Question on Lufthansa medium-haul economy class

summersso · Post by **summersso** » 10 Jun 2007, 01:59

Am planning a trip to the Caucasus in August, have checked out flight prices which are around 600-700 euros return.

I'd like to know whether or not it's worth paying an extra 100euros to fly a Lufthansa A330 from Baku to Frankfurt then on to Brussels, rather than an old airBaltic 737 or Austrian A319 via Riga or Vienna respectively?

I've had a look at airlinequality.com and not read many positive comments about Lufthansa recently - has service really declined that badly?! I guess there are no seat-back TV's on their A330s and food seems pretty average.

Can anybody help me and give me some tips on whether it's worth it and if so, what to expect...?! Thanks in advance.

sab319 · Post by **sab319** » 10 Jun 2007, 11:33

I don't really think Lufthansa is worth the extra €100, iirc they used the oldest and most run down A330's (when they still had the ex SN/SR -200's) to central asian destinations, so don't expect too much of it.

summersso · Post by **summersso** » 11 Jun 2007, 13:40

Thanks for that. I checked airfleets and it seems Lufthansa's A330s are their youngest average age aircraft - only 2.9 years, so can't be all that bad. But on the whole not convinced by Lufthansa and their slipping standards.

chunk · Post by **chunk** » 12 Jun 2007, 11:03

Treat airlinequality.com with not a grain, but a bag of salt. Bear in mind that people only complain if something happens to them and even then they embeliish the 'facts'. Who writes to these sites to say they had a perfectly satisfactory experience? No-one. Maybe, if service is beyond good, then someone will write but other wise they don't.

This is of course the same website that gives airlines 5 star status....not quite sure how they guage it but i suspect it ain't for free. I can;t work out for example how KLM is a 3 star and AF is a 4 star. I travel on both and they are as good (or bad!) as eachother in my view. Qatar Airways a 5 star? Maybe in first but using QR i have been bumped from Business to Economy - and economy was no better than anyone else in that region.

chrisflyer · Post by **chrisflyer** » 13 Jun 2007, 17:03

My girlfriend and I happen to be going to the Caucasus for three weeks in August. We are booked on AirBaltic Brussels-Riga-Baku outbound, and Tbilisi-Riga-Brussels return. In all, about 550 EUR (although we booked a few weeks ago).

I've never flown on AirBaltic but they seem all right. In addition, we get to spend the entire first day in Riga.

The other two realistic options were LH and OS. We considered them because of the shorter flight times when compared to the routing via Riga, but eventually went for AirBaltic. That being said, you can't go wrong with LH. Their A333s are very fine aircraft. I experienced one of them on MUC-DEL-MUC in November. First rate. LH's service, as usual, not too exceptional but efficient.

Happy landings,

Chris

summersso · Post by **summersso** » 13 Jun 2007, 23:43

Thanks Chris - looks like you had the same choices as me. airBaltic are around 500euros (actually 475euros out to TBS on 1st August, returning from Baku on 23rd August), Aeroflot are 550euros and OS/LH 650euros. The day in Riga is actually one thing that puts me off - Riga's a cool city with some fine restaurants! - but I don't think I can afford to waste a day of my precious holiday there

. Unfortunately Aeroflot also involves a six hour layover in SVO...