For the return leg of our Good Morning Milan, Goodnight Moon journey, my father and I traveled in Lufthansa’s Airbus A340-600 first class from Frankfurt to Boston. Before delving into the flight itself, I want to address my unfortunate experience with Lufthansa first class seats not functioning properly.
Individually, this wasn’t a significant issue, yet it marked the second (or by certain counts, third) consecutive flight where something similar occurred. It certainly makes one question if I’m just extraordinarily unlucky, or something else entirely…
Lufthansa contacted me a day prior to my first class flight
I redeemed Air Canada Aeroplan points at the last moment for our Lufthansa first class tickets from Frankfurt to Boston. The cabin is designed with eight seats, and considering the seats that were still available during booking, I opted for 2G and 2K — my dad preferred a window seat, so I reserved 2K for him, while I chose the center aisle seat across from him, 2G.
I assigned my dad to seat 2K in Lufthansa first class
The afternoon before departure, I received a call from Lufthansa… oh no! That’s generally not a positive indication. The courteous agent informed me that the seat I had selected was malfunctioning and offered me the choice of the remaining available seats. At this point, options were limited, so I was reassigned to seat 2D, the center aisle seat on the opposite side. Not exactly perfect, but it would have to do.
Luckily, once aboard, I found that seat 2G could actually be used; it just lacked electrical power and was unusable for takeoff and landing. This meant I could still sit across from my dad while dining, and I could utilize the other seat when I wanted to recline.
Seat 1A was also inoperative, leading the individual who reserved it to move across the aisle to seat 1D. It’s somewhat embarrassing that two out of eight first class seats were not operational.
What exacerbates the situation is that the aircraft had been grounded for most of the two weeks leading up to the flight, raising concerns about how long they had been aware of these issues. We were flying on December 16, 2025, on the plane with the registration code D-AIHW:
– On December 1, the plane made its journey from Boston to Frankfurt, landing on December 2
– After 11 days on the ground, on December 13, it flew from Frankfurt to Boston and back to Frankfurt
– On December 14, the plane was meant to fly to New York but diverted to Shannon due to a medical issue, then returned to Frankfurt, staying there for two days
So, I’m uncertain when the seats actually failed, but considering a plane that successfully undertook only two flights in the previous two weeks (excluding the diversion), it seems one would expect adequate cabin maintenance, particularly if they were aware of the issue well ahead of time.
Lufthansa first class cabin maintenance is an opportunity
I wouldn’t think much of this situation, except for…
While having two of eight first class seats out of order seems unfortunate, I wouldn’t necessarily jump to many conclusions from that. Nonetheless, for my dad’s scheduled travel in Lufthansa first class, this marked the third consecutive “strike.”
During the summer, my dad and I were booked to fly Lufthansa Allegris first class, but upon arriving at the airport, we discovered that one of the three first class seats was completely inoperative, resulting in one passenger needing to be downgraded (and I would say the handling of that situation was quite poor, regarding communication and attitude).
We also encountered Lufthansa Allegris first class problems
My dad’s last booked Lufthansa first class journey prior to that was in the summer of 2024, from Boston to Munich. The night before, he was informed about an aircraft swap, which meant first class was no longer an option. Thankfully, we managed to make the best of it, successfully rebooking him in SWISS first class, which I would consider a win.
I suspect it’s merely a streak of bad luck on our part, but I think we can agree that having three consecutive flights where first class seats do not function as intended is certainly not an ideal situation.
Bottom line
My dad and I flew Lufthansa first class from Frankfurt to Boston, and the seat I originally secured turned out to be broken, alongside another seat in the cabin. While that’s not perfect, it’s also not the worst situation, except for the fact that it felt eerily similar.
On the previous Lufthansa first class trip I undertook with my dad, there was also a broken seat, and that scenario was worse, as it necessitated a downgrade for one passenger since it was the new Allegris cabin.