Lufthansa Premium Economy To Debut On 747-8

Too bad that those leg rests are only for the first row/bulkhead. That would make a good looking Y+ an excellent Y+.

I think as far as the GPU's are concerned, the cost of a GPU-able economy seat would cost about the same as the Y+ seat so in net dollars, the cost to move from Y to C may not be too wallet-breaking.

I just saw these seats here at ITB in Berlin today. Look quite nice as it gors

It's interesting how close this premium economy product comes to what used to be called "business class" when the airlines were first trying to design/execute what business class would mean.

Back in the late 80s (I'm old, shut up!), Cathay Pacific had five rows of first in the nose of the 747s, and then business class was 2-3-2 between doors 1 and 2:

United was 2-4-2 in business class on its 747SPs in the late 80s as well, so when contrasted with LH's new premium economy, we can really see just how far along business class has come in the last 25 years or so.

Oh hell no I won't be using a GPU to upgrade into Premium economy. GPU V fares are about $300 RT more than lowest usually, so if they charge that or just a fraction more for premium economy I would bite and apply a GPU, not going to
pay more than $500 premium round trip though.

Why would anyone care about using MP points to fly LH? Having flown BA Y+ PHX-LHR it's a nice product, comfortable enough to sleep and saves lots of miles. I have the LH card from Barclays and have been using this card as well as my 3rd Citi Exce card for MS... I'm looking forward in trying the new Y+ on LH..

The lack of a dedicated bulkhead and curtain separating the new Premium Economy from regular Y is a big miss, IMHO, and something I believe the majority of airlines with real Premium Economy cabins have incorporated. Having that separation makes the cabin feel intimate and you don't feel like you are flying with hundreds of other people. It also reduced the amount of foot traffic in the Prem Y section.

"high-quality amenity kit"

this is surprising considering their biz class amenity kit sux...

As more carriers eliminate international first class, it seems we are heading back to the future, with premium economy becoming the new de facto business class while current enhanced Business Class becomes First.

748 and A380 will have 2-4-2 layout.

@Lantean - New look biz amenity kits coming from LH in August. Made by samsonite.

What Dennis said. It's actually a BENEFIT on BA/KL/AF that they have WT+/Y+ because those upgradable fares are cheaper than the full fare Y/B/M fares that are upgradable on other airlines. Plus, if upgrade doesn't clear, you have a good backup plan instead of having the upgrade lottery money wasted.

I'm all for more premium economy seats, especially on medium haulish routes (transcons, NYC to Europe). Premium economy allows you to travel in relative comfort, defray cash costs (premium economy often comes with more baggage allowance, for example) and save more miles for the next vacation.

Excellent point, Anthony. I am in your camp: I'd be willing to pay face value for Y+, but not C. This is especially true of the kind of Y+ that's wider in addition to increased pitch as it's amazing how much easier it is to sleep when not snuggling with a stranger. Also, from the pics, it looks like this has very wide armrests. I'm pretty sure when they're saying seat width is only 1 inch more, they're talking actual seat width, not "seat width pitch". The math of going from 3-4-3 to 2-3-2 means mathematically a huge increase in "seat width pitch" compared to Y; 43% more seat width pitch to be exact. That's an ENORMOUS comfort increase. For me, the Y-width-problem is not my butt, but my shoulders/arms and aforementioned snuggling with strangers problem. Based on my observations, this is typical on average.

LH PE doesn't come at the expense of J or F seats, all PE seats are taken from Y class acc. to this article on airliners.de

http://www.airliners.de/lufthansa-stellt-neue-premium-economy-class-vor/31718

One further note, I like the looks of those leg rests! Often I can not properly utilize the extra legroom of an exit row or bulkhead that I get for free as elite because of the uncomfortable sleeping bridge effect or of needing to slide so far down in the my seat to get closer to flat, it transfers bridge effect to my back (which hurts after a bit) and adds a crink to the neck.

@ Dennis - Agreed. CX does that too.

Can we expect to read a review of this product late this year?

DWT, Lufthansa spokesman said that an overwhelming amount of the test pax opted AGAINST the extra divider/curtain, hence they dropped it.

Ok, now I am scared... what if you book Y with a V fare on a 3 class plane with the intent of going for the upgrade and then they swap it out at some point for the 4-class with Y+ and since you can only upgrade same day, you can only get into Y+! That would really suck...

It's kind of weird to show a photo with a leg rest if it's only available in the front row but other than that I think this sounds like a good thing. Perhaps, Lucky will now have to do an article on best Y+ products 😛

P.S. LH Y only allows for one bag? Lame!

@dmodemd: Have they announced new upgrade rules already?

Good to see Lufthansa is catching up with other leading airlines with a premium economy product, believe or not they are usually more profitable than the J product. Passengers tend to assoicate 40% more space with a 40% premium on the ticket price whereas the extra cost for the airline is less than 40%, yet they do not offer a lot of the costly benefits of J class. Also a great way to offer a "buffer" on upgrades for people flying in regular economy. But I see it from the airline standpoint, many commentaters above probably wont like it so much for understandable reasons. Still it's a good decision for LH, a much better one than the terrible upgrade of their J class which they will have to live with for the next 10 years.

I can't say much about Lufthansa's attention to passenger needs. They are slow usually. PE seats showed up in other airlines way before Lufthansa started thinking about it. I was a Gold Miles and More member for about 8 years and not once was I upgraded or offered a Business Class meal (Swiss did that sometimes). Now I am usually flying with Emirates and since 2 years have been upgraded thrice already ! Lufthansa didn't even bother to ask why have stopped flying with them. Could have taught them a thing or two about how to keep passengers returning to them.