Lufthansa has revealed more details of the cabin products that form its “Allegris” programme, The seats showcased include a massive double suite in First class, and seven(!) different options for business class seating, all within the same aircraft and basic seating product. Besides the brand new First and Business class, there’s also new but less-revolutionary seats in Premium Economy and Economy.
In this post, I’ll run through the details of the new Business Class, and share some of my thoughts on this product as well. I’ve shared my thoughts on the new First Class suites earlier, which you can read in this post.
What is “Allegris”?
Before going into the details of each cabin product, a little background on “Allegris”. Lufthansa first announced plans for a revamp of its cabin experience back in October 2022, under the project name “Allegris”. Lufthansa touts “Allegris” as a “completely new travel experience”. Each travel class will see new products, and Lufthansa pitches them as “unparalleled in the market thanks to its seating variety”. To deliver “Allegris” and other product and service improvements, Lufthansa is committing to investing 2.5 billion Euros up to 2025.
New Lufthansa Business Class
When Lufthansa promised variety, they really meant it with the new Business Class. There’s a total of 7 different seating options in the new Business Class cabin:
- Suites in the first row. Double suite inside, single suites by the window.
- Extra-Space Seat: Unique, spacious single seat with extra work surface.
- Window seat with a high degree of privacy.
- Seat with extra long bed (2.20 meters).
- Privacy window seat with baby bassinet.
- Double seat: In the last row of business class – two neighboring seats with a smaller distance between them, which can be combined to form a double berth by means of a retractable center console.
- Classic Business Class Seat: The aisle is directly accessible from all seats.
That’s a lot to take in, and quite frankly I struggled to wrap my head my around what each type of seat corresponds to in an overview of the cabin layout.
Seat types 1 and 6 are obvious, being in first and last rows respectively. No.2 should be the solo middle suites, while nos.3 and 5 should refer to all the window seats except no.5 has a bassinet position. As for the rest, I honestly don’t have a clue.
One thing that does stand out in the above layout, is the alternate orientation of the solo middle seats. You’ll notice that the one in the second row has the exit to the left aisle, while the solo seat in the second-to-last row has its exit to the right aisle. That’s a smart way of keeping foot traffic roughly even on both aisles.
These seats will have aisle access from every seat, a significant upgrade on the 2-2-2 layout found on most of Lufthansa’s fleet currently. Notably, the non-Suite seats will not have doors. That’s a little surprising, given most new business class seats nowadays come fitted with doors.
The seats convert to beds “at least two meters long”, with some seats having a bed length of 2.2m (see no.4 on the list). Seat controls will be through a tablet-sized unit, which also manages the lighting and entertainment functions. Like the First Class suite, the new Business Class seats will also have a heating/cooling feature.
Tech-wise, there’s a 4K inflight entertainment monitor, wireless charging and Bluetooth connectivity.
Business Class Suite
The Business Class Suite will have a number of features distinguishing it from the standard seat. (is there even a “standard” seat with so many options?) The suite will be equipped with sliding doors, a wardrobe, personal minibars and a larger inflight entertainment monitor measuring “up to 27-inches”. The middle suites can also be converted into a double bed for couples travelling together. The walls are also slightly higher than on the non-Suite seats.
How the aircraft will be configured
Lufthansa has revealed the number of seats on the 787 and A350 that will be fitted with the “Allegris” products. The 787 will have 28 seats including 4 suites, while the A350 will have 38 seats including 8 suites. Unsurprisingly, with the A350s to be fitted with First Class as well, the Business Class cabin will stretch over two cabins, hence the 8 suites.
My thoughts on the new Business Class
It’s a big upgrade, but not revolutionary
This is a massive improvement on Lufthansa’s current business class, leaving aside the Super Diamond and Thompson Vantage XL on the inherited 787s and A350s respectively. Direct aisle-access is a good start. Naturally, there’s more privacy with these seats as well.
However, I can’t help but feel Lufthansa may have missed a trick by not fitting all seats with doors. I can see why they did it, otherwise there would be less differentiation with the Business Class Suite. Perhaps it’s also a function of this seat having been first conceived leading up to 2017 when it was first unveiled. Business class doors were still not quite in vogue then. (Trust me, I once participated in a focus group at my former employer and every other participant disagreed with me that doors were the future)
There’s not much else to distinguish this from other staggered business class seats in the market. The solo middle seats certainly are unique, but won’t be my personal first choice of seat. I would describe my feelings of this product as more of relief that Lufthansa has finally matching other major carriers, but there’s no wow factor here.
Business suites are the new trend
We’re seeing more and more airlines move towards monetising the extra space in bulkhead by offering differentiated business suites. We’ve seen Virgin Atlantic do this with Retreat Suite most prominently, but even Jetblue has the Mint Studio at the front of its Mint cabin. Personally I’m a bit on the fence on this. Some of these suites do look attractive, and for a reasonable premium I’d love to try them. On the other hand, these suites feel like a money grab to extract maximum revenue a little or no incremental cost to the airline over normal business class.
This type of product segregation also muddies the waters when it comes to redemptions and inventory. Depending how these suites are loaded in the reservations system and sold, it could potentially result in taking a handful of seats out of the inventory, and thereby also reducing what’s available for redemption. On Lufthansa, redeeming premium cabin is already hard enough if you’re going through a partner programme like Lifemiles, so I can imagine it’s going to get more challenging.
Variety or complexity?
Personally, I’m not sure variety is necessarily a good thing, both for the airline and customer. On the positive side, variety will cater to differing traveller needs, budgets and preferences. A good customer experience is definitely about delivering the right product to the right customer, at the right time, place and price. In appears Lufthansa is following that concept with “Allegris”, considering the ridiculous variety of seating options they’ve come up with.
On the flipside, there is risk of overcomplicating the product offering and creating too much complexity. Too much variety can complicate the booking process, as (potential) passengers sift through the various options. For the airline, IT systems will have to be structured to handle booking complexity in a smooth and user-friendly manner. That’s not always easy to achieve.
Variety in seating can also mean more opportunities to drive ancillary revenue, through various optional extras. Want the extra long business class bed? Please pay for it. It would not surprise me to see Lufthansa go down that route. It goes back to a part of the concept of creating a good customer experience from the airline’s perspective: deliver the right product to the right person, at the right price. Product segregation is all about profit maximisation after all. And that’s usually not good news for the consumer.
Which aircraft will get the new products?
The new Business class seats will be fitted to newly-delivered 787-9s due by end of 2023. In future, the 777-9 will also get “Allegris”, whenever they eventually get delivered (no earlier than 2025). Lufthansa has also mentioned that the 747-8s will be refitted with the new “Allegris” products. There’s no word on whether the A380s or 787s and A350s already in the fleet will be refitted as well.
It theoretically won’t be long till we see the new Business class, though in reality it’s actually been almost six years since Lufthansa first unveiled this product. (To be fair part of the delay was due to delivery delays on the aircraft manufacturer’s side). With 787 deliveries paused yet again, it’s honestly anyone’s guess when we’ll see “Allegris” in operation.
Conclusion
Lufthansa has revealed details of more details of its “Allegris” Business Class, a product that was first unveiled in 2017. The new Business Class will have seven different seating options, including a so-called Business Class Suite in the first row. The new Business Class is scheduled to debut by end 2023 on newly delivered 787-9s, with newbuild A350s to follow in 2024.
Featured image credit: Lufthansa