Lufthansa's Oktoberfest Crews Got a New Dirndl This Year, and the Lounges Got Beer

Every September for the past two decades, a handful of Lufthansa long-haul crews have swapped the navy uniform for lederhosen and dirndls. This year the tradition turned 20, and Lufthansa marked it with a new costume made just for the airline.

The 2026 outfit comes from Spieth & Wensky, a traditional-dress maker from Lower Bavaria. It's the first version to weave Lufthansa branding into the design itself. The crane from the logo appears on the knitwear buttons, and a "Wing Pattern" is woven into the skirt and waistcoat. Previous years' costumes were off-the-rack Tracht; this one is airline-specific.

Where the costume crews flew

The new look debuted on September 19 on two Munich departures: LH764 to Bangalore and LH722 to Beijing. A third costume crew worked LH768 from Munich to Singapore on September 27. That's a smaller footprint than some past years, when the Trachten crews have shown up on flights to New York, Los Angeles, and Tokyo.

The tradition started on September 1, 2006, with a Munich–New York flight. Heiko Reitz, who runs Lufthansa's Munich hub, said the crews have been trading uniforms for Bavarian dress every Oktoberfest season since.

What was different onboard and in the lounges

The costumes get the attention, but the food and drink is the part most passengers actually experience. From September 1 through 30, selected long-haul flights out of Munich and Frankfurt served a Bavarian menu in every cabin, not just up front. Business Class on short-haul European routes ran an Oktoberfest menu from September 17 to October 6, which overlaps the festival's actual dates.

On the ground, every Lufthansa lounge in Germany poured Bavarian beer and served Bavarian dishes for the festival's opening weekend. That covers the big Munich lounges, including the Senator Lounge in the G gates, the H gates Senator Lounge, and the K/L satellite Senator Lounge, as well as the Frankfurt lounges in Concourse A, Concourse B, and Concourse Z. The Munich First Class Lounge does a proper Bavarian breakfast year-round, so the Oktoberfest twist there is mostly the beer.

First, Business, and Premium Economy passengers on long-haul flights leaving Germany also received amenity kits in felt pouches through the end of September. Felt is a nod to the traditional Bavarian hat, and the pouches tend to be the one Oktoberfest item that outlasts the season.

Why Lufthansa keeps doing this

It's easy to dismiss the Trachten crews as a photo opportunity, and they certainly are one. But Lufthansa has stuck with it for 20 years because it does something most airline marketing can't: it makes a Munich departure feel distinct from a Frankfurt one. Munich is Lufthansa's second hub, and the airline has worked hard to give it an identity of its own rather than treating it as Frankfurt's overflow.

The Bavarian menu in every cabin, the beer in every German lounge, and the costume crews on a few high-profile flights all point the same direction. If you're flying through Munich in late September, Lufthansa wants you to notice where you are.

If you want to catch it next year

The costume flights aren't announced far in advance, and the routes change year to year. The safest bet is a Munich long-haul departure on Oktoberfest's opening weekend, which falls in mid-to-late September. The lounge beer and Bavarian menus are easier to plan around: they run through the festival and don't depend on which crew you draw.