but that doesn’t change the fact that Lufthansa not only charges for seat selection in Business, but the pool of those who can benefit for free is extremely limited (BA honours free seat selection to OW elites). OW Sapphire can allocate all minus Emergency Exit rows and OW Emerald, any seat at the time of booking. Lufthansa limits this to a very few select of its own programme. What Delta is to Skyteam, Lufthansa is to Star! And both their behaviours massively devalue both alliances!
They are their own worst enemy............
This design leaves no seats for companions to sit together without having to pay for one of the seats. Not a single pair.
This seat policy means I will be knocking Lufthansa off my ever diminishing list of airlines. Don't the bean counters that run these airlines have a clue that their penny grubbing ideas simply drive high revenue clients onto airlines that treat their customers with more respect. Trouble is that those are now mainly based in the Far East. In the end the more they squeeze the less I fly and I am sure I am not alone.
1. The product does look good
2. Being able to only choose a seat at check-in is a TOTAL deal breaker;
plus it's absolutely and ridiculously childish
3. At 6'6" I need to know how long the "extra long" seats are ...
And Lufthansa gives a big fat middle finger to *A elites. If you book a light business fare and are *A Gold, you get exactly nothing extra in terms of seat selection.
This is true across all of *A. United doesn’t give out any seats for foreign *G either.
Until pre-covid Lufthansa was one of the best for *G in Eco, since they still did seat blocking and I mostly got exit row automatically.
Until recently as a UA*G I could select exit row seats and other preferred seats (front of the cabin) in coach for free during checking; that stopped a few weeks ago.
Allegris is so passe.
There are tons of seat better than this out there already and the have free seat selection.
This might've been innovative like a decade ago, all this does is turn LH's awful 2-2-2 config into one that doesn't actively suck.
@Frank: hardly anything in germany is over engineered these days and yes, i also wonder about this new product
I pay for one transatlantic and one transpacific J trip each year. My first reaction is great displeasure. But, the pragmatist I am says I'll just look at the bottom line cost among carriers that includes a seat assignment. I want a true windows seat. All in all, I hope for a pax revolt against this type of practice.
Charging for suites and thrones makes sense. I could even buy an argument for having a token fee for the extra-long bed, just so that people who aren't that tall are disincentivized from booking them. (They could also run a funny promo where you could assign an extra-long bed for free if you prove you are over 2m tall.)
But jfc leave the window seats alone.
I had no idea growing up that Europeans were such money grubbing cheapskates. Consider me now informed.
Is it acutally confirmed that LH will not charge anything for the "classic" seats in advance? Seems a bit strange to not implement a fee of some amount for all seats (like BA) once they are going down this path.
Ben, I think you have two classes of seats reversed in your list with counts:
extra space seats - there are 8 of these
first row suites - there are 4 of these
If the first row suites are anything like VS first row suites, I will pay extra for them. It was definitely worth it on VS; felt like first class.
Incorrect, there are 4 suites in row 1, 4 suites in row 8 at the next bulkhead, and a total of only 4 throne seats. The seat map is conveniently included in the article.
And I'm sure Lufthansa will happily pay back any seating fees paid in advance in case an aircraft gets swapped for a non-Allegris one, right? Right!?
Ah...
It’s nuisance. Other airlines (e.g., AY) not only have lighter seats, they also have equal seats for all.
All seems like a customer service disaster waiting to happen…
Like if one of first row/ “business plus” seats is malfunctioning and all other first row/ “business plus” seats are filled up, does the passenger with malfunctioning seat consequently push everyone down a business class ranking to accommodate them?
At least, with more inferior business products like DL and AF/ KL, they’re mostly all the same.
Coming soon to DELTA, god willing!
How typically German. Totally over engineered for no real benefit. They could have just installed reverse herringbone with doors and been done with it.
Well, that seat fee policy informs my booking policy to make very sure I am not flying Lufthansa.
What a complicated mess.
Of course Lufhansa, the national airline of Germany, penny pinches in this way.
An airline that represents a country always on the wrong side of history. As reflected in their sycophantic support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
lol, bizarre comment, but nice how you brought Gaza into seat pricing. I wouldn’t have seen this obvious connection without your brilliant insight!
Very poor------- combine this with the awful F class debacle and you have a nasty and mean penny pinching airline------ just awful.
Yep. LH also blanket denies EC 261 claims and I've had to take them to arbitration twice in the last year.
My sense is that after the novelty wears off, inconvenience sets in for most. And, as a practical matter, equipment changes might be problematic. Allegris to non-Allegris, refund payment for seat choice? Allegris to Allegris but involuntarily assigned to a different seat type, partial refund for a lower-priced seat or mandated surcharge for a higher-priced seat? Perhaps LH has this stuff figured out already, but I wouldn't be surprised if they haven't.
Lufthansa have reached new lows with the quoted statement (albeit I couldn't find the wording on the linked page so maybe they quietly removed it), the bit about passengers in 'all' classes being able to select seats at check in is an obvious lie as Economy Light doesn't allow seat choice at check in.
https://travel-dealz.com/news/lufthansa-group-seat-selection-at-check-in-long-haul/
I guess everybody will be different, but this would be a pretty big disincentive for me. I feel like when I pay to sit in long haul business class, part of the bargain is that by spending that much money, things will go well and there will not be further nickel and diming. And since I usually fly with a companion, we care about seat assignments.
Hovering over my phone, waiting for the instant to...
I guess everybody will be different, but this would be a pretty big disincentive for me. I feel like when I pay to sit in long haul business class, part of the bargain is that by spending that much money, things will go well and there will not be further nickel and diming. And since I usually fly with a companion, we care about seat assignments.
Hovering over my phone, waiting for the instant to check in, is something that I associate with flying Southwest, not long haul J.