German flag carrier Lufthansa will let passengers travelling in Economy Class buy an entire row of seats so they can stretch out and get some much-needed sleep on long-haul flights – a service that the airline is calling the ‘Sleeper’s Row’.
Lufthansa trialled the concept for several weeks late last year on flights between Frankfurt and Sao Paulo and based on “positive feedback” and high demand for the product, the Sleeper’s Row will be rolled out on other flights of 11 hours or longer including Los Angeles and Singapore.
Priced between €159 and €229, the Sleeper’s Row can’t be booked in advance and can only be snapped up at check-in or at the gate. A maximum of three Sleeper’s Row’s will be made available on any given flight which includes Business Class bedding, a pillow and a mattress pad.
To address safety concerns, Lufthansa says passengers sat in the Sleeper’s Row will be given a special seatbelt and have to listen to a special safety briefing.
Presumably, the Sleeper’s Row can’t be pre-booked because Lufthansa will only offer the product on flights with spare seats and would rather leave those seats open for sale until the very last minute.
The fact that the Sleeper’s Row is only available on flights with a lighter passenger load could mean that some customers pay extra for a service that other passengers will have available to them for free.
Along with the Business Class bedding, Lufthansa is hoping to convince passengers that the Sleeper’s Row still offers value for money by bundling it with pre-boarding.
Despite the premium bedding, the Sleeper’s Row is still just a standard row of either three or four Economy Class seats with the armrests pushed up. Lufthansa has not introduced a seat similar to Air New Zealand’s Sky Couch that includes a special footrest that lifts up and makes the footprint of the ‘bed’ much larger.
LIE flat. Can anybody use this language correctly?