Seven years after it was first announced, the wait is finally over.
Lufthansa’s first aircraft equipped with the carrier’s new “Allegris” cabin has landed, with new seats in all classes. TPG got a sneak peek Thursday in Munich.
The inaugural flight featuring the new Lufthansa cabin is scheduled to depart Wednesday from Munich Airport (MUC) to Vancouver International Airport (YVR) in Canada. Service on Allegris aircraft will continue to roll out in the coming months to Toronto Pearson Airport (YYZ), Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport (ORD), Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) and San Francisco International Airport (SFO) as the airline receives more aircraft fitted with the new seats.
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Vancouver was chosen over high-profile routes like John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York and Washington’s Dulles International Airport (IAD) as the first destination in part because that route typically has less demand for first class.
By the end of 2027, Lufthansa expects to have installed 27,000 new seats across 120 long-haul aircraft as part of the airline’s 2-billion-euro investment in the passenger experience. Lufthansa CEO Jens Ritter told TPG the airline purposely sourced seats from several competing seat manufacturers so they were not reliant on a single supplier, given how delayed the product already is.
First class
First up, some bad news and what will likely come as a shock to passengers at the front of the cabin.
Due to manufacturing and certification delays, the new first-class suites were not installed on Lufthansa’s first Allegris-equipped Airbus A350-900 aircraft. Ritter was understandably frustrated by this delay, explaining that while good things come to those who wait, his patience has worn thin.
Instead, the front of the A350 cabin, where the three suites will be installed at a later date, has a single row of economy-class seats that will temporarily fill the space and will not be bookable. They will remain blocked like this until replaced by the first class suites.
Ritter told TPG that while he expects the first-class seats to be ready to be installed by late August or early September, they will go first into newly delivered aircraft, and then those existing A350s and 747s undergoing top-to-tail refurbishments.
Lufthansa’s eight-strong Airbus A380 fleet will not get new Allegris seats in any class.
As for the aircraft being delivered with the empty space at the front of the cabin, like the bird we toured, the seats will only be installed when the aircraft is taken out of service for routine maintenance periods of six weeks, so for a factory-fresh A350, this rather awkward space will likely be flying for some time.
Lufthansa also told TPG that while the middle seat of the first-class cabin will have a double bed, making it one of the most luxurious suites in the sky, and can be booked by two passengers, they will only be able to enter and exit the suite through the left-hand side.
This will mean one passenger will have to climb over the other if they wish to use the bathroom while their traveling companion sleeps, which is not a very first-class experience.
While undoubtedly opulent for a single passenger, the center suite does seem tight for two adult passengers sharing it.
Business class
It’s a more positive report from the business-class cabin.
The Allegris cabin has seven different seating types, all of which have been installed on the new aircraft and are ready to fly. These include:
- Suites in the first row (double suite inside, single suites by the window).
- Extra-space seat.
- Window seat.
- Seat with an extra-long bed measuring more than 7 feet.
- Privacy window seat with baby bassinet.
- Double seat. (In the last row of business class, two neighboring seats with a smaller distance between them can be combined to form a double berth using a retractable center console.)
- Regular seat.
I was impressed to see that a row of minisuites has been installed in both the front and second business-class cabins.
Other airlines that have chosen to create a premium space like this in their business-class cabin, like Virgin Atlantic’s Retreat Suite, have only installed these seats in the very front cabin.
The high walls of these seats provide excellent privacy, akin to Qatar Airways’ award-winning Qsuite business class, and if you have your choice of any seat in the cabin, these would be the ones to aim for.
Also desirable are the “extra space” seats, where Lufthansa has taken inspiration from sister airline Swiss’ “throne seats,” with plenty of space on each side of the seat for personal items and electronics.
Passengers can only enter and exit these throne seats from one side.
There are no “bad” seats in the Allegris business-class cabin; all have decent privacy and personal space.
The beige walls are a little drab, though the rich Lufthansa blue does provide pops of color.
I sat in a few different seats, and except for the minisuites, the walls around the seats weren’t high enough to provide a lot of privacy, a common feature of new business-class seats across different airlines.
Some neat features in business class included stylish individual reading lamps, wireless charging and rollaway storage lockers for headphones, water bottles and personal electronics.
Also of note: a large touchscreen display panel to adjust the seat, pair your devices or choose which movie to watch next.
The inflight entertainment screens, while modern and crisp, do feel a little small given how large many of the seats are, though the airline promises the screens in first class will be a whopping 43 inches.
Premium economy
The premium economy cabin, spread across three rows at the windows and four rows in the middle, has a 2-3-2 layout.
Following the new Swiss premium economy seat design, Lufthansa’s new seats have a fixed-shell design, with the seat sliding forward rather than reclining backward.
Unfortunately, Lufthansa has decided not to install a curtain to make this class of service a separate cabin, as most other airlines do. This seems like a missed opportunity to elevate the product, as I recently noted when I flew premium economy on the older 747.
That being said, Lufthansa has significantly elevated the bedding provided to passengers with plush, thick blankets, noise-canceling headphones, and wireless charging now offered.
Economy
Economy class is laid out in an industry-standard 3-3-3 configuration with 31 inches of legroom.
The inflight entertainment screens are large and have crisp displays, with a fold-down ledge if passengers prefer to stream content from their devices and Bluetooth capability to connect their headphones.
As far as economy-class seats go, these look about as good as it gets to Europe and beyond.
Food and beverage
Passengers in business class will now be served an amuse-bouche before the meal, with a small bowl of cheese and olives on display for the preview event.
A new bread offering, specially developed by 2022 World Baker of the Year Axel Schmitt, will be offered on Allegris flights departing Germany. Schmitt advised us, “You’ve never tasted bread like this in the air,” because it is designed to continue to rise at altitude for ultimate freshness and lightness. I tried a sample of the new bread at the event, and the master baker hurried to warn me that it didn’t taste as good on the ground. It was tasty, if not life-changing.
Lufthansa has also partnered with Ziegler Distillery to create a new aperitif cocktail for premium passengers named “Avionic,” which combines juicy peaches, fresh citrus notes, subtle wild meadow herbs and marigolds.
New concept lounges
Lufthansa also revealed the next generation of airport lounge design. Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) will be the first to see the new style, with a first-class dining area and central bar for all guests to socialize and unwind before a transatlantic flight. Following Newark, next to see the concept will be the new terminal at JFK, followed by Stuttgart Airport (STR) and then Dulles.
Lufthansa’s current lounge design is corporate and functional, so it’s great to see modern pops of color and design in the new style.
Bottom line
After so many years of waiting for this product, it was great to finally see it in the flesh on board a shiny new Airbus A350. The empty first-class cabin space is a frustrating and somewhat embarrassing reminder to the airline and passengers that despite seven years of planning, the execution has not come together in time.
The business-class seats are a huge improvement over the current, exposed 2-2-2 layout, and the minisuites at the front of each cabin are terrific, with high walls, plenty of space and privacy. Segmenting the cabin into many product types will challenge the airline to market and allocate, especially as it intends to charge extra for the best seats.
But, for now, those lucky passengers on an Allegris aircraft can select any seats in the cabin for free.
Farther back in premium economy and economy, both classes look solid.
Stay tuned for coverage of Lufthansa’s maiden Allegris flight to Vancouver next week.
