Lufthansa (LH) has confirmed that it closes one of two Business Class lavatories on some Boeing 787 Dreamliner flights while crew prepare the first meal service. The restriction is a side effect of Project Fox, aeroTELEGRAPH reported, Lufthansa’s overhauled long-haul onboard service that the airline calls the biggest change to its service in company history. Several crew members and passengers told the outlet that on at least two flights, travelers had no lavatory access at all during the closure window.
Lufthansa disputes that description. A spokesperson said only one of the two Business Class lavatories is closed at a time, and only on a handful of aircraft types including the 787, giving crew more room to prepare meals. The airline said it has received no formal complaints on the issue and that overall feedback on the new service has been positive.
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What’s Happening on Lufthansa’s Boeing 787 Flights
Project Fox changes how Business Class meals are assembled onboard. Instead of plating pre-combined trays, crew now heat meat and side dishes separately and arrange each plate individually once passengers are seated. That takes noticeably more space and time than the previous process.
The Boeing 787’s galleys were not designed with this workflow in mind. When passengers need to pass crew members to reach the lavatory during that preparation window, Lufthansa’s solution has been to close one toilet temporarily, freeing up space near the galley. Both lavatories are never closed at the same time, a Lufthansa spokesperson told aeroTELEGRAPH, adding that Business Class guests always retain access to a working lavatory.
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Why The Boeing 787 Galley Is Tighter Than the Airbus A350’s
Lufthansa flies Project Fox across its entire long-haul fleet, regardless of aircraft type or cabin generation. But the restriction appears specific to the 787 because of how its galleys are laid out. Space in the Dreamliner’s galleys is tighter than on Lufthansa’s Airbus A350s, even as Project Fox increases the workload for cabin crew on every aircraft type.
It is possible that the lavatories passengers found unavailable in the cases known to aeroTELEGRAPH sat behind their own seats, out of their direct line of sight, rather than being genuinely inaccessible. Lufthansa has not said whether the galley layout will change on future 787 deliveries or whether the lavatory restriction is intended as a permanent fix.
What Project Fox Actually Changes Onboard
Project Fox stands for Future Onboard Experience, and Lufthansa is investing more than €70 million in it during 2026 alone. We are investing more than 70 million euros in our long-haul service, Lufthansa said on its own group website, describing the rollout as central to its 100th anniversary. The concept took two years to develop, drawing on more than 110 test flights and roughly 9,000 passenger surveys.
The rollout reaches every long-haul cabin in stages:
- First Class, live since March 29, 2026, with menus from a two-Michelin-star chef, permanently available Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame champagne, and an expanded caviar service
- Business Class, live since May 6, 2026, with new menus from chef Johann Lafer, a flexible “Sky Selection” second meal, and a cake service
- Premium Economy, upgraded with a Business Class-level starter, three hot main courses, and new digestif service
- Economy, which gains three hot main course choices on longer flights and its first-ever amenity kit with a sleep mask and earplugs
Lufthansa Confirms the Restriction but Rejects the Fuller Picture
Lufthansa’s public position draws a clear line between what it acknowledges and what it disputes. It accepts that lavatory access is restricted on a small number of aircraft types during first-service preparation. It rejects the idea that this ever leaves Business Class passengers with no working lavatory at all.
That distinction matters because of how the story reached the public. Passengers and Lufthansa staff, not the airline itself, first flagged the closures to aeroTELEGRAPH. Lufthansa’s response came only after being asked to confirm the practice, rather than as an unprompted disclosure.
How This Compares to Lufthansa’s Other Recent Boeing 787 Problems
The lavatory restriction is a minor operational wrinkle next to Lufthansa’s bigger ongoing Boeing 787 headache: its new Allegris Business Class seats. Regulatory certification delays have kept most of those seats blocked from sale since the aircraft entered service, unrelated to Project Fox but affecting the same cabin on the same aircraft type.
As of January 2026, Lufthansa could sell only 4 of 28 Allegris Business Class seats on its 787-9s, with the remaining rows locked pending U.S. Federal Aviation Administration approval of the seats’ floor-mounting hardware. Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr addressed the delay directly at an internal staff event. We have decided to keep the seats blocked until the end of April, Spohr said, according to aero.de, though that deadline later slipped toward the summer.
Both problems trace back to the same root cause: Lufthansa is running ambitious Business Class upgrades on the 787 faster than the aircraft’s systems and suppliers can fully support. The seat certification issue involves Boeing and seat maker Collins Aerospace; the lavatory issue involves the airline’s own galley layout and service design. Neither has forced Lufthansa to change its rollout timeline.
What Happens Next as Project Fox Rolls Out Further
Project Fox is still in its early weeks across most cabins, having reached Business Class, Premium Economy and Economy only in early May 2026. Lufthansa has not indicated any plan to redesign 787 galleys or permanently reduce the number of usable lavatories during meal service.
For now, the airline’s message to passengers is that access remains available throughout the flight, even if one of two lavatories briefly closes during meal preparation. Whether that reassurance satisfies passengers who found themselves unable to reach a working toilet in the cases reported to aeroTELEGRAPH remains an open question as the new service continues its rollout.