Lufthansa is in the process of rolling out its new Allegris business class. The first several jets with these new interiors are now flying, and they’re even pretty consistently available on select routes.
Lufthansa has heavily marketed how its new Allegris business class product is all about choice, and that the airline offers at least five different business class seating options. The catch is that a majority of these seats are actually buy-up options, so they’ll cost you extra if you just book a standard business class ticket.
There’s now a major update, as Lufthansa has finally revealed how much it plans to charge for its Allegris business class seat assignments. Let’s start with covering the basics of Lufthansa’s different kinds of Allegris seats, and then we’ll talk about how much assigning them will cost you.
In this post:
Lufthansa’s types of Allegris business class seats
I had the chance to take one of the first Lufthansa Airbus A350 Allegris business class flights. As I wrote about, the product generally exceeded my expectations, though I couldn’t help but notice the massive difference in quality between the various seats in the configuration.
Let me provide a quick breakdown of the types of seats on the Airbus A350-900, which features 38 business class seats.
Here are the five types of seats:
- The classic seats (12 of 38 seats), which are the standard seats closest to the aisle, can be assigned in advance by all passengers at no extra cost
- The privacy seats (10 of 38 seats), which are the “true” window seats that offer extra privacy, are free for Miles & More HON Circle and Senator members and their companions, as well as passengers booked on “Business Flex” fares, and can be booked at an extra cost by others
- The extra space seats (four of 38 seats), which are the middle “throne” seats that offer a lot of space, are free for Miles & More HON Circle and Senator members and their companions, and can be booked at an extra cost by others
- The extra long bed seats (four of 38 seats), which are select middle seats with extra long beds behind the extra space seats, are free for Miles & More HON Circle members and their companions, and can be booked at an extra cost by others
- The first row suites (eight of 38 seats), which are the super spacious seats with doors in the first row of each cabin, are available at an extra cost for all passengers
How much Lufthansa will charge for Allegris seat assignments
Lufthansa intends to start charging for Allegris business class seat assignments for flights as of March 30, 2025. Note that for flights through March 29, 2025, Lufthansa isn’t charging for Allegris seat assignments, as this is considered the “introductory phase,” given the chance of aircraft swaps.
So, how much extra will Lufthansa charge to assign seats? It depends on the length of the flight and the exact seats (as we go through this, let’s ignore the first class suite costs for a moment, because I’ll be talking about that more in a separate post).
For shorter long haul flights, including to and from Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, you can find the seat fee chart below.
For medium long haul flights, including to and from Angola, Eastern Canada, India, Kazakhstan, Kenya, and the Eastern United States, you can find the seat fee chart below.
For longer long haul flights, including to and from Argentina, Brazil, Western Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Thailand, and the Western United States, you can find the seat fee chart below.
To summarize:
- The extra space seats range in cost from €130 to €230
- The extra long bed seats range in cost from €100 to €170
- The privacy seats seats range in cost from €100 to €170
- The suites range in cost from €400 to €600
I can’t help but notice the absolutely nonsensical currency conversion being used here. Like, the suite on the longest flights costs €600 or 690 CHF. With today’s currency conversion, 690 CHF converts to €741. Very odd.
What happens if you don’t assign a seat?
What happens if there are no classic seats left to assign, and a passenger doesn’t want to pay to assign a seat? During online check-in, generally starting 30 hours before departure, Lufthansa will allow passengers to select seats from those that remain.
Now, only time will tell if there are additional restrictions there. For example, will Lufthansa really let people assign the first row suites at no cost if available, or would an elite member be upgraded? Either way, it’s an incentive to check-in early.
My take on Lufthansa’s Allegris pricing approach
As you can see above, the average business class passenger can assign fewer than one-third of Lufthansa’s Allegris business class seats at no extra cost. Miles & More elite members can assign more seats at no extra cost, but the front row business class suites are only available for purchase, and aren’t given to anyone for free.
With that in mind, a few thoughts:
- It’s disappointing to think that even having the privilege of looking out the window comes at an extra cost in Allegris business class
- Those who don’t want to pay extra for assigning seats in Allegris business class are going to find themselves typically not being able to assign a seat in advance, and/or may also have issues assigning seats next to a travel companion
- I guess we can’t be too judgmental of the concept of charging for business class seat assignments, given that this is something that British Airways has done for years, and which Air France-KLM have adapted as well
- Lufthansa’s first row suites in Allegris business class are truly phenomenal; while €400 to €600 is no small chunk of change, I think a fair number of people will pay that, as it’s one of the better “business class plus” products out there
- I imagine there will be some trial and error here when it comes to the pricing for the seats, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the costs evolve over time
Bottom line
Lufthansa will start charging for Allegris business class seat assignments for flights as of March 30, 2025. Lufthansa has now revealed what pricing will be like. While classic seats can be assigned at no extra cost, other seats will range in cost from €100 to €600. Elite members will be able to select some additional seats, but even HON Circle members can’t choose the suites for free.
What do you make of Lufthansa’s approach to Allegris business class pricing?
Like hell we can't be too judgemental. I hope everyone boycotts this BS
This makes no sense whatsoever. Charging for the first row and, maybe, for the “thrones” would be ok, but besides that, it’s ridiculous, since the other seats are pretty ordinary and all other airlines will let you have then for free…
Unless going with a companion, wise move here is to not choose a seat until check-in. Only av geeks will pay 1000 EUR out of their pocket for a R/T on that suite. Lots of premium "paid" seats will be open at check-in time.
Most of elites are corporate staff, companies pay for business class but very few allow to put a 500 EUR seat selection fee on the company as well.
I think that the fact that it is impossible to sit next to your travel companion without paying fees is going to lead quite a few annoyed passengers. This whole thing is a mess really. Unfortunately it's going to be another 20 years before we get another generation of seats out of LH.
LH lost its marbles. To complex, not good enough, nobody talks benefits of enhanced soft product. Can’t wait for executive assistants to decipher the mess or corporate travel managers putting the stop on it. LH management is more interested how they look on camera than making sense in their decisions. No thanks to those seats, back to Skyteam and OW.
This is how Swiss works today, but even more expensive. It's annoying and a reason to avoid the airline. You're already paying thousands for the ticket, then you can either reserve no seat or a seat you don't want and need to wait until check-in to try to see if you can select the seat you actually want. It may or may not be available at that point. With Swiss today you have a pretty...
This is how Swiss works today, but even more expensive. It's annoying and a reason to avoid the airline. You're already paying thousands for the ticket, then you can either reserve no seat or a seat you don't want and need to wait until check-in to try to see if you can select the seat you actually want. It may or may not be available at that point. With Swiss today you have a pretty decent chance of getting a better seat at check-in (but then again those lumpy uncomfortable old seats are a pain even in the throne setup) but my understanding is Allegris has fewer 'standard' seats so there may be more jockeying once check-in opens. It's simply a bad idea - who wants to have to worry all this complexity and about getting a decent seat after coughing up 5k for a ticket? This only works for people who don't care where they sit or don't know any better.
And so the unbundling of premium cabin fares begins. Expect extra charges for boarding preference, meal service, pajamas, blankets, lounge access (some airlines already do that)...
For those who remember, a quote from one German: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTd_73Slj3Q
There is not a hope in hell I will pay an extra 150$ for a window seat. Thanks LH, but there are other options available to everywhere you fly. Greed should not be rewarded.
I am surprised they weren't able to justify charging extra for the classic seat too.
If I don't have status and there are actually 'free seats' remaining, I might actually NOT pick a seat - not much difference between picking 6H and ending up with 10H as worst case. I might actually end up with a better seat for 'free'.
airlines that charge for business seats are trash tier.
For a couple travelling together, at least one will almost certainly have to pay for seat selection if they want to sit anywhere close to their partner
Everything about this seat has been a disaster, I think this turn out to be a supercharged way of creating ill-will amongst customers
So what if you buy a ticket on Allegris but all the Classic Seats have been assigned already? Will you be forced to cough up at seat selection? If so, that's disgraceful.
Check in is going to be crazy with so many upgrades and seat changes. I would expect the first row of J to be empty for the most part before check in.
I still do not understand what is "truly phenomenal" about a seat with a door to pay an extra €400 to €600 for. Do you get an upgraded meal that the other J class pax don't receive? Different amenities including PJs? If it is just more space... Really? What are you planning to do with it? Exercise? Dance? Have sex? Unpack your carryon?
You have to remember - and this is not a knock on Ben - that he and other avgeek/travel bloggers are WAY more excited about this stuff than the average person, so of course there is exaggeration and you need to take these things with a grain of salt. The seat does look great but I agree that an upcharge like that for seat selection when you've already worked over thousands of dollars is outrageous.
Forked* over (Ben, please add an edit button...)
WTF? €2900 is not CHF 3300! It’s CHF2700. Have you screwed up with the exchange rate?
Unfortunately, this happens very often, also with other retail prices. A book that sells in Germany for EUR 29 is usually CHF 39 in Switzerland. Corporates try to skim off an extra gain, because salary level is higher in Switzerland.
The bigger insult is that both prices include respective VAT, at 19% and 8.8% respectively.
So its almost a 20% higher charge in CHF. Sadly, par for the course, try buying clothes that ship from same dutch warehouse, only to see +50% higher prices in Switzerland just because you can.
I'll be curious to see how this works out for LH but I think they may find that a lot of people just won't pay. Seat fees in economy are one thing because the experience is so much different if you're stuck in a middle seat in the last row for 10 hours, but in this case the worst that can happen if you don't pay is you're stuck in a classic seat, which is hardly terrible. And you may just end up in something a lot nicer!
I can see the complexity of Allegris pissing off a lot of customers and sending them elsewhere.
Yeah, I think we can be judgmental of this concept because unlike BA or AFKLM there is such a massive difference in quality between the different seat subsets. This isn't a reverse herringbone situation where every seat is more or less the same. It's more comparable to United Polaris, where most of the seats are decent but 1/3 have you basically lying down in the aisle. The difference is that United has at least had...
Yeah, I think we can be judgmental of this concept because unlike BA or AFKLM there is such a massive difference in quality between the different seat subsets. This isn't a reverse herringbone situation where every seat is more or less the same. It's more comparable to United Polaris, where most of the seats are decent but 1/3 have you basically lying down in the aisle. The difference is that United has at least had the grace not to try to punish their passengers by monetizing their awful seating configuration so you have to pay extra on top of a business class or award fare to get a decent seat in the first place.
Yeah, I agree with you. Also I could be mistaken but doesn't BA allow you to use Avios instead of cash for seat assignments? It's rarely a great deal but good to have the option nonetheless.
This will also get messy for those that have booked via partner awards. Are they going to require all partners display text explaining "Please go to LH.com to see our absurdly complex seat assignment fees"?
Wonder if non-LH *G will get any non-classic free seat selection. At least in BA, any OWS or OWE can select seats for free.
I bet not. This summer LH even dropped free assignment of preferred seats (up front) and exit row seats for UA*G during *check-in*.