Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Premier Economy: Air France vs Lufthansa



I traveled on both airlines from Vancouver to Cape Town via Paris and Frankfurt over the past 12 months in premier economy class. The bottom line is that Air France's product is a considerable step-up from the very modest presentation offered by Lufthansa.


First and foremost - Air France makes you feel like an business-class passenger in so many ways, while Lufthansa feels that it must protect its business class from being encroached by premier economy class and they make no pretense about this. Let s start at check-in: Air France offers its premier economy passengers Sky Priority status - that means that such passengers can check in at the business class counters, take the shorter line at airport security, board the plane first, and take the shorter line at passport controls in Paris. Lufthansa offers none of these considerable benefits.

Secondly, the premier economy seat of Air France looks and feels like the old business class seats - its a fixed structure, which means that the passenger in front cannot impede on the personal space of the passenger behind. The seat has a cozy, cocoon-like feel, with its own reading light above the the passenger's shoulder. Lufthansa's seat claims to offer 50% more personal space, but once the seat in front reclines, you are as cramped as in economy class and it is only with great difficulty than you can get out of your seat.

Air France offers it premier economy passengers their own cabin, completely separated from economy class. Lufthansa only has a separate cabin in its Airbus 380 planes, while in its 747s and Airbus 340s, premier economy is stuck between two economy sections and barely divided by a flimsy plastic separation.



The food on both Air France and Lufthansa was basically standard economy fare, served with better cutlery, wine glasses and with a menu. TV screens on both were quite a big bigger that economy class (11 or 12 inches) and in both cases, premier economy passengers can take two bags each weighing 23 kgs. Both offer a travel kit with socks, a tooth brush etc.




Both airlines allow you to enter their business class lounges for a payment of Euro25 to Euro35, but in the case of Lufthansa, this is only allowed in Frankfurt and at U.S. airports where Lufthansa has a base.

Conclusion: while I have no love for Paris and Charles de Gaulle Airport and much  prefer Frankfurt Airport, I would choose AF over LH when it comes to premier economy class, if the prices are the same. As it happened, in 2015 AF was considerably cheaper than LH during the month on which I departed, while the opposite was true during 2016.