The introduction of Lufthansa’s new Allegris cabin concept hasn’t been without drama, to put it mildly. Right now, Lufthansa’s biggest issue is with its new Boeing 787 Dreamliners, which are ready to fly, with one major problem — most of the business class seats haven’t yet been certified by regulators.
There’s now an interesting update, as the first Dreamliners with Allegris cabins are expected to enter long haul service next week, with what might just be the most exclusive business class cabin on any global airline.
In this post:
Lufthansa’s 787 business class certification issues
In 2024, we saw Lufthansa introduce its new Allegris concept, with the most exciting development being the debut of the new Allegris business class, finally offering direct aisle access from all seats.

This product was launched on the Airbus A350-900, but that wasn’t without its challenges. First there were supply chain issues with getting the new seats. But even when the new business class, premium economy, and economy, were ready to go, the new first class wasn’t. So Lufthansa started flying these planes with the space of the first class cabin empty. Fortunately that has since been resolved, and the new first class has been in service for some time.
However, for several months, Lufthansa has been facing a much bigger issue with its Boeing 787s, which are also supposed to feature the new Allegris cabins (though without first class). Lufthansa has around 15 Dreamliners that are more or less ready to go, except most of the business class seats can’t be used.
What’s the issue? The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) hasn’t certified some of these new business class seats. You might be thinking “wait, aren’t these the same seats as on the A350?” Sort of. Lufthansa’s Allegris business class seats are actually produced by three different seating manufacturers (yeah… don’t ask), and certification is required for each seat type on each aircraft type. So far, only one of those three types of seats has been certified on the 787.
To give a sense of just how bad things became, at an event in December 2024, a Lufthansa executive acknowledged that a “scenario in which the seats are not approved at all is not out of the question.” Yowzers. Fortunately Lufthansa management has a more positive outlook now, but the situation still isn’t great.

Lufthansa’s plan to fly 787s with Allegris cabins
Lufthansa has been dealing with a major aircraft shortage. The airline was relying on the Boeing 777X for its fleet renewal, but that plane has been delayed by at least seven years (but it seems like certification process is finally being made). Then Lufthansa had delays with its new Airbus A350s due to the Allegris cabins. Now Lufthansa is dealing with issues on the new Boeing 787s — the general Boeing delivery delays aren’t even an issue, but just the seat certification.
The good news is that several weeks ago, Lufthansa took delivery of its first of these Allegris Dreamliners. Specifically, we’re talking about the plane with the registration code D-ABPF, which was delivered on August 28, 2025. While we’ll see how this plays out, the expectation is that Lufthansa will get 10 of these planes before the end of the year.
Anyway, the airline has now scheduled these planes on several routes, as reported by AeroRoutes. These new Dreamliners will be based in Frankfurt (FRA), and are currently scheduled to operate select frequencies to the following destinations:
- To Toronto (YYZ), between October 8 and October 24, 2025
- To Hyderabad (HYD), as of October 26, 2025
- To Bogota (BOG), as of October 27, 2027
- To Rio de Janeiro (GIG), as of October 28, 2025
- To Austin (AUS), as of December 2, 2025
For these services, the airline is currently selling just four business class seats per flight. Since Lufthansa has so many different seating types in Allegris, what’s going on here is that only the business class suites in the first row are available for sale and have been certified, while all the other seat types haven’t.
So those lucky enough to be in business class on these flights will get the absolute best seats. On top of that, these have to be some pretty unique flights, where you’re in a business class cabin with just four seats occupied.
At this point, the goal is for the business class seats to be certified by the end of 2025. Now, whether that actually happens remains to be seen. Obviously Lufthansa could choose between two bad options here — continuing to store these planes, or flying these planes with most business class seats blocked. The airline ultimately decided on the latter, and while less than ideal, it’s probably the right move.

Keep in mind that taking delivery of these new 787s is part of Lufthansa’s fleet renewal plan, as the airline plans to retire multiple aircraft types in the coming years.
Bottom line
Lufthansa has had serious issues with getting its new Boeing 787s into service, due to lack of certification with the new business class seats. Currently, Lufthansa management expects the seats will be certified by the end of 2025. Whether or not that actually happens remains to be seen.
With the airline having around 15 of these planes ready to go, the plan is to now finally put them into service, even if most business class seats can’t be occupied. These planes will start operating long haul flights next week, with only four of the business class seats able to be occupied. Obviously that’s less than ideal — then again, both options (grounding or flying the planes) kind of suck.
This Allegris rollout really hasn’t been very smooth, to put it mildly. First the airline had to fly A350s with the space of the first class cabin empty. Then Lufthansa parked brand new 787s for many months due to not getting the seats certified. Never mind that SWISS is introducing the same product, and will have to install a 1.5 ton weight in the back of A330s, because first class is too heavy.
What do you make of Lufthansa’s Dreamliner drama?
Why doesn't Lufthansa remove the unusable business class seats from those Allegris 787s until the seat is certified, so that way they save money on the fuel burn rather than flying around extra weight?
Is it not as straightforward of a process? Or does LH want to get the seats into service ASAP once they are certified? If it's the latter, I would assume that the cost of saving fuel is greater than the cost of removing and reinstalling those seats.
Just another example of Germany being on the wrong side of history. Onestarhansa
Shame on you for such a comparison.
So how do explain Delta storing some A321neo due to lack of seat certification?
main issue eg to BOG is the pricing, some 8,000 € ? well that will decrease i suspect, but with allegris lh seems to be even more expensive than they are right now, compared to competitors, in many cases. and, consider that: i was on AF last week, 4 or 5 times air craft change before departure, yet the cabin product was, in the end, still better than LH. although i did not fly AF...
main issue eg to BOG is the pricing, some 8,000 € ? well that will decrease i suspect, but with allegris lh seems to be even more expensive than they are right now, compared to competitors, in many cases. and, consider that: i was on AF last week, 4 or 5 times air craft change before departure, yet the cabin product was, in the end, still better than LH. although i did not fly AF latest product but two older options …. i also find this whole allegris thing too complex — more inconsistent in one cabin than AF in an entire fleet as i figured
I don’t know why people always have a problem with complexity. Select a seat, done. Just the same as you do with any other airline.
Only if you are really interested in a special seat, that becomes relevant. And in that case, take 5min to understand what’s available and what you want. It’s really not that hard.
However, the old LH C is outdated. That’s for sure and not open to discussion I guess....
I don’t know why people always have a problem with complexity. Select a seat, done. Just the same as you do with any other airline.
Only if you are really interested in a special seat, that becomes relevant. And in that case, take 5min to understand what’s available and what you want. It’s really not that hard.
However, the old LH C is outdated. That’s for sure and not open to discussion I guess. Flying via FRA or MUC is much more congruent than CDG though. ZRH or VIE even better
A premium city like Toronto will be served with a plane having only four business class seats to sell. How funny. Lufthansa has become a joke.
I am on the fra gig flight on Oct 31, 2parents and 3 children 3,6,8 years old in C. So far 4 if us in the suites one child unassigned. Funny children are not permitted in the suites from my understanding. Let's see if we end up in rio
Who needs standup comedy when you've got Allegris?
What does it take to get the seats approved?An earlier article you mentioned the Delta landing in Toronto and how all the seats stayed in place due to stringent certification. Presumably regulators wouldn't let planes fly even with seats empty if that didn't pass. Is it just testing keeping people strapped in and able to exit the aircraft in a certain time?
This is a manufactured 'crisis', but not by LH. It's the latest attempt to decrease mobility, and it's 15 minute cities and cars that can be remotely turned off, but in new clothes.
Oh my god go back and drink your horse dewormer against Covid.
Horse dewormer? What are you going on about?
Only familiar with one conspiracy theory? Such a let down German ...
There was a time when it was a pleasure to travel on Lufthansa. They employed beautiful blonde German girls and it was simply wonderful. Today, all you see are a bunch of overweight old 60 year old women and men. I’m done with this airline.
It’s an airline, not a strip club or brothel.
Get your priorities right.
Tbh I’m sure they don’t miss perverts on board.
And they want to centralize more jobs in Frankfurt? What a ridiculous rollout. I had the pleasure of flying in the Allegris Suites on the A350 and quite enjoyed the product but with these certification issues, they were really better off with an off the shelf product.
Allegris: the gift that keeps on giving (us something to laugh about) :D
Hey Ben - have you seen this?
https://www.dansdeals.com/points-travel/milespoints/ouch-brutal-no-notice-devaluation-air-canada-aeroplan-doubles-cost-of-domestic-united-awards/
(sorry for barging into this thread with a somewhat irrelevant question).
Ben, any news on the probable LH pilots' strike?
I am supposed to fly my first ever flight in First Class on Saturday (FRA-MEX) and I'm obviously stressed...
Awkward...this happens never before at any airline.. simply ridiculous...shame on LH for such a performance..
Spohr-nicated.