Luxair's Impressive Business Class To Dubai, With Caviar On The Menu!

Luxair also has great catering on their European services, and redemptions via Miles and More can be quite the deal.

Wow, a European carrier operating narrow-body aircraft (737) with actual recliners in 2-2, as opposed to 3-3 regular economy seats with the middle blocked. (Yes, I am aware of La Compagnie, but they are different, and better, because they’re all lie-flat.) That’s more surprising to me than the caviar, honestly.

@ David -- Interesting, any clue how many miles for LUX-DWC? I don't have enough Miles & More miles to be able to search...

I'm curious who is flying this and what LuxAir does with the plane the rest of the year. I wonder if this 737 is used by the grand duke and the government of Luxembourg?

Anyways, I suppose this shouldn't be a surprise given the fact that (1) Luxembourg is THE richest country per capita in Europe and (2) Luxembourg has THE highest or one of the highest number of Michelin restaurants per capita. In other words, it's a rich country that appreciates fine dining.

Seven hours and twenty minutes in THAT seats? No thanks.

Luxembourg is the richest country per capita in the European Union but not in Europe as a whole or the EEA. Lichtenstein is the richest country per capita in Europe as a whole and the EEA. By head and shoulders. But, does lose on the restaurant side.

Should be 37,500 miles one way

They fly many other rotations in Europe, shorter city hops but also longer trips like Turkey, Greek islands, Canary Islands or Azores

Yes there is a cold continental breakfast served after take off followed by the meal service as discribed. They serve Moet Chanfon Champagne and let’s say in a generous way…. I drank around 5 glasses on my last Dubai flight with them. Notice that the Chef wad only on board the first seasonal flight! Luxair has been flying to Dubai since 2021 always starting in October trough May.

You earn double miles per flight Luxair has a promotion

Which? The recliners? Yeah, bud, we all prefer lie-flat over those. My point was most intra-European carriers (I know, this is further) do the 3-3 blocked-middle 'Business' class, and the recliners are unique for a narrow-body by a European airline. Sure, take AF, KL, BA, etc. on long-haul, wide-body, and they've all got lie-flat, for sure.

Luxembourg, with 672,000 residents, has had the world's largest GDP per capita, adjusted for purchasing power parity, among countries with populations over 50,000 for several decades until Singapore edged it out in two of the three sources only recently. For comparison, the USA is 9th or 10th and sinking (it is below Guyana in two of the three rankings). Luxembourg has no oil or gas production, its coal and steel are moribund, and it achieves its wealth largely on trade, financial services and being among the EU's top incorporation and tax havens.

Luxembourg (city) competes with Lyon, France for the most restaurant seats per capita in the world. Cuisine is important there.

Luxair has operated Boeing 737s since the -200 series. Back in the late 1990s, when the rest of its fleet consisted of De Havilland Canada Dash-8 turboprops, it had two 737s, named after the then-princesses. Since then, its network from Luxembourg International Airport (FINDEL) has expanded dramatically, largely by adding leisure destinations to its preexisting business-oriented routemap. It now has 10 737s in service and will have 12 when current orders are delivered (most of which require certification of the MAX -7 and -10 variants) and the 8 NG aircraft are retired. Luxair also has replaced its ERJ-135 and -145 fleet with the more comfortable, longer-range E-195. So the question on what it does with its 737 when it's not operating DWC flights is inappropriate.

Luxair operated wet-lease widebody (MD-11) flights to New York for a while in the late 1990s. In the 1970s and 1980s, one of Icelandair's three predecessor airlines ran New York/JFK-KEF-LUX one-stop direct same-aircraft flights. So the concept of LUX-DWC is not as farfetched as it might seem. The only problem is that DWC is most likely a final destination for most passengers, and is relatively far from the city of Dubai, unlike DXB.

I would assume pricing on this route is reasonably aggresive as I would otherwise just take an Emirates flight from BRU or FRA. Not only is the larger plane more comfortable, it's also faster, and would make up most of the time taken getting to the airport by getting you to Dubai faster! The 7+hour blocked time is really long given a flight from manchester is blocked at 7 hours and you pass Luxemborg over an hour into that flight!

Wtf is this ChatGPT nonsense

Would be really fun to indulge in all this dining awesomeness if they have equipment swap and you are stuck in euro J class

Dear airlines, caviar is not the place to spend extra money.

Not necessarily used by the new Grand Duke, but possibly by his younger brother, who's a fully qualified pilot and the longtime patron of the Luxembourg Aeronautical Federation. Prince Louis also looks like a young Cliff Richard, unlike his brother Grand Duke Guillaume, who's got that piggy face thing going.

Tou have to mention, on these flights you have no personal entertainment screen and no wifi. Long flight with 6h30. Furthermore the seats are not really as great as the usual domestic first in the US.
While catering is excellent, for 1499€ (lowest possible price on some rare dates), you could expect more. You can fly with a stop for example with Lufthansa for 1150€ from Eastern Europe. Even from Luxembourg, probably better of with Turkish via Istanbul paying less.

Turkish has real business-class. I believe Bulgaria Air does too. Air Baltic has a product too.

Caviar is probably the only food I won't take the time to serve properly at home. I'm not cooking up blini and chopping egg whites, rinsing minced onion, etc. So the more it's (adequately) served in J, the better.

Not at all. I addressed specific points made by earlier commenters.

"I put that in quotes because there are no Michelin-starred chefs, just Michelin-starred restaurants". Technically true, but the restaurant is awarded because of the chef.

I think the rationale is that it's easy to cook. Arguably foie gras too, but not everyone understands the beauty of French cuisine.