Lufthansa has rolled out its new AnyWay Travel Pass concept to Hong Kong, enabling travellers from the city to book cheaper long-haul flights provided they don’t care about the route or carriers they take.
This is the first time the passes will be available to travellers in Hong Kong, which were initially rolled out last October in Germany.
Essentially, the passes constitute limited-time economy class offers on long-haul flights between Hong Kong and select destinations in Europe. Customers are able to choose their destination and dates, but not the route they’ll take to get there. Based on availability, passengers will be given a route that may include flying with any of the Lufthansa Group’s carriers – Lufthansa, Austrian and Swiss – using the carriers’ four hubs in Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna and Zurich.
There are, naturally, some downsides to the passes, notably that eligible travel periods are currently limited to between May 20 and October 27, 2018 and that the passes themselves are non-refundable. According to the airline, passengers are informed of their routing “several days” before they depart. Once passes are issued, the dates and routings cannot be altered either and travellers also need to purchase separate passes for return journeys.
Hong Kong travellers can book AnyWay Travel Passes until May 13 this year to destinations including Barcelona, London, Geneva, Amsterdam, Milan, Copenhagen, Lisbon, Rome, Venice, Budapest, Stockholm, Oslo and Vienna.
At the time of writing, one-way tickets from Hong Kong to London start at HK$2,488 (US$317). Flights are exclusively for economy class and come with one item of luggage included.
“We want to be faster in the market, test innovative ideas and break new ground,” said Veli Polat, Lufthansa Group Airlines’ senior director of sales for Greater China. “The AnyWay Travel Pass is a good example. And I am very glad passengers who start their journey from Hong Kong can now get the benefits of this product.”
In related news, Lufthansa announced earlier this month that it plans to roll out hand baggage only (HBO) fares in tandem with partners Air Canada and United, though an exact launch date and pricing structure has yet to be unveiled.
These fares will be available on transatlantic routes and offer economy class seats with no checked baggage.
