Lufthansa will soon start charging for hard liquor and spirits on longhaul flights in economy class and premium economy class, arguing (with a straight face) this is being done “achieve greater customer satisfaction.”
Lufthansa Cuts Free Liquor In Longhaul Economy
One way Lufthansa distinguishes itself from its budget competition is by offering free alcoholic beverages on longhaul flights. While Lufthansa has recently eliminated these drinks on a complimentary basis on shorthaul flights, it has maintained them on longhaul flights…until now.
A memo reveals that Lufthansa will remove complimentary hard liquor on December 1, 2021 from longhaul flights in both economy class and premium economy class as part of a broader plan to begin selling snacks onboard in-between meal services.
Lufthansa says:
“The aim…is to achieve greater customer satisfaction with the food and beverage offering on long-haul routes by providing a wider selection of high-quality products.”
This new service, dubbed Onboard Delighted Interkont (OBD), will not replace the primary meal service and pre-arrival snack, but supplement it. Lufthansa says, “Instead of a standard product, [passengers] want more choice and high quality.”
I won’t argue against passengers clamoring for higher quality meals…the current meal service on Lufthansa is absolutely pathetic.
> Read More: The “Lufthansa Diet” Looks Promising
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But Lufthansa is far too dismissive about the removal of free drinks:
“Only the spirits, which were still given out as freebies before the pandemic, will be transferred to the chargeable range.”
What spin! “Freebies” before the pandemic? More like for 60 years and of course that is one reason people could justify spending more to fly Lufthansa. Wine and beer will remain free.
The new service will be trialed this month on flights to Los Angeles (LAX) and Boston (BOS). It will expand systemwide on December 1, 2021.
New menu items have yet to be revealed.
CONCLUSION
In some way this is a positive enhancement – the economy class food on Lufthansa is simply atrocious and the buy-on-board snacks, if healthy and fresh, will at be something edible. But dismissing the removal of free drinks as if it is a positive thing is laughably disrespectful to passengers.
But this from the airlines that justified the removal of free soft drinks and juice by arguing:
“Our current snack offer in Economy Class does not always meet the expectations of our guests. The new offer was developed on the basis of feedback from our customers. With the high-quality offer available for purchase, our passengers will be able to decide what they want to eat and drink on their journey.”
As One Mile At A Time pointed out, Diet Coke just tastes so much better when you have to pay for it!
I believe people appreciate it more when you tell the truth. Which one that they see an opportunity to raise revenues instead of giving it away. Why lie to your customers?
And yes, someone will say they lie everyday to their customers. Hard to argue that point.
The change is only a slight disappointment for Y pax (still rather annoying for those spending four-figure sums to fly in Premium Economy), but the patronising spin is completely outrageous.
Unfortunately, LH under its current CEO has been consistent in displaying a condescending attitude and short-changing their customers, and they have taken things to another level during the pandemic. Even as a *G in business class, flying LH is a miserable experience.
I would love to be able to say that I won’t fly with them again, alas the LH group is the only game in town for many short-haul journeys within Europe- not only because of the sheer amount of flight combinations they offer, but also considering that Skyteam is in the process of losing 3 European members (CSA is all but gone, UX being sold to Iberia, nobody knows what’s happening with AZ). I have been mostly successful in avoiding them for long-haul though, except for the odd F redemption.
Basically makes their premium economy product worthless now.
When you have others such as JAL pouring Champagne and offering lounge access, Lufty being stingy on the booze and snacks is rather laughable to put it politely. It’s like that time BA turned the entire pre-arrival meal in premium economy into a muesli bar. Next we’ll see the crockery and cutlery go for “environmental reasons.”
They treat their clientele with contempt because they know suckers will pay for it and/or have no choice.
I still remember back about 20 years ago when Lufthansa ‘revalued’ Miles and More earnings for SENs which I was at the time. I real terms it meant a cut of over 25% in earnings. I spent my miles and did my earning elsewhere and have never looked back to Miles & More.
What an awful airline. Skytrax 5-Star? Yeah, right….
I booked an award flight MUC-IAD via United instead of usually Lufthansa. We usually had good experiences with them up to 2 years ago. I wondered if I should have cancelled and rebooked and now I feel better about sticking with United on that long haul flight.
“The new offer was developed on the basis of feedback from our customers.”
I’d love to meet the customers who gave feedback along the lines of “Sure, we’d love it if you got rid of free liquor from your long haul flights and started charging us for it instead!”
PM you nailed it. The man’s a jumped up ex Engineer who has no feel for customer service or how to treat his pax. AA should be relieved: LH have just passed them on the race to the bottom. No more LH flights for me.
Who cares? How many people are consuming hard liquor in economy anyway?