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New First class retrofit thread

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Feb 11, 2014, 7:35 am

#1426

JY1024

Senior Moderator and Moderator: American AAdvantage & TravelBuzz

Join Date: Nov 2007

Location: BOS

Programs: AA EXP, Marriott Titanium

Posts: 10,417

As this is query is specific to LH, we'll move this to the Miles and More forum. Thanks!

/JY1024, TravelBuzz co-moderator

Feb 11, 2014, 9:58 am

#1427

LoveSQ

Join Date: Jan 2011

Location: YYZ

Programs: AC Elite 75K, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Gold

Posts: 140

I am looking to book YUL-MUC-Asia on LH First in Dec 2014. LH is using A330-300 on this route in Dec. Would anyone in this forum know if I will get the new First Class seat on this flight?

Feb 11, 2014, 10:05 am

#1428

LoveSQ

Join Date: Jan 2011

Location: YYZ

Programs: AC Elite 75K, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Gold

Posts: 140

Quote:

Originally Posted by HansGolden

Kind of, but the story's even weirder than that. I booked while YYZ-MUC was wide open in F, with four seats available in F. I nabbed four seats on YYZ-MUC on date #1, two seats the next day, and one seat the next. I then made our stopover in Munich, then did all the same day MUC-FRA-BKK. I did four in F, which is what was available on that date for FRA-BKK (and a number of other dates) and did three in C. After that, I made a few tweaks, reissued a few times (it was out of UA Plat account), and one day I noticed the C seats had magically changed to F! I have no idea what happened. At first I was super-suspicious the SHARES (UA) and Amadeus (LH) PNRs were out of sync, because they're still selling two F seats, but I looked up the LH record locator on CheckMyTrip and it's O-class there for all PNRs as well. It'd be a great reimbursement opportunity for some HON Circle person who regularly buys F anyway to buy two F seats on that flight. I guess RM thinks that selling 7 F so far ahead means it's inevitable one will cancel, but RM's not smart enough to know it's a family with all same last names...

ETA: Was the YYZ-MUC bonanza more widespread than just that route? I was amazed FRA-BKK had any LH F so far ahead, but someone told me it was normal for that route. Is that true?

Wow! You really are lucky.Was this is early Dec? Are there any such bonanza's out there for Dec 2014?

Feb 11, 2014, 11:52 am

#1429

JohnRain

Join Date: Jun 2009

Location: Geneva, Dubai, Paris

Programs: Disillusioned Cent

Posts: 1,880

Sorry if this has been asked before on this thread, but how reliable is LH's own information regarding the availability of new F on their site:
http://www.lufthansa.com/de/en/First-Class-Product

Specifically, if the website indicates that new F will be available, how big is the risk of a last-minute equipment swap on the following routes:

FRA-YYZ
FRA-DFW

Thanks.

Feb 11, 2014, 12:03 pm

#1430

HansGolden

Join Date: Dec 2009

Location: ICT

Programs: AA ExP

Posts: 1,860

Quote:

Originally Posted by agjil

Just out of curiosity, was there any other Asia route that had seats open in F during that time?

Not that I know of. Was only looking at BKK.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LoveSQ

Wow! You really are lucky.Was this is early Dec? Are there any such bonanza's out there for Dec 2014?

I first booked on Nov. 7, 2013. Flights are in June 2014. YUL/YVR<>MUC is quite open in LH F ATM, but other than that, I'm not aware of any. (I just yesterday grabbed three seats on YUL-MUC so our whole fam of 7 is now flying same day ICT-ORD-YUL/YYZ-MUC in LH F.)

Sorry for sidetracking this thread.

Feb 11, 2014, 1:20 pm

#1431

LoveSQ

Join Date: Jan 2011

Location: YYZ

Programs: AC Elite 75K, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Gold

Posts: 140

Quote:

Originally Posted by HansGolden

Not that I know of. Was only looking at BKK.

I first booked on Nov. 7, 2013. Flights are in June 2014. YUL/YVR<>MUC is quite open in LH F ATM, but other than that, I'm not aware of any. (I just yesterday grabbed three seats on YUL-MUC so our whole fam of 7 is now flying same day ICT-ORD-YUL/YYZ-MUC in LH F.)

Sorry for sidetracking this thread.

Thanks. Have fun with your family..

Feb 11, 2014, 10:39 pm

#1432

SMK77

Join Date: Apr 2005

Programs: Hyatt Lifetime Globalist, SQ PPS Solitaire

Posts: 3,599

Quote:

Originally Posted by LoveSQ

I am looking to book YUL-MUC-Asia on LH First in Dec 2014. LH is using A330-300 on this route in Dec. Would anyone in this forum know if I will get the new First Class seat on this flight?

Yes, new F.

Feb 11, 2014, 11:31 pm

#1433

Psychowildfire

Join Date: Nov 2010

Location: HAJ

Posts: 237

The A333 has 2 "new" F Class.

The "old" new retrofit F with the standard IFE and the new one with a 16:9 screen. That one is build in the AIKG for example. I had this on LH439 from DFW to FRA last week.

Feb 17, 2014, 10:43 pm

#1434

lowside67

Join Date: Jan 2013

Location: YVR

Programs: AC: E50K, AP: dDiamond

Posts: 963

I know the 747-400 has somewhat unique seating with the permanent bed, but I am wondering if there is any difference at all between the 380, 748, and retrofit 333 first class seats? I am looking to fly FRA-YVR in October but I will fly FRA-MUC-YVR most likely as it seems YVR and DEN are neck in neck with the dubious honour of most likely to get the old interior.

Cheers

Feb 18, 2014, 1:17 am

#1435

oliver2002

Moderator: Lufthansa Miles & More, India based airlines, India, External Miles & Points Resources

Join Date: Dec 2002

Location: MUC

Programs: LH SEN

Posts: 48,184

Quote:

Originally Posted by lowside67

I am wondering if there is any difference at all between the 380, 748, and retrofit 333 first class seats?

Minor differences... mainly IFE related. The Line fit A380, 330 and 748 have the Panasonic ex2 IFE, the retrofit A330 and A346 the RAVE system.

Feb 18, 2014, 1:40 am

#1436

NewbieRunner

Senior Moderator, Moderator: Community Buzz and Ambassador: Miles & More (Lufthansa, Austrian, Swiss, and other partners)

Original Poster

Join Date: Jun 2005

Location: 150km from MAN

Programs: LH SEN** HH Diamond

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Quote:

Originally Posted by lowside67

...I am wondering if there is any difference at all between the 380, 748, and retrofit 333 first class seats?

The 380 (and also 748 I believe) have personal closets which are much better than overhead bins, especially if you are in 1A/1K on the A380.

Feb 18, 2014, 2:50 am

#1437

senzur

Join Date: Feb 2008

Location: ZRH

Programs: LH SEN

Posts: 60

Quote:

Originally Posted by lowside67

748 has personal lockers in the back of the cabin, still the ones in the 388 are more practical, particularly in 1A/1K as mentioned. 333 is less practical as you have to fit your belongings into the overhead bins.
A more important difference than the seats I consider the noise level in the different aircrafts: 388 is extremely quiet, 748 is more quiet than most others, 333 I found rather noisy - at least compared to the other two.
Another maybe more minor difference is the overall atmosphere in the cabin with the 388 being very spacious and stylish, the 748 (having had 1K) more intimate but also more "dense" and the 333 kind of non-special.

All very trivial and subjective and none of the choices are really bad - it's F after all.

Feb 18, 2014, 2:57 am

#1438

NewbieRunner

Senior Moderator, Moderator: Community Buzz and Ambassador: Miles & More (Lufthansa, Austrian, Swiss, and other partners)

Original Poster

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Quote:

Originally Posted by senzur

All very trivial and subjective and none of the choices are really bad - it's F after all.

Thanks. That's an excellent summary.

How does the view out of the window compare from 1K on the 748 to the window seats on the A380?

Feb 18, 2014, 6:41 am

#1439

senzur

Join Date: Feb 2008

Location: ZRH

Programs: LH SEN

Posts: 60

Quote:

Originally Posted by NewbieRunner

Thanks. That's an excellent summary.

How does the view out of the window compare from 1K on the 748 to the window seats on the A380?

The view forward from 1K on the 748 I found "interesting" as you move slightly sideways due to the curvature of the plane's nose (but in a less strange way than in the AC herringbone as you're not facing away from the window). It also feels less pronounced than on 1K in C of the 744 due to the seat arrangement further away from the wall in F. The view downwards is somewhat better in the 748 than in the 388 where the walls are thicker, i.e. the distance between inner pane and outer pane of the window is larger and where you sit even further away from the outer window, maybe also due to larger (?) side bins - rather bad for taking pictures.
Again, nothing actually measured but just from what I remember (maybe I'm tricked by my memory as I flew them in the order of 388, 748, and 333 - the first time in new F maybe just leaves the best impression irrespective of the plane type).

Feb 18, 2014, 8:07 am

#1440

lowside67

Join Date: Jan 2013

Location: YVR

Programs: AC: E50K, AP: dDiamond

Posts: 963

Thanks very much for the quick responses! Are all the retrofitted 744s with the permanent bed? My first choice really is FRA-YVR but this is somewhat of a "once in a lifetime" for me and I would be fine with any of the updated first seats but would be disappointed to get one of the old birds...