As airlines slashed costs in recent years, First Class air travel seemed to be going the way of the private railroad car, transatlantic ocean liner and piano bar in the upper-deck “bubbles” of the earliest 747s.
On domestic flights, many U.S. carriers reduced the size of their First Class cabins, pushed the remaining seats closer together, and cut back on the meal and beverage service. Some carriers, including fast-growing Southwest Airlines, didn’t even offer First Class.
First Class appeared to be an endangered species on international flights as well. Air Canada, Alitalia, Austrian, Canadian, Continental, Finnair, KLM, SAS and TWA eliminated First Class in favor of their Business Class, or they created a new hybrid Business/First-type product, which offered many (but not all) First Class amenities, usually priced at a Business Class fare.
But don’t count First Class out yet. Although airlines are still chasing the price-sensitive leisure market with low fares and minimal frills, they have recently rediscovered the premium passengers who are willing to spend big bucks (or lots of frequent flier miles) so they can escape the cattle car in Coach.
“Demand for First Class is coming back, and it is driving a lot of product changes,” says Henry Joyner, vice president of marketing planning at American Airlines. “All carriers are seeing a recovery in business travel, particularly for long-haul trips, because the Gulf War and recession are well behind us. And the long-anticipated global economy is becoming a reality, encouraging international travel, particularly by business people who want exceptional amenities and service, to compensate for all the time they spend in the air each year.”
United, for example, is experiencing an increase in its paid First Class traffic. The Chicago-based carrier’s fleet offers 748 million domestic First Class “seat miles” (that’s the number of seats systemwide multiplied by the number of miles flown) and 301 million international First Class seat miles per month.
Though domestic First Class in a two-class (Coach, First) plane is roughly equivalent to international Business Class, American, Delta and United now operate three-class (Coach, Business, First) wide-body planes on many of their transcontinental routes. These planes feature spacious international-style First Class sleeper seats. American and United even offer this ultra-comfortable First Class cabin on some of their wide-body domestic flights from Chicago O’Hare to New York/JFK, Washington/Dulles, Miami and San Francisco.
First Class has also made a comeback on shorter routes and smaller planes that offer the two-class service. American and United have increased the number of First Class seats on their narrow-body two-class 757s. Phoenix-based America West, which had previously offered First Class on only a few of its flights, has recently completed the installation of First Class cabins in all its planes. Several startup discount airlines, such as Midway, now offer First Class on many of their flights.
But this domestic jostling for premium passengers is only a skirmish. A pitched battle for the First Class passenger has just erupted on the international front, where flight distances are long, the fares high and the spacious front cabin includes only a handful of luxurious sleeper seats.
Last fall, Air France decided not to create a hybrid Business/First-type product like many other European carriers. Instead, it launched a new First Class service known as L’Espace.
“We saw the demand for a true First Class product, rethought our service from top-to-bottom, and then initiated many enhancements to create a relaxing, stress-free journey,” says Guy Tardieu, Air France’s long-haul product manager. “Our First Class cabin now boasts a luxurious French-designed and manufactured sleeper seat that reclines to a virtually horizontal position, becoming a sky-bed measuring six feet, five inches. In the daytime, this seat can be an airborne office or a supremely comfortable place to read or watch a movie on a private video screen. When it’s time to sleep, passengers receive sleepsuits, a goose-down duvet and pillow, slippers and water atomizers.”
This new First Class seat is one of the most spacious, most comfortable ways to fly since the 1930s and ’40s, when all air travel was, in effect, First Class, and long-haul planes often came with sleeper berths. Each seat has a pitch (that is, the distance between seats) of 82 inches, compared to the previous 62 inches in international First Class and the knee-crunching 31 to 32 inches in most carriers’ economy cabins. To provide this additional space, Air France reduced the number of First Class seats on its 747-400s to 13 from 16. Although Air France is busy reconfiguring its long-haul jets for the L’Espace service, the new seats will not be available on O’Hare/Paris flights until May.
British Air has also introduced innovative new seats and service enhancements in the front cabin.
“Each seat is a partial compartment that gives the passenger a host of options as well as incredible privacy,” says Sandy Gardiner, senior vice president for public relations for the Americas. “It turns into a six-foot, six-inch bed. It can convert into an armchair with a `buddy seat,’ which allows passengers to invite a guest for a business meeting or dinner for two. Or, it can be a private place to relax, read or use the personal video entertainment system mounted in a sideboard.”
This month, British Air started reconfiguring the First Class cabins of its 747 and DC-10s. One plane will be completed every two weeks. The new First Class will be available on flights from O’Hare to London at an as-yet-unspecified date later this year.
Other foreign carriers, particularly those in the highly competitive long-haul Asian market, are expected to upgrade their First Class cabin and service later this year. Japan Air Lines already offers an electronic massage chair in the First Class cabin on long flights.
Thus far, those U.S. carriers that have decided to keep their international First Class cabin have not yet launched any immediate counter-attack on Air France’s and British Air’s recent improvements.
“We have many things up our sleeves,” says David A. Coltman, senior vice president for marketing at United Airlines. “Our brand management team is working hard on changes and innovations that will give our premium passengers greater space, greater comfort, finer food and drink, and an even wider range of entertainment and telecommunications. Above all, we want to put First Class passengers in command of their space and time on the plane, whether they want to work, eat, play or sleep.”
American is not revealing its upcoming plans.
“Last year, we greatly enhanced our international First Class service, with improved meals and beverages on all flights and new, more comfortable seats on our long-haul 767-300s,” says Henry Joyner. “Our strategy with the premium product has always been evolutionary rather than revolutionary. The big splashes from our competitors contain elements of the product evolution that we have been doing for 18 to 24 months, such as the more flexible and ergonomic seats that went into our 767-300s last year. Our international product will continue to evolve and improve in every class of service.”
What accounts for this recent resurgence in domestic and international First Class service?
On domestic flights, First Class offers an escape from the crowding, noise and skimpy meals in Coach. First Class passengers enjoy early boarding, a spacious seat with plenty of legroom and elbow room, a good meal with complimentary wine and drinks, a quiet atmosphere conducive to work or rest, and quick deplaning because they are sitting up front.
Still, airlines can only do so much on short-haul domestic flights, which use narrow-body planes. Approximately 80 percent of domestic flights are two hours or less on planes that offer limited room and opportunities for luxurious service and amenities.
But international flights, with their long duration and wide-body planes such as 747s and DC-10s, are a different matter. To really understand what First Class can mean to passengers on these 8- to 12-hour flights, you’ve got to look at it from three perspectives: preflight, the flight itself and post-flight.
On many airlines, the international First Class pampering starts long before your flight. An airline representative may call a day or two in advance to wish you a pleasant flight and inquire about any special meal requirements. A complimentary chauffeur-driven car may take you to the airport, where you check-in for your flight at a separate First Class counter.
Then, you’re off to the airport club (like American’s Admirals Club, Delta’s Crown Room or United’s Red Carpet Club) to read a magazine, enjoy some mineral water or a drink, or make some last-minute telephone calls, sequestered from the noisy terminal crowds.
At some airports, including Chicago’s O’Hare, carriers operate their own First Class or VIP lounges, which do not sell memberships like the domestic carriers’ airport clubs. These quiet, elegant hideaways are open only to First Class ticket holders and a handful of VIPs, who are probably traveling First Class anyway.
The champagne starts flowing here. Caviar and smoked salmon abound. Often, telephone calls are free, to anywhere in the world. Trained concierges assist passengers with any last-minute travel plans or changes.
Each airline offers special services and amenities. Swissair, for example, has a VIP coatroom at New York’s JFK, where passengers who are flying to warm climates can leave their mink coats safely behind.
As soon as passengers enter the First Class cabin, the flight attendants hang up their coats and garment bags. Addressing each passenger by name, flight attendants offer a predeparture beverage service including fruit juice, champagne and cocktails. Later, they hand out amenity kits, which include toothbrushes, disposable razors, eye shades, ear plugs and skin lotions and facial mists to counteract the dry cabin air.
Once the plane is airborne, First Class passengers can listen to the CD-quality audio system with comfortably padded electronic headsets or watch one of several dozen movies on the individual video screen that pulls out of their seat arm. Quite often, the captain emerges from the cockpit to greet each passenger personally and answer any questions about the flight’s routing.
Early in the flight, a few First Class passengers (particularly on overnight eastbound trips to Europe) are served a light dinner on a single tray, so that they can eat quickly and have more time for work or sleep. But most passengers, particularly those on daytime flights, savor the gourmet lunch or dinner, which is served in several leisurely courses and accompanied by fine wines and liqueurs.
On a recent American Airlines flight from London to Chicago, the flight attendants served a multi-course dinner, including sevruga malossol caviar, an appetizer salad with baby mixed greens, an entree of either pan-seared salmon with dill and lemon or chateaubriand with fresh sage, a cheese course and, finally, dessert.
When it comes to meal service, many carriers are offering First Class passengers a wide array of dining options.
“Air France now has flexible dining in First Class, just like a fine Parisian restaurant,” notes Guy Tardieu. “Passengers can chose from a traditional gourmet meal to a high-quality light meal. They can also select their mealtime to suit their body clocks.”
British Air has also changed its elegant First Class meal service, doing away with the serving carts and adopting an individualized restaurant-style service. Passengers can order what they want, when they want it, from the menu.
While the sleeper seats, food and drink and other inflight amenities are pretty much the same on all international flights, experienced travelers know that all First Class cabins are not created equal, even on the same airline. The larger the plane, the more spacious the First Class cabin.
For example, the 747 (the largest jet in the skies) typically offers the largest cabin, with plenty of open space in the middle. By contrast, the 767 (usually the smallest plane making long, over-water international flights) has a fairly cramped cabin, at least by First Class standards. Other planes, like the DC-10 and new 777, fall somewhere in between.
When First Class passengers arrive at their destination, they don’t have to wait a half-hour (or more) for their luggage or stand in long customs and immigrations lines. Sitting up front, they are the first passengers off the plane. In fact, some foreign carriers assure that First Class travelers get off first. The flight attendants charmingly, but firmly, stand in the way of the other passengers, so that First Class passengers don’t get trampled in the stampede off the plane.
Once in the terminal, First Class passengers are greeted by an airline concierge who escorts them to the expedited immigration services for premium passengers. After getting their baggage and going through customs, these passengers are frequently offered complimentary limousine rides into the nearby city.
At some major international airports like Heathrow, First Class passengers on some airlines can also go to a private arrival lounge, where they can eat breakfast, make telephone calls, shower and have their clothes pressed and shoes shined for free. They can even rest in separate “snooze” zones.
These fully equipped arrivals lounges are a favorite perk for passengers who must wait several hours before they make a connecting flight, or for business travelers who have scheduled a meeting soon after their arrival. Some carriers even offer passengers the free use of a nearby hotel room for several hours.
Who usually sits up front and enjoys all that comfort and attention?
“Several years ago, our research indicated two categories of passengers,” says British Air’s Gardiner. “The first is the `patrician,’ the person born into wealth and accustomed to a certain level of understated quality service in the aircraft. In other words, bring me what I want, when I want it, but very quietly. The second type of passenger is the `achiever,’ who wants plenty of recognition and attention.”
Work is often the common denominator among these passengers. “Today, our typical First Class passenger is a 47-year-old man traveling on business,” Gardiner said. “Eighty-two percent of First Class passengers are male. Seventy-three percent travel for business.”
United Airlines’ survey bears this out. The majority of its First Class passengers are also men, 30 to 55 years old, traveling for business on more than a dozen international flights a year.
Of the product and service elements these privileged United passengers considered important in their selection of First Class, cabin and seat comfort ranked first at 36 percent. Flight attendant courtesy and responsiveness was second at 28 percent. Surprisingly, food quality ranked only seventh at 7 percent, surpassed by items like air quality and on-time performance.
Audio/visual equipment, which is much ballyhooed by all airlines, was eighth (and last) at 5 percent.
U.S. and foreign carriers are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to improve their First Class service, particularly on international flights. And they are spending untold millions to advertise their improved product. (First Class along with Business Class usually generate most of an airline’s long-haul profits, thereby keeping fares low in Coach.)
But what do First-Class passengers really think of First Class, and the much-publicized improvements?
“I travel 150,000 to 175,000 actual miles every year,” says James L. Foster, president of Northbrook-based Universal Footcare Products.
“Domestically, First Class is in a terrible state. The comfort has disintegrated, particularly with the greater use of small planes like Fokker 100s and MD-80s. The meals are no longer all that good, if they serve you one. I took a mid-afternoon flight from JFK to Dallas recently, and all they offered me was a free drink and pretzels. I would have liked the option of a good-quality snack.
“Internationally, First Class is still wonderful,” Foster continues. “Large seats. Good food, served on china the way it used to be on domestic flights. Of course, as a businessman, I see the reasons for the dichotomy between the domestic and international product. Many domestic First Class seats are occupied by upgrading passengers. First Class doesn’t generate the revenue the way it used to. So, the airlines are cutting back.”
Another frequent traveler, Wesley Samuels, chief financial officer and owner of Westwood Promotions, Inc., a Chicago-based television direct response music company, generally concurs with this assessment of domestic and international First Class.
“I travel for a living, over 400,000 actual miles in the past three years, mostly domestically,” he says. “So, it’s important for me to relax comfortably, spread out my papers and work efficiently, or carry on a conversation with a traveling colleague.
“Has First Class gotten better? Domestically, no,” he claims. “Actually, they seem to have cut down the space between rows, and the food has declined, although the flight attendants are usually wonderful and accommodating in every way. Internationally, the seats are terrific, the service generally good and the food variable. I’ve had some good meals. I’ve had some bad meals.”
Travelers who have enough money to fly First Class expect, and rightfully so, good value for their expensive tickets. Passengers who use their mileage to get into First Class see that perk as a reward for their loyalty to a particular carrier, and they want that loyalty reciprocated.
The airlines are now listening–and acting–to improve First Class domestically and internationally. But are they acting quickly enough to satisfy their most demanding passengers?
Domestically, the picture is mixed, as Foster and Samuels attest. Some passengers have applauded the scattered improvements, such as the increased number of First Class seats on narrow-body 757s and recent installation of international-style sleeper-seats on some flights out of O’Hare. Others, however, strongly believe that First Class has slipped, and slipped badly, compared with a decade or two ago.
Internationally, however, these privileged and demanding travelers are almost unanimous in their praise for the current offering of First Class comforts and services. For the airlines that have made the commitment to maintaining and improving their First Class service–and the passengers who can afford it–this may be the dawn of a new age.
FLYING BUSINESS CLASS IS THE NEXT BEST THING
If you don’t need caviar with your dinner or a seat that turns into a bed, but you still want plenty of comfort and service on your long-haul flights, Business Class might be your ticket.
Around 1980, international flights started offering a separate Business Class cabin as a “compromise class” between their lavish, increasingly expensive First Class and their bare-bones, increasingly cramped Coach cabin. With its separate check-in, comfortably upholstered seats, spacious legroom and fine meal service, international Business Class was quite similar to domestic First Class. Business Class became very popular, particularly with business people who wanted to travel comfortably but could not justify a First Class ticket.
Today, airlines are paying a lot of attention to Business Class, which provides a large share of their profits on international flights. Air France and British Air have installed larger seats that recline further and offer about eight inches more legroom. These carriers also have improved meals and beverages to near-First Class levels.
Fiercely competitive with foreign carriers, American, Delta and United are getting ready to announce Business Class enhancements. One likely change: These carriers will boost the seat pitch from approximately 40 inches today to 48 inches in the near future, much like the new Air France and British Air products. United’s new 777 already offers a 49-inch seat pitch in Business Class. (Note: Coach seat pitch is 31 to 32 inches on most planes.)
When it comes to booking a Business Class ticket, knowledge is power. For starters, like First Class, all airlines’ Business Classes are not created equal. Some carriers offer a good, but not great, 40-inch seat pitch. Others give you an incredibly spacious 48 to 50 inches, sometimes more. On international flights, some airlines offer plenty of amenities, like a chauffeur-driven ride to the airport, private airport lounge with breakfast and showers at your destination, and limo ride into town. Others skimp on these goodies.
On international flights, many carriers (including Air Canada, Canadian, Continental, Northwest, TWA and many European airlines) combine Business and First Class cabins into the Business/First-type product that has many First Class advantages at a Business Class price.
Travelers should also remember that all planes are not created equal. The larger the plane, generally, the more spacious the Business Class. The relatively small 767s, for instance, have a fairly cramped Business Class cabin due to the width and height of the plane. (The 767s, however, usually offer the most comfortable Coach seating of any plane.) The huge 747s, by contrast, usually have spacious Business Class cabins, including one often located in the upper- deck “bubble.” (The 747s, however, are generally crowded in Coach.)
Finally, travelers should also know that though Business Class is a more affordable travel option than First Class, it’s still extremely expensive when compared with Coach excursion fares. Round-trip fares from Chicago to Paris on American Airlines, for instance, are $6,368 in First, $3,972 in Business and $2,596 in full-fare Coach–but you can get a highly restricted Coach seat in winter for well under $1,000 (currently $666).
But with diligence, travelers often can find good deals on Business Class tickets, including discounted single-ticket prices and two-for-one tickets from the airlines during slow seasons, complimentary upgrades for full-fare Coach tickets from the airlines and the American Express Platinum Card two-for-one deal on some foreign carriers. Some tours and cruises also offer upgrades from coach to Business Class on connecting air travel at incredibly advantageous rates over published fares.
Many airlines (including American, Delta and United) also set aside more free Business Class seats for frequent fliers than First Class seats. Why? Their Business Class cabin typically has two to three times more seats than First Class.
Equally important, many airlines designate a reasonable number of Business Class seats for upgrades from Coach for frequent fliers. On American and United, for example, you can upgrade most published Coach fares to Business Class for 40,000 miles per ticket.
One caveat: Travelers can have trouble using frequent flier mileage to get into the Business/First-type cabins, particularly during busy travel seasons. The free tickets are often quite limited in number or very expensive in terms of mileage. Or, the airlines do not allow you to upgrade consolidator or other heavily discounted Coach tickets into their Business/First-type cabins. The situation varies from airline to airline, and often by the popularity of the destination and date of your flights.
