Over the past few days, there has been conflicting information regarding seat reservations within the Lufthansa Group. We first sought to clarify the facts and waited for an official statement.
The main question left open was whether status customers flying long-haul in Economy Light are still allowed to reserve seats free of charge. For a while, it did not look that way. However, Miles&More has now responded positively to an inquiry regarding this matter.
But let us take it step-by-step. What caused the confusion, and what is actually changing now?
Lufthansa Announcement: Seat Changes for a Fee
The starting point for the current reports was a Lufthansa announcement sent to sales partners on July 1, which stated:
Economy Class and Premium Economy Class guests will automatically be assigned a seat (Classic Seat) during check-in. Any change to this seat during online check-in is now only possible for a fee. All Classic Seats available at that time can be selected.
[…]
For HON Circle Members and Senators, the benefits remain unchanged: they can continue to reserve seats in advance free of charge and choose them freely during check-in in all Economy and Premium Economy Class fares (excluding Economy Light and Premium Economy Light).
At first, it was not clear to us from the first paragraph what had actually changed. In Economy Light, seat selection during check-in has already been subject to a fee for two years. In the meantime, this also applied—at least officially—to the Economy Classic fare with checked baggage (which is now called Economy Comfort). In any case, we had already created the following table in April:
Table: Seat reservations in Economy Class with & without frequent flyer status (as of April 2026)
| Route | Fare | SEN/HON Status | No/Other Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Short & Medium-haul | Economy Light / Basic |  |
|
| Short & Medium-haul | Economy Comfort |  |
only at check-in |
| Short & Medium-haul | Economy Comfort Green | |
only at check-in |
| Short & Medium-haul | Economy Flex | |
 |
| Long-haul | Economy Light | |
|
| Long-haul | Economy Basic / Basic Plus | |
|
| Long-haul | Economy Green | |
|
| Long-haul | Economy Flex | |
|
– fee applies to all seats | only “Classic Seat” free of charge | all seats free of charge (incl. Exit Row)Only the last four rows of the table are relevant to the current topic of long-haul flights. Additionally, the names of the fares have changed slightly in the meantime.
This leaves the second paragraph as a potential downgrade, which is where the contradictions began. While it initially states that the benefits remain unchanged, this does not align with the highlighted text. Until now, Senators have enjoyed free seat selection in Economy, even when booking the Light fare.
Miles&More: No Downgrade of Conditions
In the meantime, we have received the following statement from Miles&More regarding this matter:
We can confirm that HON Circle Members and Senators can continue to select all seats in the Economy Light fare on intercontinental flights free of charge.
Miles&More spokesperson to Travel-Dealz
Consequently, the official Miles&More website (where Economy Light is also listed as an exception in footnote 7a) is incorrect and is expected to be updated shortly. The original announcement to sales partners, cited at the beginning of this article, has already been corrected, and the reference to Economy Light has been removed.
Therefore, nothing is changing in this regard either. Premium Economy and Business Class, however, are a different story. In those classes, Senators & HON Circle Members lost their free seat selection privileges in March 2026 when booking the new Light fare. As a result, status customers now enjoy more seat selection benefits in Economy Class than in the premium classes.
Conclusion
Some 400 words later, one question remains unanswered: what is actually changing? According to our information, absolutely nothing. However, it is possible that passengers without frequent flyer status (in Economy Comfort and above) were previously still offered free seat changes during check-in, even though this was officially not intended.
For now, status customers can breathe a sigh of relief and continue booking the Economy Light fare without major drawbacks. However, this only applies to long-haul routes—for flights within Europe, frequent flyers are still required to pay.
Meanwhile, we wonder who is responsible for this constant back-and-forth between the Lufthansa Group and Miles&More. Back in March, a Lufthansa announcement already stated that the benefit in Economy Light would be cut. Shortly afterward, a denial similar to this one was issued—giving us a distinct sense of déjà vu. Here is the report from March:
If even we can no longer keep track, what must it be like for the passengers?