I’m not sure how my life has gotten to this point, but it seems as if one of my primary functions in the world has become telling people whether or not their flight will feature the new Lufthansa first or business class product. I get questions daily about it via the blog, Twitter, email, etc.
I wrote this post back in February which was my best attempt at breaking down whether a flight will feature the new first or business class product. While there are some cases where it depends, there are also some cases in which you definitely are or aren’t going to have the new first class product. For example, if you’re flying an Airbus A330 out of Munich your flight will feature the new first class.
Well Lufthansa has just made my life much easier overnight, as they’ve now added an online tool that will tell you whether your flight is scheduled to feature the new first first class product or not.
Here’s the link to determine whether your flight is scheduled to feature the new first class.
Unfortunately they no longer have a tracking website for determining whether your flight features the new business class. That being said, as of now the only planes with the new business class product are 747-8s (based in Frankfurt) and select A330-300 and A340-600 aircraft based in Munich. Flights out of Frankfurt, other than on the 747-8, have no chance of featuring the new business class.
If you’re flying an A330-300, one of the ways to tell if your flight is scheduled to be operated with the new business class is to look at the coach seatmap for your flight. If there are four center seats in row 27, then it’s the old configuration. If there aren’t four center seats in row 27, it’s the new configuration.
This indicates old configuration
Well done, Lufthansa!
new business class search is active again
http://www.lufthansa.com/de/en/Business-Class-Product
@ Charles -- It's very likely to have the new first class but not very likely to have the new business class.
Anyone know if the CLT-MUC/MUC-CLT A346 will have new Business or First by April?
Thanks!
Ack, nvm, that's to tell if you have the new business class, not the new first. It's an ex-FRA A330 so no new J. Hopefully the website is correct about new F.
Question - I'm looking at flights in 2 weeks and one flight I'm looking at shows 4 center seats in row 27 on EF (though they are blocked with an 'X') ... yet the LH FC site says I can expect the new F. Should I just believe the LH site?
The day before shows the same seat map but says old F on the website.
Hi there Lucky, I just booked LH flight for August of 2014 from PHL to FRA and I can see that it is the old business class product. The agent told me that they are in the process of the retrofitting the aircraft. It is their airbus 340-300v3 (as of today). Any idea if that is scheduled by then to be updated?
@ Anna - I wouldn't plan on it, sadly, but you might luck out!
@ Peter -- As far as I know, unfortunately that route features the old product.
any info on the Lufthansa DFW-FRA flight for A340-300 business only seats? old angled or new flat?
@ Antonio -- All the 747-8s do, but none of the 747-400s do yet.
By any chance, do any of the 747 airplanes have the new business yet?
Lucky, it looks like the Business Class link no longer works although the First Class one does. Do you have an updated link for Business Class? Thanks.
@ Samarth -- Yes, they are really small, so I'd bring your own entertainment if you can.
Hi lucky thanks for replying so quickly. One other question i have are the screens really small on the old 747-400 FC
@ Samarth -- It should still be a really nice experience. You'll have two seats to yourself, the same service, the improved bedding, and also there should be wifi.
And you never know, there's a chance your flight might still get swapped out for a new configuration aircraft.
Hi Lucky thanks for the link, I just found out that i will not have the new FC on my flight. I was quite disappointed but is there anything to forward to on the old 747-400 FC?
We were extremely lucky (pardon the pun) flying out of Frankfurt to Miami. They changed the 747-400 to the new 747-8 a few days before departure and the new business class rocks. Am hoping that they will do the same on the home journey (where sleeping is WAY more important to me, night flight and time difference etc.) and it looks like they will. They have switched out all planes up to 5 July, so...
We were extremely lucky (pardon the pun) flying out of Frankfurt to Miami. They changed the 747-400 to the new 747-8 a few days before departure and the new business class rocks. Am hoping that they will do the same on the home journey (where sleeping is WAY more important to me, night flight and time difference etc.) and it looks like they will. They have switched out all planes up to 5 July, so hopefully will continue to do so until the 16th when we return. If not we'll have to suffer old biz class, but we'll survive. Still, good for folk to know that even FRA-MIA which was a no-no before for new biz class is now featuring it...
Only one or two 744s with old F left? Since when?
"The following B744s have not been retrofitted as of June 2013:
D-ABTF, D-ABTH, D-ABVD, D-ABVE and D-ABVF."
@ Steve -- There's only one or two more non-reconfigured 747s out there, and Chicago seems to be one of the two airports it frequents, unfortunately. Keep in mind it could still change as the departure date approaches.
I'd definitely still do Lufthansa old first class over United first class.
So when did LH431 (ORD-FRA) revert to being "old"? I flew it in December and it was new. Flying it next week and it's showing old first.
I guess the question now is LH old first or UA global first. Probably LH old, right?
Thank you for finding the link, Lucky. I'm sure I will use this soon.
7/6/13 IAD-FRA LH417
Also remember that these are not guaranteed.
They usually only really know 5 days in advance and there could be last minute schedule changes to the aircraft.
Plus for some reason it is not finding 2 of my flights this weekend at all.
@ UAPhil -- The ~14 days out rule only applies to first class and not business class.
LH433 and 431 are showing biz availability on UA for July 29 (ORD-FRA). Has LH relaxed their "14 days out" policy? Or is UA still plagued with phantom availability?
@Kris: According to the FT thread, no FRA based 333s are updated yet. Maybe you're onto something? What date did you search?
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles-more-lufthansa-austrian-swiss-other-partners/1318664-new-first-class-retrofit-thread.html
@ Julian -- It seems like they'll look up to about eight weeks in advance.
The tool indicates the 330 IAD-FRA features the new first class, so I'm not sure if your example refers to the case in February or how you understand it to be now, either way, at least some A330s have new first class.
How far out will they let you look? (not that anything more than 2 weeks would matter anyway if you're using United or US Air miles...)
"I’m not sure how my life has gotten to this point, but it seems as if one of my primary functions in the world has become telling people whether or not their flight will feature the new Lufthansa first or business class product."
I think you needed to reach this important milestone in order to one day finally achieve your goal of living at the FCT.
@ sookie -- Thanks for reading, I appreciate it!
I really enjoy your blog, Ive been reading it the past few weeks off and on esp your trip reports its been vey helpful. I am planning a trip on Lufthansa, Air France or British Airways to Framce and seeing what they offer is a huge help thank you!
I love that it also gives you the red light when a flight is operated by United. Seems appropriate somehow.