Airline’s new plane seats mean you can recline without ever annoying other passengers
GERMAN airline Lufthansa has introduced new plane seats that can recline without annoying other passengers, ending an age-old debate.
While most airlines across Europe are cutting features in their economy class seats, Lufthansa upgraded its premium economy seats last year.
The premium economy seats, which look more like business class seats, were rolled out on some of its aircraft last year.
At the end of December, the airline posted a video showcasing the features of its new seats on Instagram.
The video highlights five features of the new seats, including a three-point seatbelt, a cocktail table for drinks, and an armrest where phones can be charged wirelessly.
Its best feature by far is how passengers can recline the seat without disturbing other passengers in the row behind.
When seats are reclined on planes it often cuts the space of the passenger behind, which can be highly annoying.
However, the hard shell surrounding the new premium economy seats on Lufthansa flights doesn’t move.
Inside the hard shell cube, the seats can recline freely with the touch of a button, so it’s a win-win for all passengers.
Passengers in premium economy are also given neck pillows and blankets.
Other added perks include USB charging ports, noise-cancelling headphones and a 15.6-inch screen featuring Bluetooth connectivity.
The business class style seats were rolled out in premium economy cabins, which means holidaymakers can travel like business class passengers without the hefty price tag.
The upgrade was praised by passengers in the comments, with one person writing: “Now, that’s what I call premium economy. Well done, Lufthansa.”
Another added: “I hate reclining in economy, this is a very good upgrade”.
A third person wrote: “It looks like Business Class”.
The new seats are part of the new Allegris cabins, which were rolled out on A350 and 787 aircraft.
Lufthansa is also set to redesign its over cabins, giving more overhead luggage space.
Dubbed the Airspace L Bins, the German airline is set to fit the L Bins in all of the A320 aircraft from January 2025.
Meanwhile, Turkish Airlines has revealed plans for free WiFi for all passengers.
All of the fleet will be equipped with the newest in-flight connectivity (IFC) tech by the end of next year.
Are reclining plane seats dying out?
DESPITE Lufthansa introducing reclining plane seats that won’t annoy other passengers, other airlines seem to be scrapping the feature.
A number of airlines are reducing how much seats can recline, or even scrapping seats that recline on flights entirely.
Budget airlines scrapped the option for passengers to put their seats back years ago, with Ryanair ditching the option back in 2004.
This is less of a problem for travellers, as the flights are often short haul and never overnight – so the need to get comfy to sleep isn’t an issue.
But other airlines that offer longer flights and ones where shut-eye is a must are also quietly removing the function.
Instead, seats are “pre-reclined” so they operate between fully upright and fully reclined.
Jet2 was one of the first to utilize this back in 2009, with new technology at the time created by Acro allowing the middle-ground seats.
British Airways flights that are shorter than four hours also have the “pre-reclined seats” while Delta seat reclines were reduced from four inches to just two inches back in 2019, along with United, American Airlines and Southwest Airlines.
And Finnair even introduced a new business class seat that had no recline function, which Sun Online Travel tried out.
Make sure to check behind you before doing it too, with horror stories including broken noses and smashed laptops.
And a plane expert has revealed the magic phrase you can use to stop people reclining in front of you in the meantime.