Guide To Lufthansa’s New Allegris First Class

In October 2022, Lufthansa formally announced plans to introduce a new first class product, as part of its new Allegris product generation. This is of course in addition to Lufthansa’s highly anticipated new Allegris business class, which was announced all the way back in 2017.

While Lufthansa’s new Allegris business class will shortly be entering service, we’ll have to be a bit more patient with the new first class. In this post I wanted to go over all the details of Lufthansa’s new first class experience, based on how things currently stand.

The basics of Lufthansa’s Allegris concept

Allegris is the name of Lufthansa’s new long haul travel experience. It’s not just the name of one particular cabin, but rather all cabins on newly delivered wide body jets will feature Allegris. That Allegris travel experience will eventually extend beyond the aircraft, as Lufthansa is also slowly rolling out Allegris lounges.

Lufthansa claims that Allegris is its biggest-ever investment in the premium cabin experience.

New Lufthansa Allegris first class suites

Lufthansa will be introducing suites in first class, offering ceiling-high walls and closable doors. As it’s described, the seat will be almost one meter wide, and can be converted into a bed. All suites will be forward facing, and there will be just one row of first class seats on the A350 (this includes three suites that can seat up to four people).

Lufthansa’s new first class suites will feature a variety of amenities, including:

• A large dining table and buddy seat, so that passengers can dine together
• Entertainment screens that extend across the full width of the suite
• Bluetooth connectivity for wireless headphones
• A personal wardrobe for storing your belongings
• Individual temperature controls, similar to what you’ll find in Emirates’ new 777 first class

Below are renderings of the new first class.

New Lufthansa Allegris first class double suite

Lufthansa isn’t just introducing a new first class suite, but the airline actually has two products. Lufthansa will also have the “Suite Plus,” which is a double seat in the center of the cabin. It has all the same amenities as the other suite, except it consists of two seats right next to one another (almost like a loveseat), and can be converted into a double bed. Furthermore, the seat will have a 42″ television.

This is super interesting. This isn’t just two separate first class seats that can be converted into a double bed if a passenger wants. Rather this product will exclusively be available as a double cabin:

• I’m curious how this will be priced; is this just a product you’re able to select if you book two first class seats, or will it have fully separate pricing?
• If all individual suites are sold out, will Lufthansa maybe last minute release this seat for sale at the “standard” first class price, or no?
• Even if I were traveling with someone, I’m not sure I’d necessarily prefer this product; it seems there’s just one shared entertainment screen, and the product looks a bit on the cozy side, especially if one person wishes to eat and the other person wishes to sleep, for example
• Managing inventory is going to be especially tricky when you consider that the cabin has just three suites

In some ways this almost looks to me like a much less spacious version of the Etihad A380 Residence in terms of creating a space that can be shared by two people. Below is a picture that gives you a sense of the layout in the cabin.

Lufthansa Allegris first class will be installed on A350s

Looking at Lufthansa’s first class fleet, the airline currently offers first class on Boeing 747-8s, Airbus A380s, and Airbus A340-600s. The plan is for the new Allegris first class product to be installed on newly delivered Airbus A350s, which will be based in Munich.

While the first A350 with Allegris cabins will be entering service as of May 2024, these planes won’t feature the new first class, due to supply chain issues. Instead, these planes will be delivered with the space of the first class cabin empty.

At this point, the expectation is that the sixth upcoming new A350 delivery will come with the new Allegris first class already installed. The plan is that this A350 will join the fleet in the fall of 2024, though we don’t know anything about the timeline beyond that.

In total, we can expect that at least 10 A350s will feature first class cabins, though the number may be higher than that. Lufthansa Group has also placed an order for 10 Airbus A350-1000, and it has been revealed that they will also feature first class. However, we don’t yet officially know which Lufthansa Group airline these jets will be going to.

Lufthansa Allegris first class plans for existing aircraft

Lufthansa hasn’t announced any detailed plans to install its new Allegris first class on any existing aircraft:

• Lufthansa doesn’t plan to introduce first class on any existing Airbus A350s
• Lufthansa will install a new business class on its Airbus A380s in 2025, but it won’t be the new Allegris product, and there are no official plans to introduce a new first class
• Lufthansa plans to introduce Allegris business class on Boeing 747-8s, but only on the lower deck, while the upper will maintain the current seats; some updates may be made to first class, but we don’t know much yet

The implications for first class award tickets

While the new Lufthansa Allegris first class looks like an improvement over the old product, the capacity reduction is almost certainly bad news when it comes to Lufthansa first class award availability. First of all, with just three first class suites, I think it’s safe to assume that first class awards will almost never be available. With so few seats, we’ll almost certainly see them sell, and the airline would be unlikely to let people book with miles.

On top of that, keep in mind that Lufthansa makes first class award seats available to partner frequent flyer programs at most 15 days in advance. Nowadays availability is about as tough as it has ever been to come by, with most seats opening up within a few days of departure.

SWISS is also part of the Lufthansa Group, yet SWISS first class is generally only bookable with miles by Lufthansa Miles & More Senator members and above, and isn’t bookable with partner miles. Even beyond the capacity limitations, I worry that Lufthansa introducing a new first class might cause the airline to eliminate partner first class award availability altogether.

If that were the case, it would mean that Air France, Lufthansa, and SWISS awards are totally off limits for partner award redemptions. Add in American eliminating first class and British Airways greatly reducing its first class footprint, and transatlantic first class awards may more or less be a thing of the past.

SWISS will offer its own version of Lufthansa Allegris

With the introduction of the Allegris product, we’re also going to see more consistency between Lufthansa Group airlines. For example, SWISS is rolling out virtually identical new cabins, but they’ll be branded as SWISS Senses.

This product is expected to debut in 2025, on newly delivered Airbus A350-900s. On top of that, the product is expected to be retrofitted on Airbus A330-300s and Boeing 777-300ERs, though the timeline for that remains to be seen.

Bottom line

Lufthansa will be introducing a new first class product, which for the first time will consist of suites with doors. Not only that, but there will even be a double suite, so that two people can share a suite together. This looks like a massive improvement over Lufthansa’s current first class product.

This product will debut on the Airbus A350-900, though Lufthansa is experiencing some delays. The plan is currently for the new Allegris first class to debut as of the fall of 2024, on a newly delivered aircraft. Unfortunately there are no firm plans for existing aircraft to get these cabins anytime soon.

The biggest downside to this product is that there will be just one row of first class suites. That means there will be only three first class suites, which can accommodate up to four passengers. That’s not good news for award availability.

What do you make of Lufthansa’s new first class?