Summary
- Lufthansa has partnered with Meta to offer Meta Quest 3 headsets to business class passengers on Allegris flights.
- While it will be the first time an airline will offer in-flight access to Quest 3 headsets, details were scarce about the partnership.
- Lufthansa’s Allegris finally entered commercial service on May 1, 2024.
Lufthansa and Meta, the parent company of such software solutions as Facebook, have partnered to offer Meta Quest 3 mixed reality headset to business class passengers flying with its newest Allegris long-haul product. While details are scarce, the airline said that it will be testing the headsets in business class.
First airline to offer the headset
According to a tweet on X, formerly known as Twitter, the airline announced the cooperation on May 13, 2024, saying that for the first time ever, an airline will offer access to Meta Quest 3 headsets in an in-flight setting. The device will be offered for business class passengers.
“Together, we’ll equip selected flights for an exclusive test case for customers of the new Allegris Business Class!”
However, the airline did not provide further details about the partnership, including the number of headsets available to customers, whether the test will be conducted on specific routes, or the start date of the partnership between Lufthansa and Meta.
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Allegris finally taking off
Lufthansa finally introduced Allegris, its newest long-haul cabin product, which includes a complete overhaul of the seats found on its widebody aircraft, on April 26. At the time, the German airline showed off the cabin, which was installed on its newest Airbus A350-900, registered as D-AIXT.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying
The carrier had to fight supply chain delays, which included seat and aircraft delivery delays, to introduce the cabin into commercial service. Two Airbus A350-900 aircraft, D-AIXR and D-AIXS, which were supposed to have the cabin installed upon delivery, were immediately sent to storage at Teruel Airport (TEV) after Airbus had delivered the pair in November 2023 and January 2024, respectively.
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Flying to Canada
Meanwhile, the D-AIXT, which had the Allegris cabin, finally entered service on May 1, flying between Munich Airport (MUC) and Vancouver International Airport (YVR) on the day. On May 2, the aircraft also operated flight LH494 from MUC to Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ), becoming another city to welcome Lufthansa’s latest cabin product.
However, the aircraft still lacks a first class cabin due to the aforementioned delivery delays. When the media, including Simple Flying, toured the Airbus A350-900 on April 26, the first class cabin had economy class seats installed, with a wall in front of the cabin saying that the highest-end premium product was still ‘loading.’ The seats also had tags installed on them that said,
“Soon I’ll have to make way for the new Lufthansa Allegris First Class.”
Photo: Tom Boon | Simple Flying
Meta introduced the Quest 3 mixed reality headset in September 2023. Then, the company said that it was the first “mass-market mixed reality headset” in the world, adding that the new version of the Quest significantly improved over the Quest 2, offering a 30% leap in resolution and 40% louder audio range than the predecessor.
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