Review: Lufthansa Allegris Business Class Boeing 787 (AUS-FRA)

For the first sector of my Four Seasons Yacht via Turkmenistan and Saudi Arabia adventure, I flew Lufthansa’s Boeing 787-9 Allegris business class on the 9hr25min flight from Austin (AUS) to Frankfurt (FRA).

I was looking forward to this flight, given that it was operated by one of Lufthansa’s new Dreamliners with Allegris cabins — I had flown Allegris business class once before, on the Airbus A350. This flight also had the benefit of featuring Lufthansa’s new business class soft product, which launched in recent weeks.

All-in-all, I found this to be a well-rounded flight, though nothing that’s going to be particularly memorable, especially given how long we’ve waited for this. The seats were comfortable, the crew was friendly, and the food and amenities were decent, but nothing special.

This is definitely much more competitive than Lufthansa’s old business class product, but that’s not necessarily saying a whole lot. I also felt like there were some very basic areas for improvement.

How I booked my Lufthansa business class ticket

I redeemed Air Canada Aeroplan points for my Lufthansa business class flight. Specifically, I booked the following for 75,000 Aeroplan points plus $58 in taxes & fees:

7/14 LH469 Austin to Frankfurt departing 4:05PM arriving 8:55AM (+1 day)

For what it’s worth, I ticketed this around two weeks before departure, which is when the availability opened up (the business class cabin appeared to be pretty wide open at the time). Aeroplan points are of course really easy to earn, as the program partners with most major transferable points currencies.

Lufthansa business class lounge & boarding

I flew out of Austin primarily so I could fly the new Allegris business class, since this is one of the few routes to the United States to be operated by the Dreamliner with Allegris. I flew in the same morning from Miami, and during my layover, I met up with my colleague, Jeremy, who lives in Austin.

So I didn’t have the chance to use the lounge, though Lufthansa sends its premium passengers to the United Club in Austin. My flight was departing from gate three, with boarding scheduled for 3:30PM, 35 minutes before departure.

Sure enough, that’s exactly when boarding started, with those needing extra time, along with business class passengers and elite members, being invited to board first.

Lufthansa 787 Allegris business class cabin & seats

I boarded the Boeing 787-9 through the second set of doors, where I was greeted by the friendly crew and pointed left into business class. The business class cabin has 28 seats, and takes up the entire space between the first and second set of doors.

The cabin consists of a total of nine rows, with seats alternating between a 1-2-1 and 1-1-1 layout. While Lufthansa is definitely on the sterile side when it comes to cabin finishes, I think it’s a pretty nice looking cabin overall, especially with the lack of overhead bins in the center section, which gave the cabin a more open feel.

Lufthansa of course markets how its Allegris business class is “all about choice,” and how there are five different types of seats to choose from. I’m not necessarily sure I’d consider that to be a good thing, given that passengers will have a vastly different experience depending on the seat they end up in. For that matter, Lufthansa charges to assign most types of seats.

The best seats in the cabin are going to be the suites in the first row. These are the only seats that have sliding doors and large privacy partitions around them, so it’s very much a “business class plus” product. The seats essentially take advantage of the extra space at the bulkhead, so they look very spacious.

Throughout the rest of the cabin, the seats in the center section alternate in each row, with one row having one seat, the next row having two seats, etc. Since this is a staggered configuration, the seat pairs are consistently close to the aisle and far from one another, so they’re not great for those traveling together. These would generally be my least preferred seats in the cabin.

I’d note that in every other row, one of the two center seats in the pair is an extra long bed seat, as it takes advantage of the space to the side of the seat in front. This is really only useful if you’re super tall, because otherwise this is still a seat that lacks privacy, and it’s not like the footwell is any wider.

Then you’ll find the solo center seats, marketed as the extra space seat. This is a unique product, and you have the advantage of not having anyone seated next to you, and of having two large consoles (one on each side). However, the seat as such sure looks rather claustrophobic to me, given the curvature of the “casing” around the seat.

Along the windows, you’ll also find that seats alternate between being closer to the windows and closer to the aisle.

The seats closer to the aisle are marketed as the classic seat, so it’s the most basic seat. While it’s nice to be by the windows, these seats are pretty close to the aisle, so don’t offer much privacy.

Lastly, there are the privacy seats, which are the window seats that are closest to the windows. For example, I assigned myself seat 6K, a window seat toward the back of the cabin on the right side (I managed to assign this at no cost during online check-in, as otherwise it would’ve cost me quite a bit).

I’d think of this seat as ultimately being a very solid and spacious “true” window seat in a staggered configuration. It’s nothing revolutionary, but it’s good.

Starting at the front of the seat, you’ll find an 18″ 4K UHD entertainment screen that has a fixed position, directly ahead (the business class suites have larger 24″ monitors).

The tray table extends from underneath the entertainment monitor, and has a unique storage mechanism. It’s essentially stored sideways, so then you extend it out, and then flip it 90 degrees.

Underneath the tray table and entertainment monitor you’ll find the footwell, which becomes part of the bed when reclined. The footwell is a really good size, so unlike some other seats out there, it’s not overly restrictive, which is great.

To the side of the seat you’ll find a console, as well as the enclosed storage space.

The storage space had a hook for headphones, and is otherwise big enough to store a few small items — it’s where a bottle of water and amenity kit are placed during boarding. You’ll also find the charging options here, which include AC, USB-A, and USB-C outlets, plus wireless charging on the console.

You’ll also find the tablet next to the storage compartment, which is how you can control the entertainment options (including pairing bluetooth audio), as well as seat functions. One thing I found odd is that the A350 has seat heating and cooling that can be controlled via the tablet, but that doesn’t seem to be an option on the 787. Does anyone know what’s going on there?

If you don’t want to use the monitor, there’s also a panel to the side of the seat, which has some basic seat pre-set options, like placing the seat fully upright, or reclining it fully.

Rather frustratingly, Lufthansa has no individual air nozzles on its Dreamliners. I really don’t get it, for newly delivered planes… why not?!

One last thing worth mentioning is that Lufthansa had major issues with getting these seats certified, and while they’re nearly all certified, the exception is the seats in row two. Those can’t be occupied, and they have little metal covers on the seats, to prevent them from being used.

Lufthansa 787 Allegris business class entertainment & Wi-Fi

Lufthansa’s Allegris 787 business class offers seat back entertainment, with audio and video on demand.

Compared to Lufthansa’s old business class, the entertainment system has been nicely refreshed, with a large variety of movies and TV shows, as well as audio, games, and more. It can be hard to figure out exactly how many titles are available with each type of programming due to how it’s organized by genre (with some being overlapping). I wouldn’t say it’s the world’s best entertainment system, but people should have no issues staying entertained.

There’s also a nose camera option that’s available with the entertainment (fairly rare for a 787), and of course the map feature, which is nicely customizable.

As mentioned above, there’s the option to pair the entertainment with your own headphones, which is useful.

The plane also has Panasonic Wi-Fi. While better than nothing, the speeds weren’t great on this sector, though keep in mind these planes should get Starlink Wi-Fi eventually.

When it comes to pricing, there was the option of a free messaging pass, a two hour plan for 15 EUR, or a full flight plan for 25 EUR.

At least that’s what the pricing was supposed to be, but I ended up being charged 29 EUR for the full flight plan. Talk about bait and switch pricing!

In the past I’ve found Panasonic speeds to be decent, but yeah, they really weren’t good on this flight, unfortunately, and there were extended periods of time when it wasn’t available. Come to think of it, I really should’ve sent an email to ask for partial reimbursement (if for no other reason than the pricing discrepancy).

Lufthansa business class amenities

I was looking forward to checking out Lufthansa’s enhanced business class amenities, so were they actually a substantial improvement? Well, sort of.

Waiting at each seat upon boarding were a pillow and blanket, very similar to the ones I’ve been offered in the past. They’re sufficient, but nothing special, though I did like the crane pattern on the blanket.

I was also offered a mattress pad, which offered excellent padding. That was useful, because I found the seat to be really hard, despite the (theoretical) ability to control cushion firmness.

The noise canceling headphones were already plugged into the audio jack, and were just okay quality — these headphones are nothing special, but that’s not a big deal when you have bluetooth audio.

Waiting at the seat was the business class amenity kit, which had special centennial branding. The kit contained socks, eyeshades, ear plugs, mints, refreshing towels, and two products from BABOR (hand cream and lip balm).

I was also offered super flimsy slippers. Even low quality slippers are better than no slippers, as it’s great to be able to go to the lavatory without putting on your shoes.

Toward the end of boarding, the crew came around with pre-departure drinks, with the options including sparkling wine, the signature avionic cocktail, and water. I opted for the signature cocktail, and that was served with some packaged snack mix (when departing Germany they give you some nuts in a classier-looking bag, but I guess getting any snack with a pre-departure drink is “special”).

Menus were also distributed — interestingly, the menu only had the food for the first meal and then the drinks, while the breakfast menu was distributed before going to bed, and came in the form of a room service-style form.

There were also loungewear tops handed out, from van Laack, similar to what you’ll find in first class, minus the bottoms. I guess I appreciate that Lufthansa is adding this as a business class amenity on some shorter sectors, but it just feels like such half baked execution. If you’re going to offer loungewear, have pants too, in my opinion.

Anyway, all-in-all I found the amenities to be reasonably good, but nothing amazing. I do appreciate the slippers, (partial) loungewear, and mattress pad, in particular.

Lufthansa 787 departure from Austin

Boarding for the flight to Frankfurt was efficient, with all 25 usable business class seats being occupied. Not that it’s terribly surprising, but it was a very American crowd in business class, as I’m pretty sure I was the only one speaking German with the crew.

Boarding finished at 3:55PM, at which point the captain made his welcome aboard announcement, informing us of our flight time of 9hr25min, and anticipated on-time arrival in Frankfurt. At 4:05PM we began our pushback, at which point the safety video was screened. Then at 4:10PM we began our taxi, almost immediately passing a rather nice-looking British Airways Airbus A350-1000.

We had a short taxi, and by 4:20PM we were cleared for takeoff on runway 18L.

We hit a few bumps on the climb out, and then the seatbelt sign was turned off around 15 minutes after takeoff.

Lufthansa business class dinner service

On this flight, dinner was served after takeoff. I should mention that this flight came shortly after Lufthansa introduced its new business class catering, so I was very much looking forward to this. Just days before this flight, I had flown from Germany to the United States in Lufthansa business class, and was blown away by how much the catering had improved.

Unfortunately clearly outstations just can’t deliver that same level of quality, because it was a totally different story on this flight. And my gosh, the service was also really, really slow (which is not good on an overnight flight).

You can find the Lufthansa business class dinner menu below.

You can find the Lufthansa business class drink list below.

30 minutes after takeoff, the crew passed out warm towels, which are now presented on little plates.

The crew then rolled carts down the aisle with the first round of drinks and amuse bouche. However, it was a full hour after takeoff before I got my first drink, which is honestly much longer than it should take (it wasn’t the crew’s fault, but obviously something with the processes that are in place still needs some work).

I had a glass of champagne to drink (2015 Pommery Grand Cru Royal was on offer), and that was complemented by the carrot yuzu, edamame, sesame, and ginger, amuse bouche.

It was only 25 minutes after the drink service that meal orders were taken, and I was asked for my preferred starter and main course. The appetizer was served over 45 minutes after the initial round of drinks, so at this point we were nearly two hours into the flight. This really was a glacial pace for service, and it’s not like there were even drink refills between waiting, since the crew was busy preparing in the galley.

Of the appetizer choices, I opted for the beef tenderloin with horseradish cream, honey soy, and pickled vegetables. This was automatically served with an heirloom tomato and cucumber tartare with black garlic, a nice twist on the typical salad. Then there was a selection of bread, plus a cauliflower miso dip with edamame. The bread selection was super boring, and I had a rather stale roll. With the appetizer, I switched from champagne to riesling.

The service between courses was a bit odd. The appetizer is served on a tray, but then after the appetizer they take your tray, but ask you to take your fork and knife off the tray, and place it on your tray table. This is of course totally minor, but it just feels like the process isn’t very seamless, for a new service concept that was just launched.

With the main course I also asked for a second glass of riesling, but they had already ran out. C’mon, now!

Anyway, the main course was served 30 minutes after the appetizer, and I selected the seafood stew, with shrimp, monkfish, mussels, tomato, zucchini, and yukon potato. I’m sorry, but this was just bad, from the taste (the seafood was chewy, there was barely any “stew,” etc.) to the presentation. I know with the new service concept they’re supposed to be putting more effort into presentation, but is this really what it’s supposed to look like?!

Once the main course was cleared, I was offered the choice of fruit, cheese, and/or dessert. I had the fruit (which consisted of melons and berries) plus the dessert, which was a chocolate mousse with strawberry.

All-in-all, the meal didn’t impress me. Service was way too slow, and the food presentation and quality wasn’t as good as it should’ve been. The thing is, I had a phenomenal flight out of Frankfurt recently with the new catering, so I think Lufthansa just needs to work with its outstation caterers.

The bigger issue for me was the pace of service, as it took nearly three hours for the meal service to be complete. That needs to be sped up significantly — at least this was one of the longer transatlantic Lufthansa flights, because this would be a disaster on an East Coast to Germany flight.

Lufthansa 787 business class lavatories

After the meal I checked out the lavatories in Lufthansa’s 787 Allegris business class. There are three(ish) lavatories in business class — there’s one in front of the cabin, and two behind the cabin.

I say “ish” because Lufthansa blocks the forward lavatory during the meal service. On top of that, the two rear lavatories also seem to be shared with premium economy, at least unofficially (I believe the back left one is for business class, while the back right one is for premium economy, but enforcement isn’t 100% consistent).

To Lufthansa’s credit, I’ve gotta say that these are among the nicest 787 business class lavatories I’ve seen, as they’re not just the standard Boeing ones, so kudos to Lufthansa on that. Very elegant, and the two by the second set of doors even have windows.

The lavatories also had L’Occitane hand lotion, mouthwash, and some refreshing towels.

Lufthansa 787 Allegris business class bed

Once back at my seat, it was time to get some sleep. So I reclined my seat and put out the bedding (there’s no formal turndown service in business class). I found the bed to be really comfortable, and also quite spacious, so that’s a plus. However, I do wish there were individual air nozzles…

I prepared for sleep with around 6hr15min remaining to Frankfurt, as we were near Montreal…

…and I woke up a little under four hours later, with around 2hr25min remaining to Frankfurt, while approaching the UK.

I got a decent amount of sleep. Can I just point out that no matter what anyone says, I’ll always despise the 787 window dimmers? Below is what I woke up to while the cabin dimmers were (to my knowledge) in use.

Lufthansa business class breakfast

Before going to bed, breakfast cards had been handed out, so that passengers can place their breakfast order, which is a system I generally like. You can find the Lufthansa business class breakfast selection below.

The cabin lights were turned on 90 minutes before landing, and then hot towels were distributed once again. It took a really long time for service to start after that, so despite pre-placing my order, I only got my meal around 55 minutes before landing, which sure took some time, as only one meal seemed to come out every couple of minutes.

Of the options, I chose the spinach egg cake, as it was described, with tomato and herb mushrooms. I’m sorry, but this was disgusting, and not at all as described — it just tasted like a blob of powdered eggs, like you’d expect at a limited service hotel breakfast.

I had also selected a laugen roll, a smoothie, and some fruit. This was automatically served with a plate of cold cuts and cheese. I don’t eat pork (neither do two major religious groups), so if you’re going to create a customized menu card, why not give people the option of whether they want this, rather than serving it automatically? It makes no sense to me…

Because of how late the breakfast was served, there wasn’t even the chance to get a second cup of coffee.

Lufthansa business class service

The crew on this flight was friendly. They weren’t the most memorable Lufthansa crew I’ve had, but they went through the motions and did their best.

What stuck out to me more about the service is just how there’s probably still some stuff to be ironed out when it comes to speed and execution. I don’t think that’s the crew’s fault, and my hope is that with time, the service flow improves. Keep in mind that the 787 with Allegris seats is brand new, and the service flow is also something crews are still getting used to.

Speaking of service, one of the nice service additions is that the crew now hands out chocolates before landing, which passengers can take with them. I do feel like the execution of that was a bit of a missed opportunity, though. The crew kind of just handed them out without saying anything, rather than personally thanking each passenger for flying with the airline, etc., (as you might find on some other airlines, which I think is the point of this service touch).

Lufthansa 787 arrival in Frankfurt

At 8:20AM Frankfurt time, the first officer was on the PA, to announce that we’d be landing in around 30 minutes, which was around the same time that we started our pretty steep descent. It was a beautiful day in Germany, with great views the entire way down.

We ended up touching down in Frankfurt at 8:45AM on runway 7L. While this is one of the far out runways, at least we were pointed in the right direction when it comes to getting close to the terminal.

We ended up having around a 10-minute taxi to our arrival gate at Terminal 1, where we pulled in at 8:55AM, exactly on schedule.

From there I headed to the Lufthansa Welcome Lounge, where I killed some time, before eventually heading over to the new Frankfurt Terminal 3, for my Turkmenistan Airlines 777 business class flight to Ashgabat (ASB).

Bottom line

I’m thrilled to see Lufthansa finally expanding its Allegris concept, and also refreshing its soft product. There’s no denying that this largely represents a very nice improvement over the old business class experience. However, there are aspects of the experience that are rough around the edges, from the service speed, to the food quality, to the Wi-Fi, to the lack of air nozzles.

While this is all progress, the whole Allegris project sure has been a huge time and money investment, with limited return. My point is that I think all-in-all, Air France still offers a better experience across the Atlantic, and the airline chose off-the-shelf seats, and focused on specific investments, ranging from mattress pads to Starlink Wi-Fi. That’s actual improvement with little drama.

What’s your take on Lufthansa’s Allegris 787 business class?