Lufthansa Business Class--which aircraft type

Business Class on long-haul routes
Feel good right from the start

With Lufthansa Business Class, you’ll reach your destination feeling well-rested. Relax before your flight in the Lufthansa Business Lounges and then enjoy the first-rate service on board. The new Lufthansa Business Class seat can be converted into a fully flat bed that is almost two metres long – just the thing for relaxing during a long flight. The open-plan design, the seating arrangement and the subtle, natural colour scheme create a surprisingly spacious feel.

https://www.lufthansa.com/us/en/lufthansa-business-class-on-long-haul-routes

Actually, it should be straightforward to find out what type of aircraft is used for any given flight (at least what type of aircraft is typically scheduled for that flight -- airlines can and do make changes, so there's never a guarantee). Look for the specific flight (by starting the booking process), it will say something like Airbus A330-300 (that's for LH 491 on Friday 5/20). You can look up the seat map right there on the Lufthansa website, or there are lots of other places (seatguru.com, and aerolopa.com - aerolopa is way better with more detail, though does not show planes for every airline; seatguru is often right but sometimes wrong and/or out of date, but has "user comments" which are often way out of date or just rants from crazy people). Looks like Lufthansa is not selling tickets for business class on that flight on Friday 5/20 (presumably it's full) but the same flight a week later is selling business class seats, and it will show the seat map for that exactIy matches the configuration shown on the 3rd-party websites below:

Look...
https://www.aerolopa.com/lh-333
https://seatguru.com/airlines/Lufthansa/Lufthansa_Airbus_A330-300_D.php

Now, not every "business class" seat is lay-flat. It looks to me like the seats in question are indeed lay-flat (although the 2-2-2 seats do not all have direct access to the aisle), but they appear to have sold out business class...that might explain the message you're getting. So you may not have the option for any business class seat, at least right now (I don't know), but you might be able to "bid" on a seat in case someone is a no-show, but right now it looks like all those seats are sold.

Note that Lufthansa has multiple (different) cabin configurations (according to SeatGuru; aeroLOPA only shows a single configuration, which looks like the most recent variant). Lufthansa's own seat map is probably accurate, but aircraft swaps do happen.

Hope that helps.

Use seatguru.com to reconfirm that seat type. LH is not a great airline for business travel, sadly. They still offer 2-2-2 configuration in business class.

Thanks, David.
I am on the 5/20 flight LH 491 and have the opportunity to bid for an upgrade to Business. It is in the upgrade fine print that it states this aircraft configuration does not have lie flat beds. I was hoping for the future to find which aircraft used by Lufthansa do offer "Lie-flat."

I can try seat guru for the future, maybe the comments. I am not sure the seat pictures will have enough detail for me to distinguish. I am more a word than a picture person.

Again, thanks for your help.

So Joe32F,
Looks like from the link you included only the A350-900 have lie-flat beds? They are the only one listed. I am not sure whether this aircraft is used by Lufthansa for the Seattle to Frankfurt flight.

Thanks for you assistance.

Ok, I checked Seatguru and it states the 330-300 has lie-flat beds but that contradicts what Lufthansa states. The other site listed showed a configuration but did not describe the seats. By the pictures they might be lie-flat.

Thanks, all.

The link is for ALL long haul biz class. The distinction for the a350 is, all seats have direct aisle access.

On the a330, you have to 'crawl over' to get to the aisle, is how I read it

All Lufthansa's mainline widebodies have lie-flat seats. Period. They had a very consistent style of seat (lacking direct aisle access for the window seats) until the very recent addition of some new a350s with 1-2-1 seats in biz.

The question of why you got the message is a different matter. My only guess is that maybe it's being operated by a different carrier? (But even their newer discount brand is just old LH plane, with that 2-2-2 lie-flat. ) I saw that you posted dates and flight numbers... I'll look further...

So, via Expert Flier, a site for which I pay for access, I looked at the fare-code inventory remaining. The plane is an a330-300, as expected, and it is the mainline fleet. It has 42 lie-flat business class seats. All fare categories for both Business and Premium Economy are completely sold out.

Deborah, I suspect that the message you're getting about being unable to upgrade is just poorly written (or, poorly translated.)

@joe32F Only LH's newest a350s have 1-2-1 seating. Like, so new they just got the first one a couple of weeks ago.

And this isn't even a seat Lufthansa chose. They bought the planes on the cheap when the original buyer went bankrupt and didn't bother putting their own seats in. That was Philippine Airlines' seat style.

So here are the relevant parts from the bid page:
The Lufthansa Business Class seat transforms into an almost 2-metre-long fully flat bed - ideal if you wish to relax during a long haul flight**

**Lie flat beds are not available for flights from /to GYD, ASB, CAI, TUN, ALG, AGA, RAK, CMN, EBL, TLV, VDA, AMM, BEY and all EU destinations due to the operated aircraft type.

Think about what that last quoted text says. It says they have NO lay-flat seats on ANY flights to ANY destination in the EU. That's nonsense. Something was lost in translation, or their lawyers (or web developers) are smoking something.

Here's what I'm guessing they meant to say:

Lie-flat beds are not available for flights from /to GYD, ASB, CAI, TUN, ALG, AGA, RAK, CMN, EBL, TLV, VDA, AMM, BEY and may not be available to all EU destinations due to the operated aircraft type.

In other words: forget a lay-flat seat for the listed airports (located around North Africa and the Middle East), and don't count on it anywhere else if there's an aircraft swap. Aircraft swaps happen, so don't sue us.

Just a guess. But text that says there are no lay-flat seats at all to any destination in the EU is just bat-guano crazy on its face.

This appears to all be moot, though, as your flight looks to be full in business (unless there's a no-show).

I finally called Lufthansa and after a long wait had a chat with a nice representative who showed me seating maps--"which I had already seen. Finally, he called Seattle and talked to someone there who assured him that all the seats in Business class were lie flat. We think by "EU destinations" it means from one EU destination to another EU destination.

I guess I will bid. If I win, I will find out.

Many thanks for everyone's help.

**Lie flat beds are not available for flights from /to GYD, ASB, CAI, TUN, ALG, AGA, RAK, CMN, EBL, TLV, VDA, AMM, BEY and all EU destinations due to the operated aircraft type.

Stike "all", insert "between". That's the error here. Not available between EU destinations.

No lie-flat between Munich and Madrid, Berlin to Brussels, Frankfurt to Florance. Those are all operated by narrow-body planes with only "euro business" seats—lucky they even recline.

Doesn't change the fact that the cabin is sold out, so unless there are significant calculations, chances look slim for your upgrade, Deborah.

David and Scudder,
You are correct. It is now moot. There was, however, when I started the conversation an opportunity to bid. Apparently while I was trying to find an answer Lufthansa sold the last seat.

Well at least now I know for any future flights.