Lufthansa took a drastic step last week to better organize its flight chaos: since July 1, only the most expensive booking classes had been on sale on all Lufthansa flights within Europe and across the Atlantic. This had drastic consequences for everyone who still wanted to book short-term tickets: A one-way flight from Frankfurt to Amsterdam, for example, suddenly cost over €900 – since only classes Y (economy) and C (business) were still available.
Now the measure has been completed more or less according to plan. As of yesterday (July 7), all booking classes from K (cheapest economy) to F (first class full-flex) are being sold again. This applies to direct sales on Lufthansa.com as well as at travel agencies, Expedia, etc.
Of course, not all flights have cheap tickets. But last week’s Frankfurt – Amsterdam example shows how drastic the effects are. Until last week, the ticket cost around €150. In the meantime, Lufthansa asked for a whopping €925 – and now we’re back at €224:
Similar price drops can be seen on other routes as well, e.g. Munich – Dubrovnik. A trip from July 21 to 28 now costs €196 again – exactly the same as before the price increase:
Measure Intended to Keep Seats Free For Rebookings
If you haven’t been following last week’s measure more closely, a quick look back. Lufthansa’s declared goal was by no means to rip off holidaymakers with expensive tickets. Instead, it wanted to deliberately slow down ticket sales so as not to fill the planes any further.
The background to this measure was the chaotic conditions at German airports. There is a lack of staff – both at the airports and at Lufthansa itself. Therefore, Lufthansa has made numerous (also short-term) flight cancellations in the last few days. In order to be able to rebook as many customers as possible on their own planes, the sale of new tickets was to be prevented as far as possible.
Apparently, almost all the rebookings have now been made, so that all free seats have been put on sale again.
KLM Also Raised Prices
€900 for a one-way flight? That was not only the case with Lufthansa but also with competitor KLM. The flights with the SkyTeam member are currently still at similar rates – e.g. on Frankfurt – Amsterdam:
I initially suspected that there was a connection to Lufthansa’s measure. However, KLM also charges similar prices on other routes, e.g. Amsterdam – Copenhagen.
Cover Picture: Photo by Lukas Souza on Unsplash