Lufthansa: Why not the Q-Suite?
Posted by Few-Milk-4678@reddit | aviation | View on Reddit | 9 comments
Naive question: Lufthansa invested billions into their new Alegris seats, which receives - as far as I see - good-not-great reviews. These solo middle seats are odd, having to pay more for some than for others complicates things unnecessarily. At the same time the seats are so heavy that they need to literally add tones of weights to counter this into some aircraft.
On the other hand, Qatar seems to continuously receive praise for the QSuite as perhaps the best (or at least one of the best) business class seats in the world. It would seem logical to closely look at this seat and consider buying it or least getting inspiration for your own seats.
As a layman, the decision for Alegris doesn’t make much sense. But then Lufthansa is no newbie in this - I must be missing something. There must be the seat nerds here who can enlighten me.
Thanks a lot!
therealscrudgy@reddit
Probably Qatar have strong patents on the QSuite that they don’t licence to other airlines maybe?
kraven420@reddit
ANA‘s suites follow a similar concept
Difficult_Camel_1119@reddit
Allegris is just a big fail. Took too long, is too complicated and even needs to put on additional weights on some planes due to imbalance. It was great when they had the idea but now, others have comparable or better products
upbeatelk2622@reddit
OP, it's called business school tactics. Lufthansa thinks Allegris is the best thing since sliced bread, at least as much as Qatar is proud of the QSuites. Especially the part where you're in business class but still can't select just any seat you want without paying extra. That's the whole point of Allegris, it's not an innocent mistake.
Lufthansa has hung onto these ideas through not just covid but the entire delay of the 777X. They really like this.
As a lifelong consumer rights advocate, I would avoid Lufthansa so long as they continue this business model.
x2Sneeka@reddit
I’ve flown on LH business seats for a long time now. The legacy 2-2-2 sometimes 2-3-2 and 2-2 always seemed to be nice in case of travel with (nice) colleagues or family. It’s tricky to step over someone if you want to get out of the seat, if they are sleeping.
Alegris, I got to use the business suites a few times now and they are very good. Loads of space and privacy on one hand. Questionable pricing on the other. They asked for a 500€ reservation fee ontop of the ticket price (anecdotal evidence). As a LH Senator, you get that one for no uplift fee but still, as others have said, revenue maximizing.
I really like the product but it’s not intended for companion travel if you want a window seat.
🤷♂️
oh_snap1013@reddit
The answer is simple - Lufthansa just wants more seats so they can sell more. It’s no coincidence they have kept their outrageously outdated business seat for so long, it gives them a huge number of seats to sell at the same price where there would now be a 1-2-1 config. Allegris is probably by far the worst new business config because again they have tried to cram as many seats in as possible.
ballimi@reddit
Maybe McKinsey convinced them that diversifying business class seats would generate more revenue.
_mball_@reddit
It's definitely frustrating that getting the same space but angled closer to the window is an upcharge. I totally understand why and why the 'privacy' is a desirable selling point, but when paying more for window seats isn't a thing (anywhere? at least not normally), that's certainly a reason people feel less good about the product.
_mball_@reddit
I don't have any special knowledge, but it seems like LH wanted "flexibility" or "personalization" to be a distinct selling point, but they may have over estimated the costs of complexity. Both to consumers (literal costs and decision paralysis) and operational complexity (delays in rolling it out). They also would probably have garnered a bit of a different perception if they didn't charge so much for the different special seats.
All that said, as someone who has flown in the extra roomy middle seat, it is quite nice! I haven't flown Qatar, but it seems the general differences in service of the airlines also play into people's satisfaction, naturally.