Yesterday I had the distinct privilege of flying Lufthansa’s vintage business class between Frankfurt and Orlando, which is a good decade or two past its prime. It made me decide to look into just how many Lufthansa planes still feature the old business class product.
Last March I wrote a post entitled “Which Flights Have Lufthansa’s New Business Class?” That post had the status of how many planes had the new business class product at the time.
Since that was almost a year ago I figured I’d write an updated post with the status of Lufthansa’s new business class installation.
First of all, keep in mind that Lufthansa has a business class cabin tracker, whereby you can see whether your flight is scheduled to feature the new business class product starting eight weeks before departure. Of course the status is subject to change, but it’s generally accurate.
But aside from that, how can you predict whether your Lufthansa flight will feature the new business class product or not?
Here’s a chart with how many of each aircraft type at each base feature the new business class product (the sections marked as “n/a” mean that Lufthansa doesn’t have any of those planes based at that airport):
| Aircraft | Frankfurt (FRA) | Munich (MUC) | Dusseldorf (DUS) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airbus A330-300 | 06/11 | 08/08 | N/A |
| Airbus A340-300 | 13/15 | N/A | 02/02 |
| Airbus A340-600 | 0/4 | 11/20 | N/A |
| Boeing 747-400 | 01/17 | N/A | N/A |
| Boeing 747-8 | 16/16 | N/A | N/A |
| Airbus A380-800 | 08/12 | N/A | N/A |
Tallying that up, that means 65 of Lufthansa’s 105 longhaul aircraft feature the new business class.
To break it down further by base:
Frankfurt
- Flying a 747-8 gives you a 100% chance of having the new business class
- Flying an A340-300 gives you an ~87% chance of having the new business class
- Flying an A380 gives you a ~67% chance of having the new business class
- Flying an A330-300 gives you a ~55% chance of having the new business class
- Flying a 747-400 gives you a ~6% chance of having the new business class
Munich
- Flying an A330-300 gives you a 100% chance of having the new business class
- Flying an A340-600 gives you a 55% chance of having the new business class
Dusseldorf
- Flying an A340-300 gives you a 100% chance of having the new business class
Bottom line
While Lufthansa’s new business class product is hardly industry leading, it’s a solid product for sure. It’s significantly better than Lufthansa’s old business class product, which is among the worst transatlantic products out there at this point.
I’d suggest doing everything in your power to book a plane which guarantees you the new business class product, like booking a 747-8 out of Frankfurt or an A330 out of Munich.
The one plane to avoid in business class at all costs for the time being is the 747-400, since your chances of having the new business class product are very slim. And out of Frankfurt you’ll absolutely want to avoid the A340-600, as it gives you no chance of having the new business class.
For the most up to date information on Lufthansa’s new business class, see this FlyerTalk thread, which tracks the reconfiguration process.
Have you flown Lufthansa’s new or old business class, and if so, what was your experience?
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