Lufthansa Plans "Real" Business Class Seats On Some Airbus A320s

Have you heard about the Frankfurt airport tour? Apparently, they take you on a bus through the tarmac, get you close to airplanes, etc... I have not tried it, but sounds cool. Might be interesting to try.

This doesn't come across as a particularly clever idea. Nobody is going to be happy paying a fortune to fly long haul with a connection to/from CAI/IST and being faced with choosing between an economy seat and paying even more for a recliner. Those who know their behavioural economics will probably be able to confirm that this is likely to make pax less happy than being told 'we only offer one type of seats on narrowbodies'.

Even more interesting is Hamburg with their Airport Model included. That's incredible. But yes, FRA has several different tours available.

https://www.hamburg-airport.de/de/orientieren-erleben/airport-erleben/modellschau

I wonder, would the recliners sell as business class on a TLV-FRA-JFK itinerary and the blocked middle seats as Premium Economy?

But on a TLV-FRA-MAN ? How would that go ?

With all the money being thrown at developing different airline seats (flat beds etc.) and concepts they sometimes showcase, isn't there any room in the marketplace for an adjustable short haul business class seat? Something that could maybe also be used for the premium economy market to make those cabins adaptable to route demand as well?

I think the idea may be that they pretty much always sell two rows of business class so if they need to use a plane for both longhaul and shorthaul for proper utilisation, they're no losing much by only having two rows.

ITA's example also proves the narrative about offering huge seat on short route being some sort of a competitive benefit incorrect.

Why not just sell it as First Class, they used to do three class shorthaul with A300s and A310s

Can't wait for 7 different types of recliner seats!

About freaking time. European carriers need to ditch the 3-3 middle-blocked calling it ‘business’ class intra-Europe. Even worse, when they fly to North Africa or Middle East with narrow-body and that’s the best they got. Time to follow US, CA, AU and have recliners at minimum for premium. If it’s 5+ hours, especially redeyes, really should be lie-flat.

Not really a big deal to me. With one exception, I have always been in F/J on intra-European flights. Only once was it US-standard 2-2 F (all were narrowbodies) and that was a TW 727 BRU-SVO. The 1x1-1x1 over a 2-2 is quite fine on the routes I take (<90 mins.) I am scheduled on an AF 220 that is 1x-1x1. I suspect being on the port side on that might be better than a US domestic 220 in 2-2. Me at window + no one in aisle in a 2-3 vs. stranger at window + me at aisle in a 2-2 sounds better even with the loss of a small amount of seat width. Plus, the armrests are movable outside b/h row.

You must be new here. Every man and his dog knows the glacial speed with which Spohr and Lufty move...It's one thing for Lufty to make announcements. It's quite another matter when it comes to actual delivery..

Ha ha...well said. And the key term here is "wait".

Then those will enter service after 7 years from now. And yes, Lufthansa will receive a 6 star rating from SkyTrax for that.

This will take 20 years and by then no one will have recliner seats anymore besides LH Group

The Business Cabin on some of those medium-haul routes can be quite massive. I recently flew FRA-CAI and Business Class had 44 seats. Almost all seats were taken with many passengers connecting from the US. This means that only a fraction of C-pax will be able to sit in those proper recliners if they only introduce 2 rows of it.

On long routes of 4+ hours or so I agree. On short routes it makes zero sense.

The only thing Lufthansa is quick at is spiriting the CEO's wife to judicial safety after she runs over & kills a babysitter in Sardegna

You sound very logical. As for me, the longest I fly on the 320/321 is about two hours, during the day. The current seating arrangement suits us fine. Coupled with the the great meal/beverage service( including goose in December, 1990, we are happy. Both of size that the current configuration works for us.

But I do fully appreciate that flights over 3 hours, and at nite, should have reclining seats. That is why you can often find TK flights with recliners.

LH has a gazillion flights, intra-Germany. Makes no sense. Once flew Austrian 787 from Vienna to Frankfurt. Tad over an hour. Was familiarization flight for crew going to fly the plane to U.S. The amenities/service made no sense. But I did get one of the Austrian cute little clothespin's to hold up my napkin.

1: Bulkhead with max legroom
2: Bulkhead with reduced legroom (some aircraft one side of seat have a lower pitch than the other)
3: Regular Seat With max legroom
4: Regular Seat with reduced legroom
5: Bulkhead middle seat business
6: Standard middle seat business
7: Toilet Row Seat

So usual Lufty style we will se the first plan with these seat sometime in 2034 - and full phased before the end of a decade of your choosing.

you really can just see delta looking at this thinking...

"Wow... so we could sell delta 'comfort?' as first class with a blocked middle then charge EVERYONE even more for the recliner upgrade and say we're just responding to customer demand. So long as we have TVs at each seat, no one will even care about us leading the US industry to yet another product low"

It´s about time. I am fairly comfortable with the innereurope hard product, but Cairo is not within Europe.

LOL. They'd better not. No one, not DL, UA, AA, etc., should be copying Europe/LATAM's blocked-middle. It's trash. Recliners for premium, at minimum. Lie-flat for 5+ hours, redeyes. Please.

Alan, you had me at 'goose'...

I do have a love-hate relationship about TK. When it's their newer a350 or 787, I'm very pleased; when it's their 777 or 330 with lie-flat I'm okay; when it's swapped for the older 330 with broken recliners, for 6-8 hour flight, even though it was marketed as lie-flat, that's when I'm livid.

I'm yet to fly Austrian, actually, but, when I finally do, I'll be looking out for the clothespin.

No, it is most-certainly not, especially at customs.... *cough*

For Miles & More. It is.

They have the best white wines( I had a choice of six), the best coffee of any airline, and great pastries. Well, it is Austrian. And the weinerschnitzel was great.

Personally I find extra legroom economy (like UA Economy Plus) to be more comfortable than LH-style Euro business class. I'm tall with long legs and like to use my laptop on board. LH biz class is uncomfortable.

I don't see why U.S. style 3-class narrowbody products don't make the most sense in Europe, too, whatever you call the individual cabins. Recliners at the highest price point. Extra legroom economy in the middle. And cramped economy for the price sensitive. Whether you price them as separate cabins or upcharges.