Lufthansa Finally Starts Selling Allegris Business Class on 787s — But There’s a Catch

Lufthansa’s premium flyers have been stuck in a strange limbo for a while. The airline’s much-hyped Allegris business class product has been flying on Boeing 787 Dreamliners, but in many cases, passengers couldn’t actually buy most of the seats.

The plane was in the air, the cabin was installed, but you often couldn’t book it properly.

Now, Lufthansa says it’s finally opening up sales for most Allegris business class seats on its Dreamliners, including using points and miles. That’s real progress, and it’s something many premium travelers and points enthusiasts have been waiting for.

However, there’s still no guarantee you’ll be able to use cash or points for an Allegris business seat. Let’s take a look.

What’s Been Happening With Allegris on the Boeing 787?

Lufthansa unveiled Allegris as its next-generation long-haul product more than a year ago, promising major upgrades across business, premium economy, and first class. The centerpiece was a fully redesigned business class with multiple seat types, better privacy, and more customization.

The cabin looked fantastic in the flesh, but its rollout has been painfully slow.

Some Airbus A350s and Boeing 787-9s have been delivered with Allegris cabins, and the airline has started a retrofit program to update existing aircraft to its new flagship product.

However, certification and technical issues meant Lufthansa couldn’t initially sell many of the seats. Large portions of the business class cabin were blocked, leaving only a handful of bookable seats on each flight.

So even if you found a flight operated by an Allegris-equipped aircraft, chances were high that you’d be stuck in a limited seat pool or shut out entirely.

For travelers trying to use miles or upgrade, it was even worse.

What’s Changing Now, and What’s Still Limited?

Earlier in February, Lufthansa confirmed that 25 of 28 Allegris business class seats on the Boeing 787-9 would be available for booking on departures starting April 15. Two weeks later, after making more progress with certification, this date has been brought forward to March 29, 2026. In practical terms, that means most of the previously blocked seats are now open for sale.

Passengers booking eligible 787 flights should now see a much fuller seat map, with access to:

• Standard business class seats
• Extra-space “suite” style seats
• Window seats with enhanced privacy

However, “most” does not mean “all.” The 3 seats in row 2 remain restricted. These sit behind the coveted Business Class Suite Plus seats, one of which shows as available to book on some Allegris-equipped 787-9s.

There’s also another important wrinkle: Some of the best Allegris seats come with extra fees. For example, you can expect to pay $588 (or more or less, depending on the route) to sit in the aforementioned Suite Plus.

However, the seat map for this Allegris-equipped 787-9 from Frankfurt (FRA) to Austin (AUS) on February 26 was showing as “free of charge” when checked on the afternoon of February 25. This could suggest that Lufthansa opens these seats to Miles and More elites within a certain period before departure.

Lufthansa also charges at least $165 for the privilege of sitting in an Extra Long Bed seat. So, yes, you might finally be able to book the seat, but you may have to pay more to pick the best one.

What This Means for Award Travelers

This update matters even more if you’re booking Lufthansa business class with miles.

Historically, when Lufthansa blocks seats, award availability suffers. With more inventory now open, we should start seeing better access through Star Alliance partners like United Airlines and Air Canada.

That said, don’t expect a flood of saver awards overnight.

Lufthansa is known for tightly controlling premium award space, especially on new products. While availability may improve, it will likely be route-dependent and inconsistent at first. Your best bet will remain booking through Lufthansa’s own Miles & More program.

We took a look for ourselves, and it was impossible to find any business class availability to Austin, where Lufthansa will send its Allegris-equipped Dreamliners starting March 29. However, the new Allegris Premium Economy seats are readily available from 52,173 miles and a cool $474 in taxes and fees.

It was easier to find availability on the Frankfurt-JFK route. The 5:15 p.m. departure below is an Allegris-equipped aircraft, and business class is available for a reasonable 48,486 miles. The kicker, however, is the $759 in taxes and fees.

And from JFK to Munich, redemptions were both harder to come by and far more expensive — 116,1150 miles and $1,129 in taxes and fees is pretty steep.

The process of finding availability via Miles and More was made even slower, thanks to the message below sometimes appearing 4 or 5 times in a row whenever even a small edit to a search was made, such as changing a date.

If you’re hunting for award space to book Allegris seats, you should try the following:

• Less competitive routes
• Midweek flights
• Far-out booking windows

Most importantly, flexibility will still be key.

Final Thoughts

This is genuine progress, and it’s long overdue.

Lufthansa is finally moving Allegris on the 787 from “technically installed but practically useless” to something travelers can actually book and enjoy. That’s good news for cash passengers, elite members, and points collectors alike.

Still, the familiar Lufthansa pattern remains. Some seats are still blocked. Some cost extra. Award space is uncertain. And the rollout remains uneven.

If you’ve been holding off on booking a Lufthansa Dreamliner flight because of Allegris uncertainty, now is the time to start checking again. Just read the seat map carefully, watch for fees, and don’t assume every premium option will be available.

After all this waiting, it’s great to finally see movement. Let’s just hope Lufthansa can finish what it started.