From 1 July, passengers travelling in economy class on Lufthansa no longer have the option to choose their seat for free when online check-in opens. The airline automatically assigns a seat at the time of check-in. And if the traveller is not happy with this – for example, a middle seat in a row, generally disliked by most travellers – they will have to pay to change. This service was free until last month. With the disappearance of this "small favour" offered by the airlines in the Lufthansa group, the German group is getting ever closer to the services offered by low-cost airlines in terms of service.
The measure, already applied on certain short and medium-haul routes, is now being extended to many long-haul tickets in Economy and Premium Economy classes, notably for Light, Green and Comfort fares.
The advice, therefore, is to book your seat when you buy your ticket. Because the bill for a last-minute seat change can be high. On Lufthansa, Austrian, Brussels Airlines and ITA, the cost can reach €45. And on Swiss – it’s obligatory in Switzerland – you can end up paying 52 CHF (€54.50). The price to pay varies, in fact, depending on the destination…
Fortunately, the Lufthansa Group will offer free seat changes to holders of fully flexible tickets, and HON Circle and Senator members will continue to benefit from this free service. The group also states that it will always endeavour to seat families and groups together when operational conditions allow.
Lufthansa's justification
The Lufthansa group justifies this development by the need to offer a "more transparent and flexible" fare structure, allowing customers to pay only for the services they wish to use.
The different fare families would thus offer levels of service and flexibility tailored to everyone's needs, while options like seat selection would now be part of an à la carte service. Certainly, but a minimum of services offered even on the cheapest fares helps to distinguish traditional airlines from low-cost ones. However, facing the need to increase revenue from ancillary services, this hardly seems like a valid argument... So what will be the next step?
