Lufthansa is in the process of rolling out its new premium cabin seats, known as Allegris. This includes a new business class product (to be installed initially on newly delivered A350s and 787s), as well as a new first class product (to be installed initially on newly delivered A350s).
Lufthansa’s rollout of its new premium cabins has been rather underwhelming, to put it mildly. The airline announced these products in 2017, and for nearly seven years, not a single aircraft has featured these interiors.
Lufthansa has just announced that its new business class will be debuting as of May 2024, initially operating from Munich to Vancouver, and then to Toronto, Chicago, and Montreal. In this post I wanted to cover the latest details of when Lufthansa is expected to introduce its new first class.
In this post:
New Lufthansa first class faces production delays
Lufthansa’s entire Allegris concept has been delayed considerably due to supply chain issues. The new Airbus A350-900s and Boeing 787-9s are ready to go, but parts of their Allegris interiors aren’t, so some of these jets have been in storage.
There’s more of a delay with the new first class than with the new business class. This isn’t an issue with 787s, since they won’t feature first class, but it is an issue with A350s, since they will feature first class.
Lufthansa will start flying new A350s as of May 2024, but without first class cabins. So these planes will feature the new Allegris seats in all other cabins, except first class. You can expect that in the space of the first class cabin there will be a row of economy seats, which won’t be used for passengers, but rather are reportedly required for the aircraft to be certified.
Flying around a plane with a partially empty cabin isn’t ideal, but I suppose it’s better than just keeping these planes grounded.
New Lufthansa first class launch timeline
So, when should we expect Lufthansa to actually introduce its new first class? I imagine this remains subject to change, but currently Lufthansa is expecting that its sixth upcoming Airbus A350-900 delivery will come with the new Allegris first class already installed.
The sixth A350 is expected to join Lufthansa’s fleet in the fall of 2024. We don’t have an exact timeline beyond that, but it sounds like it’ll be the last quarter of 2024 before this product is in service. That’s also based on the current timeline, and I imagine further delays aren’t just possible, but are probably likely.
Presumably once the new Allegris first class enters service, the first five newly delivered A350s will be retrofitted with those cabins.
Is Lufthansa’s new first class just a trial?
Beyond the delays of entry into service for the new first class, there are questions about whether the airline is actually committed to introducing this new product on a widespread basis. In July 2023, FlyerTalk member Raul_R reported attending the Allegris launch event, and being told the following:
During the Berlin event of Allegris in early spring I was clearly told during several conversations, that at first only ONE plane will have that cabin, running it for several months to get enough feedback and ONLY after that the final decisions will be made.
Of course I can’t personally vouch for this, but that sure would be interesting. If Lufthansa only intends to introduce this product on one aircraft at first, then trial it for several months, and then introduce it on a more widespread basis based on customer feedback, it could be many years until a decent number of planes have this product.
Now, I think it’s unlikely Lufthansa will backtrack on this product, simply because the logistics would be too complicated, and these planes would be flying around with empty first class cabins for years. I think the airline will want to save face and move forward with this product, even if it’s not terribly logical.
I’m skeptical about Lufthansa’s new first class product, though. While the window seats look perfectly nice, the double suite in the center makes no sense whatsoever.
Sure, the concept of having a space for two people to fly together sounds great, but it doesn’t look spacious at all, and offers limited flexibility in terms of one person being able to sleep while the other person stays up. There’s not even an armrest between the two seats.
Furthermore, maximizing revenue for a cabin with just two standard seats seems challenging. You want to create a first class product that customers can reliably book, but how do you do that when there are just two regular first class seats to book? And if no one books the double suite, at what point do you sell that to a single passenger?
As much as I’m happy to see Lufthansa introducing new premium products, it seems to me like the airline way over-engineered this. I mean, Lufthansa is also promoting how it has a handful of different kinds of business class seats in its Allegris cabin. Is that much choice really a good thing in terms of managing passenger expectations?
That’s not even accounting for Lufthansa introducing a new A380 business class product that’s different, plus introducing Allegris business class seats on the lower deck of the 747-8, while keeping the old business class on the upper deck.
Bottom line
Lufthansa is having production delays with its new Allegris cabins. While Lufthansa is introducing its new business class as of May 2024, the airline is now planning on debuting its new first class in the fall of 2024.
The current plan is that the sixth newly delivered A350 will feature the new first class, though we’ll see how that plays out. In the meantime, the first five A350s will enter service with the first class cabin simply blocked off, and a row of economy seats in their place (which won’t be sold).
What do you make of Lufthansa’s new first class struggles?
The First Class center, double-suite would be REALLY great for COUPLES on long-haul -- but ONLY if Lufthansa added a row of OLED "windows" (windows-look-alike SCREENS) with images from with cameras on the outer plane skinl -- to avoid feeling so claustrophobic. I believe Emerits has already done that
LOOOOL! Have this cabin on ONE plane doesn't qualify as a launch. It's a sick joke!
I think the center seat will be available for booking at a higher price, say 1.8x the price of the others and will be marketed as a Double Bed for up to 2 passengers. Much like when you book a hotel room you can book a single bed or a double bed at a premium. It's also a way to increase revenue for what will likely be the last F seat sold.
If the...
I think the center seat will be available for booking at a higher price, say 1.8x the price of the others and will be marketed as a Double Bed for up to 2 passengers. Much like when you book a hotel room you can book a single bed or a double bed at a premium. It's also a way to increase revenue for what will likely be the last F seat sold.
If the airline had anyway intended to have only 3 true F seats I don't have an issue with that. I have an issue that they thought 3 true seats would be sufficient.
I guess they'll keep the product anyhow but probably have not yet figured out how to price that center double bed. Do you sell it as a separate category ? As a seat assignment ? Do you need extra miles to redeem for it or do you redeem for F and pay cash for that seat assignment ?
How much value will F customers assign to a wider bed vs not having a window? Should they remove the 2nd seat make a better bed and install fake Emirate style Windows ?
I think they have a lot of options to weigh and alternate routes this product could take without having to change its "bones".
I guess this is why they are taking a test and learn approach with a single plane.
I'm not a fan of this but considering they made this bed I think the way they are laying in it is not stupid.
I'm just sick of seeing these same official photos of LH first class seats over and over again lol
Huge mistake with first class. Most flights I’ve been on recently are full or near full in F with 8 seats. 3 seats won’t work. It excludes families and will mean people who have paid full F can’t make last minute changes (therefore making it useless).
1-1-1 2 rows would have been much smarter. I think LH has clocked onto this now though and realises they have made a mistake!
I think this deserves a 5 star rating for Lufthansa from Skytrax.
They have definitely over-engineered both the first-class and business class projects. This is far too complex and is going to lead to disappointment when customers don't get exactly what they booked if there are malfunctions or 'operational changes'.
The good thing about consistently delaying a launch is that you can delay it further and nobody really cares anymore. Well played, LH
this is undoubtedly the result of LH trying to custom-engineer a seat product rather than modify something that is already available and certified but is also a reflection of the fact that seat suppliers are running at max output just for the number of new aircraft on order even before factoring in major modification programs.
I am sure that, if true accounting is done, the Allegris first class product will lose a large amount...
this is undoubtedly the result of LH trying to custom-engineer a seat product rather than modify something that is already available and certified but is also a reflection of the fact that seat suppliers are running at max output just for the number of new aircraft on order even before factoring in major modification programs.
I am sure that, if true accounting is done, the Allegris first class product will lose a large amount of money for years considering the delays, high cost of engineering the seat, and now flying the aircraft w/ no revenue in that space for who knows how long.
Airbus is cranking the A350s out at a pretty quick pace w/ decent demand so you have to wonder if it would have been cheaper to just defer some of the aircraft.
Remember that LH also bought some used A350s so those will need cabin mods also.
Lufthansa should have done what EK and CX have alread done years ago, and simply gone with a FC product in a 1-1-1 configuration. Not hard.
I'm guessing AF will have a 1-1-1 configuration for their new FC/LP cabins as well. 1-1-1 does seem to be the wave of the future for airlines truly dedicated to a premium FC experience.
Well,ive said it before, the whole 'Allegris thing is a TOTAL joke. Start again Lufthansa-----And PDQ!!!