Lufthansa Confirms Premium Passengers On Boeing 747s Will Have to Fight For Latest Business Class Seats That Will Only Fill Half The Cabin

Do you know what really upsets premium cabin passengers flying in First or Business Class? When an airline advertises its newest fully lay-flat seat with all-aisle access, sliding privacy doors, and the latest bells and whistles, only to operate planes with a much older product that’s not nearly as luxurious.

German flag carrier Lufthansa, however, appears to have gone one step further and will fly some planes with a ‘split-cabin’ concept in which half of the premium passengers get to sit in the newest, all-singing, all-dancing seats while the other half are relegated to the oldest seats the airline offers.

Confirming the news to aviation journalist Andreas Spaeth, Lufthansa said that by the end of this year, it will begin the process of refitting its fleet of 19 Boeing 747-8 aircraft with the new Allegris Business Class seats that have been years in the making.

There is, however, like so many things involved with the Allegris project, an issue preventing the full rollout of the new seats on the Boeing 747 jets.

At present, Lufthansa has its old business-class cabin split across the main deck and the upper deck of its jumbo jets. Unfortunately, the Allegris seats that are currently approved for use don’t quite fit on the upper deck because the fuselage tapers and is narrower.

Lufthansa plans to refit at least two 747s in 2025 with Allegris Business Class seats on the main deck while retaining the old Business Class seats in a 2-2 configuration on the upper deck.

If passengers are assigned any seat in rows 81 to 88, then they’ll know that they have drawn the short straw and are sitting in an old seat without direct aisle access, no wireless charging, and limited storage space (at least for passengers sitting in the aisle seats).

To make matters worse, the rollout of Lufthansa’s brand new First Class cabin on the Boeing 747 has also been hit by a slew of problems so while the airline will ground the planes to refit half the Business Class seats, the old First Class seats won’t be changed until much later.

The problem, it appears, is that just like the upper deck, the nose of the 747 tapers and becomes narrower, meaning that Lufthansa has to redevelop its new First Class seats to squeeze into the available space.

This news shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise to anyone who has been following Lufthansa’s ill-fated Allegris rollout. Back in 2023, it was rumored that the airline would be forced to operate its 747s with a split cabin concept in Business Class.

The Allegris project was first announced in 2017 but following a series of delays, it wasn’t until October 2022 that Lufthansa was ready to unveil the bespoke new seats.

It wasn’t until May 2024, however, that Allegris first took to the skies after the seats were fitted to a single Airbus A350. Even then, the space where First Class was meant to be was left empty because the seats weren’t quite ready.

On Tuesday, Lufthansa said that Allegris would soon be available on flights to a slew more destinations, including Chicago, Shanghai, San Francisco, San Diego, Newark and Bengalaru.

The Allegris First Class cabin features a unique double-sized suite, but passengers must pay a surcharge of €1,900 on top of the First Class fare to enjoy the suite to themself.