What to expect flying Luxair
Hand on heart, have you ever heard of Luxair? And if so, have you ever flown Luxair? If you are based outside Europe, the answer is probably no. As Luxair isn’t necessarily the biggest European airline there is. But it has actually been around for quite some while (Luxair was founded in 1962, if Wikipedia is to be believed). And they are the flag carrier airline for Luxembourg. Ok, that might be more to do with the fact that they are the only airline Luxembourg has, but hey, let’s not be picky. A day trip to Luxembourg a while back gave me the chance to experience my first ever flight with Luxair and more recently I flew with them again (for another day trip from London to Luxembourg). Which obviously gave me the perfect excuse to tell you all about flying Luxair. If you are considering a trip to Luxembourg, let me share with you my experience of what to expect flying Luxair.
In this post, I will do my best to answer the most frequent questions about Luxair you might have, when booking your first ever flight with Luxair (well I’d say these are probably the most frequent questions for any airline, not just Luxair):
When can I check in for Luxair?
What travel classes are available on Luxair?
Do I have to pay for my seat on Luxair?
What is the hand luggage allowance on Luxair?
Is Luxair strict with their hand luggage allowance?
How much luggage do I have with Luxair?
Does Luxair have a frequent flyer programme?
Does Luxair cater during the flight?
What to expect flying Luxair?
When can I check in for Luxair?
Online check in for Luxair opens 24 hours before your flight and is open until 1 hour before the actual flight.
Once you’ve checked in online, you can normally print your boarding pass or download a mobile pass to your phone. However, during my most recent trip to Luxembourg and back, this was not possible. Although I had checked in and my seat was allocated and everything, I had to actually report to the check in counter at the airport. So that staff could check all my other documents (like vaccination certificate, passenger locator form etc), before they would have me my boarding pass. Gosh, I can barely remember the last time I had a paper ticket or went to see the check in desk.
What travel classes are available on Luxair?
Luxair has four travel classes available to book: Light, Smart, Flex and Business.
I won’t bore you with all the details here, but I will just give you the brief overview.
What to expect flying Luxair Light
This is the cheapest ticket Luxair offers. But this money saving comes at a cost. A light ticket does not allow any changes to your flight times or dates. And they are non-refundable. The light ticket also doesn’t come with any luggage allowance, so any suitcase that you would like to place in hold will cost you extra.
Flying Luxair Smart
Smart is the next ticket up. Unlike the Light ticket, Smart will allow you to amend your flight times (although you will have to pay a fee for that, in addition to any fare difference), but the tickets are still non-refundable.
The Smart ticket automatically comes with 1 piece of hold luggage (up to 23kg), in addition to your hand luggage.
What to expect flying Luxair Flex
As the name suggests, the Flex ticket is a little more flexible. You are able to change your flight times and dates without any charges, meaning you will only pay the fare difference (if there is one). And the Flex ticket is also fully refundable. If your travel plans are likely to change, it might be worth looking into the Flex Option. As an added bonus, the Flex ticket does give you fast lane access at the airport. Same as the Smart ticket, the Flex ticket includes 1 piece of hold luggage (up to 23kg) plus your hand luggage.
Flying Luxair Business
As with pretty much every other Business class ticket, this is the option that gives you the greatest benefits and flexibility, but it also comes with a hefty price tag.
Same as with the Flex ticket, with a Business ticket you can change your flight times free of charge and your ticket is 100% refundable.
You will get 2 pieces of hold luggage (up to 32kg a piece), plus a higher hand luggage allowance. You will get a dedicated business check in counter (that is kept open a little longer than the normal check in), you’ll have fast lane access at the airport, as well as access to the business lounge.
Do I have to pay for my seat on Luxair?
If you have booked flyFLEX or Business Class (or if you are a Miles & More Senator or Hons Circle Member), then you can select a seat free of charge. For all others, the seat will cost 12 EUR (17 EUR if you want a front row seat).
If you decide not to pay for your seat, one will be randomly allocated to you when you check in.
What is the hand luggage allowance on Luxair?
For most Luxair tickets, the hand luggage allowance is the same. You are allowed one piece of hand luggage up to 8kg and no larger than 55 x 40 x 23 cm (so a standard hand luggage suitcase). In addition, you may take one personal item, i.e., a handbag, laptop bag or your duty-free shopping bag.
Is Luxair strict with their hand luggage allowance?
How strict Luxair is with hand luggage, is probably one of the most important questions for someone wondering what to expect flying Luxair (it usually is one of the first things I google whenever I fly an airline for the first time). I can only speak from my own experience flying Luxair, but on none of my flights was the hand luggage ever weight or measured and I did not see anyone having any issues with their allowance. That being said, as my Luxair flights were all in or out of London City Airport (and therefore in rather smallish aircrafts), some passengers were asked to leave their hand luggage suitcases by the cabin door when boarding the flight. As there wasn’t enough space in the actual cabin, some of the hand luggage needed to go into hold (but to my knowledge this was free of charge and something that regularly happens at City Airport with all airlines).
If you have a business class ticket, your hand luggage allowance goes up to 2 pieces, plus 1 personal item.
How much luggage do I have with Luxair?
As already mentioned above, your luggage allowance depends on the ticket you’ve booked.
For Light ticket holders, there is hold luggage allowance at all. If you do want to add luggage, the first piece will cost you 25 Euros, any after that will be 75 Euros.
For Smart and Flex, you automatically have 1 piece of hold luggage included (up to 23kg), any additional bag would be 75 Euros.
For business class tickets, 2 pieces of hold luggage are included (up to 32kg each) and any additional bag would be 75 Euros.
Does Luxair have a frequent flyer programme?
Luxair does not its own frequent flyer programme. But they are part of Miles & More, along with Lufthansa, Eurowings and a couple of others. So, you will be able to collect Miles&More points for your Luxair flights. And if you are a Miles & More Senator or Hons Circle Member, you will get benefits on Luxair flights as well (such as lounge access, fast track security etc).
Does Luxair cater during the flight?
Yes, Luxair does cater on all of their flights. And for all of the travel classes, not just Flex and Business.
Even though my flight from London to Luxembourg was barely an hour, we were served a quick breakfast (ok, a pastry in a paper bag) as well as tea, coffee and a selection of juices.
On my evening flight back to London, we were then offered a choice of chicken or cheese sandwich (or alternatively some crackers, if we didn’t want sandwiches), as well as drinks from the bar (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic).
I guess there will be a similar offering during lunch, but so far, all my Luxair flights have been early morning or late evening.
What to expect flying Luxair?
Luxair is one of those airlines, that I knew very little about, before I first flew with them.
They have a relatively small fleet of aircrafts, with more than half of them being smallish De Havilland Dash 8-400s, like the ones I took in and out of City Airport. Small propeller planes with 2 seats either side and only holding 76 passengers in total. All customers will have to enter and exit via the front door.
The first few rows are reserved for business class, but other than being closest to the entrance, there isn’t really any difference between business class and the rest of the cabin.
Due to it being a small aircraft, you don’t really get much space. Being fairly short, my legs did just about have enough space, but not quite sure how you’d feel about the inside of a Luxair plane if you were 6”6’. But then again, it was a very short flight, so it didn’t really matter.
And on the way out, the plane was so empty, that we could all spread out into individual rows anyway.
Generally, I would happily use Luxair again (well, actually I just have) and can’t really give you a reason why not to use it. Luxair is somewhere between a budget airline and a ‘proper’ one, I would say. They cater on all their flights, something even British Airways doesn’t do any more (and I wouldn’t count them as budget). So yes, overall I’d say you get exactly what you expect flying Luxair.
