Lufthansa is (sadly) notorious for Allegris, the name of its latest generation passenger experience concept. This includes new long haul first class and business class products, with the rollout of the new business class being perhaps the most botched product introduction we’ve ever seen in the airline industry.
Continue reading: Lufthansa Allegris Business Class Family Seating Policy: Laughably Complicated
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Yeah I'm actively booking away from LH on their new product when it comes to our family of four. The old product was terrific for the 4 of us (though dated overall) but this one? No thanks
The reason for this is that in case that oxygen is required the children will need help reaching the oxygen masks, thats why parents need to be in the closest possible seat to the kids.
@Jan. Yes, that's exactly the reason. I overheard a gate agent on United, once tell a mom who had two small children traveling by herself, that she had to sit in a specific seat on an ERJ-145 because of the oxygen masks requirement.
I'll bite... if you are putting your kid in the throne seat why is the middle seat with opposite aisle access possible? They seemed to try really hard to optimize this but then gave a terrible choice?
Sounds like someone (I'm looking at you, Lufty" is trying to ban children in business class, without actually banning them in business class. I wonder if Swiss has a similar policy.
Part of this has to do with EU rules. If there is an equipment swap or operational downgrade, children must be seated within a specified distance of the adult the kid (or kids) is traveling with. So limiting the number of kids per adult makes adhering to this rule if needed far easier to handle.
For the last several years, every new article about LuftKafka has presented another reason not to fly LuftKafka.
Before writing this post pull some metrics. How many PNRs would have 3 or more kind? You build digital solutions for the largest segment. If you are building these solutions for the edge case you have screwed over 90% of your base.
This is also a common requirement for reverse herringbone seats, e.g. when travelling on Air Canada, I have been told I need to sit either beside, or behind my daughter with the reason being given the ability to assist with O2 mask deployment (though in their case certainly not consistently enforced)
The E145 issue may be slightly different. If memory serves, United's ERJ-145s have certain rows that have 3 masks over 2 seats-- an extra mask-- which can accommodate lap children-- rows 3,7,11, 21, and 24. When traveling with a lap child, you get assigned to an appropriate row with an extra mask.
I don't think this particular Lufthansa policy is about lap children or extra masks, but it's reasonable for carriers to want to seat young children near to parents for a variety of reasons-- hopefully they have similarly elaborate plans for kinds in economy.
Since when did everyone start taking like they were working at tech companies? Deliverables, PNRs, KPIs, "edge cases" (not in that way / phrasing.
"talking", not "taking"
Clearly one of my areas of opportunity is proofreading.
I noticed this while trying to book seats on LX A350 for a family of four. When you select one of the kids, many seats grey out and cannot be selected. Honestly, my kids are 10 and 11 and do their own thing, but I can see this being just terrible for younger kids who need more attention. In all fairness, I rarely see young kids in J/F on LX flights.
Lufthansa for booking purposes sees anybody over 11 as an adult, it is in their booking mask. I actually even questioned this since legally in Germany on is still a child until 18, at least if u commit a crime. This whole children, infant, youth, etc is the biggest BS in IATA’s pax rules.
Should one wish to avoid this latter day ’rug rat’ conundrum, book an F cabin seat onboard a real world class airline.
Should one need to travel with today’s ‘little monsters’, the majority of decent airlines have a most accommodating premium economy class cabin …. or, so I understand from reading Ben’s flight reviews …. 🙂
Allegris is a failure. Rip it out and replace with an off-the-shelf consistent seat product.
At least as of a few months ago, the cabin crews or ticketing agents didn't follow that seating chart. I flew in an allegris cabin in November of last year. The parents sat in the suite seats in the first row (2d and 2g), kids were in 6d and 6g (they were definitely below age 10) and I was in 5f.
I am sure that all carriers with the so called “suites” have the same issue. I started from scratch at working in an airline, in all classes an adult can travel with maximum 2 children up to 11 years of age, for safety reasons.
Bravo to the use of "Luf-Kafka". It fits all too well. If anyone hasn't seen The Onion video on Prague's Kafka International airport, look it up.
It's so on German brand to over-engineer something. Then the Netherlands copies it and does the same thing, but then they don't follow any of the rules that they just made.
If this is true - and I have no reason to believe it is not - then it was pretty bad research on Ben's part simply for the purpose of once again rant about Allegris.
Finnair doesn’t allow children in Business class on long haul if the child can not put on the car style seat belt by themselves. Difficult for a 3-5 year old.
How does the parent in 5G get the mask on the kid in 4D when they are on opposite aisles? I guess you have to climb over the seat back.