Lufthansa – General Information
The national transporter for Germany, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, is the second largest airline in Europe after Air France - KLM. The company was founded in 1926 in Berlin and its name comes from Luft (the German word for "air“), and Hansa (from the name of the medieval Hanseatic trading league). Lufthansa is one of the founding members of the largest airline alliance Star Alliance. It was formed in 1997 with Thai Airways, United Airlines, Air Canada and Scandinavian Airlines System. Lufthansa Group flies with more than 500 airplanes and has more than 100 thousand employees worldwide. In 2008 Lufthansa transported 70.5 million passengers (without considering the subdivisions Germanwings, BMI, AUA, Brussels Airlines).
Subdivisions of Lufthansa or airlines where it is heavily involved are Air Dolomiti, Austrian Airlines, BMI, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings, Germanwings, JetBlue, Lufthansa Cargo, Lufthansa CityLine, Lufthansa Italia, Luxair, SunExpress, Swiss, and Jade Cargo International.
Main Headquarter and Flights
The main base of Lufthansa is the international airport in Frankfurt on Main, and the secondary one is the international airport in Munich. Lufthansa is the fifth largest airline in the world in terms of passengers, flying to 209 destinations in 81 countries. Together with its partners, Lufthansa serves 410 destinations. Lufthansa flies from Sofia to Frankfurt twice per day, to Munich - three times per day, and every day except Saturday to Düsseldorf where one can use its broad network of other destinations.
Fleet
Lufthansa has the third largest fleet for passenger flights in the world - combined with their subdivisions Lufthansa CityLine, Air Dolomiti, Eurowings, Germanwings and SWISS by the end of 2008 it had 515 planes. Lufthansa's fleet consists mainly of Airbus and Boeing, as well as various regional planes (ATR, Avro RJ85, BAe 146, EMBRAER, Cessna, etc.).
Transatlantic Flights
First class is offered on Boeing 747, Airbus A330 and A340. Each seat turns into a six-meter bed, it is possible to power your laptop, as well as the opportunity to watch entertainment programs. Meals are served on request. Lufthansa offers separate check-in counters for this class at most airports, and special lounges at the airports in Munich and Frankfurt, plus a dedicated First Class Terminal in Frankfurt. All planes for long flights of Lufthansa also offer business class. Conditions are almost the same in first class, including the individual counters for business check-in and lounges for business class at most airports.
In the economy class passengers on long flights get food and free drinks. Since 2007, Lufthansa began installing personal screens for audio-video programs in the economy class.
Domestic Flights in Europe
The business class for short flights is offered with all Airbus A300, A319, A320, A321 and B737. Passengers receive meals and drinks, as well as access to special check-in counters and business lounges at airports. Selected aircraft Airbus A300- 600 have business class seats on airplanes for long distances and with them one can fly to medium distances. None of the short flight offers entertainment programs.
On the same planes economy class is also offered, where passengers receive free drinks and food.
Frequent Flyer Program
The frequent flyer program of Lufthansa is a part of Miles & More, as it can be applied for several more European airlines, including Austrian Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines and Swiss. The members of the program can collect miles from every flight of Lufthansa or Star Alliance. The statuses in Miles & More are determined by the number of miles flown within one calendar year with the flights from the given partners. The levels of membership are primary (no minimal threshold), Frequent Traveller (Silver card with threshold 35,000 miles), Senator (Gold Card with threshold 100,000 miles), and HON Circle (black card, 600,000 miles for two calendar years). All levels other than the primary offer lounge access and extra bonus miles. Each higher level extends additional the benefits for the user.
With the Frequent flyer card of Lufthansa one can collect points also from flights with the other airlines of the alliance.
