Lufthansa's retrofitted A380 is now flying, Aeroplan disappoints, and Bilt has a useful May promo

Hey {{first name | reader}},

Happy Monday.

A few worthwhile loyalty and product updates dropped over the last few days, and today's mix is a good reminder that airline news is rarely just good or bad. Sometimes an airline makes the sensible decision, even if it is not the flashiest one. Sometimes a devaluation arrives and it hurts, but not as much as it could have. And sometimes a monthly credit card promo is useful enough that it is worth flagging even if it only helps a very specific group of people.

Here's what's inside today's post:

Lufthansa's first retrofitted A380 with the new business class has now entered service, and the airline plans to refit all eight of its active A380s by mid-2027. The first aircraft is being rotated on select Munich flights to Boston, Delhi, Los Angeles, Mumbai, and Washington, while the retrofit work itself is being done in Dresden.

The most important point here is simple. This is a clear upgrade over what Lufthansa had before.

The old Lufthansa A380 business class is not great, as is the case with most Lufthansa cabins that have not yet been retrofitted with Allegris or this new A380 product. It was not terrible in the sense that you still got a flat bed, but it felt dense, outdated, and with no privacy at all. It belonged to an earlier generation of business class, one where the basic achievement was having a flat seat at all. That is no longer enough. In 2026, passengers expect direct aisle access, more personal space, better storage, and a seat that does not make the cabin feel like a compromise before you even sit down.

Lufthansa has chosen the Thompson Aero Vantage XL seat for the A380 rather than trying to install Allegris. The new cabin has 68 business class seats instead of 78, every seat now has direct aisle access, and Lufthansa says the seats offer a width of 58 centimeters, a bed length of at least two meters, Bluetooth connectivity, and more flexible partitions.

This is not the most advanced business class seat in the sky. It is not groundbreaking, and it is not the kind of cabin that changes the industry. But I think Lufthansa made the right call here.

If you follow aviation at all, you know Lufthansa has had a long and messy road with Allegris. The airline markets it as a highly customizable premium product with five different business class seat types, but getting that flagship product introduced has been far from smooth.

That is why this A380 move feels so sensible. Instead of forcing Allegris onto the A380 and adding yet another complicated rollout to an airline that already has too many cabin projects going on at once, Lufthansa chose a more standard off-the-shelf product that could be installed faster and with less drama. These seats are already certified, which means Lufthansa can get them into service much more quickly than if it tried to push another custom Allegris variation through the same painful process.

And that is the part I like most. This is not Lufthansa trying to win design awards. This is Lufthansa finally making a practical decision. The A380 is staying in the fleet for the long run, and the old business class was no longer good enough. Rather than waiting years for the perfect solution, the airline went for a much better one it could implement now. Speed and reliability mattered more than chasing the most sophisticated seat on paper.

Sometimes the smartest move is just picking a much better product and getting on with it.

Now for the less fun part.

Air Canada Aeroplan is updating award pricing for tickets booked from June 1, 2026, and this is mostly a devaluation. Aeroplan is making changes across multiple regions and partner awards, with some prices going down by up to 5,000 points, but some going up by as much as 20,000 points.

That is the bad news. The better news, if there is any, is that this could have been worse.

Aeroplan remains one of the most useful loyalty programs out there because it has a huge partner network, a published award chart, and features like stopovers for 5,000 points. Those things are still there. Even after this update, it does not suddenly become a bad program.

What is frustrating is that Aeroplan has been one of the few major programs that still felt relatively rational. Not perfect, but rational. You could usually make sense of the pricing, especially on partner awards, and the chart gave people at least some structure to work with. That is why even a moderate devaluation lands hard here. When a valuable program gets worse, it hurts me more than when a mediocre one does.

This is sad news, yes. But it is not the sort of devaluation that wipes out the usefulness of the currency overnight. Aeroplan still has a lot going for it. It is still a major Star Alliance option, still useful for partner awards, and still a program I would rather have than many alternatives.

If you have Aeroplan points and a booking in mind, I would try to redeem them sooner rather than later, especially for any itinerary where the current pricing still looks attractive. And more broadly, this is one more reminder that the best loyalty currencies are only valuable when you use them. Sitting on miles for years because you are waiting for the perfect redemption is rarely a winning strategy.

Bilt's May 2026 Rent Day promo is worth a look for anyone who has Bilt points. On May 1, 2026, Bilt will offer a transfer bonus of 25% to 100% to three Avios programs: British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Plus, and Aer Lingus AerClub. The size of the bonus depends on your Bilt status.

The reported bonuses are: Blue 40%, Silver 50%, Gold 60%, and Platinum 75%, with an additional 25% possible through Bilt Cash, taking the top end to 100%. That is a very good promo if you already know how you want to use Avios.

This is the key point though. I do not think this is something everyone should jump on without a plan. I am not saying this is only useful if you have a specific flight you want to use, but at least have some options for using the points if your plans change. But for people who already hold a Bilt card and know the value of Avios, this is well worth knowing about. A good transfer bonus into the Avios ecosystem can be very useful because Avios remains one of the more practical currencies for short-haul flights, specific long-haul sweet spots, and flexible redemptions across multiple airline programs.

What I like here is that Bilt is still trying to make Rent Day feel relevant. If you have a Bilt balance and a specific Avios redemption in mind, this could be a very good time to move points. If you do not, I would still be cautious, because transfer bonuses are only valuable when the underlying redemption is good.

That's it for today. More deals, news, and trip reviews coming your way on Wednesday.

Catch you in the clouds,

Tomi from Points Master