NEWS FLASH
Lufthansa will reduce frequencies on its Munich – Belgrade service during the peak summer period. In July, September and October, the carrier will operate nineteen weekly flights on the route, down from the initially planned twenty, while in August services will run mostly eighteen times per week. Compared to last summer, the airline will operate one fewer weekly rotation in July and two fewer in August, while frequencies in September and October will remain in line with last year’s levels.
That's good news in my book.
ReplyDelete???
DeleteSome people have no love for LH
DeleteSome people have no love for JU
DeleteLufthansa is reducing capacity to Belgrade. Those passengers will not be flying on LH but JU or other airlines.
DeleteThis is because of the direct flights to Toronto. A lot of us were flying through Germany on the way to BEG from YYZ. I looked at my invoice and was always billed airport fees for Germany. With those fees removed I thought that the flights would be cheaper...they are not.
ReplyDeleteNonstop flights are in most cases everywhere more expensive than transfers.
DeleteTrue. A lot of people would rather pay for the convenience of not transferring. I notice that AC offers destinations within Canada at significantly higher rates if the flight is direct as opposed to being with a connection. For the JU flights to YYZ I was hoping that the flights would not be several hundred dollars more expensive - it makes it harder to select when paying for my wife and three kids; paying $250 each for five people brings the total to $1,250.00 more than the indirect route. To top it off, I'd collect a lot of points with Aeroplan for the flight, which lets me select a premium seat for free, get lounge access and free wifi. JU still hasn't rolled out the frequent flyer program, which I would be more than happy to join.
DeleteWell you always have the option to fly with Air Canada/Star with one stop.
Delete250 difference is not much. You get an extra bag, avoid EU entering regulation and rude AC flight crew and ground staff. Plus in case of any delays you do not need to worry about the connection. I got a grea deal YYZ BEG on Feb 05 for a direct flight 1276 and my child rate was 1011.
Delete@16:15 That $1,250 may sound a lot until you look at the overall round trip costs of approx 7700CAD with LH, 8950CAD with JU. Nonstop flight is only 16% more expensive but they won't have to wake you and the kids in the middle of the night for landing in MUC, you won't have to move around the airport hauling cabbin baggage for 5 people, once again clear security, board another aicraft and lose 4-5 hours more than with direct flight. Paying 16% premium for that is not too much for a lot of people. You will likely give higher percentage as a tip in a Toronto restaurant anyway.
DeleteYou can also exchange Aeroplan points for Air Serbia tickets. Not the best conversion rates, but worth exploring.
Delete@16:15 So you would get a free premium seat and lounge upgrade for yourself and keep your wife and 3 kids in economy and regular boarding?! Lol
DeleteYou also avoid the risk of Lufthansa strikes and being stuck with whole family.
DeleteMUC doesn't require going through security in transit. If it did, I would be more than happy to pay even double for my tickets to avoid that experience. Good point about the new EU entry rules.
DeleteHaving Star Alliance lounge access in MUC is pure joy. That $1,250.00 you save goes a long way in either BEG or even YYZ.
DeleteFRA certainly does require security check on YYZ-FRA-BEG transfer.
DeleteArgument that transfer is better than nostop due to lounge access is laughable. I know a guy who once put together a first class trip with QR just to to experience Al Safwa lounge in Doha but that was one-time, cross that item off the bucket list thing, but no sane passengers with 3 kids in a tow would prefer MUC lounge access over nonstop. None. Besides, Air Serbia will provide lounge access at both ends, BEG and YYZ. It's not like only LH has lounges :D
I can see that you are now firmly on a mission to justify your $1250 savings, but it will always remain just 16% savings, so coupled with other facts mentioned above you will lose your battle all the time. Hundred percent.
JU should step in and launch MUC. Daily flights with E195 would work for sure.
ReplyDeleteLufthansa has removed 1 weekly flight for 2 months compared to last year.
DeleteYes, Mutti Lufti needs proper feeding.
DeleteOur gasto people use W6 to Memmingen, others are LH transfers
LOL, sounds like no need for flights to FRA because Hahn is "close by".
Delete^ you have no clue what the passenger structure is on any of these flights
Delete^ actually it is you who is completely clueless about anything related to aviation.
DeleteFrankfurt is totally different. The Frankfurt airport train station is close to smack in the country and has high speed trains to anywhere in Germany stopping all the time. JU can fill that flight with people going to random places throughout Germany (plus if course the usual o&d and transfers on the ju side). Nothing like this works in Munich
DeleteI regularly travel to Vancouver from MNE (Tivat), at least twice during the summer IATA season. I usually fly LH to FRA or MUC, and it ends up being cheap for me. I should mention that I get a crew discount (not from the Star Alliance group, but I still get a discount).
ReplyDeleteI'm using TIV-FRA or TIV-MUC... although ASL also gives me a discount as a former employee... it works out cheaper for me this way(with LH)
DeleteBy far the worst airline in Europe. Two years ago on a flight from BEG to FRA we did not even get a bottle of water in economy. And a year prior our domestic flight from Frankfurt to Hamburg was delayed by four hours due to ground handling problems in Hamburg.
ReplyDeleteFrankfurt is a horrible hub as well so I no longer fly Lufthansa whatsoever in Europe or when transiting from US.
And now they go in strike.
DeleteI see you obviously haven't flown much with European carriers. lol
DeleteLH is nowhere near the worst.
I was recently on MUC-BEG flight with LH.
DeleteAn airplane was like 20-25 years old, but it was in perfect condition, something that JU should learn. True that you only get a water and piece of chocolate, but we also had an access to Wifi, better addition than food on short flights in my opinion.
So, LH is nowhere near the worst, it is quite average and very convenient to transfer because of its huge network.
Airlines smarter than LH already know wifi is not needed by most passengers on short flights. At most, free SMS and What's App messaging is more than enough for most passengers. JU cabin crew is always frendlier than LH in my experience. You should also learn it's completely different cabin investment for airline with leased A319s leaving fleet in the near future, and for the airline that owns and plans to keep aircraft for another 5 or 10 years. Not to mention huge difference in fleet numbers, access to own facilities for cabin work, supply chain relationships etc.
DeleteI definitely think this has something to do with JU’s Toronto route. Good thing is Air Canada prices now 300-400 less on average for Belgrade via Lufty hubs.
ReplyDeleteDuh. If you checked Air Canada one stop prices for PRG before and after they introduced nonstop flight, or same for BUD before nonstop and now when BUD is announced, you would have noticed price difference between direct and nonstop. What you save in lower ticket price, you pay in lack of convenience, longer overall travel times, hassle at transfer airport etc. Direct flights are superior for most passengers. If they were not, AC wouldn't have launched PRG and BUD, would they?
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