Over the weekend, we covered the most generous route on Lufthansa for releasing multiple first class award space.  I mentioned in the article that the Frankfurt-Osaka is the single best route to find multiple first class awards on Lufthansa’s second best first class configuration, the 747-400.

This obviously begs the question, which route is best for obtaining multiple award seats on Lufthansa’s best configuration, the coveted A380?

Where A380s operate

Lufthansa operates only a handful of A380s currently and in the coming months will be shifting them around a bit. To Asia you will find an A380 to Beijing until November 30th, Tokyo until October 26th and Shanghai starting September 26th. Singapore will operate continuously. To Africa you will find the A380 to Johannesburg continuously (except for two days in October) and finally to the US you have two current options to San Francisco and Houston. Miami will take over seasonally for San Francisco on October 27th.

While flights departing the US would be convenient for most of us, I would say ‘don’t hold your breath’ as these routes are extremely competitive and only rarely will you ever find two award seats on the same flight.  If so it may be the day or two before departure.

The best route to land multiple first class seats on an A380

While not scientific in any way, I do monitor this space throughout the year and there is one route that is significantly more generous in releasing multiple first class award space on an A380. The Frankfurt-Tokyo (LH710/711) in both directions is the easiest A380 route to land one or two First Class seats. I have actually seen up to four First Class seats released on this route on certain days.

Obviously four first class awards is more the exception than the norm.  I generally see about 2 or 3 days over a 7 day period that have multiple first class award space.  You can find space easier on Lufthansa First Class on other routes (like Osaka) but for an A380, Tokyo has the highest percentage I have seen throughout the year.

Making sure the route has the new First Class

The Frankfurt/Tokyo route is currently operated by the A380 which makes it 100% certain you will receive the new first class. Keep in mind this route will be changing over to a 747-400 in October.  You can always use this tool to make double sure you know what you are signing up for.

Why the route is useful

One of my favorite secrets of frequent flyer travel is that I can route to Asia via Europe using United miles.  In economy that seems like a silly idea, but if you are like me, when you are flying Lufthansa First Class you want as much time in that cabin as humanely possible.  This route is great because it is Lufthansa’s 6th longest flight at 9376 km.  We’re talking 10+ hours on the splendid A380.

We recently paired this route with one of the easier US-Munich routes, Washington Dulles in our case and it was 20+ hours of pure Lufthansa bliss.

The bottom line

If landing two seats in First Class on a Lufthansa A380 is your dream, I’d say Tokyo is your best bet. Time is running out on the current run of the Frankfurt-Tokyo route as it switches aircraft in October, but I anticipate Lufthansa will bring back this route once the A380 Business Class retrofits are complete and winter has passed in Japan.