Lufthansa is quietly retiring the 'Green Fares' branding it launched with such fanfare, rebranding the product as 'Impact Fares' after German courts found its environmental advertising misled passengers.
The fares, introduced in 2023, have been bought by more than five million travellers. They bundle a premium price with contributions toward sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and climate protection projects, plus extras like bonus miles, status points and rebooking flexibility. Those benefits stay the same — only the green framing is changing.
The rebrand follows a challenge by environmental group Deutsche Umwelthilfe. The Cologne Regional Court ruled against Lufthansa in March 2025, and in July 2026 the Cologne Higher Regional Court upheld a central finding about the airline's SAF advertising. The core problem: the ads could leave buyers believing their extra payment would put SAF in the tanks of their own flight. In reality, the fuel could be deployed elsewhere in Lufthansa's operation at a later date, and that timing was never clearly explained.
Under the new announcement, Lufthansa commits to using an additional quantity of SAF within six months of a booking's departure. On European flights, the SAF contribution is calculated against 20% of estimated flight-related CO₂ emissions, with the remaining 80% covered by climate project contributions. On long-haul routes, the split is 10% SAF and 90% projects. Even so, buying the fare does not mean your aircraft runs on 20% or 10% sustainable fuel, and it does not erase your flight's emissions.
Why should travellers care? If you've been paying a premium for a cleaner conscience, it's worth understanding what that money actually buys: a contribution to fuel that may be used on another flight, months later, plus offsets for the rest. The airline says the new name reflects updated requirements for environmental communication — which, if it means clearer disclosure at the point of sale, is a genuine improvement. The author of the original piece makes a fair point, though: a vaguer word like 'impact' could stretch to cover almost anything, including the impact on your wallet.
For frequent flyers who value the miles, status points and flexible rebooking, the product may still stack up on those merits alone. Anyone buying it purely for environmental reasons should read the fine print on how the SAF contribution works. Paying extra doesn't make a flight's emissions vanish — and honest labelling, whatever you call it, lets each traveller decide whether the trade-off is worth it.
