TropicalFlyer

I'm on a couple of LH flights within Europe in biz class (A319 and A320) this summer. I'm booked in a "D" aisle seat. I read on another thread something about the middle "E" seat in biz not being sold anymore. Did I read right?

Mahalo. TF

TheProfessor

Yes you did ...

tcswede

That is correct - for the equipment you have on both sides of the aisle - seats B and E will remain empty. However the seat width is now standard - not the extended that was used with the 2 + 3 configuration - but the seats are now as they were before on the inter German flights.
At least this was the case on the flights I have taken since April 1st.
Clearly enhanced meal service as well.

Cheers

Thomas

hetmerfoeldes

Enhanced? Different yes, but enhanced? The paper trays are ok, the food itself is no better than it used to be, apparently no more "taste europe" on international flights. The seats are narrow and the middle seat being blocked automatically, I really wonder how can this work out well in terms of revenue.

Greg45

One thing I would like to know is what happens in irregular ops. Are they really going to bump Y-passengers in case of overbooking, or leave passengers behind if other flights are cancelled? It will be tempting to fill the empty middle seats in these cases.

On the other hand, I would be pretty angry if I was bumped and the plane went out with empty seats.

What do you think?

Grog

It's an interesting point. I say the seat should be staying empty unless we're talking serious crisis situations. And, even in a crisis situation, LH shouldn't be filling the middle as Eco while selling the outer as Business Class. The only really suitable answer would be to move the curtain forward and call those rows Eco.

As a footnote: if I'm ever that bumped Y-passenger, I'll be glad the seats were left empty and will collect my compensation with a smile.

TropicalFlyer

Thanks so much for the quick answers.

I just love FT! TF

Raldal

The Official LH polkicy is that the middle seat will be left empty under all circumstances. (the only exception being if a passenger seated in e.g. A/C moves to B in which case the crew will Not ask him to move.) The Check-in system has also been configured to make it impossible to allocate a middle seat in C Class.

daysleeper

On a recent TXL-STR leg I've seen a row in C with seats A,B,C oocupied. And I could clearly see that these pax weren't happy about that and they had an argument with the FAs about something I couldn't hear, but I suppose it was about the seating (which could not be changed, flight was full).

lhrpete

I seem to remember that it was exactly this problem that led to the introduction of the flexible seating. When C class was introduced, all the European airlines jumped on the bandwagon and promised that the B & E seats would be unsold. The promise was watered down until it was 'where possible' which meant never and C class passengers revolted. Most airlines except AF introduced 5 abreast in C with flexible seats, KL introduced fixed seats - they've gone back to six and aren't even pretending they won't fill the middle ones.

Somehow I suspect that the brains behind this latest change were probably in nappies when it all happened the last time. What a pity they get to inflict their ideas on the paying passenger. If savings really need to be made perhaps the salaries budget should be targeted first!

After all, there is nothing wrong with keeping the five abreast configuration and just not selling the middle seat, that would be an improvement unlike the current retrograde step.