Budget airlines like Ryanair and Wizz Air have long embraced paid seat reservations as a revenue stream. This never really worked at the Lufthansa Group, because in most cases you could choose your desired seats free of charge at check-in, subject to availability.

This is now changing on short and medium-haul routes in the Economy Light fare. The Kranich airline and shortly also the subsidiaries Austrian Airlines, Swiss and Brussels Airlines will in future allocate seats randomly, following the example of Ryanair and Wizz Air. If you don't agree, you have to pay a whopping 25 euros per person and route to have your chair changed.

It is still unclear whether the Lufthansa Group will “purely coincidentally” separate passengers who are traveling together in a booking like the low-cost airlines mentioned, so that they will have to pay if you want to sit next to each other. Irrespective of this, the Economy Light tariff obviously continues to copy the practices of the low-cost competition.

The portal You Have Been Upgraded initially reported on the topic. This compares Lufthansa's statements regarding seat selection in the Economy Light fare. From these, the not really customer-friendly change is clear:

 “Of course, all available seats can still be selected free of charge as soon as check-in for the flight in question begins, usually from 23 hours before departure. Please note that the selection may then be limited.”

(“old conditions”)

“The Economy Light fare on European routes does not include free seat reservation. You will be automatically assigned a seat upon check-in. If you want to change this seat, there will be a change fee from 21.6.2022 starting at 25 EUR/35 CHF/35 USD.”

(new conditions)