Did you know that there is a twice monthly flight between Frankfurt and Strasbourg with a huge business class cabin and disproportionately expensive fares? I stumbled upon this FlyerTalk thread.

Lufthansa’s twice monthly Frankfurt to Strasbourg flight

Two times per month, there is a route between Frankfurt, Germany and Strasbourg, France. I believe this is the shortest route of the airline. The route is usually operated by a bus, except for two times per month.

The flights operate from the middle of the month to the end of the month.

The flight from Frankfurt to Strasbourg leaves at 1:45PM and arrives at 2:20PM.

The flight left Strasbourg at 1:45PM and arrived in Frankfurt at 3:00PM.

Even though the flight operates with the above patterns, tickets aren't sold on Mondays and Thursdays. The plane has passengers in one direction and no passengers in the other.

What is the logic for this route? The European Parliament meets in Strasbourg for 12 sessions each year, and they meet once per month.

In order to get people to there, Lufthansa sells tickets that coincide with the schedule. The European Parliament only works two full days a month, as they arrive in the afternoon on Monday and leave around the same time.

This is even more interesting because of a couple of things.

  • Nearly two-thirds of the plane is business class, as the business class cabin goes all the way back to row 16 (there are just 25 rows on the Airbus A319)
  • The fares on this route are exorbitant; if you just want to fly from Frankfurt to Strasbourg roundtrip, you’ll pay over $1,000 per person in economy, which comes out to over $5 per flown mile (admittedly if you’re connecting to other destinations, fares will be different, and in some cases may be lower)
The seatmap for Lufthansa’s Strasbourg flight

The government sure isn’t leading by example…

Only when government officials want to travel, and then suddenly a plane is operated, can the daily services between Frankfurt and Strasbourg be offered by Lufthansa. The service is wasteful because the flight operates empty in one direction on each of the two monthly flights.

Lufthansa ordinarily uses a bus for the route

It seems that the same logic that applies to banning short haul flying on environmental grounds doesn't apply when government officials want to travel.

Many people on this flight are heading to other European Union countries. The flight from Strasbourg to other destinations on Lufthansa is completely empty in 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110 888-739-5110

I am tempted to book this flight some time, because I think it will be interesting.

This “shuttle” has a huge business class cabin

Bottom line

I like to discover seemingly random routes, and I think the flight from Frankfurt to Strasbourg is one of them. Twice a month, the airline flies between the two cities. The European Parliament meets at that time.

Twice a month the airline flies between Frankfurt and Strasbourg with an A319 that has a huge business class cabin, and the flight is empty on each of the journeys.

What do you think about the shuttle?

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