Lufthansa: Flying first class using miles costs more, but not as much as I feared

Undoubtedly first class tickets are the most coveted for serial accumulators of points and miles, and at Lufthansa (and Swiss) the advent of the new cabins will spark renewed interest for those who want to invest their accumulated miles in the innovative solutions designed on board aircraft outfitted with Allegris.

Which planes have first class aboard Lufthansa and Swiss

The two companies of the German group offer first class on a varied number of examples, some of which have (or will have) the new cabins while others will never have them either due to age limits or technical inability to install the solutions designed by LH.

At home Swiss first class is on board the entire fleet long-haul: 777/300, A340/300, A330/300 and soon also A350/900 the first to have new cabins renamed "Senses", the new solutions will also come aboard 777/300s, but not on A340s and A330s.

Lufthansa offers many more first class seats, but a fleet is equally diverse: we currently find first class on the A380s, A350/9, A340, B747/8. Of these only a few A350/900s have Allegris, while all others are outfitted with the old cabins. Awaiting the arrival of the 777/9, for which LH will be the launch customer, the new cabins will not be installed on any other model in the fleet.

Book Lufthansa and Swiss first class with Miles&More miles

As said in the heat of the moment, these tickets have become much more expensive, but made the comparison with what happens for La Premiere or Sigapore Airlines Suites they are still cheap, with the small flaw that currently no price difference emerges between flying Allegris or Tristis, and this is a significant difference in service, given that LH's first class today is one of the worst in the world in terms of seating.

The new system is based, as explained, on dynamic pricing. It means that with respect to the actual availability of a given fare and flight occupancy you will have a different price. Previously, on the other hand, the price was fixed.

Now the price varies both according to the fare available, even in First Class, and as in a cash paid ticket you will have the same fare rules. This means that if you prefer the First basic plus fare you will not have the flexibility to cancel your reservation and there will be a penalty for the change as well, in both cases 400€ levy on top of the over 135 thousand M&M and the over 600€ in taxes and surcharges.

The other sore point is really related to the availability of seats on Allegris cars, at the moment there is no availability of seats in First, which is not surprising given that LH is protecting these new cabins from all non-"cash" tickets.

In conclusion

The price has increased, but it could not be otherwise. The availability is there, now let's see when we will also see tickets to fly Allegris.

• first class
• milesmore