Rock

Eurowings just started flying A340’s with business class that includes lay flat seats. Of course, if you have to wear most of the contents of your suitcase to get on the airplane, whether or not the seat lays flat may not matter that much.

Nightflyer

I hope the crew members who have experienced this have expressed their displeasure to the company and the union.

flextodaline

.....where's all the "my union speaks for me" lanyards now?

Adlerdriver

Well, if that's true and it really meets the CBA lay flat definition, then I guess we're hosed. The "Best" fare on the flight allows for two 23 Kg bags. Can't tell if that means one 46 Kg is an option. My "two-weeker" usually weighs in under 20 Kg, so I guess I'd be ok as far as baggage.

When I contacted the airline, they told me they didn't have lay flat on their 340s at this time. Maybe they're upgrading in the future. This DH doesn't go until 8 Jun. Creative wording can make one of those old angled seats sound like a true 180 lay flat. So, I guess we'll have to get more details or have someone play guinea pig and report back.

Bottom line (if it's truly lay flat) is a bare bones airline that meets the new CBA language and results in less $$ in the travel bank for deviation. Looking at tickets available from CGN, DUS or FRA (as a sample), I couldn't deviate and get to my huge home airport on AA (or any other airline) without overshooting the bank by at least $200 (unless I was willing to fly 1.5 hours in the wrong direction to Warsaw first).

Fdxlag2

EW1100 on June 8 best seat includes:

Exclusive area with extra spacious legroom
Premium seat with comfortably adjustable backrest
Leg and foot rest (for comfortable sitting and lounge position)
Cushion and blanket for your comfort
Free entertainment programme on personal HD screen

For a €100 you can upgrade one of your bags to 32 kg.

Adlerdriver

Seems like if it was a flat bed seat, they would say that.

I know I can't sleep in either a "comfortable sitting or lounge position". No flat bed that meets the CBA definition and no Business class or First class ("Best" doesn't count) means this deadhead is not in compliance with our contract.

This is no different than being scheduled on a domestic DH over 5 hours that require a higher class of service on SWA. That doesn't happen. They don't have first class and don't meet the CBA. Therefore, we don't see MEM-MDW-OAK deadheads on SWA.

Fdxlag2

I am sure it will all be explained in the sig notes.

Rock

https://thepointsguy.com/2017/12/eurowings-lie-flat-business-seats/

Lufthansa bought Eurowings and operates it as their low fare offshoot. The seats are the same as the new business class on Lufthansa A340’s, which are fully lie flat.
The only possible bright side is that there is a reason low budget airlines like Norwegian don’t offer actual lie flat business class (or airlines like SWA and Frontier don’t offer business class at all) and it’s because it’s really hard to make money on it. That’s one of the reasons Air Berlin went bankrupt. So now Lufthansa gave Eurowings one of the least profitable aircraft in the industry (A340) and added a low profit business class so the airplanes can fly the same routes Air Berlin flew before going bankrupt. I’m not liking their odds of long term survival.

Adlerdriver

Thanks for the info, Rock. I really don't care what their seat is like since I'll never ride on that aircraft. It meets the CBA "higher class" criteria which defeats any argument we can muster. So, like I said, we're hosed.

Cheap fares = low deviation banks. A bad result all around. So, some of us will end up trying to get home from JFK on the domestic remnants of the day two travel bank $$. I'll either bid to avoid or pay the extra to go direct to my home airport and hope to cover the deficit with DBA or Hotel cancellation funds. Whatever ends up out of pocket I'll just have to convince myself is worth avoiding JFK for a connection.

As you said, maybe their possible demise is down the road at some point.

Rock

I agree. Unfortunately, it’s not just the low budget carriers from Europe. The AA accepted fare from LAX to HKG is under $1500 and the Delta fare from LAX to PVG is the same. Makes the Eurowings ticket look pricey.