weero

I mentioned it on the very specific conditions. Without an empty middle, I could not fly on a 3-4-3 777 and hence would have to book a legacy rather than an LCC.

As SQ charges 3-5 times more on most routes here, 2 pax with an empty seat cost less or the same than one pax on a legacy.

But you are right that management does not approve of it, so it requires tons of trickery..

weero

Are you sure you are interpreting this correctly?

A huge fraction of US government travel in in Full Y. Negotiated Full Y and the carriers say it is not profitable for them. One of the reasons why UA removed E+ access from Full Y fares.
2nd many involuntary reroutes book into Y. Or at least used to book into Y. The about 10 times I traveled in Y was always in the aftermath of irrops.

So are you sure there is a substantial percentage of individuals or corporations without favourable contracts who buy those fares? They do exist and there are FT accounts corroborating these cases where this happened. But if you have data that shows the numbers that would be a great read.

TRAVELSIG

Correct- there is a lot of traffic out of VCE due to the nearby NATO, U.N., and USA bases in northeast Italy- and all of the tickets typically book into full Y. Interestingly recently they seem to be using a lot more BA to LHR and then onwards to USA with AA as opposed to previously LH to Germany and onwards to USA with UA- I have no idea of the reason why.

Back on the PE topic
There is a big market for PE for a number of companies that will pay for this and not business- as well as the leisure travelers who want something more comfortable than economy however cannot/will not adjust their budgets to cover business class pricing. If LH is able to price the product correctly it should work very well- we still have not seen any pricing though?

AZ/AF tend to do quite well with their (good value) PE product- on average I would say it costs about 300 EUR more per direction than the least expensive economy ticket- and sometimes can be practically the same cost if only the most expensive economy buckets are still open for sale. YMMV.

weero

That happens also a lot in the domestic market. AAdvantage now is a lot better program than MileagePlus these days. If I lived at or near a UA hub, I'd never contemplate to suffer through the *A experience again.

In Europe with its higher percentage if paid business travel, loyalty schemes are less central decisions makers than in the US, I guess.

Christefan

While I can't speak about government negotiated fares using the Y-code, the reason you typically get rebooked in Y during irrops is because all other booking classes are typically gone the day of travel.
My remark was meant to address the potential up charge LH will want for Y+ over what fare basis (...Q, U, M, B, Y ?? in the TATL market)??

weero

Experience points against that - within OneWorld, I have never been rebooked into full fare buckets. I even had to complain one to UA as they rebooked me from a full fare into the available super cheapo coach.

Within *A however I agree that rebooking into Y is very popular.
Fair poring. But this is not what you have said:
.. and I wonder if you have numbers?

oliver2002

The new E-cl is on display in FRA above checkin in T1A this week till Friday between 9am and 4 pm.

LufthansaFlyer

MB's? I should've waited a couple of years.

Lack

Dang, I just had a couple hours to burn in FRA yesterday :/.

N1003U

Anyone have a chance to take a look yet? If yes, what are your impressions? I went through T1 very early this morning and of course forgot to stop and look...and I will not be back through until about 9pm.

dj_jay_smith

Pitty its not there next week, I am flying then and would like to have taken a look.

I see that there is no a section on the LH website for the premium economy class. I wonder how much it would cost to purchase lounge access? Although personally I would never do it as I don't think it is worthwhile (I don't drink before flights and rarely during), but good that they have the option although it will now make the lounge even busier!

http://www.lufthansa.com/de/en/premium-economy-class

FD1971

Indeed, a very good idea.

I suggest a status match between LH's Hon Circle and MB's Circle of Excellence customers.

The 5 star airline and the Mercedes Star, just brilliant ^

oliver2002

It will be on display in MUC on May 5-11 too.

cesco.g

Most presentation material seems to omit details on the footrest ... ??

NA-Flyer

I saw it yesterday during my stopover in FRA. It is OK and I find it better than BA Y+ and more comfy. I took some photos with my iPhone but I don't know how to post them here.