La Compagnie will launch nonstop all-business class flights between Newark and Dusseldorf in 2027, giving the German city its first transatlantic route.
In fact, DUS has transatlantic services, even though seasonal, to JFK, MBJ and BGI, courtesy of Condor
In fact, DUS has transatlantic services, even though seasonal, to JFK, MBJ and BGI, courtesy of Condor
DE3784, scheduled to take off tomorrow at 09:45 am
https://www.dus.com/de-de/fliegen/flightdetail?id=3617414
@ Peter -- Funny enough, I see a single Condor flight from DUS to JFK scheduled tomorrow, but that seems like a one-off, and hasn't otherwise operated for the season?
It is a charter flight. Condor does these flights once in a while. Like to Hong Kong. I stand to be corrected but DE has flown to GIG and SCL on Charter.
Also, given LH's horrible stant to their labour force Travel agents would rather book peope on Condor than on Discover or LH.
A few more scheduled in the next couple of weeks.
Again, not a regular service but for sure a direct TATL 🙂
Düsseldorf Ben. Or Duesseldorf if you may. Ach komm, du kannst es doch besser.
@ InceptionCat -- Du hast natürlich recht, aber...
This gets at the challenge of balancing writing for a mostly English-speaking crowd and being accurate. Most people search "Dusseldorf" or "Munich," without the umlaut or "e." But your point stands, of course, and you are correct.
Unrelated, but did you ever figure out anything with Air Côte d’Ivoire, because I really need to get that product off my list? Okay, I guess I should be consistent and just say "Cote" there as well, come and think of it. :p
The sass
Commenting on this reminded me of Air..Ivory coast...that i didn't get back to you.
On it now. Sorry.
@ InceptionCat -- THANK YOU! Hah, not trying to be annoying, but I'm about to book Starlux first class, so that leaves only one more carrier, and you gave me some hope with your comment. No pressure. :p
No, the English name is Dusseldorf. Just like we refer to Rome and never “Roma” in English.
Gotta say, all lie-flat (even in 2-2g is pretty nice. Have taken La Compagnie on EWR-ORY and MXP; their EWR lounge is good (formerly the Virgin Clubhouse at Terminal B). Only odd thing… their ICAO airline code is ‘DJT’ (unrelated). Anyway, glad to see they’re expanding service!
Delta had seasonal service from Atlanta to DUS from 2006 until 2023 (although it was effectively killed by the pandemic, then came back briefly).
Not super relevant for the context of this story, but more recent than the Lufthansa service.
And this is exactly where Carsten Spohr really hit it oh so wrong. The A321-LR/XLR would be perfect for Düsseldorf.
I get consolidating flights on FRA/MUC but given the short distance between DUS & FRA you could have the Frankfurt based crew manning the DUS-NYC LH flights without having to open a new expensive base. Time will tell.
@ InceptionCat -- Totally agree with you conceptually. I think the thing is that Lufthansa management has so long banked on not really having any competition in Germany, which is why the airline feels it doesn't have to try in Berlin and Dusseldorf.
@Ben: I do not agree that Lufthansa does not have competition at DUS or BER.
At both airports, LH has to compete with AF/KLM, IAG, FI etc. for transatlantic flights. Since there are only indirect flights, the competition is somewhat higher for Lufthansa compared to a hub. That is exactly why it sometimes is cheaper to fly DUS-MUC-EWR compared to MUC-EWR.
When it comes to domestic travel, Lufthansa has to compete with german road warriors loving their car and the Autobahn and DeutscheBahn.
Lufthansa did fly a 737-700 between DUS and JFK - it was operated by PrivatAir. Before 2018, the flight was operated by an A330.
I also remember the time when DUS was a real airport and a hub for Air Berlin.
@ Klaus_S -- Oh man, good times! So many memories back in the day. It's amazing how quickly the industry shifts.
Does this airline have any agreements with other airlines in case the flight is cancelled? Can their passengers be booked on a legacy carrier?
@ Jon -- The airline doesn't have any formal partnerships, but does have interline agreements. In line with EC261 policies, passengers would potentially be entitled to rebooking on other airlines. That being said, La Compagnie actually operates quite reliably.
@Ben: did you ever fly MIA-DUS on LH?
(I never did. But that was one of the last LH flights before the DUS station was closed)
@ Klaus_S -- Ah, that's right, they operated that as well. I never flew that, since I of course always preferred to fly out of FRA to visit the FCT. For that matter, I was usually connecting onto a larger itinerary to Asia, or something.
"I of course always preferred to fly out of FRA to visit the FCT."
Pardon me for not being an insider, what is FCT?
If La Compagnie doesn’t rebook in case of cancellation, you can book your own flight.
But due to the updates EU261, starting in 2027, the reimbursement will be limited to 4 times of the original ticket price.
(Though, Nobody at Ryanair thought about estimating the price for an award ticket when they were lobbying in Brussels for capping reimbursements. Will be interesting to see how Miles&More will defend themselves in front of a judge.)
I flew La Compagnie long ago when they flew to London. Except they cancelled the London route after I made my booking. So they booked me on EWR-CDG and a connecting flight on BA to London, although it was in economy. I accepted that as I didn't care about European business class on the short flight, but I do wonder what happens if a transatlantic flight gets cancelled due to a mechanical issue or something. Do they rebook in business class on other airlines, or do they just say Sorry, here's your money bacl?
We need this airline to fly to Toronto 🤣. Perhaps somehow do a deal to get 51% Canadian ownership and fly Toronto to Vancouver
So abandon all of its EU destinations so they can exclusively fly Toronto to Vancouver? You can either be an EU airline or a Canadian airline, not both
"until 2015, Lufthansa did fly from Dusseldorf to both Chicago (ORD) and Newark (EWR)... Delta did fly to Dusseldorf out of Atlanta (ATL), but that route was ultimately terminated as well."
There's an even longer history of Düsseldorf-US flights. LTU flew to the US (and several other destinations) from Düsseldorf in the 1970s-1990s, before eventually going out of business in the 2000s.
Air Berlin acquired LTU in 2007, and continued DUS-JFK flights (as Willmo says). And then went out of business in 2017. Below is a link to a review of DUS-JFK, just before the end.
Even even longer history: Lufthansa flew MUC-CGN-JFK in the 70s and 80s, at times with a 747. Presumably there was some pressure to use Cologne rather than Düsseldorf, as the airport also serves Bonn, then the seat of the West German government. They offered a taxi service from Düsseldorf to the nearby CGN airport (for DM 4, from downtown). The flight was switched to DUS (in the late 80s?) and then made nonstop from Munich.
https://thepointsguy.com/airline/reviews/air-berlin-a330-business-review/
LH schedule 1975: https://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/lh/lh7504/lh7504.pdf
Thanks for linking the Air Berlin review. Air Berlin’s A330 business class seat in 2017 was better than Lufthansa’s A330 business class 9 years later…let’s wait and see if Discover will keep the seat when they take over the A333 from LH.
Am I right in saying Air Berlin flew TATL from DUS in the 2010s as well?
AirBerlin flew nonstop from DUS to MCO (Orlando) until the year they ceased operations (which was 2017 if I remember correctly). So still pretty recent.
They are never on my radar. I have no interest in flying a 321 in 2-2 when I can get widebodies with partnerships and interline agreements for <10% more (using early summer n/s prices from NYC to Paris). Yes, I want someone asking me to retract a lie-flat seat so they can hit the lav. It will probably happen just as I finally fall to sleep.
When considering flights from Düsseldorf to the USA in general, one could also include the Lufthansa flights from Frankfurt to Tokyo that operated in the 1970s and 1980s, as they made stops in Düsseldorf and Anchorage.
( https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/220724-lhnw71intl)
A blast from the past! In the 2000s Privat Air already operated an all business class flight between Dusseldorf and Newark on behalf of LH - I believe with a 737 but I may be wrong. No idea how successful that was but Wikipedia tells me they kept this flight going for 6 years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PrivatAir
I'm curious, do they have any sort of codeshare, or is EWR a dead-end?
My question is why is ZipAir so successful? I typically fly their lie flat option but quite often there are no seats on the San Jose Tokyo route!
Flew them a couple years ago. Pretty decent at a reasonable price, particularly for a couple. And sometimes they run discounts if you buy 2 tickets which are a particularly good deal.
Usually around early February (Valentines Day BOGO sale); however, it hasn't been as good a deal, lately, I've noticed. Eh, maybe next time!
I flew ORD-DUS on United in 1998 or 1999. I remember it distinctly because I was a student and the fare was insanely cheap, something like $250 round trip in economy. And then I had an entire middle section to myself so I was able to lie down and sleep. Ah, the good old days…
Hope the customers know they won't get roast goose for Christmas.
2-2 seating makes sense for a leisure route. But if this is more about business travel, it makes much less sense