New Lufthansa First Class Suite: Average Or Epic?

It was announced in October that the new first class suite will be on the A350s. We have been told to keep an eye out for more details, but so far the airline has been very light on details.

Some people think the product looks great, while others think it's unremarkable. There are some clues that make me believe we should be excited.

The basics of Lufthansa’s new first class suite

There is very little information about the new first class. The first class suite has already been announced.

• Will be one meter wide
• Will be forward facing
• Will have a wardrobe
• Will have “nearly ceiling-high walls”
• Will have a buddy seat so you can dine with a companion

There are two different depictions of the same thing. They look pretty, but don't give you a lot of context for the cabin.

The two extremes of what we can expect

What can we expect from the new suite in terms of space?

I would expect personal space to be similar to Malaysia Airlines' A350 Business Suite. The A350-900 has four rows of seats, but Malaysia Airlines has one row of seats in a 1-2-1 configuration, which is about the same amount of space as the rest of the plane.

On the other side of the spectrum, I think the new first class product from Emirates is better than any other product in the world. There are two rows of seats on the plane.

The A350-900 is a bit narrower than the 777-300ER so it won't be as wide. The difference isn't big.

Is Lufthansa’s new first class a “game changer?”

Some interesting observations have been made about the new first class of the airline. That is noted.

• In the renderings, the seatbelt and shoulder harness start much closer to the center of the seat than normal, suggesting that the seat is massively wide; this is further supported by Lufthansa claiming the seat is one meter wide
• Rumor has it that Lufthansa is using the same seating manufacturer as Emirates for its new first class, and you’ll specifically notice some similarities between the renderings and Emirates’ new first class; this includes the high location of the door handle, the design of the ceiling above the seat, and even the monitor to the side of the seat

I have received information that supports the idea that the new first class will be very similar to the current one.

What I’m expecting from Lufthansa’s new first class

This is speculation, but I expect it to be true.

• I feel fairly confident that Lufthansa’s new first class will be in a 1-1-1 configuration on the A350; I just can’t imagine how you can have a suite that wide while still having four seats per row, and this looks like it’s in a different league than Malaysia Airlines’ product
• The question then is whether there will be one row of seats (three seats) or two rows of seats (six seats); personally I think six seats is more likely, and I bet Lufthansa’s Boeing 747-8s also get six first class suites in the nose, creating seat count consistency (which Lufthansa has historically had on all jets)
• I would guess this product will be very impressive; the suite as such will be marginally narrower than Emirates’ new first class, and since there were will be a console along the side of the seat, the actual usable space might not be quite as big, but I still think it will impress with a lot of personal space and privacy

All of the clues we have so far lead me to believe that this will be a very impressive product, significantly better than your typical first class suite.

It will likely be off bounds for most of us since we don't know what will happen when this is introduced.

Bottom line

The new first class suite is going to launch in 2023. We only have two sketches and a few more. People have different takes on the product, since the rendering doesn't give us a good idea of how impressive it is.

I think this product will be more similar to the first class offerings of Emirates than any other product. I think there will be two rows of seats, and I think they will be in a 1-1-1 configuration.

Are you a fan of the new first class suite from Lufthansa?