FD1971

A little bit more?

We are talking about $ 824 more than basic economy.

But that is exactly the point why is was not rolled out earlier, simply because people only wanted to pay a little bit more (not $800)

But I guess once we see all 777 with 10 across in Y and all new A380 with 11 across in Y, $800 is enough to escape hell.

N1003U

I haven't met a journalist yet who understands the concept of using significant figures when reporting/translating numbers.

600€ seems like a pretty soft guess for the premium at this point (and comparing which fare buckets? Such averages are multi-dimensional.)...we'll see what the market actually bears. I suspect a significant share will be filled by folks who don't pay retail anyway.
Besides, a (roughly) 50% fare increase for 50% more space strikes me on the surface as a reasonable proposition (or at least not un-reasonable).

For those of us retail-paying-suckers who see it as a down-sell opportunity, 600€ is peanuts if the hard product is decent and the soft product is improved as promised, especially on day flights.

gum

It is an indeed very nice verbalization of having more comfort. For a better positioning against the competitors the consumed space is decisive. There the website says 38'' instead of 31'' and a slightly more seat width.

The number of seats "between 21 and 52 seats" suggests the following seating:

+ A340-300/A 330
A loss of 4 rows of standard economy therefore 32 seats missing. This delivers 4*31'' = 124'' available space. Instead of this 3 rows of Premium Economy are installed delivering 21 seats.

So Lufthansa has to get 152 % revenue per Premium Economy seat than in standard economy. I think this is relatively easy to accomplish: In average you offload 32 seats of the lowest fare class and install a mixture of two Premium Economy fare classes.

The example of Munich-Peking-Munich shows that it is very easy to reach. The lowest advertised retail offer is 559 Euro for the return flight.

With a higher probability you get the fares from 330/377 Euro one-way (Economy basic) including taxes.

So the return flight in standard economy is is from 707 Euro.

As soon as you could charge 1074,-- Euro for the Munich-Peking-Munich return in Premium Eco Lufthansa is fine. Or an upselling price of approx. 190 Euro per person and way.

In identical way this is valid for all routes with widebodies of the A330/340 type. Every cent more is pure additional revenue if you let the marginal costs of catering away.

Additional positive side effects:
+ minor reduce in offered available seat kilometres therefore less need to heavily discount standard economy in order to fill the former higher capacity

+ the higher fare classes of Economy are more attractive if you start an upselling programme to Premium Economy with cash or instruments
--> increase in average standard economy revenue

+ Lufthansa gets attractive for discerning leisure traveller who dislike the in the last years decreased pitch in standard economy.

+ attractive for silver/gold customers for hunting for miles all over the year (and thus filling shorthaul aircrafts) in order to get upselling opportunities.

And lust but not least:
+ gum is fascinated by the new offer.

Lack

The only thing I don't like about Y+ here is that it took so long for LH to implement.
But when the CEO is so detached from reality on the full-flat C front it's hardly surprising.

NewbieRunner

Sounds about right.

gum

speedbird004

As far as I could see the official website with information about the Premium Economy class has not yet been linked in this thread. It can be found at http://www.lufthansagroup.com/en/the...m-economy.html

According to the website, the features new to Premium Economy are:

• Double free baggage allowance: two bags per person, each weighing up to 23 kg
• A welcome drink, a water bottle at every seat and a high-quality amenity kit with many useful accessories providing additional refreshment
• The high quality meals are presented in menus and are served on china tableware
• An 11- or 12-inch touch screen monitor, a handset to control the in-flight entertainment and a generous range of magazines provide for even more entertainment
• More storage space for personal belongings
• Central console between the seats with sturdy table and power outlet at every seat – well suited for work on board
• All seats in Premium Economy Class are not more than one seat away from the aisle
• Access to Lufthansa Business Lounges available (for a fee of EUR 25)

gum

Thanks for sharing, speedbird004!

Does anyone dare an educated guess in which configuration and where the 52 seats on the A380 will be allocated?

NewbieRunner

There is a parallel thread where the link can be found as well as some discussion.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/lufth...m-economy.html

weero

Premium coach prices are in free fall. I only started to buy them once I consistently could get better fares and routings in Y+ over discounted Biz. And now BA, BR, and QF offer very decently priced Y+ sales pretty much all year on fully earning fares.

As most of the time, the best managed airline in the galaxy shows up right when the party is over.
Won't happen outside the LCC world and the new realm of legacy LCCs (AA, LX, AF, KL, AC and the likes).

SQ did not wait long for the announcement that it won't happen on their 777s and LH likely won't follow easily either but though unlikely, it might happen there.

whiskey_sk

somewhere in the Q&A it was mentioned it replaces Y and not C, i.e. my guess is 2-3-2 front lower deck on the 380.

gum

That would be great and delivering something like flagship value only on the A380!

Lack

2-4-2 probably. The promo websites video has that seat layout rendered (no fat console in the center, but two armrests), and I imagine it being implemented in 747/A380 planes, vs 2-3-2 on the smaller Airbuses.

whiskey_sk

so, I was wrong - according to the pictures from VFT in another thread it seems 748 and 388 will be both downstairs and 2-4-2, which of course makes sense. I got carried away a bit too far

Lack beat me to it.

weero

2-4-2 on a 380 would be luxurious.

I am sure with a consistent product LH could conquer back some of the pax they have driven off to the greener p(l)ains of One World.

Of course that would require fixing FRA and M&M too but that should be doable within 10 years...