aren't C pax and elites the ones who actually bring most revenue for the airline???
what does it really matter if the C pax has a 8 or 11 kg bag??? or even 15kg?
he/she is usually paying quite a lot of money for the travel!
Of course, C pax and elites bring a lot of revenue. And why shouldn't rules apply for them? Do they consider themselves as God and can do whatever they want? That is exactly the egoistic behavior a lot of people are complaining about, even FAs and FMs: "I'm elite, I do what I want". With Lufthansa, no elite can complain about too little special treatment (Lounges, Limos, Check-In, FC/T, ...)! It's definitely a difference if a 8kg or 15kg trolley falls on your neck. As far as I recognized it, the gate staff had a tolerance until 10kg. And in C, pax can have 2 pieces of 8kg each.
In the past three month I have spoken to many FA, purser, PA and 4 station manager. Nobody is happy with NEK and the hand baggage thing. They are apologetic from the get go and encourage to complain.
After the introduction of NEK, the FA's union, UFO, took legal actions against Lufthansa due to the limited space for carry ons and more people on board. In consequence, Lufthansa restarted the Baggage Excellence campaign. All FAs I know are really happy about labeling hand baggage at the gate! It means less stress for them on board. Gate staff is annoyed bcs they have to argue with some little children, pardon me, SENs and HONs. In MUC, the Schengen gates are mostly staffed with one agent and two when the flight is almost full (or FRA flights). Of course they are annoyed when they have to board, answer questions, sometimes do an additional document check and label bags within 20min! The loader are annoyed as well as they have to climb up the jet bridge and collect all the bags several times. Therefore, the present situation is probably just an interim solution.