Back in September I wrote a post explaining that Lufthansa only releases first class award space to partner airlines 14 days before departure, and also explained how to maximize your chances of getting a flight operated by Lufthansa’s new first class.

I figured I’d followed up on that by giving some advice on how to maximize your chances of booking a Lufthansa flight featuring the new first or business class product. This FlyerTalk thread is the best resource for the first class retrofits, while this FlyerTalk thread is the best resource for the business class retrofits.

Let’s break it down by first and business class individually:

New first class

  • If you’re flying an Airbus A380 or Boeing 747-8 (which only operate out of Frankfurt) your flight will feature the new first class.
  • If you’re flying a Boeing 747-400 (which only operate out of Frankfurt) there’s an excellent chance your flight will feature the new first class, as there’s only one 747-400 flying at the moment without the new first class (out of about 20). The 747-400 that hasn’t been reconfigured seems to fly primarily to Denver and Mumbai.
  • If you’re flying out of Dusseldorf or Frankfurt on an Airbus A330/340, your flight will not feature the new first class
  • If you’re flying out of Munich on an Airbus A330-300, your flight will feature the new first class
  • If you’re flying out of Munich on an Airbus A340-600, you have a 75% chance of getting the new first class
  • If you’re flying out of Munich on an Airbus A340-300, you have a 50% chance of getting the new first class

So to summarize, your best bet for being guaranteed the new first class is getting on an Airbus A380 or Boeing 747-8 flight out of Frankfurt, or an Airbus A330-300 flight out of Munich. The next best bet is to book a Boeing 747-400 out of Frankfurt, as all but one aircraft are reconfigured. Out of Munich on an Airbus A340-300/600 you have a decent chance at the new first class. The plane types to avoid are the Airbus A330/340 aircraft out of Frankfurt and Dusseldorf, since none of them feature the new first class.


Airbus A330 old first class


Airbus A380 new first class


Boeing 747-8 new first class


Boeing 747-400 new first class

New business class

  • If you’re flying on a Boeing 747-8 your flight will feature the new business class
  • If you’re flying out of Munich on an Airbus A330-300 you have a chance of getting an aircraft with the new business class, as three Munich based Airbus A330s have been reconfigured with the new business class
  • All other aircraft types (Boeing 747-400, Airbus A380, Airbus A340) don’t have a chance of having the new first business class

Here are the tail numbers of the three Airbus A330s featuring both the new first and business class, allowing you to track their routes:

D-AIKP, D-AIKQ, D-AIKR

As you can see, they seem to fairly consistently fly to Charlotte, Mumbai, and New York. One of the ways to tell if your flight is scheduled to be operated with the new business class is to look at the coach seatmap for your Airbus A330 flight. If there are four center seats in row 27, then it’s the old configuration. If there aren’t four center seats in row 27, it’s the new configuration.


This indicates old configuration


This indicates new configuration

As far as Lufthansa’s future plans for business class retrofits go, here’s how many planes they’re hoping to have with the new business class over the coming years per FlyerTalk:

      2012 2013  2014  2015
A380: 0/10 05/10 12/12 12/12
A346: 0/24 10/24 22/24 24/24
A343: 0/26 13/26 22/26 26/26
A333: 3/18 07/18 18/19 19/19
B744: 0/27 00/22 06/17 12/16
B748: 04/4 09/9 14/14 19/19

As you can see, this year we should see roughly half of the Airbus A380, Airbus A340-600, and Airbus A340-300 fleet retrofitted with the new business class. Meanwhile the Boeing 747-400 retrofit won’t begin until next year, so that’s the plane to avoid if booking future travel on Lufthansa in business class. By 2015 virtually the entire longhaul fleet should be reconfigured with the new business class.


Boeing 747-8 new business class

Any questions/corrections?

Posted on February 13th, 2013 by lucky
Filed under: Advice, Lufthansa | 53 Comments »

  1. February 13th, 2013 at 2:15 pm

    work2fly said,

    Does anyone know of links to a seatmap for the reconfigured 380 expected to enter service later this year?

  2. February 13th, 2013 at 2:21 pm

    lucky said,

    @ work2fly — I could be wrong, but I don’t believe they’ve published those yet.

  3. February 13th, 2013 at 2:34 pm

    SeanNY said,

    Awesome research!

  4. February 13th, 2013 at 2:41 pm

    Miguel said,

    I have a biz seat booked on LH for July on a 747-8 (IAD-FRA). Do you know if they sometimes replace the 747-8 with 747-400 or can I be certain that I’ll fly the newer bird?

  5. February 13th, 2013 at 2:43 pm

    lucky said,

    @ Miguel — There’s always a chance of a schedule change as they try to optimize their schedule, though I’d say it’s extremely likely that the aircraft type sticks.

  6. February 13th, 2013 at 3:03 pm

    Michael said,

    Lucky, since most of us can only afford biz class due to USAIR blocking, can you tell us the difference between new biz old biz and are the plane configurations above consistent with new and old biz?

  7. February 13th, 2013 at 3:04 pm

    frequent churner said,

    Great! This would be awesome info for Thai 747s.

  8. February 13th, 2013 at 3:07 pm

    Prabir said,

    I just flew both the old and new business class configurations last weekend from Mumbai to Munich (new) and Frankfurt to Atlanta (old angled flat). World of difference in seat comfort between the two. I had to change my seat in the 2nd flight because the recliner motor wouldn’t work properly.

  9. February 13th, 2013 at 3:11 pm

    lucky said,

    @ Michael — New business class is fully flat, while the old business class is angled flat, so it makes quite a difference. Also, there are no middle seats in the new business class.

  10. February 13th, 2013 at 3:14 pm

    Michael said,

    Thanks, Lucky. As always, invaluable info.

    Trying to book LAX-CDG via Munich or FRA in the new configuration for first week of October.

  11. February 13th, 2013 at 3:24 pm

    lsbuffs said,

    Great to see the DEN-FRA flight may be among the only routes no newly configured on the 747-400. Doing that with the family in March.
    Oh well, I’ve done the new F on A380 FRA-NRT so I’m good. Family wouldn’t know the difference:)

  12. February 13th, 2013 at 3:37 pm

    JJ said,

    Thanks, Lucky. Very timely info. Really hoping for some seats to open in (new) F on the 744 FRA-ORD in July, otherwise it looks like we’ll be riding in the old Business class.

  13. February 13th, 2013 at 5:28 pm

    Adam said,

    Great info! I’m flying MUC-JFK C in May, thrilled to see on the seat map it will be the new business class.

  14. February 13th, 2013 at 5:37 pm

    JP2 said,

    So if I’m flying a A330 from ATL-FRA, odds are it is the old First Class?

  15. February 13th, 2013 at 5:47 pm

    lucky said,

    @ JP2 — As of now not “odds,” but 100% chance you’re flying old first class. :D

  16. February 13th, 2013 at 6:08 pm

    Rasputin said,

    this is great news. I have always wanted to fly new F on 747-400 on EWR-FRA route

  17. February 13th, 2013 at 6:14 pm

    Michael said,

    Once LH has retrofitted their entire fleet they might be worth flying, because other than that LH is shit

  18. February 13th, 2013 at 9:49 pm

    Gene said,

    How timely! I booked some F awards today from MUC to US and was about to go looking for this info. (Yes, I am considering ditching the return of our 55k US biz r/t to Europe redemption and booking LH F! After all, how much US can one tolerate? :) )

    Thanks, Ben!

  19. February 14th, 2013 at 7:21 am

    Trent said,

    Any word on when 747-8 will be used on the Frankfurt to Chicago route? At one time it was to come right after LAX. I will fly LH business class on USAir miles in June. Any chance I get the better business class seat?

  20. February 14th, 2013 at 7:48 am

    lucky said,

    @ Trent — Unfortunately they haven’t yet announced when the 747-8 will serve Chicago. If your flight is this year and operated by a 747-400 there’s no chance of getting the new business class.

  21. April 2nd, 2013 at 11:54 am

    K.L. said,

    In what order would you rate the new F products out of FRA? I’m thinking A380 (size, quietness, large bathroom) > retrofitted B744 (seat and bed!) > B748. But I’m not sure, and the novelty factor of the 748i is appealing.

  22. April 2nd, 2013 at 11:57 am

    lucky said,

    @ K.L. — I’d say I prefer the A380, then the 747-8, and then the 747-400. There’s something I really like about the 747-8. Maybe it’s the novelty factor or that it’s in the nose, but it’s a really nice ride.

    But quite honestly I love all three products, so I’d be thrilled with any of ‘em.

  23. April 2nd, 2013 at 12:33 pm

    K.L. said,

    Great, thanks for the quick feedback.

  24. April 7th, 2013 at 12:20 pm

    Mike said,

    I booked the business class on Lufthansa from Detroit to Frankfurt. It is on the 330. I called and they said the seats had a 9 degree from horizontal on the headrest. My flights business has a 2-2-2 configuration. I cannot see the economy to tell if row 27 has seats or not is there any other way to tell what business class seat I have. Thanks in advance

  25. April 7th, 2013 at 8:53 pm

    lucky said,

    @ Mike — Unfortunately as of now no Frankfurt based A330s have the new business class.

  26. April 7th, 2013 at 9:07 pm

    mike said,

    Thanks I think lol

  27. April 23rd, 2013 at 9:22 pm

    Alex said,

    What is the likelihood of getting the new business on an A340-600 MUC-ORD in July? Any chance on a 747-400 FRA-JFK in July?

  28. April 30th, 2013 at 4:04 am

    Vinod said,

    thanks for this information….trying to figure out which route would be better (from seating) if traveling from Mumbai to Atlanta

    options
    Mumbai – Frankfurt (747-400)
    Frankfurt – Atlanta (A340-300)

    or

    Mumbai – Frankfurt (747-400)
    Frankfurt – New York(747-400)

    or via NewYork

  29. April 30th, 2013 at 10:21 am

    lucky said,

    @ Vinod — In which cabin?

  30. April 30th, 2013 at 10:22 am

    lucky said,

    @ Alex — Neither aircraft type has been reconfigured with the new business class yet, so not a good chance with either option.

  31. April 30th, 2013 at 11:00 am

    Adam said,

    Lucky,

    I’ve just read on Flyer Talk that most of the 747-400 flights from FRA or ORD are the old First Class Cabin – is this true? Leaving FRA on May 22nd and was looking forward to a better F experience.

  32. April 30th, 2013 at 11:06 am

    lucky said,

    @ Adam — That shouldn’t be the case anymore. Almost all the 747s are reconfigured, so you have a VERY good chance of getting the new first class.

  33. April 30th, 2013 at 9:44 pm

    Vinod said,

    hi Lucky, business class
    which one would have the new business class
    thanks

  34. April 30th, 2013 at 10:59 pm

    lucky said,

    @ Vinod — None of those aircraft/routes have the new business class as of now.

  35. May 1st, 2013 at 8:12 pm

    Chris Kilroy said,

    @ Adam – lucky is right that 17/21 of the 744s are new F at this time, but LH433 ORD-FRA been “unlucky” (haha) enough to run with the old F all but one day over the past two weeks. It’s also scheduled to run with the old F for the next six days according to LH.com. Incidentally, DEN-FRA seems to run about 50/50 new and old F.

  36. May 14th, 2013 at 9:16 am

    AK said,

    Flying DEL-MUC-BOS in F which appears to be operated by A340-600 and A340-300 respectively. Any of these routes have the new F?

  37. May 14th, 2013 at 9:25 am

    lucky said,

    @ AK — Yes, you have a very good chance of getting the new first class. Better chance of getting it on the A340-600 than A340-300, but high chance on both.

  38. May 14th, 2013 at 1:55 pm

    Bernie said,

    Flying EWR-DUS May 26 in F which appears to be operated by an A340-300 any chance that it will have the new F?
    Thanks

  39. May 14th, 2013 at 1:56 pm

    lucky said,

    @ Bernie — None of the Dusseldorf based aircraft have the new first class.

  40. May 14th, 2013 at 4:06 pm

    Bernie said,

    Thanks for the quick answer, does it still pay to use the extra 17500 points for first versus business?

  41. May 16th, 2013 at 11:31 am

    Nab said,

    Hi Ben, according to Flyertalk, 17 out of 21 747-400 are retrofitted. Is that the case? I have an ORD-FRA flight in F coming up next week. ORD seemed to be getting those 4 planes for the last 2 weeks or so.
    Any thoughts?

  42. May 16th, 2013 at 1:09 pm

    lucky said,

    @ Nab — That does seem to be accurate. Chicago is striking out, it seems.

  43. May 16th, 2013 at 5:19 pm

    mansih said,

    hi lucky , this is manish. i am contemplating booking on the mumbai-munich on lufthansa and return in end may from munich to mumbai. will i be lucky enough to get the new business class? if not , is there any other indian city from which lufthansa operates flights with the new business class to munich / frankfurt? please advise.

    thanks

  44. May 16th, 2013 at 5:26 pm

    lucky said,

    @ manish — Since it’s operated by an A330 there’s a very good chance of it featuring the new business class. And based on looking at the seatmap it does look like it’s scheduled to have it too.

  45. May 17th, 2013 at 5:28 pm

    Mike B said,

    Lucky, is the A330 to Frankfurt the new business class? From either Boston or IAD? Thanks.

  46. May 17th, 2013 at 6:24 pm

    lucky said,

    @ Mike B — Nope, none of the Frankfurt based A330s have the new business class.

  47. May 20th, 2013 at 7:01 pm

    Alan said,

    Hello pals,
    Any update on A343 FRA-based business class reconfiguration status?

    Cheers,
    Alan

  48. May 20th, 2013 at 7:08 pm

    lucky said,

    @ Alan — None of the A340s based in Frankfurt have the new business class yet.

  49. May 20th, 2013 at 9:57 pm

    Alan said,

    Thank you very much, Lucky.

    Cheers,
    Alan

  50. May 21st, 2013 at 8:17 am

    Dottie said,

    Hi Lucky –

    I am flying from BOS to MUC in First Class on a 340-300 – what is the likelihood it will have the new FC?

    Thank you,
    Dottie

  51. May 21st, 2013 at 11:08 am

    lucky said,

    @ Dottie — You have a good chance, though it’s not guaranteed.

  52. May 21st, 2013 at 11:17 pm

    Steve said,

    Hi,

    Checking in to see if you have any updates on the A340 from LAX – MUC for business class? We’re flying it in October. Do you think it’ll be the new configuration? Is there a place I can check on the retrofitting schedule? Thanks.

  53. May 22nd, 2013 at 6:21 am

    lucky said,

    @ Steve — Unfortunately none of the A340s have the new business class, so I doubt you’ll hve it even by October.

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