Review: Lufthansa Allegris Business Class Airbus A350 (YVR-MUC)

For the most anticipated segment of my Allegris round the world journey, I flew Lufthansa’s Airbus A350-900 Allegris business class on the 9hr20min flight from Vancouver (YVR) to Munich (MUC).

To say that I was anticipating this flight would be the understatement of the year. Actually, it would be the understatement of the past seven years, since that’s how long it was from when Lufthansa announced its Allegris business class, until it was actually in service. Experiencing Lufthansa Allegris was my main motivation for taking this trip, as I managed to find award availability on the second-ever passenger flight where this plane was in service.

So, after the long wait, how was Lufthansa Allegris business class? All things considered, the product exceeded my expectations. The Lufthansa Allegris seat was better than I was expecting, and it’s definitely a new era for Lufthansa.

Now, that doesn’t change the fact that I despise the inconsistency of the Allegris business class experience, as just about each passenger has a different experience. But for the seat I was able to book, I was really happy, and it’s a massive improvement over Lufthansa’s old business class. Let’s get into the review, and you’ll see what I mean…

How I booked my Lufthansa business class ticket

I booked this portion of my trip using Air Canada Aeroplan points. Specifically, I booked the following award in business class for 90,000 Air Canada Aeroplan points plus $88.24 in taxes and fees:

5/01 LH477 Vancouver to Munich departing 6:50PM arriving 1:30PM (+1 day)
5/02 MS788 Munich to Cairo departing 3:55PM arriving 8:40PM

Aeroplan points are easy to come by, as the program is transfer partners with Amex Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One, and Chase Ultimate Rewards. On top of that, Aeroplan often sells points at a discount, and also has the Chase Air Canada Aeroplan® Credit Card (review), which is pretty lucrative.

Lufthansa business class lounge & boarding

I had a nearly seven hour layover in Vancouver, since I left a bit of a buffer, given that I was arriving the same day from Miami.

I first spent a few hours in the SkyTeam Lounge using Priority Pass, and then visited the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge, which is where Lufthansa sends its passengers (however, Air Canada only allows lounge access up to three hours before departure, unless connecting on a single itinerary, so I couldn’t access it earlier).

The Lufthansa flight was departing from gate D68, with boarding scheduled for 6:15PM, 35 minutes ahead of the scheduled 6:50PM departure. There were some gate festivities, and Lufthansa’s CEO was even on the flight, and I’ll talk a bit more about that at the end of this review.

Boarding started right on schedule, using Lufthansa’s group boarding system…

I can’t even begin to say how excited I was to board Lufthansa’s first Allegris jet, with the registration code D-AIXT. The plane even had a special decal by the door, which read “Hello Allegris.”

In the interest of full disclosure, there were some Lufthansa communications folks at the gate, and I asked about boarding a couple of minutes early to get some “clean” cabin pictures, which they granted. Let me again emphasize that I paid for my own ticket, and that was the extent of any special treatment I got.

Lufthansa A350 Allegris business class cabin & seats

Lufthansa’s Allegris Airbus A350s feature a total of 38 business class seats, spread across two cabins:

• The forward cabin is between doors one and two, and features 20 business class seats, spread across five rows; the very front of the cabin is currently empty, but will eventually have Lufthansa’s new Allegris first class, which is delayed until at least late 2024
• The rear cabin is behind the second set of doors, and features 18 business class seats, spread across five rows

Lufthansa claims that a unique selling point of Allegris is that the business class product is incredibly customized, with several different seating options (note that Lufthansa will soon start charging to assign all but the most basic seats).

While there’s some variability between seats in many modern business class products, the difference in experience between seats is massive. To provide a rundown of the five seating types in business class:

• There are suites in the first row, which include both window seats and center seats
• There are extra space seats, which are single seats in the center section
• There are window seats with a high degree of privacy, which are the seats closest to the windows
• There are seats with extra long beds, which are select center seats that are closer to the aisle
• There are the classic business class seats, which are a majority of the seats that are closer to the aisle

Lufthansa’s Allegris business class is a staggered configuration, and it alternates between being in a 1-2-1 and 1-1-1 layout.

Let’s go over the various seats in the cabin. The most premium seats, no doubt, are the eight bulkhead seats, with four seats in the front of each cabin. Think of this as being a business class “plus” product, and frankly it’s probably one of the best out there, and almost more on par with what you’d expect in first class, in terms of personal space.

These seats have much higher walls around them, and even have privacy doors, which you won’t find in the rest of the cabin. The amount of personal space these seats offer is beyond impressive, and the seats also have a lot more storage than in the rest of the cabin. This is a mighty impressive product that’s worth paying extra for, in my opinion.

If you’re traveling with someone, it’s tough to beat the front row suite pairs in the center section, as they offer a similar experience, though with the benefit of being able to enjoy a flight with someone else.

Then throughout the rest of the cabin, you’ll find that the center section alternates between having two seats per row and having one seat per row. The single center seats (known as extra space seats) are unique, unlike anything else you’ll find on another airline. They’re sort of like “throne” seats on other airlines, except with an unbelievable amount of space.

I’d be curious to fly in one of these seats some day, as I can’t decide whether they’re amazing, or almost feel claustrophobic, given how little shoulder space there may be.

The center pair of seats are for the most part the standard classic seats, which would be the most basic kinds of business class seats. The exception is that the seat on one side of this pair typically has an extra long bed (specifically, the seats behind the single seats, which are on the side where the single seat doesn’t have access to the aisle).

Honestly, these classic seats are pretty “meh,” if you ask me, especially for a business class product only being introduced in 2024. It certainly doesn’t compare with some of the better business class experiences out there, in my opinion.

Then along the windows, seats are also in a staggered configuration, similar to what you’ll find on so many airlines.

The seats closer to the aisle are categorized as classic seats, which are the most basic in the cabin, and they’re fine, but nothing special.

Last but not least are the window privacy seats, which are the window seats closer to the windows. This is the seat I ended up in — I was in seat 5A, the window seat on the left side in the fourth row of business class (business class starts at row two).

While many airlines have staggered configurations, I have to give Lufthansa credit for having the most spacious staggered window seat I’ve ever been in. I’m not sure if the picture does it justice, but the amount of personal space, and in particular, the amount of space between the seat and the monitor, is next level.

What exceeded my expectations with Lufthansa Allegris was the seat tech and features, especially when you consider that this seat was presumably designed nearly a decade ago, before the substantial delays.

To the side of the seat is an enclosed storage area, which is also where you can hang the headphones.

At the bottom of the compartment, you’ll find plenty of charging options, including AC power, USB-A, and USB-C outlets, as well as the headphone jack. There’s also an area on the side console for wireless charging.

Lufthansa Allegris has a 10-inch tablet that’s used to control just about all of the seat’s features, and it’s also where you’ll find the reading light.

The customization possibilities with this tablet are impressive, as you can do everything from controlling the entertainment, to controlling the seat’s temperature, to doing bluetooth audio pairing. In particular, I loved the ability to control the seat’s temperature (the seat has cooling and heating, and it worked surprisingly well), and also to adjust the firmness of the seat.

These window seats have respectable 18-inch 4K monitors, which are such a huge improvement over Lufthansa’s old (awful) entertainment system.

Immediately underneath the monitor, you’ll find the tray table, which has an unconventional design. If you push once, it extends out quite a bit.

However, that’s not really the full tray table. Instead, you can flip it over, and then you have the tray table. Despite how long it is, it’s very sturdy, and felt well designed. I think the length of the tray table really puts into perspective how much personal space this product offers.

While I’ll talk more about bed comfort later, the seat also has a large footwell, much larger than in many other products.

Just two other things to note regarding Lufthansa’s Allegris A350s. First of all, unfortunately Lufthansa doesn’t offer individual air nozzles on its brand new A350s. I don’t know why so many non-US airlines refuse to embrace the value of these, but…

Furthermore, Lufthansa’s new Allegris A350s have the “new production standard,” which means the cabin is marginally wider, and there are some other changes. With this, Airbus has introduced the concept of dimmable windows on the A350. Lufthansa elected not to introduce these, which I kind of appreciate.

After waiting for so many years for the introduction of Lufthansa Allegris, what was my conclusion about the new seats? I’d say my impression was quite favorable overall, though a few things stood out to me:

• To Lufthansa’s credit, the seats feel very sturdy and well built; that might sound like a strange observation, but sometimes you get into a new business class seat and feel like it’s wobbly and cheap, but that wasn’t the feeling I had here
• I really like the Lufthansa Allegris tech, from the large tablet, to the great charging, to the bluetooth audio, to the ability to control seat temperature, to the 4K entertainment screen
• I was surprised by just how different the quality is in seating throughout the cabin, and that makes it hard to manage expectations; the front row suites are incredible, and the true window seats are spacious, while the classic seats are quite underwhelming for a brand new business class product (and that’s the most common seat in this configuration)

Lufthansa business class amenities

While the hard product on this flight was brand new, the soft product was largely familiar, with a few modifications. Waiting at each seat upon boarding were a pillow and blanket. Lufthansa’s bedding is okay, but isn’t great, and I feel like it’s a cheap way Lufthansa could invest to improve its soft product.

There were also a pair of headphones at the seat, which were noise canceling and reasonably good quality.

In celebration of the launch of Allegris, Lufthansa is offering some limited edition amenity kits and reusable shopping bags (the most German thing ever).

The amenity kit almost looks like one of those Rimowa amenity kits from back in the day, only it’s not. Still, I like the design, and the kit contained socks, eyeshades, earplugs, a dental kit, a mint, and some L’Occitane toiletries.

Then there was a reusable shopping bag with the same colors as the Lufthansa Allegris cabin design. I guess I should start bringing this to Publix…

During boarding, menus for the flight were distributed.

Pre-departure drinks were also offered, with the choice of water, orange juice, champagne, or an avionic apéritif. I chose the avionic cocktail, which is a special creation by the Ziegler distillery, and is “based on peach notes and wild meadow herbs,” mixed on ice with tonic. Lufthansa also recently started offering a bag of nuts with the pre-departure drink, which is a nice improvement, minor as it may be.

Lufthansa A350 Allegris business class entertainment & Wi-Fi

Historically Lufthansa’s entertainment selection has been pitiful, both in terms of the quality of the screen, plus the variety of programming. This is where Allegris greatly improves the experience, thanks to a new 4K entertainment screen.

As an aviation geek, what I was most excited to see was a new map interface, plus a high definition tail camera. That’s all the entertainment I need!

But even beyond that, the entertainment selection was better than before, with a better selection of movies, TV shows, and audio. Due to the system’s interface, it was kind of hard to figure out how many total programs there actually were, since some programs were included in multiple sections.

On top of that, Lufthansa has its FlyNet Wi-Fi service on the Allegris A350s. I appreciate the consistency with which Lufthansa offers Wi-Fi — it’s usable, but it’s not necessarily the fastest out there.

As far as pricing goes, there were three plans available, all with no data restrictions:

• For €5 you could purchase a messaging pass
• For €15 you could purchase a two hour premium pass
• For €25 you could purchase a full flight premium pass

Lufthansa A350 departure from Vancouver

The main cabin door closed right on schedule at 6:50PM, with a full business class cabin (in fairness, this included many Lufthansa staff, all the way up to the CEO).

At this point the captain made his welcome aboard announcement, informing us of the flight time of 9hr20min, plus the anticipated punctual arrival. A few minutes later, we began our pushback, and then after that we began our taxi. At this point the safety video was screened.

At 7:15PM, we were cleared for takeoff on runway 26L. The weather was perfect this evening — is there anything more gorgeous than this?!

The seatbelt sign was turned off about 10 minutes after takeoff.

Lufthansa business class dinner service

As you’d expect on an overnight transatlantic flight, dinner was served shortly after takeoff. You can find the menu and drink list for this flight below.

Service was a bit slow to get started, which is totally fair, when you consider it was the crew’s first time flying this new aircraft, and there’s a bit of a learning curve. Warm towels were distributed around 40 minutes after takeoff.

Shortly thereafter, tablecloths were distributed, and drinks were served. I ordered a glass of the Italian white wine, plus a sparkling water. Lufthansa now also offers a vegetarian amuse bouche in business class after takeoff. The airline used to offer nuts at this point, but now serves nuts before takeoff, so I appreciate this change. In this case, the amuse bouche was a little hummus with celery, carrots, and olives.

Around 70 minutes after takeoff, the first course was served. There were three choices of starters, and I selected the sesame crusted ahi tuna with green soba salad and shiso dressing. That was served with a side salad that had shaved fennel and pistachios, and I was then offered a selection of bread.

Around 20 minutes later, the main course was served. Of the three choices, I selected the vegetarian option (see, I’m mixing things up!), which was the mezzaluna pasta with black olive and feta in vanilla green olive tomato sauce, with spinach, portobello mushrooms, kalamata olives, and shaved parmesan. For an airplane pasta dish, I thought it was quite good.

Lastly, for dessert I was offered the choice of cheese, fruit, or ice cream (in my opinion it’s a bit cheap how Lufthansa’s only real dessert option is ice cream). I ordered the raspberry cheesecake gelato, which came packaged.

At the conclusion of the meal, boxed chocolates were served from DreiMeister.

Lufthansa’s business class catering is totally fine but unmemorable. There was nothing wrong with the meal, but just nothing too excited about it either. I do appreciate the minor changes that Lufthansa has made, but I think there’s more work to be done.

It seems like a lot of airlines have invested in improving business class catering, while Lufthansa has done little to improve. Looking at major European airlines, I think both Air France and British Airways beat Lufthansa catering by a long shot.

Lufthansa A350 Allegris business class lavatories

At the conclusion of the meal, I checked out the lavatory. Lufthansa has two lavatories in its A350 Allegris business class, located by the second set of doors.

While the lavatories aren’t particularly spacious, they have a much more elegant design than before, including that the top of the toilet seat has a leather cover, so you can sit there, if you’d like. There wasn’t much in the way of special amenities, though, aside from some L’Occitane hand cream.

In the galley by the lavatories, there were also some packaged self-serve snacks available, should anyone be peckish.

Lufthansa A350 Allegris business class bed

At the conclusion of the meal, it was time to get some rest. Around this time, I was treated to a breathtaking sunset, as we were traveling over central, northern Canada, just west of Hudson Bay.

At this point I reclined my seat, and made my bed. In these privacy window seats, the bed comfort Lufthansa offers is phenomenal. I can’t overstate how spacious the seat feels, in particular thanks to the large footwell, so it’s great even for side sleepers.

I fell asleep almost immediately, with around seven hours remaining to Munich. I then woke up around 90 minutes before landing.

Lufthansa business class breakfast service

Just over an hour before landing, breakfast was served, and you can find the menu below.

For breakfast, there were both hot and cold options. I selected the cold option, with the main course being bircher muesli with berries and mango, which was quite tasty. This came with a choice of bread (I selected a croissant), plus a small cheese plate.

Lufthansa business class service

The crew working this flight was quite friendly, and I’d say pretty average for Lufthansa. In fairness, I won’t judge the service too much beyond that — the CEO was onboard, and it was also the crew’s first time flying a long haul flight on the Allegris A350.

I will say that they seemed to be pretty well trained on the cabin, as there wasn’t too much confusion among the crew about the seats, service protocol, etc.

Lufthansa A350 arrival in Munich

At 12:55PM, the first officer was on the PA to announce that we’d be landing in around 40 minutes. 10 minutes later, we began our descent, and then 20 minutes after that, the seatbelt sign was turned on. As always, the views approaching Munich were lovely.

We touched down in Munich at 1:35PM, and then had a 10 minute taxi to our arrival gate, where we pulled in at 1:45PM. From there I briefly visited the Lufthansa Business Lounge, prior to my EgyptAir A320neo business class flight to Cairo.

Lufthansa Allegris festivities, and flying with the CEO

I figured I’d cover a few more things about this experience, since it was the second-ever long haul flight featuring Lufthansa’s Allegris product (the inbound flight from Munich to Vancouver was the first). Lufthansa CEO Jens Ritter (not to be confused with Lufthansa Group CEO Carsten Spohr) and Lufthansa Chief Commercial Officer Heiko Reitz were both on my flight.

They flew the inbound from Munich to Vancouver, which seemed to have a lot of media onboard, and then they turned right around to Munich. They were in the front row suites, and kept to themselves the whole flight.

I understand they had a long day given that they were doing a turnaround, but I always find it such a missed opportunity if executives don’t try to engage with passengers and get feedback, especially for a brand new product. They were friendly in their interactions with the crew, though.

There were also some more junior Lufthansa employees onboard, who were much more personable, and who I enjoyed briefly chatting with. In particular, I talked to one guy who was flying constantly on the Allegris jet for the foreseeable future, to keep an eye out for any kinks.

There was also a small gate party in Vancouver prior to the flight. Lufthansa Vice President of Passenger Sales for the Americas, Dirk Janzen, was at the gate, and gave a speech. He did a good job, but the whole thing was kind of funny, since the average person on this flight had no clue what Allegris was, and he tried to explain it.

They set up the podium right in front of some restaurant in the terminal, so suffice it to say that the people sitting there were kind of confused when the speech started (as you can tell, based on their reaction).

There wasn’t any food or souvenirs at the gate, but instead Munich travel guides were handed out.

Bottom line

After quite the wait, Lufthansa’s new Allegris business class is finally in service, which is an exciting development. I’ve gotta be honest, I had pretty low expectations of the new Allegris seat, given that it was designed almost a decade ago, and has been so many years late.

So in that sense, the product exceeded my expectation. The new Allegris seats feel sturdy, have phenomenal tech, and many of the seats in this cabin are among the most comfortable business class seats you’ll find. Compared to Lufthansa’s old business class, this is revolutionary, and not evolutionary.

That being said, Allegris isn’t perfect. For one, there’s huge variance in the quality of these seats. The front row suites and privacy seats are phenomenal, while the classic seats aren’t about to win any awards.

Furthermore, with the introduction of this product, we’re going to see the airline charging for most of these seating options. While Lufthansa markets how this product is intended to offer consumers endless choice, ironically the one thing missing is the ability to sit together as a pair, with the exception of the front row suites.

In conclusion, I’m thrilled that the Allegris product has finally been introduced, and am excited to see it expand to more aircraft. This is a long overdue development for Lufthansa, especially as European competitors have been aggressively improving their business class.

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