Lufthansa demoted me to Premium Economy because they oversold Business Class. On a recent trip to Sweden and Norway, I used Avianca LifeMiles to book a roundtrip Business Class ticket from Bergen to Frankfurt to Detroit. I discovered there was a problem when I checked in. My seat assignment for the second leg, a long-haul international flight, was on the standby list. At the airport in Bergen, I was told that only a gate agent in Frankfurt could accommodate me. In Frankfurt, they only offered 500-650 Euros to anyone who could voluntarily downgrade. Of course, no one did. In the end, myself and one other passenger were forcibly downgraded. Lufthansa paid me 500 Euros ($540 USD) in compensation. The good news? I got to review Lufthansa Premium Economy. The bad news? It was not good.
It’s well-known that Lufthansa’s Business Class on the Airbus A340-300 is pretty inferior compared to most other Business Class products. Business Class seats are in a 2 x 2 x 2 configuration, not everyone has direct aisle access, and there is very little privacy. Still, the seats fold flat and there is more catering and amenities than Economy or Premium Economy. I wouldn’t want to fly this Business Class overnight to Europe, but I figured it would be ok for a daytime return flight. I guess I’ll have to test this theory on another trip.
Pushed down
I don’t know why I was one of the two “lucky” business class passengers to be demoted to premium economy. Speculation They dropped off someone who hadn’t assigned a seat when they checked in. Unbelievably, I had forgotten to assign a seat in advance. everytime After booking, you first choose your seat (I wrote an article about how to do this called How to Select Your Seat on Partner Bookings). And among the business class products in the sky, Lufthansa’s business class is probably the one with the most important advance seat selection. My wife and I should have taken the middle seats next to each other, without strangers sitting next to us and with direct aisle access for each of us. But for some reason we didn’t. My wife, who wasn’t removed, was assigned a window seat and had the fun of having to climb over strangers whenever she wanted to go to the bathroom.
While I was waiting in vain, hoping someone would voluntarily downgrade me before accepting the demotion, I researched my options. I learned that the EU has rules regarding compensation when a person is involuntarily downgraded. In fact, Lufthansa has published their rules here. lufthansa.com/tr/en/Passengers’ rightsSpecifically, if the flight distance is over 3,500km, the compensation is “75% of the ticket price paid per segment.” Great! However, I paid with miles. And I paid with Avianca LifeMiles miles, not Lufthansa miles. I did a quick Google search to see what happened to others in a similar situation, but didn’t get any good results. In the short time I looked, I couldn’t find any successful cases of people getting compensation for an involuntary downgrade when using miles.
Since the business class flight was full, I gave up and got my boarding pass for premium economy. The desk clerk offered me a compensation of 500 euros and said it was the maximum she could give me. The amount was “computerized,” she said. She asked for my credit card so she could apply the compensation to it. I gave her my debit card so I wouldn’t lose the credit card benefits. A few days later the money was deposited in my account.
When I got home, I also filed a claim with Lufthansa for 75% compensation. I didn’t expect anything to happen, but I thought it couldn’t hurt to try and it would be a good piece of information for the blog. The Lufthansa form allowed me to upload documents, but didn’t have a place to add notes. So, I uploaded not only the original receipt from Avianca LifeMiles for the award purchase, but also a PDF document explaining the use of miles and their value. I wrote the following:
We booked this flight for two and paid 120,000 Avianca LifeMiles and $291.60 USD. The price of my ticket was 60,000 miles and $145.80 USD.
LifeMiles sells miles for 3.3 cents per mile, so I can buy 60,000 miles for $1,980.00 USD, which means the total cost of my ticket is:
$1,980.00 (price for 60,000 miles) + $145.80 (fees)
= 2,125.80 USDMy understanding is that I am entitled to compensation of 75% of what I paid, which is $1,594.35.
I don’t expect this to be paid, and I won’t be upset if it isn’t, but I’m interested to see what happens, and I’ll post an update once I know more.
Lufthansa A340-300 Premium Economy Final Review
Overall, Lufthansa Premium Economy is similar to Economy Class, but with nicer seats. Other than the seats, I think they forget to put “premium” in their product.
The seats were comfortable and had plenty of legroom. The recline angle was better than I expected. It doesn’t go completely flat, but it reclines enough that you can nap without having to tilt your head forward. I thought the video screen and movie selection was okay, but they only provided cheap disposable headphones, so I had to watch the movie with English subtitles on to understand what was going on. Since I usually fly business class (thanks to airline miles!), I’ve gotten out of the habit of traveling with my own headphones. I’ll have to get back into that! Another inconvenience is that the handheld video controller is stored in the passenger’s footwell. My foot would bump into the controller while watching a movie and suddenly the cursor would appear on the screen. But it was a minor inconvenience. Overall the service was pretty good. The worst thing about the flight was the catering. Apparently in premium economy they offered the same thing as in regular economy, and it wasn’t any better. Overall there’s no question that Lufthansa’s premium economy is much better than regular economy, but that’s mainly due to the seat itself. Other experiences didn’t feel premium at all.
Pros and Cons
Strong Points
- Comfortable seats with ample legroom and ample recline
- Good service
- Each seat has a water bottle holder
Cons
- Mediocre food
- Cheap disposable headphones
photograph
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe for email updates or check out the podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
