Lufthansa has unofficially unveiled its new premium economy seat, set to debut on the 777-9 in 2020.
While I’m sure the use of the new seat type in an investor presentation was deliberate, we are still left guessing as to the specifics of the new seat. Here is the picture:
Notice the premium economy seats are in the first three rows while standard economy is in the fourth row. It appears that the seats will be in shells, similar to the Air France premium economy seat on many of its aircraft. I view that a distinct negative. Although the person in front of you cannot recline into you, the seat slides forward and downwards instead of back, creating an even more difficult environment for sleeping.
On the plus side, it looks like the next-generation premium economy seat will have more storage. If you look at the center armrests there appears to be room for larger electronic devices like a laptop. That will be helpful. The seats also appear to have larger screens.
The new seats will be introduced on the Lufthansa 777-9 in the third quarter of 2020. The same seats will appear in SWISS on both the 777-300 and A340-300 starting in the third quarter of 2021.
CONCLUSION
Lufthansa still has not made it official, but it appears it has chosen fixed-shell seats for its second-generation premium economy seat. Before even trying it, that makes me less likely to even bother.
> Read More: I Survived Lufthansa Premium Economy
What do you think of the new Lufthansa Premium Economy seat?
oh NO! it looks like they chose the low quality Zodiac RAVE for in flight entertainment.
Last year I flew Premium Economy from Paris to Toronto on an Air France 777. Never Again. I found the inability to recline my seat even an inch uncomfortable from the moment we took-off. The forward sliding seat cushion does nothing but shift body weight to the tail bone, which is also uncomfortable. It was a long seven hours.
Usually I fly Business Class, but if I can’t get a good fare I will suck-it-up and cross the Atlantic in Economy. Air France’s Economy seats on the 777 have a generous amount of recline and to my mind are much more comfortable than the higher priced, non-reclining PE seats.
Looking at Lufthansa’s new Premium Economy offering I wonder if these seats too will be less comfortable than the ones in the ‘back of the bus’.
In January I flew PE Air France Paris to Mauritius. The longest 13 hours of my life. Dreadfully uncomfortable, so much so , I offered to return home economy, sadly they were full. Never again. Lufthansa beware
Interesting that LH and Swiss will share the same seat. Never really understood why LH/Swiss/Austrian didn’t converge towards common plane layouts and seat types so that their planes could be more easily interchangeable as substitute equipment. My guess is that the three airlines are still run as separate airlines and not as one integrated fleet.
I believe the Lufthansa Group sees Swiss as their “boutique” airline, no? So they probably don’t want to mix things up too much with the other airlines…