Lufthansa’s new travel class, the Premium Economy Class, can now be booked on flights flown by Boeing 747-8s.
According to the airline, the Premium Economy Class will have guaranteed availability on all flights served by the new jumbo from 10 December. The destinations that can now be booked include the routes from Frankfurt to and from Buenos Aires, Chicago, Hong Kong, Mexico City, São Paulo, Seoul, Beijing and Washington D.C.
From late January 2015, the first retrofitted A340-600s are scheduled to take off from Munich for Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo. From late April the A380-800 is planned to fly from Frankfurt to Johannesburg, New York, Miami, Houston, San Francisco, Shanghai and Singapore.
To mark the start of sales, spontaneous travellers booking until 12 June, for travel between December 2014 and 28 February 2015, can save up to $270. The current entry fares, inclusive of tax, for the Premium Economy Class once it is introduced on the A380 in April 2015 from Johannesburg to Frankfurt, are $1,720, to Chicago $2,700 and Washington D.C. $2,430.
Depending on the aircraft type, the new seats are up to three centimetres wider and provide greater privacy as well as approximately 10 centimetres more room at the side, thanks to each seat having its own wide armrest and a centre console between the seats.
The back rest can be reclined further and the seat pitch is a more spacious 97.5 centimetres, giving passengers around one-and-a-half times as much room as in Economy. Seats have height-adjustable head and foot rests and leg supports. Practical features around the seats include a bottle holder, an electrical socket and lots of storage space for passengers’ belongings.
With a baggage allowance of two items weighing up to 23 kilograms each, passengers can take twice as much free luggage with them compared with an Economy Class ticket.
For an extra $34, passengers can also enjoy the Lufthansa Business Lounges before their departure. The Welcome Lounge, with showers and a breakfast buffet after night flights, can be used for $68.
Check-in and boarding procedures as well as hand luggage regulations are the same as in Economy Class.
Premium Economy passengers are greeted with a welcome drink and will find their own water bottle and amenity kit at their seat. Meals are presented on menus commensurate with the new travel class and served on porcelain tableware.
Passengers can navigate the extensive in-flight entertainment programme using their own touchscreen monitor on the seat in front of them. This can also be done using a remote control, which serves as a controller for video games as well. The screens are 11 or 12 inches, depending on the aircraft type. A wide selection of magazines and newspapers completes the range of entertainment on offer.