Market News

by  Qin Xie

Lufthansa is trialling new sleeper seats for economy class passengers with a view to rolling them out across a number of intercontinental routes.

The new seating concept, named “Sleeper’s Row”, is being tested on long haul flights between Frankfurt and Sao Paulo from 18 November until an as-yet unconfirmed date in mid December.

Essentially, passengers already flying on the route are given the option of upgrading their economy experience by booking an entire row of three or four seats for themselves, either at check-in or at the gate.

Available on flights LH506 and LH507 only, the upgrades will cost €220 or US$260 one-way, with payment made by credit card.

The seats will be for their private use for the duration of the flight and, because it depends on how bus the flight is, no advance reservation is possible.

As part of the service, the passenger will receive a soft topper mattress, cushion and blanket.

They will also receive priority boarding, meaning they can board the plane with business class passengers and settle into their row ahead of other economy passengers.

The airline said that depending on customer feedback they will be looking at rolling out the concept across more intercontinental destinations on the Lufthansa Group network.

Lufthansa is far from the only airline offering a lie-flat option in economy.

Air New Zealand was the first to offer it, launching the concept back in 2010.

The Economy Skycouch allowed an entire row of seats to be transformed into a couch that could be shared with another adult or even a young family.

It has since been copied by a number of different airlines around the world, including Air France’s budget subsidiary, Joon, and Thomas Cook before their collapse.