Review: Lufthansa A350 Allegris business class suite

Lufthansa’s new Allegris business class presents a very different way to think about your travel experience.

There’s not just one Lufthansa Allegris business class seat, but as many as eight – although these are essentially variations of a ‘core’ product with the same solid set of shared features.

Lufthansa's Allegris business class cabin.

Do you want more privacy? Extra legroom? More space to work or relax? How about sharing a pair of middle seats with your partner?

Seats to suit in Lufthansa's Allegris business class cabin.

Those are all part of the Allegris puzzle, although Lufthansa sees this more as a solution to avoid the sameness of business class and letting travellers choose a seat to suit their needs beyond ‘window or aisle’.

For now, selecting any seat in Lufthansa's A350 Allegris business class remains free of charge.

Read more: Your guide to Lufthansa’s new A350 business class

But the prize pick will be the private suites in the very first row of the business class cabin – and that’s where I found myself when Executive Traveller joined the inaugural flight of the first Lufthansa A350 with Allegris business class (as well as next-gen premium economy recliners and refined economy seats).

The middle two of the four Allegris business class suites in the first row of the A350 cabin.

Lufthansa A350 Allegris suite: what’s different?

The Allegris suites are differentiated from other Allegris business class seats in five key ways:

• 140cm-tall walls and a sliding door for privacy
• a larger footprint, delivering more space plus better legroom for sleeping
• 27” (68cm) video screen, compared to the usual 18” (45cm) panels (note that the solo or ‘throne’  seats also sport a 27” monitor)
• personal wardrobe
• additional storage pockets, including a ‘mini-bar’ compartment that’s really just a non-chilled nook for two bottles of water (as seen below)

The 'mini-bar' in Lufthansa's A350 Allegris business class double suite.

Given all these extras, it’s understandable that as the Allegris rollout gathers speed Lufthansa will charge extra to choose these suites – as it will for most other Allegris variants, with entry-level fares assigned to the aisle-adjacent ‘window’ seats.

This aisle-facing window seat will eventually carry the baseline price for Lufthansa's Allegris business class, with all other seats costing more.

The airline has yet to reveal how much more you’ll pay for the suite life, or even if these will be primo private pews will be complimentary for its top-tier Senator and HON Circle frequent flyers.

But for now, at least, every type of Allegris business class seat is free for passengers to choose when making their booking or any time after.

There are four Allegris business suites in the front row of each business class cabin, delivering eight suites on the A350 (which has two business class cabins) and four on the single-cabin Boeing 787.

One of the two dedicated Allegris business class 'solo' suites in the first row of the A350 cabin.

Each row has two single suites by the window, while the middle pair sports a divider which can be slid out of the way for sociability and sharing the journey with your partner.

Room for two: Lufthansa's A350 Allegris business class 'double' suite.

While this creates a very open ‘double suite’ mode, you don’t get the ‘double bed experience’ of Singapore Airlines’ equivalent A380 business class seats or Qatar Airways’ Qsuites.

Of course, there’s no constraint on choosing either of these middle suites if you’re travelling solo: just keep that divider closed and things will be as private as you’ll get without being in first class.

Closed and cosy: Lufthansa's A350 Allegris business class suite.

And yes, the A350 will have its own Allegris first class cabin sitting just ahead of business class, with three fully-enclosed suites – including a spacious ‘double suite’ designed for couples traveling together.

However, those suites are awaiting certification from the European aviation regulator, so they won’t be seen on the A350s until the end of this year.

Lufthansa A350 Allegris suite: first impressions

On Lufthansa’s inaugural Allegris A350 flight, I was assigned seat 2D – one of the middle Allegris suites – and as I settled into the suite, I was immediately struck by the sheer amount of space.

The spacious Allegris business class suite is framed by high walls and sliding privacy doors.

There’s insane legroom for anybody but a professional basketballer, and even with the door facing the aisle closed I didn’t feel hemmed in or claustrophobic – instead, my suite was more like a cosy little cocoon above the clouds.

No shortage of legroom in Lufthansa's A350 Allegris business class suites.

As I explored the Allegris suite, it became obvious how well all this space has been used.

One of the Allegris business class 'solo' suites.

One of the Allegris business class 'solo' suites.

That’s actually a central theme of Allegris: Lufthansa has tapped the entire width of the aircraft cabin and even leveraged the relationship between the seats to customise the basic business class seat design at least a half-dozen different ways.

The 'throne' seat in Lufthansa's Allegris business class cabin.

In the case of the Allegris suites, there are handy cupboards and compartments for keeping assorted personal items – laptops, tablets and phones, headphones and cables, books and magazines, reading glasses, amenity kits – close at hand yet out of the way until you need them. It’s a clutter-free approach to make Marie Kondo proud.

Plenty of storage spaces in Lufthansa's A350 Allegris business class suite.

It’s also worth noting that the first of the A350’s two business class cabins, although not the second, does away with the central overhead bins to emphasise the jet’s roominess. Thankfully  the above-window bins have ample room for everyone’s carry-on bags.

The first Allegris business class cabin in the A350 lacks overhead bins to emphasise the sense of space.

And while the suites at either side (the A and K suites) have a personal wardrobe at the front of the suite, next to the video screen...

The personal wardrobe of Lufthansa's A350 Allegris business class 'solo' suite.

... the wardrobe for each of the two middle suites (D and G) is found outside the suite, being built into the wall between business and first cabins.

The personal wardrobe of Lufthansa's A350 Allegris business class 'double' suite.

Let’s hope Lufthansa cabin crew don’t mistake this as a closet for hanging the coats of other Allegris passengers.

Directly ahead of each Allegris suite passenger is that massive 27” monitor pumping out the pixels at a vivid super-sharp 4K.

This screen, like the removable touchscreen tablet mounted in the wall next to the seat, also drives seat settings such as recline and cushion firmness, lighting within the suite and even the clever automotive-derived heating and cooling system – more on that in a moment.

However, while the screen showed Lufthansa’s rich inflight entertainment library to best effect, the live feed from the A350’s external cameras proved disappointingly choppy and out of sync.

This large and surprisingly heavy tablet is docked into the side of each Allegris seat.

While the supplied AEG headphones do the job for sound quality and noise cancellation, it’s far more rewarding and quite effortless to pair up your own noise-cancelling headphones or earbuds via Bluetooth.

Other tech tricks of Allegris business class include sensibly-located AC, USB-A and USB-C sockets plus a wireless charging pad built into the bench.

Every Lufthansa Allegris business class seat includes a bevy of charging options.

With the USB-C outlet rated at 60 watts it’s sufficient to charge up a 13” laptop, although larger notebooks will simply hold their battery level when in use, or slowly and slightly recharge at other times.

Should you wish to join your laptop in sleep mode during your flight, Allegris business class will get you from A to B with plenty of Zzz’s.

Stretch out on Lufthansa's 2m+ Allegris business class bed.

Every Allegris business class seat folds down to become a 2m long bed, with extra room at either end of the suite setup, while the ‘extra-long’ seat nestled behind each solo throne seat gives you 2.2m from head to toe, as well as more width if you’re a side-sleeper.

Stretch out on Lufthansa's 2m+ Allegris business class bed.

There’s less wiggle-room in most other Allegris business class seats, and any footwell tucked under the seat in front can be tight-fitting, with the actual size and shape of this space depending on the seat variant.

Lufthansa A350 Allegris business class.

Again, this is where the bulkhead-facing suites come out trumps.

There are no obstructions for your feet in the Allegris business class suites.

Lufthansa’s bedding kit includes a mattress pad (on flights over 10 hours), soft blanket and large pillow, and oddly, you’re handed a cotton-blent ‘sleep shirt’ pullover but no PJ bottoms.

To help you stay really comfortable, each Allegris seat includes an impressive temperature control system which especially in the suites pretty much creates a personalised micro-climate.

There are no overhead air vents: instead, a small directional nozzle is set into one side of each Allegris business class seat, with responsive touch controls for the speed of a diffused airflow.

A clever touch: each Allegris business class seat includes this personal air vent.

Meanwhile, the seat itself can also be kept cool or warm, again adjusted to your preference.

Lufthansa A350 Allegris suite: the verdict

Lufthansa’s front-row Allegris business class suite is in the same vein as other ‘business plus’ offerings from Air New Zealand and Virgin Atlantic, and soon American Airlines.

And while lacking companion seating, it’s got just about everything else for the most premium experience possible in a business class cabin.

David Flynn travelled to Germany as a guest of Lufthansa