Lufthansa is continuing the race to the bottom and April seems to be their month to turn the entire group into a high-priced low-cost carrier as the next item on the agenda is no-carry-on fares.

Starting next week, Lufthansa will introduce Economy BASIC Fares that only include one small personal item and no carry-on baggage, with no exception for elite members.

While people were lightheartedly joking in the past that flying Lufthansa feels like hopping on Spirit or Ryanair, they have worked hard to make this into reality, and starting next week, you won’t even have a carry-on anymore on this “premium carrier” that once enjoyed a stellar reputation in the aviation world.

What Lufthansa calls the “New European Fare Concept” is nothing else but a conversion of Lufthansa to nothing less than a budget carrier.

You can access more details on Lufthansa’s website here.

There have been rumors in the past that Lufthansa would soon come out with such a rule and now they probably thought the April has been so bad with the strikes, demolition of Cityline and 20,000 cancellations, let’s do one better and take people’s carry one away when they book cheap fares.

These are the different fares Lufthansa is now going to offer:

What does this mean in reality when you compare the lowest fares?

What is remarkable here is that so far, no exceptions are listed anywhere for elite members of Miles&More or Star Alliance Gold customers. So, anyone who books these BASIC fares is essentially screwed because while I can get by with a carry-on and a personal item combination, just a laptop bag isn’t enough.

Conclusion

When you book Lufthansa flights starting next week, you want to avoid the new BASIC fares that will be introduced, as those will come with very punitive ticket conditions, but also no longer include a carry-on bag.

We will have a look at the exact price differences between Basic and Light fares to see how much Lufthansa values a carry-on.

I don’t like this option at all. A full-service airline should never sell tickets that don’t allow carry-on baggage. That is something unbecoming of a full-service carrier, and when you’re already going to the bottom of the barrel, then why not just fly the lowest-priced budget carrier? What is next, eliminating lounge access on these Basic fares for Senators and HON Circle members?

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