With environmentalism being an increasingly hot topic in the aviation industry, we’ve seen many airlines introduce options to carbon offset tickets. Lufthansa Group is taking it to the next level, with the introduction of “green fares.” The airline first trialed these in the summer of 2022, and is now rolling them out on a more widespread basis.
Ironically, these fares almost seem more targeted at business travelers who are also points addicts than anything else. I can’t decide if these are malarkey, kind of genius, or both.
In this post:
The basics of Lufthansa’s new green fares
Lufthansa Group is rolling out a fare bundle all about environmentalism, known as green fares. As it’s promoted, these fares offer “full CO2 compensation” with the price. This includes 80% offsetting done “through high-quality climate projection projects” and 20% offsetting done through the use of sustainable aviation fuels.
This is being formally rolled out as of February 15, 2023, and green fares will be available on flights throughout Europe and North Africa, including to & from Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia. Furthermore, this will be offered by Lufthansa, Austrian, Brussels, SWISS, Edelweiss, Eurowings Discover, and Air Dolomiti, covering more than 730,000 flights per year. Both economy and business class travelers will be eligible to book these fares.
Customers searching for tickets on eligible routes will see these fares alongside the typical fare bands, including Light, Classic, and Flex. These fares won’t just include carbon offsets, but will also include free rebooking, and extra status and award miles.
This is part of Lufthansa Group’s goal of halving net CO2 emissions by 2030 (compared to 2019), and becoming carbon neutral by 2050.
What makes Lufthansa’s green fares so interesting
How are Lufthansa’s green fares priced? Let’s take a look at pricing in both business and economy for a one-way ticket from Copenhagen to Frankfurt.
In business class, the Business Green fare is identical to the Business Flex fare. What are the differences?
- The Business Green fare includes carbon offsets, 20% bonus award miles, and 20% bonus status miles
- The Business Flex fare includes being able to switch to an earlier flight on the day of travel, and the ticket being refundable without a fee
In economy class, the Economy Green fare is identical to the Economy Flex fare. What are the differences?
- The Economy Green fare includes carbon offsets, 20% bonus award miles, and 20% bonus status miles
- The Economy Flex fare includes being able to switch to an earlier flight on the day of travel, the ticket being refundable with a fee, priority security, and priority boarding
What I find interesting here is that the green fares are almost designed in a way so that they could be appealing even if you don’t care about the carbon offsetting aspect of it. Maybe not for those paying out of pocket, but for those who are traveling on business and have some freedom with how they book, I could see people going for a fare that includes 20% extra award and status miles.
It’s a bit ironic that the fare that offers full carbon offsets might actually be most appealing to business travelers who are also status and miles junkies… and that might not be a bad thing?
Bottom line
Lufthansa is rolling out its “green fares” on a widespread basis, after initially testing the concept in the summer of 2022. This will shortly be available on all Lufthansa Group flights within Europe, as well as flights to & from North Africa. As you’d guess based on the name, these fare bundles allow you to offset your carbon emissions.
The execution of this is what I find interesting, though. Essentially you pay the flexible fare, but forgo the flexibility (and in some cases other perks), in order to offset your flight and earn bonus award and status miles.
I think this might create an incentive for some people on expense accounts to book these fares, even if carbon offsets aren’t the primary motivator here.
What do you make of the new Lufthansa Group green fares?
is this serious? It's not even April Fool's Day yet.
It's catering to those afraid of their shadow and consumed with faux guilt. Get more money out of them while offering these than the same fare with more real benefits. I would call it a scam but the people at Lufthansa pushing this are also probably in the target market themselves!
"This is part of Lufthansa Group’s goal of halving net CO2 emissions by 2030 (compared to 2019), and becoming carbon neutral by 2050."
And then what? No more climate change? Ha! Folks the climate is constantly changing. How vain must you be to think we can control it? And why is it we still have a crisis after decades of implementing these life saving changes? And when it doesn't work we're told we need...
"This is part of Lufthansa Group’s goal of halving net CO2 emissions by 2030 (compared to 2019), and becoming carbon neutral by 2050."
And then what? No more climate change? Ha! Folks the climate is constantly changing. How vain must you be to think we can control it? And why is it we still have a crisis after decades of implementing these life saving changes? And when it doesn't work we're told we need to do more, by the very same people who's ideas have failed.
This is nothing more than a marketing ploy by Lufthansa aimed at ignorant people. If it works good on them. But it will do NOTHING for the environment.
It's not just a marketing ploy unfortunately. It's a step in preparation to introduce 'Climate Credit Scores' that give the governments totalitarian control just like the Social Credit Score in China does. Once every product and service you can buy does have an attributed 'Climate Impact Score', governments will start to come up with 'Climate/CO2 budgets/ for everyone.
Some credit cards in Scandinavia and the Netherlands are already trialing such features.
So I am promote how low my Afraid of My Shadow/The Sky Is Falling score is? Can't wait!
Greenwashing
Does LH take into account the extra miles I'm now earning to take future flights? LOL, what a Greenwashing SCAM.
"Carbon offsets" are a scam. Nothing more.
Exactly!!
They likely spent a lifetime of carbon having meetings, flying people in to talk about greenwashing fares, zoom calls, and having staff spend carbon just coming up with these. It's all a fool's errand that is someplace between catering to a cult and a fairie tale.
My company already purchases CO2 offsets for airfare booked through our corporate portal so this seems like something that will have take-up for those sort of fares.
Not sure about the "bundling" idea. For instance, my employer accepts SAF, but does not accept any other form of compensation. So that combination will probably not be accepted ...
Greenwashing fares.
The SAF purchase program from Flying Blue (basically paying for AFKL to meet its SAF purchase mandate) is simpler: it's an add-on to the booking, and you get XP at a rate that's comparable (especially if considering time investment) to taking almost any mileage run in Europe. You can apply it on the Flex or Standard or Light fare, with a few levels of "indulgence" (in the Martin Luther sense) available. On long-haul to long-haul...
The SAF purchase program from Flying Blue (basically paying for AFKL to meet its SAF purchase mandate) is simpler: it's an add-on to the booking, and you get XP at a rate that's comparable (especially if considering time investment) to taking almost any mileage run in Europe. You can apply it on the Flex or Standard or Light fare, with a few levels of "indulgence" (in the Martin Luther sense) available. On long-haul to long-haul connections, there's typically an offer that costs the best part of $3000 which would give you enough XP to maintain Platinum for another year.
The "Green Fare" should have a refundable without a fee option even if priced more. During a previous life as a corporate traveler I often sprung for fully refundable tickets if travel was not set in stone. The greenest option is always not to take the trip.
So LH is implying you can't be flexible and green at the same time?
Party like it's 1057! Indulgences are here to stay.
Could companies that buy these fares for their employee travel potentially also use the CO2 offsets as part of their green initiatives as well?
If so, it seems like a smart move.
Poorly designed concept IMHO and anyone who books those green tickets are leaving money on the table. My previous employer (and I am sure many do) tracks all business travel purchases and they buy carbon offsets/trees to ensure they are staying in compliance with the UNGC while also maximizing tax breaks.
This is just LH’s way of trying to get their own customers to help finance LH’s sustainability program while taking advantage of more...
Poorly designed concept IMHO and anyone who books those green tickets are leaving money on the table. My previous employer (and I am sure many do) tracks all business travel purchases and they buy carbon offsets/trees to ensure they are staying in compliance with the UNGC while also maximizing tax breaks.
This is just LH’s way of trying to get their own customers to help finance LH’s sustainability program while taking advantage of more tax breaks for themselves.
If carbon offsets are important to you, buy the carbon offsets directly with the appropriate non profit organization(s) in your country to ensure every single dollar goes to the organization and you get to write off your own taxes.
I'll start worrying about my "footprint" when flying when the .01% gives up flying private.
And stop lecturing me about my flying, eating, driving et cetera, habits.
I definitely agree about their hypocrisy on this and find comical - or head-shaking - their litany of excuses of why they can be excepted. But, even then, I won't worry about my "footprint" any more than I worry about so many of the faux social justice and other environ-justice handwringing that the perpetually afraid and offended crowd does.