"Business Class Upgrade" (Cash Upgrade) is available since end of July

The principle of ‘Smile’ is offering every customer exactly what they need at the right moment in time. The first Smile service has now been personalised in the form of a Business Class upgrade on offer for a fee, which has been available with the new Europe fares since the end of July.

All passengers with an Economy Class ticket for European routes can purchase an upgrade to Business Class after they have made their booking and can even choose to upgrade once they have arrived at the airport. Lufthansa additionally offers this upgrade to specific passengers in a targeted manner. “Previously when introducing new products we were only able to address all of our customers unfiltered – or not at all. We want to avoid this information overload in future by giving our customers precisely the information that is relevant to them.”, explains Smile Programme Manager Marcus Casey. Instead of being publicised nationwide, the so-called Cash Upgrade is being offered to passengers in their booking confirmation e-mails. But only to those passengers to whom the offer is relevant, namely Economy guests and before notifying customers of the cash upgrade, in future the availability will, for example, be checked.

In order to find out which customers are interested in which offer, the Smile analytics experts have furthermore combed through mountains of historic booking data, searched for patterns, and projected upgrade affinities. The project team will now define rules for the sales pitch on the basis of these analyses and in conjunction with new findings from the first wave of communication (cash upgrade offer via the reservation confirmation email): “Which customer should receive the offer, and via which channel? This sounds simple, but among other things it requires groundwork, because not every communication channel is able to implement the required selections”, explains Dr. Alexander Prinz, who is leading the team of SMILE analysts. “The challenge, for example, lies in finding out whether for a certain group of customers it makes more sense to push the offer via pre-flight mail, or whether there is a greater probability of the customer taking advantage of the offer if it is placed on the homepage." The offer will be gradually extended to cover further communication channels in a targeted manner.

The next Smile projects are already waiting in the wings. In autumn, for example, a pilot project for personalised offers at the airport will be launched. You can also find more information on the programme on the Smile eBase pages.

What is the Cash Upgrade?

The "Cash Upgrade" enables Economy Class passengers to purchase an upgrade to Business Class for a fixed fee* in a quick process that only takes a few clicks on the lh.com website or in person at the ticket desk. An extension of the upgrade service to involve other sales channels is also planned to take place.

Text: Nathalie Weidmann, FRA JP/MP

a free guaranteed seat next to you is also a plus.

The credit of status and award miles under the Miles & More frequent flyer programme is made on the basis of the originally booked Economy Class fare.