gum

The new summer timetable of LH only advertises a growth in available seat kilometres of approx. 5 percent compared to the previous year.

Being immune to economic cycles is IMHO a function depending on the type of passengers attracted. How lower the fares are how more people are able to fly and to enjoy the sounds & sights of the World. On the other hand I am convinced that the lower income groups are much more hurt by recession or an economic bump.

That said every mass market strategy may have advantages in case of the economic upcycle but have the adverse impact in a downwards trend.

That are my ideas which are also valid for cars (see the annual reports of the car makers for the mass markets compared to the premium brands).

weero

Especially of the Hyundai comes with Maybach lie-flat seats and drives you to Sydney for EUR 1400 while the BMW offers Tata Nano style seats and gobbles 25 litres per 100km.

"Incumbent Premium carrier" for NEK's sake!

N1003U

I have an 18-year-old Honda Transit that sort of fits that description.

Sure, it is a bit rough around the edges, a bit embarrassing to leave with the valet at a nice hotel, and no one likes to ride with me...OTOH, it still runs well, is long since written off, and when we go places with friends, they immediately volunteer to drive.

My wife likes the Ford Kuga or BMW X3, and wants a new car, but I insist we keep the old jalopy a little longer and "save" the costs. It doesn't really bother me that our more marginal friends avoid going out with us these days. I only drive destinations I can't reach with public transportation, and my loyal friends say it really isn't that important that our car is old and tired...what's the problem?

Perhaps I do understand a little bit how the LH management thinks....@:-)

FD1971

From the eye of a leisure traveler, this is an acceptable answer.

From the eye of a true business traveler, this is clearly another sign that you are not over your Ex, same with sooo many other posters here, who could not get over the fact that Lufty ditched them...

Again, I am sorry.

FD1971

Again, leisure traveler perspective...

Cheddar sandwiches, that' s actually cute...

I strongly recommend to start focusing on the slightly more important parameters that make an airline a high yield carrier, the network, reliability, safety and not so much a shower cabin onboard the A380 or a cheddar sandwich.

Reminds me a bit of travelsig's Top 10 entry, remember SU ex VCE.

Word on the street, Air Serbia is a negotiations with major cheddar producers from Surrey to upgrade their sandwiches. I spoke to one of their Catering guys and according to some market research, they figured out that they will increase their market share by 659%, if they start offering slightly older cheddar on their sandwiches.

TRAVELSIG

No need to be cranky- I am going to go out now and put on my "union supporter" jersey for a few walks around the parking lot with -13 temperatures prior to starting my day

The only unfortunate outcome of this current strike is that due to the recent announcement of the pilot strike vote a lot of people here (in USA) seem to have confused the two events which unfairly reflects poorly on Lufthansa. Of course I could say they could have been far more effective in communications and in particular with social media and Flyertalk as examples- however I suppose they must have a communication strategy which I just don't understand.

N1003U

That makes at least two of us...

gum

This is great. ^

I have never understood why so many people are chasing after a new car after 2-4 years just to have the sky-high depreciation of a new car.

Especially if it's their own and they can't offset these costs with lowering the profit position of a company.

Therefore just want to show my respect for your opinion.

seat 1a

The network - shrinking in destinations and COS
Reliability - more strikes in FRA and LH then most other places , you could think
you are dealing with French farmers . Timeliness - thank god for
HON transfer service !
Safety - Yes , stay away from Garuda and a few others and your fine.
Shower cabin - Definitely not required , but a top notch C cabin would be nice.

seat 1a

Yes , the world is full of mysteries , try a fat bank account . Or just the joy and pleasure for some to drive a new car

N1003U

^ . While I really do have a very old Honda that uses about 12-13 l/100km when I drive with a heavy foot (and uses quite a bit of oil due to what I suspect are highly worn valve bushings), it is safe to say that my response was rather tongue-in-cheek (ironisch gemeint).

sunseeker

now you lost me completely; i just can not get my head around how you came to this conclusion based on what i wrote:

Quote:
"btw, where does your assumption i am loosing SEN come from ?
whether i like it or not, i am still using LH enough to maintain SEN hands down; currently i am qualified until Feb. 2017 and whether some ignorants would snezze upon my EK status, trust me, that is really of no whatsoever importance to me and if i should ever be happy enough not to fly LH enough to requalify for SEN, my SQ Solitair will still give me *A Gold status anyway. "
Unquote

i am also sorry that sitting in aluminium cans for at least 120 days a year over the last decades is not enough to make me a "real business flyer" according to your high standarts.

anyway, i'm giving up; your "logic" is clearly beyond me...

seat 1a

No doubt , but was gum's

weero

So your escape to the holdout of presumed logical sanity is once more shifting the goalposts? People buy BMWs over Hyundai because they are more reliable, not because they offer more luxury? I am actually not even convinced that BMWs are in fact more reliable much as I am not convinced that LH is more reliable than EK.

They may be a tad more reliable than BA but that's about it.

gum

Thanks for your suggestion. I have had the "joy and pleasure" to drive a new car and the only thing I can say that it will fastly wear off.

After the artificial new car smell is away after some weeks only the depreciation remains.

And therefore my comment was really meant in a honest way. If I would have a *fat* bank account I just would book a holiday in China with at least visiting Shanghai and Xi'an.

Instead of a new car I would book nearly the whole 86th floor of a great hotel in Shanghai and enjoy the views.

Back to the thread: You can make an educated guess which airline, class and type of a/c I would choose.